Credit Cards Hotels

Marriott announces co-branding with Amex and Chase

a pool with palm trees and a building in the background

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


Currently, Amex issues SPG cards, and Chase issues Marriott/Ritz branded cards.

Yesterday, it was announced that these relationships would stay in tact amidst a new multi-year deal that extends both co-branded deals. The future of these deals in the wake of the SPG acquisition was a question I asked the Marriott executives last year at the BoardingArea conference. At that point, the future was still unclear, but it had been blogger speculation that the future would be an either/or situation. What we got is similar, in some regards, to the Barclay/Citi deal with American where two banks will continue to issue cards to the “same” loyalty program.  I say “same” because the currencies are interchangeable within the Global Marriott brand, but benefits differ with Marriott, Ritz, SPG. This should be good news to SPG loyalists as it encourages some sort of future recognition of that brand within Marriott, but universally this is good news because it provides more ways to accumulate points and benefits through card sign ups. It also is a positive signal of Amex’s relationship with SPG going forward, and hopefully the gold benefit of Amex Plat staying in tact.

We were also given news that Marriott will introduce some new co-branded cards. Amex was ultra aggressive in top tier status being given with their new Hilton Aspire card, and who knows, maybe we will see this benefit as part of a $450 version for Marriott as well. This would probably create joyful praise from non-elites, and sour grapes from those who are natural SPG plats. Here’s Marriott’s statement on the card issuances:

Marriott expects to introduce new, co-brand products starting in 2018 with enhanced member benefits – super-premium consumer and small business co-branded products from American Express and mass consumer and premium consumer co-branded products from JPMorgan Chase.Additional details on the future products will be shared in 2018. In the meantime, both companies will retain their existing portfolio of accounts and continue to offer their current products. 

In short:

  • Amex
    • New SUPER Premium Marriott personal card
    • Small business version
  • Chase
    • Mass consumer Marriott personal card
    • premium Marriott card

Are you interested in seeing an Amex super premium credit card? Which benefits would you most like to see?


If you’re interested in reading the full press statement:

Marriott International Signs New Co-Brand Credit Card Agreements with

JPMorgan Chase and American Express

 

Bethesda, MD – December 5, 2017 – Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced it reached new agreements with JPMorgan Chase and American Express for its U.S.-issued, co-brand credit cards associated with its loyalty programs. These multi-year agreements will extend Marriott’s relationship with both card issuers and cover the Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards from JPMorgan Chase, and the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit cards from American Express. 

 

“Marriott’s co-brand credit cards have been a meaningful contributor to the success of Marriott’s loyalty programs and a sign of the extraordinary value of our portfolio of brands,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott International’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to bring together the power of JPMorgan Chase and American Express with our global portfolio of brands to continue to provide consumers with choices. We expect our loyalty program members, owners and franchisees, and our shareholders will see significant incremental benefits from these new agreements.”    

 

Marriott expects to introduce new, co-brand products starting in 2018 with enhanced member benefits – super-premium consumer and small business co-branded products from American Express and mass consumer and premium consumer co-branded products from JPMorgan Chase.Additional details on the future products will be shared in 2018. In the meantime, both companies will retain their existing portfolio of accounts and continue to offer their current products. 

 

“We are excited to build on our long-term partnership with Marriott and look forward to continuing to serve our mutual customers with the products and experiences they love,” said Jennifer Piepszak, CEO of Chase Card Services. “Together, we also plan to invest in new mass and premium consumer products that will bring choice and variety to the marketplace, along with the depth and breadth of Marriott International’s portfolio of brands.”

 

“The American Express relationship with Marriott dates back more than sixty years and we are pleased to continue an important component of our partnership,” said Glenda McNeal, President, Strategic Partnerships at American Express. “We’ll continue to provide our Starwood Preferred Guest Card Members with the award-winning benefits, services and experiences they have come to enjoy on their existing product, while building our portfolio within the family of Marriott brands to serve affluent travelers and small businesses.”

For now, there will be no changes to Marriott’s existing co-brand cards for members. Members using the Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards from JPMorgan Chase, as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards from American Express will continue to earn and redeem points as usual. SPG members in the U.S. can earn two Starpoints® for every eligible dollar spent using the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards by American Express directly at hotels participating in SPG and Marriott Rewards globally. In addition, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards members in the U.S. can earn five Rewards points for every eligible dollar spent using the JPMorgan Chase Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards on qualifying purchases made at participating global Marriott Rewards and SPG properties.

 

These credit card agreements are the latest example of the significant economies of scale and competitive advantage that are resulting from Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. In late 2018, Marriott expects to launch a single technology platform for Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and SPG. This should enable the company to synch the technology-dependent components of each program, further reducing costs. The new technology platform will also take Marriott one step closer to the goal of having a single loyalty program for the company’s 100+ million members in the current Rewards and SPG loyalty programs.

 

Note on Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of federal securities laws, including our expectation that we will both announce new co-branded products with enhanced benefits and launch asingle technology platform for our loyalty programs in 2018, and similar statements about anticipated future events and expectations that are not historical facts. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those we identify below and other risk factors that we identify in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q.  Risks that could affect forward-looking statements in this press release include reaching agreement with our timeshare business partners on the terms of benefit enhancements and the technical difficulties and costs inherent in developing and implementing new technology. Any of these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations we express or imply in this press release. We make these forward-looking statements as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

About Marriott International, Inc.

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of more than 6,400 properties in 30 leading hotel brands spanning 126 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company also operates award-winning loyalty programs: Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest®. For more information, please visit our website at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with lines and symbols

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

1 Comment

  • Vicente December 6, 2017

    I hope they mirror Hilton.

    Offer Platinum status with the Premium card. But offer X nights per year in high category certificate. The Cat5 certs with the regular card are not so useful.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.