The Chase/Marriott/United Promotion Most Should Be Avoiding

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Chase is running a promotion in conjunction with Marriott and United Airlines which may tempt some people but I’m here to tell you that it’s not really a great promotion at all. On the face of things the promotion may seem perfectly ok but when you look closely at the value on offer (and the value most would be giving up if they took part) the promotion really isn’t one that most should be participating in.

Double Stay/Double Go & Double Points/Double Miles

Chase is offering holders of certain Marriott Rewards and United Airlines credit cards the chance to earn double miles or double points on airline travel and hotels stays booked through 15 April 2018.

Participating Credit Cards:

  • Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card
  • Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card
  • United MileagePlus Club Card
  • United Explorer Card
  • United MileagePlus Club Business Card
  • United Explorer Business Card

The Offers:

Registration via the page linked here is required before 15 April 2018

  1. Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card and Business Credit Card holders can earn 4 points per dollar spent on United Airlines airfare when booking directly with the airline.
  2. United MileagePlus Club Card and Business Club Card holders can earn 3 miles per dollar spent on hotel stays booked directly through Marriott.
  3. United Explorer Card and United Explorer Business Card holders can earn 2 miles per dollar spent on hotel stays booked directly through Marriott.

There is no maximum number of miles that can be earned in this promotion but all spending must be complete by 11:59pm ET on 15 April 2018.

This Is What’s Wrong With The Promotion

In isolation the information I’ve posted above may not sound like a bad deal but it’s when you look at the detail that things start to unravel.

The offer on the Marriott cards

a sign with a red logo

4 points per dollar when buying airfare directly through United Airlines

I value Marriott Rewards points at 0.6 cents each and I don’t know many who value them higher than 0.7 cents each so the maximum value a cardholder would be getting by participating in this promotion is 2.8 cents/dollar.

You can do so much better:

  • The Amex Platinum Card offers 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on airfare and, valuing MR points at a conservative 1.5 cents each, that’s a value of 7.5 cents/dollar.
  • The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card offers 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on travel and, valuing Ultimate Rewards Points at a conservative 1.5 cents each, that’s a value of 4.5 cents/dollar.
  • The Citi Prestige Card offers 3 ThankYou points per dollar spent on travel and, valuing ThankYou Points at a conservative 1.5 cents each, that’s a value of 4.5 cents/dollar.
  • The Citi ThankYou Premier Card offers 3 ThankYou points per dollar spent on travel and, valuing ThankYou Points at a conservative 1.5 cents each, that’s a value of 4.5 cents/dollar.
  • The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on travel and, valuing Ultimate Rewards Points at a conservative 1.5 cents each, that’s a value of 3.0 cents/dollar.

Most importantly, all the credit cards I’ve listed above earn transferable currencies (they can be moved to a number of other loyalty programs) while the points earned thought the Marriott Rewards credit card are really only of any use at Marriott properties….and that makes them a lot less flexible.

If you hold any of the above cards (if you have a US address and are interested in this hobby you should have at least one) that’s what you should be using when booking airfare directly through United….with possibly one exception.

The United Explorer cards come with a set of United benefits that only kick in if the fare is booked using the Explorer card. If these are important to you then the Explorer card is the card to use….but it’s still not the Marriott card!

The offer on the United Airlines Cards

the tail of an airplane2-3 points per dollar when booking hotel stays directly though Marriott

This offer is even worse than the one for the Marriott the credit card because the following line from the T&Cs makes it so limiting:

“[T]he Marriott stay must occur and be paid for or prepaid between March 15 and April 15, 2018”

At least there is no time limit by which time the flights have to be taken if you’re to earn the bonus points on the Marriott Rewards credit card – with the United offer you’re handicapped from the start.

I value United Miles at around 1.4 cents each but, being generous, I’ll say they’re worth 1.5 cents each just like the transferable currencies above.

Where the United Explorer cards will earn 3.0 cents/dollar (in value) the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige and Citi ThankYou Premier cards will all offer 4.5 cents of value per dollar (50%) more and, in the case of the Chase cards, you would be earning points that convert to United Miles in a 1:1 ratio…so you would actually earn more United miles by not using the United card (ironic isn’t it?).

The United Club cards will earn 4.5 cents/dollar so these cards will match what the Chase Reserve and the two Citi credit cards offer….but Ultimate Rewards points and ThankYou points are very flexible while United miles are not.

Given the choice (and assuming both are of equal value) wouldn’t you prefer to earn and hold a flexible currency rather than an inflexible one?

Bottom Line

There will be some specific cases where it may make sense to use the cards Chase would like us to use in this promotion (like if you have a sign-up bonus to meet or if you need to use a certain card to get a benefit you value) but, as long as you hold another good travel rewards credit card, this promotion is best avoided.

Links to current credit card deals (including some of the cards mentioned in this post) can be found in the menu bar at the top of this post