This past week, I product-changed my Chase Marriott Boundless card to the Chase Ritz-Carlton card. I never stay at Ritz Carltons. Why did I get this card? Read on to find out.

I am Lifetime Platinum with Marriott, meaning I always have at least Platinum status regardless of how many nights or stays I have each year. This has ironically caused me to move most of my hotel stays to Hyatt, as Globalist status provides more and better benefits than Marriott Platinum or Titanium status such as free parking on award stays, waived resort/destination fees on all stays and guaranteed late checkout at most properties.

But, I still stay at Marriott properties a few times a year and the Boundless card came with an annual 35k Free Night Certificate that was useful and more than covered the $95 annual fee. So, why would I product change that card to the Ritz Carlton card at $450 per year?

The Ritz Carlton card is not available for new sign-ups. It is only available to those with a Chase Marriott card who have had the card open for at least a year. The key benefits of the Ritz Carlton card are as follows:

• An annual free night award up to 85k Marriott points
• An annual travel credit of $300
• Annual club-level upgrade certificates
• Priority Pass and Chase Sapphire Lounge access
• Great travel protections and insurance

The card also comes with automatic Marriott Gold status which as a Lifetime Platinum is meaningless to me. It also provides (as does the Boundless card) 15 elite night credits each year, which again, unless I’m going to switch a significant amount of my hotel stays back to Marriott, won’t matter to me either as I won’t be trying to hit Titanium status with Marriott.

The travel credit is fairly easy to use although it requires calling in to have flights or fees credited back to the card. That reduces the effective annual fee to $150 and even using a conservative valuation for the 85k Free Night Certificate of $500, makes the card a net positive.

The Ritz club certificates could be valuable if you book at certain inflated cash rates, but as I mentioned above, I don’t even stay at Ritz Carlton hotels. It’s one of the few Marriott-affiliated brands where my Marriott status doesn’t get me free breakfast, lounge access or any other good perks so I generally avoid these properties. Given a choice, I’d rather use Marriott points or Free Night Certificates at a St. Regis or Luxury Collection property where I get my Marriott status perks.

The travel protections and insurance are similar to those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but since we have one of those in our household, we’re more likely to just use that as it earns transferable points. We also have annual travel insurance so I’m usually more concerned about which card earns me the most points instead of which card provides insurance protections.

One of the most interesting features of the card is that you can get free authorized user cards. Those cards come with their own Priority Pass accounts that can be activated easily (without having to carry around the credit card). The lounge access comes with two free guests as well. I got an authorized user card for each of my kids and signed them up for the Priority Pass account. It’s not great for lounge access at every airport, but the account also provides access to the Chase Sapphire Lounges at BOS, JFK, LGA, PHL, PHX, SAN, LAS, and soon to be at DFW and LAX. My older daughter already used it at The Club ATL last week during a long flight delay. It’s not the best lounge, but it beats paying for airport food and drinks.

A Priority Pass account also gives a free visit once per year to Capital One Lounges which my daughter may use when we fly back from JFK in April as that lounge at JFK is much nicer (and less crowded) than the Chase lounge. The Chase Sapphire Lounge access will also come in handy for me when I’m not traveling with my wife as she is the one who holds our Chase Sapphire Reserve.

So between the 85k Free Night Certificate (which I will get at the end of the first year with the card) and the lounge access for me and my authorized users, this card has much better benefits than the Chase Marriott Boundless card for a net of $55 more per year. If you are eligible to product change to a Chase Ritz Carlton card, you should probably consider it.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links. I also recommend using CardPointers to track your credit card spending discount offers.