The Bonvoy Bountiful card’s perks match its mid-level Marriott card role. Cardholders might be disappointed by the lack of Marriott perks outside Gold Elite status, but frequent Marriott guests can rest easy knowing this Bonvoy Bountiful card’s upgraded Free Night Award alone can recoup its annual fee. However, whether these perks justify a $250 yearly fee compared to general-purpose travel cards’ richer perks depends on your spending habits.
Free Night Award
Annual award nights are a staple co-branded hotel card perk, and the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful doesn’t break tradition. You can earn a Free Night Award each year by spending $15,000, which can be redeemed for a one-night stay valued anywhere from 7,500 points to 50,000 points.
Using Bankrate’s 0.7 cent average Marriott Bonvoy point valuation, your annual award night could be worth up to $350 on average and more than offset your annual fee by itself.
The Free Night Award is the Bonvoy Bountiful’s most valuable benefit (outside automatic Gold Elite status’ rewards boost), but it isn’t nearly as accessible as other Marriott cards’ annual award night. Both the Bonvoy Boundless and Brilliant cards offer a Free Night Award, but their award nights are provided automatically after your account anniversary and are not restricted by a spending requirement. Granted, the Boundless card’s Free Night Award is only worth up to 35,000 points, but the Brilliant card’s award is worth 85,000 points.
Based on our average yearly rewards value formula, we estimate the average cardholder spends about $15,900 per year with their card. This means you may need to use the Bonvoy Bountiful as your primary rewards card to earn your award night, which may not be practical if you don’t want most of your rewards chained to Marriott.
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
Holding the Bonvoy Bountiful card automatically grants you Marriott Gold Elite status, which would normally require staying at Marriott 25 nights in a year. Gold Elite status provides:
- 25 percent points bonus on hotel purchases
- Late 2pm checkout privilege
- Complimentary room upgrades (if available) for enhanced room amenities and locations
- Complimentary, enhanced internet access
- A Welcome Gift of 250 points to 500 points per stay, depending on the Marriott property (most brands offer 500 points while lower-cost property brands provide 250 points)
Although Marriott’s loyalty status doesn’t provide many exclusive privileges until Platinum Elite level, automatically receiving 25 percent more points on hotel purchases is a fantastic benefit. It’s important to note that your Gold Elite status rewards boost only applies to the Marriott Bonvoy program’s base 10X points on hotel purchases instead of the full 16X points you’d get with your card, so you’ll end up earning 18.5X points in total (not 20X points).
This is a step above the Bonvoy Boundless card’s automatic Silver Elite status and a rung below the Bonvoy Brilliant card’s automatic Platinum Elite status. However, Marriott’s Gold Elite status is much harder to attain than the rival Hilton Honors program tier and provides fewer privileges for the investment.
The Bonvoy Bountiful ultimately isn’t a great card for earning hotel elite status. In fact, The Platinum Card® from American Express provides both Gold Elite status and Hilton Honors Gold Status. The Bountiful card gives you 15 Elite Night Credits each year to help make up for it though. It normally takes staying 40 nights with Marriott each year to earn Platinum Elite status, but your annual Elite Night credits lower the bar to 25 nights.
Chase benefits and travel protections
As a Chase credit card, the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful carries solid travel protections, a year of complimentary DoorDash DashPass (must activate by Dec. 31, 2024) and Chase-exclusive features such as My Chase Loan, My Chase Plan and Chase Experiences.
In fact, the only differences between the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful and Marriott Bonvoy Bevy cards are the features you’ll receive through either Chase or American Express as the issuer. While both still offer similar issuer features — Amex’s Pay It Plan It alternate installment payment plans are comparable to My Chase Plan and My Chase Loan — Chase generally offers better travel protections.
You’ll receive purchase protection, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay insurance and lost luggage reimbursement with the Bonvoy Bountiful. Its Visa Concierge access can help you coordinate your travel, and its baggage delay insurance provides an extra layer of coverage over the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card’s baggage insurance, which only reimburses you for damaged or lost luggage.