Compare the Features and Benefits of Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and
Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Marriott Bonvoy offers co-branded credit cards from two major issuers: American Express and Chase. With so many options to choose from, it can be hard to narrow down the right Marriott credit card for you. If you’re interested in a Marriott Bonvoy credit card but don’t necessarily want to pony up a huge annual fee, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card could be the perfect fit. This card provides an excellent introduction into earning a ton of Marriott points, from the welcome bonus earned upon account opening to the everyday rewards rate.

You’ll not only earn 6x points (up to 17X total Bonvoy points per dollar spent when including your Bonvoy program earnings) on eligible hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy, but the Bonvoy Boundless credit card is a solid match for everyday purchases. Cardholders can earn 3x points per dollar on up to the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases at grocery stores, gas stations and dining. By maxing out that limit, you would earn 18,000 Marriott Bonvoy points alone from everyday spend! Not to mention, you’ll still earn 2x points per dollar on all non-bonus category purchases.

Once you rack up a sizable sum of Marriott Bonvoy points, you can redeem them at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, where the 5th night is always free on awards, adding to the value.

With 8,500 properties and counting, you can find a Marriott Bonvoy hotel at virtually every corner of the world. It’s easy to search for properties through Marriott’s website, then press “use points/certificates” to see the award rate for your desired travel dates.

Another huge perk to discuss is the card’s free night award. You’ll receive the annual free night certificate every account anniversary year, and the free night valued at up to 35,000 points can be a huge money-saver every year – especially since you can add on up to 15,000 points from your account if the room you want is between 35,000 and 50,000 points. As we value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.6 cents apiece, this translates into roughly $210 in value — which is more than double the value of the $95 annual fee!

There are even more benefits once you get to participating Marriott hotels thanks to the card’s automatic elite status perks. You’ll be bumped up from your Marriott Bonvoy member account to Silver elite status with the automatic 15 elite night credits, and this level offers 10% bonus Marriott Bonvoy points (as reflected in the card’s rewards rate) and priority late check-out. You can easily bypass the ranks to earn Gold elite status by spending at least $35,000 on the card every year (although, at that point, you’d probably be better off with the premium Bonvoy Brilliant card which grants automatic Platinum status – admittedly for a high annual fee. This level can be particularly rewarding, thanks to enhanced room upgrades upon availability, 2 p.m. late checkout (based on availability), and 25% bonus points on eligible Marriott stays.

Last but not least, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card isn’t just a great pick for your hotel stays. When traveling, you’ll be covered with a plethora of protections, including trip delay reimbursement, lost luggage reimbursement, and secondary rental car coverage. Finally, some important purchase coverages that are standard with Chase are included, including purchase protection and extended warranty.

In summary, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card is a popular pick for the $95 annual fee. It’s easy for cardholders to justify paying this cost every year thanks to the free night award, and that’s before you consider all of the other benefits on the card.

However, if you’re interested in a higher elite status level, a free night valued up to 85,000 points per night, and the possibility to earn Marriott Bonvoy points faster, you may want to consider other Marriott Bonvoy credit cards like the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card.

For most small business owners, it makes sense to have all three Chase Ink credit cards: this card, the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, the Chase Ink Preferred®, and the Chase Ink Unlimited®.

They all complement each other perfectly. Once you have a the Chase Ink Preferred®, which allows you to transfer points to Chase’s great lineup of airline and hotel partners like World of Hyatt, you will want to get the Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited to maximize your total earnings on bonus categories – since all points can be combined to your Ink Preferred.

The Ink Cash is a truly amazing card when it comes to bonus multipliers on select business categories. With 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year plus 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year, you have tremendous bonus category multipliers on a no annual fee card.

But the most important thing to know is that although this card says you are earning cash back, that is only if you don’t also have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card.

Either way, you are earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points. But without one of the above cards, you can only redeem your points for 1 cent per point. Once you do have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in your arsenal, though, you’ll be able to move your points from your Ink Cash to any of those three cards, where you can either transfer to airline and hotel partner programs or redeem through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal where your points are worth 1.25 – 1.5 cents each, depending on which card you have. The Ink Preferred and Sapphire Preferred offer 1.25 cents a point while the much higher annual fee Sapphire Reserve gives you 1.5 cents per point when booking travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal.

Even if you don’t “combo” your Ink Cash, those 5% and 2% bonus categories are exceptionally strong for business spending on a business credit card with no annual fees. And that large signup bonus doesn’t hurt either!

Overall, the Chase Ink Cash is one of my very favorite cards. I charge my cable, internet, and phone to the card and use it often at office supply stores, which sell a wide array of goods. I also use it for gas stations and dining as I like racking up Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a 2X bonus rate.

But keep in mind that it is at its most powerful when paired with a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. To show you the difference, you know cash back means each point is worth a penny. But when you have it paired with one of these other cards to unlock points transfers, we value those points at 1.75 cents a piece – due to the flexibility of transfer partners and the potential redemptions those programs offer. So pairing your card boosts the rewards value, in our humble opinion, by 75%.

When using our spend calculator on this card, you’ll notice that we ask if you have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card and, if you do, we’ll increase the value of rewards on this card from 1 cent to 1.75 cents accordingly.

Please note: you must be under 5/24 (more on the Chase 5/24 rule) to apply for this card and you cannot apply for more than one Chase Business card in any 30 day period. You can apply for a maximum of two Chase cards within 30 days, with only, at most, 1 of them being a business card.

This card is also mentioned in the article Business Credit Cards That Don’t Report to Personal Credit Bureaus.