Chase, Amex to Refresh THESE Credit Cards

In this video, I want to talk about a potential refresh that may be coming to a certain series of hotel co-branded credit cards from both Amex and Chase. We have some clues from the CEO and CFO of this hotel chain that there will be refreshes coming and new benefits brought in on several cards. We also know a rough timeline as well, and we're going to tell you all about it in this video. Hey credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges, aka The Credit Shifu, and on this channel, I cover US credit cards, personal finance, and luxury travel. If you like the sound of that, do subscribe, but let's get into it. Oh, and this video is brought to you by Quince, but more on that later. So the hotel chain that we are talking about here is, of course, Marriott. Now, due to the fact that SPG, all right, this old hotel program, Starwood Preferred Guests, that doesn't exist as a brand anymore, used to have a credit card with, I think it was with Amex, okay, they had a card with Amex, and then Marriott, who was partnered with Chase, bought SPG, so Marriott then ended up having credit cards issued by both Chase and American Express. But they found a way to do it, all right, they had contracts with both, and they found a way to do it, they target slightly different sectors of the market, Chase targets the sort of low and mid sectors, Amex targets the mid to high end, and also has a Marriott business card too. Now, although at the time when these two companies merged, all right, Marriott and SPG, or the SPG hotels were absorbed into Marriott, at that time, you know, it was kind of a weird arrangement with two banks issuing their cards, but it seems to have worked out in the long run in their favor. And they actually renewed their partnerships with both Chase and Amex just this year. We're going to tell you all about that in just a sec, and the changes that are going to happen to the cards. But first of all, there are some limited time bonus offers on these cards that you may want to know about. On the Chase Boundless card, that's a mid-tier card, you can get four free nights and a $100 airline credit. There's also another bonus that you can find on a different link, that's for 125,000 points and one free night. On the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy from Amex, that's their kind of weird, like, mid to high tier one $250 annual fee. I don't really recommend this card, but anyway, on the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy, you have 125,000 points plus a $150 statement credit, and that's an American Express card. Then on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, also an Amex, that's their high-end card with a high annual fee. It's a bonus of 150,000 points plus a $250 statement credit. But that card obviously does have a load of credits and lots of things, free night, I think, 85,000 point free night certificate to offset that annual fee. Those bonuses, the Amex ones, end on September 30th, so be quick if you want them. All right, let's actually get into listening to the recording of Marriott's most recent earnings call, and you can hear what they say about renewing the partnership with Chase and Amex and the coming refresh of these cards. But first, you may remember at the beginning of the summer, in one of my videos, I did an ad for Quince, which like we said at the time, offers the quality of high-end brands by working with top tier manufacturers, but they cut out the middlemen to deliver you that same quality at a very affordable price. I had a lot of fun making that ad, and I actually ended up really liking the items I chose to showcase in the video. I've even been wearing the 100% European linen blazer featured in that ad as my main on-screen blazer all summer. I've also been wearing the 100% European linen pants throughout the summer. They are so refreshingly cool on hot days when attending events that you can't really wear shorts to. So when Quince reached out to work with me again, I jumped at the chance. This time, I wanted to create an outfit that would be good for the end of summer and into fall, with temperatures a little cooler. So I ordered this stretched wool blazer, this extra fine Australian merino polo, and these pro-tech golf pants. And I was able to put together a really smart outfit at a very affordable price. And obviously, all these items can be mixed and matched with other items I already have from Quince or in my wardrobe in general for loads of different outfits that look like a million dollars but were actually very affordable. I could be playing golf at Mar-a-Lago in this, and I would just blend right in with the 1% but at a fraction of the price. So guys, do check out Quince by either scanning the QR code on screen now or clicking my link in the description. Further down the description section, I will paste direct links to all the men's clothing items that I showed you guys on screen. You'll also get free shipping and 365-day returns. A big thank you to Quince for sponsoring this video. All right, so let's listen to what the Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano has to say. I am also pleased to announce that we recently executed new long-term agreements for our co-branded credit card program in the U.S. with our valued, long-standing, market-leading partners JPMorgan Chase and American Express. These agreements reflect the strength of the Marriott Bonvoy brand and the extraordinary value of our brand portfolio, the continued growth of our global lodging system, and the powerful combination of scale and engagement represented by our card holders and more than 295 million loyalty program members. So from that, we know that the contracts to issue cards through both Chase and Amex have been renewed. And he then goes on to say a load of