Credit Card | Best For | Initial Bonus | Annual Fee |
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card | Overall | 75,000 points | $95 |
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card | Luxury Travel | 125,000 points | $450 |
Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card | Business | 100,000 points | $125 |
United Explorer Credit Card | Rewards Partner | 65,000 miles | $0 1st yr, $95 after |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Any Hotel | 80,000 points | $95 |
Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card | No Annual Fee | 30,000 points | $0 |
If you want to see more offers capable of saving you a ton of money on Marriott stays, check out WalletHub’s picks for the year’s best overall rewards credit cards. That’s an especially good idea if you don’t have the good or excellent credit needed to get a Marriott rewards card.
Methodology
WalletHub’s editors regularly update and review our comprehensive database of 1,500+ credit card offers as new cards are introduced and old offers change. We then compare the latest rewards, rates, fees, approval requirements and secondary benefits to select the best credit cards in the categories most important to consumers, from the best travel rewards cards to the best hotel credit cards to the best Marriott credit cards.
Identifying the current Marriott credit card offers is the easy part. Determining which, if any, Marriott credit card is right for an individual consumer’s or small business owner’s needs is more difficult. In order to make accurate, helpful recommendations, WalletHub’s editors compare the available Marriott credit cards based on different spending profiles designed to emulate different types of Marriott guests.
For example, when it comes to initial rewards bonuses, we include the bonus if a cardholder would earn it by spending an average of $700 per month for up to four months. And for our heavy-spender category (10X the average person's hotel spending), we double the expected spending. Any other bonuses past the four-month mark that require spending to earn are included in calculations if the spending requirement can be met based on the standard spending assumptions we used.
Ultimately, we consider the net rewards (i.e. after annual fees) that cardholders would earn over the first two years of use – in order to highlight both initial and ongoing perks. We also compare credit cards that reward users well at any hotel. Those cards are best for people who may enjoy staying at Marriott properties but also like shopping around for the best hotel deals.