Now that Marriott Rewards points and Starwood Preferred Guest points are interchangeable at a 3:1 Marriott-to-SPG ratio (and back again at 1:3), it’s easy to compare the cards if your goal is to accumulate points.  If you want to earn status, this post won’t apply to you (see this post for the Platinum status loophole).  But if, like many of us, you want to accumulate more free and cheap travel, then read on.

[Note: If you can afford the higher minimum spending requirements ($10,000) on the Starwood Business Card , you can earn 35,000 Starpoints (or 105,000 Marriott Points)  The downside?  That’s a lot of spending to get the full bonus.  The rest of this post will focus on comparing the personal credit cards, which will be more relevant to most readers.]

The short version: If you want to get a credit card for the purpose of racking up Marriott points (or Starwood points), don’t get the Marriott card.  Get the Starwood card instead.  You can do that right now, or you can read on for an explanation of why.

Let’s look at the signup bonuses

The Starwood card offers a signup bonus of 25,000 SPG points after spending $3,000.

The Marriott card offers a signup bonus of 80,000 Marriott points after spending $3,000.

Most people stop here and say, “Well, the Starwood card gives the equivalent of 75,000 Marriott points to the Marriott card’s 80,000.  The Marriott card must be better to get if I’m looking to build up my balances quickly.”  But that’s wrong, because it doesn’t take into account the points you earn on your way to earning the signup bonus.

Let’s look at the key features of the cards

The Starwood card offers 1 SPG point, or 3 Marriott points, per dollar (and 2 SPG / 6 Marriott points at Marriott and Starwood hotels).  The Marriott card offers 1 Marriott point per dollar on all spend, and 2 points per dollar in some bonus categories (and 5 Marriott points at Marriott and Starwood hotels).

If you’re trying to hit a minimum spend, you usually can’t choose to put most your spend in the bonus categories, so let’s temporarily assume it’s all base-level spend.

After putting $3,000 on the Marriott card, you have 3,000 Marriott points, plus the signup bonus.
3,000 + 80,000 = 83,000

After putting $3,000 on the Starwood card, you have 3,000 SPG points, or 9,000 Marriott points, plus the signup bonus.
9,000 + 75,000 = 84,000

So right away, you can see that if you can’t keep your minimum spend in the bonus, the Starwood card suddenly yields more points in between the time you get the card and the time you get the signup bonus.

But what if you CAN put all your spend in the bonus categories?  In the non-hotel case, you’d be getting 6,000 Marriott points from your minimum spend, resulting in 86,000 total Marriott points to the Starwood card’s 84,000.  And if all of your minimum spend is at Marriott and Starwood hotels, you’d get 95,000 total Marriott points from the Marriott card to 93,000 on the Starwood card.  Either way, if most or all your spend is in the bonus, you wind up with at most 2,000 more Marriott points.  But even at 2,000 more points, the Marriott card is still losing.

Why?  Because there’s one more key feature to consider.  The Marriott card charges an annual fee in Year 1, while the Starwood card waives its fee.  So for the first year, the Marriott card costs you $85 more, and at best gets you 2,000 more Marriott points.  Would you pay $85 for 2,000 Marriott points?  The answer should be “no,” because you could always take the $85 you saved and use it to buy a lot more than 2,000 Marriott points from the company itself (if you wanted to buy points – not recommended!).

Now let’s look at ongoing spend

This one’s a lot easier.  For ongoing spend, the Starwood card is much better than the Marriott card without any wrinkles.  Outside of bonus categories, the Starwood card is 200% better (earning 3 Marriott points to 1).  In Marriott-card-specific bonus categories, the Starwood card is 50% better (earning 3 Marriott points to 2).  And at Marriott and Starwood hotels, the Starwood card is 20% better (earning 6 Marriott points to 5).

Bottom Line

I’ve looked at every possible usage of these cards I can think of, and if your goal is to accumulate Starwood/Marriott points, the Starwood card is simply better than the Marriott card, even when you take into account the signup bonuses.

(And if you can afford a $10,000 minimum spend, the Starwood business card is even better.)

Have questions?

If you’ve got a question about Starwood and Marriott credit cards and points–or anything else relating to travel, hospitality, loyalty programs, or personal finance–you can reach us via the contact form in the main menu.  You can also leave a comment below.  I can’t promise to answer every question that comes in, but I’ll do my best.  And you may even see your question answered in a future post!