buzzwords about the strength of the brand, the loyalty of members, etc. But I guess what he is getting across here is that the demand is strong enough for it to be advantageous to issue cards through both Chase and Amex. OK, it's a good thing. It's not causing an issue and actually demand is strong enough for them to do really great business through both these banks. Let's now hear what the CFO Jennifer Mason has to say, because she starts talking about refreshes, new cards and more. Turning to our co-branded credit card fees, the improved economics from our new US agreement with JPMorgan Chase and American Express are expected to benefit the overall loyalty program. So from that, it seems that the deal struck with both Chase and Amex is better economically than what they had before, i.e. Chase and Amex are going to pay Marriott more. And Marriott wants to pass that on to not just cardholders, but actually everyone in their Bonvoy loyalty program. And that makes sense since everyone in the loyalty program is a potential cardholder anyway. If someone is really loyal to Marriott, it's only a matter of time before they get a Marriott credit card. But what about refreshes and new cards? Let's hear more from the CFO. The benefits to the loyalty program and to our fees from our new US co-branded card deal is expected to build over time as new and refreshed US card products with new cardholder benefits are introduced, supporting anticipated growth in new accounts and cardholder spend. So there you have it, new and refreshed cards. So could we be looking at a new Marriott card coming out from either Chase or Amex? It certainly sounds like that. But what about the timescale of these new cards and refreshes? When are they coming out? Well, the CEO gives some clues about that. So the CEO first talks about $30 million extra this year due to the new terms of the contract with Chase and Amex. So probably due to an increased portion of the swipe fees or annual fees paid to Marriott on the cards that they already have. He then goes on to say... The full benefit to the program is really expected to build over time as new and refreshed card products are introduced. Our experience in the past is that the development and introduction of those new cards take several quarters. But I think the way you should be thinking about it is by full year 2028, the impact on Marriott's co-brand card fees from these new deals could be somewhere between $100 and $125 million at our current royalty rate of 26%. Okay. So there are a couple of interesting things there. One is that by the end of 2028, shareholders... And remember, the CEO is talking to shareholders, right? So shareholders will see the full effect on revenue from the refreshed cards. So that would mean that if they've raised annual fees on their current cards as part of a refresh, by the end of 2028, all cardholders' renewal dates will have rolled around, okay? And they are all paying the new fee. So that would mean at the latest, all their refreshes would have to be done by the end of 2027, all right? Since you need a year for all of the renewal dates to roll around if you refresh a card. The CEO is probably giving a slightly longer timeline than he'd hoped for to give some room for delays. So I would expect these to happen earlier. Maybe as we start 2027, we will see the first Marriott cards getting refreshed and new cards being released. Chase and Amex won't necessarily do their refreshes at the same time, but I would expect like Chase to do all its refreshes and release a new card in one go, okay? That way you can create a load of publicity about it, do a load of marketing in one big push, get all the credit card YouTubers and blogs talking about it. And I would accept Amex to do the same. Amex will probably leak out some information like a month before to create a buzz about it too. And who knows? Maybe they will coordinate, right? They might do. Question is though, what new benefits would you like to see on these cards? Personally, I think it would be really nice to see a high-end card that gives us titanium status with Marriott. Currently, the highest status you can get is platinum, all right? You can't get their highest status titanium or ambassador like you can with Hilton. Hilton, you can literally get diamond status, which, okay, it used to be the highest status. I know they're now introducing this even higher status because too many people complained, but you know, with diamond, you're already pretty much there, but you can't do that with Marriott. So it would be good if you could just give me free breakfast. That's the main benefit I'm after, okay? Well, I do like room upgrades and late checkouts too, but so room upgrade, late checkout and free breakfast. That's what I like to be guaranteed by having a credit card. Right now, it's not guaranteed to get free breakfast, all right? You either get points, a breakfast offering or an amenity, all right? And it depends on the hotel. Even at the titanium level, breakfast is not a hundred percent guaranteed, it seems, all right? Judging by what's written on their website. Maybe some Marriott loyalists, I'm more of a Hilton guy, but maybe some Marriott loyalists can clarify in the comments if that is or is not the case. Are you guaranteed free breakfast at titanium level? Anyway, guys, let me know what benefits you want to see in the comments and what do you think the new card or cards will be? High-end, low-end, let me know what you think. Thank you again to Quince for sponsoring this video. Click my link below or scan the QR code on screen now to shop Quince's timeless classic clothing pieces, including all the items that I wore on screen. And you'll get free shipping and 365-day returns too. Please subscribe to our channel if you're new. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.