With their newly upgraded Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card, Marriott and Chase have introduced a new category: travel now, pay later. Taking inspiration from the increasingly popular buy now, pay later plans, Chase and Marriott are allowing cardmembers to break up qualifying travel purchases into equal monthly payments without incurring any interest or plan fees.
Cardmembers can travel now and pay later on purchases between $100 to $5,000 made directly with an airline or at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy. Members earn their usual points on these purchases. But Marriott also warns in its fine print that access to the plan is not guaranteed for all cardholders.
This highlights a potential sticking point in the Marriott plan. Last year, a report from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau found that nearly 43% of respondents who had used BNPL services had also overdrawn a bank account in the previous 12 months. The study also found that BNPL borrowers have lower average credit scores than consumers who did not borrow using BNPL. Borrowers with precarious credit records would seem to be the kind of people Marriott would likely reject if they apply for the travel now, pay later plan.
A Bonus for Chase
This partnership benefits Chase at least as much as Marriott, according to Ben Danner, Senior Analyst, Credit and Commercial at Javelin Strategy & Research.
“It looks like Chase is positioning the card as an entryway into the highly popular Marriott Bonvoy program,” Danner said. “Chase adding its ‘Pay Over Time’ functionality to the Marriott Bonvoy Bold card is a great way to attract younger audiences that may be using BNPL for travel purposes. Chase also allows customers to earn points on their spending even if using the Pay Over Time feature, which is a nice bonus.”
Marriott has been enlisting more notable partners in its benefits plans recently. Just last month, the hotel chain announced a collaboration with Starbucks, allowing travelers to earn both Starbucks Stars and Marriott Bonvoy points. In Q2 2024, Starbucks Rewards membership in the U.S. grew 6% over the prior year to nearly 33 million within 90 days.