I have another credit card that has no annual fee and pays 1.5 cents per dollar spent. The Marriott card gives 1 Marriott Reward point per dollar spent. You can buy Marriott Rewards points for 1.25 cents each.
We need to consider the annual fee and the value of the points:
The value of a point depends on which hotel that you choose.
- The Fairfield Inn Orange Beach is going to a category 6. I stayed there less than a year ago and paid $93/night. The point value would be $93/30,000 = $0.0031 or about 1/3 cents.
- Another example that I was planning to use my points for is the Courtyard Kauai. I have been watching prices and could get a room for about $139 and it will be a category 6 soon. The point value on this one would be $139/30,000 / $0046333 or less than ½ cent per point.
- Marriott Marco Island $349 will be a category 9. The point value would be $349/45,000 = $0.0077555 or about ¾ cents per point.
For each of my examples, the value of a Marriott point is less than $0.01 per point. It used to be about 1 cent per point and I could find deals that made them worth more but I am not sure how many of those are left.
Annual fee of $85: I have always felt that the free night more than offset the annual fee but now with all the devaluations what hotels can we get that are a category 5. Looking at what is left, not many. Any that were appealing are no longer a category 5, including many airport locations. What would the hotel cost if we had to pay for it? In most cases the room could be gotten for under $100. If one could use it, it is still not bad but if you can’t as in Hawaii or Alaska, a waste. If we cannot use the free night and pay $85 per year, this means that the first 8500 and maybe more are paid for when we pay the annual fee and after that are free.
From this analysis, I conclude that I may cancel my Marriott card and save the $85 and take cash and pay for my rooms with that money and get points for the paid stays.
I welcome comments on this and if I am wrong, please point out where!