New Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Card includes no Foreign Transaction fees

Following closely on the footsteps of other Chase issued credit cards in Canada, the new Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card becomes the fourth card from Chase and also the fourth card in Canada to offer no Foreign Transaction fees. If you followed Rewards Canada for at least a year, you will know that I brought this topic of no foreign transaction fees on credit cards in Canada to light last summer due to the emerging trend in the U.S.. At that time none of the banks were really considering it and I stated the bank or card issuer that was the first to jump on this benefit would reap a lot of new customers. Well Chase Bank of Canada was the first with their Amazon.ca Rewards card which was followed by their Sears cards earlier this week and as we hinted the next logical choice was the Marriott Rewards Platinum Visa issued by Chase. Well that has happened, although its not the same Marriott card we are all used to. Instead of adding the new no-fx fee benefit to the existing Marriott Rewards Visa offered by Chase they have decided to totally revamp their offering with a new card which is now called the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card (btw the Platinum card is gone now)

I will give the card the full on Rewards Canada review treatment in the next couple of weeks but in the mean time here is a quick summary of what the new card offers with the old card offerings in brackets:

Annual Fee: $120 ($75) but this fee is waived in the first year
Supplementary cards remain free

Points Earning:
30,000 Marriott Rewards Points sign up bonus after your first purchase (15,000 Marriott Rewards Points sign up bonus after your first purchase)
1 Free Night at a Category 1 - 4 location upon card approval (not on the old card)
5 Marriott Rewards points per $ spent at Marriott locations (3 Marriott Rewards points per $ spent at Marriott locations)
2 Marriott Rewards points per $ spent on Airline Tickets, Car Rental agencies and restaurants (not on the old card)
1 Marriott Rewards point on all other spending (1 Marriott Rewards point on all other spending)

Other features
15 Night credit towards elite status, which translates to automatic Silver status (5 Night credit towards elite status, which translates to automatic Silver status
Anniversary bonus of 1 free night at a Category 1 - 4 location (not on the old card)
The card retains Collision damage waiver insurance

This is significant improvement to the the Marriott Credit Card offering in Canada. I'll be honest I was considering the old Marriott card to replace my TD Visa since that TD visa was my least used card and I wanted to bring down the amount I spend on annual fees but with this new card now offering the first year free the change is almost inevitable. I did mention earlier in the week I would see about upgrading my TD Platinum to the First Class Infinite but I don't think I will be doing that now. I will give you all an update if I decide to go ahead with the change.

I would love to hear your comments on the new Marriott Rewards Premier Visa. Do you think these are positive changes? Will you go for this card? Do you think its not worth it? so on and so forth. Please leave your comments below.

For more details or to apply for the card please click here.