Both are hotel co-brand cards. Only one earns like one.
IHG One Rewards Premier ($99/year) and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless ($95/year) sit at nearly the same price point and both promise a mid-tier hotel loyalty upgrade. But their earn structures diverge sharply: IHG Premier's bonus reaches almost everywhere you'd swipe a travel card, while Marriott Boundless keeps its bonus locked to Marriott properties and a short, capped list of everyday categories.
What each card actually bonuses
| IHG Premier ($99) | Marriott Boundless ($95) | |
|---|---|---|
| Own-brand hotel stays | 10x IHG properties | 6x Marriott properties |
| Flights, hotels (any brand), car rentals, cruises, activities | 5x | 2x (default rate) |
| Dining, gas | 5x | 2x, or 3x up to $6,000/yr combined w/ groceries, then 2x |
| Groceries | 2x (default) | 3x up to $6,000/yr combined, then 2x |
| Everything else | 2x (default) | 2x (default) |
IHG Premier's 5x isn't limited to IHG-branded travel — it applies to flights, hotel stays at any chain, car rentals, cruises, and direct-booked activities generally, plus dining and gas. That makes it function less like a narrow hotel card and more like a broad travel-and-dining card that happens to also reward IHG stays at 10x. Marriott Boundless takes the opposite approach: its bonus is concentrated almost entirely at Marriott properties (6x), with a modest, capped 3x on groceries/gas/dining/fast food and a plain 2x baseline for everything else, including travel booked elsewhere.
The free-night credits are close, but not equal
Both cards anchor their value proposition on an annual free-night certificate. IHG's certificate covers stays up to 40,000 points; we model it conservatively at $100/year since it's straightforward to redeem without extra spend. Marriott's certificate covers stays up to 35,000 points but typically redeems at higher-value properties, so we model it at $150/year. Both clear our bar for genuinely easy-to-use value — each alone is worth more than its card's annual fee.
Beyond the free night, the two credit lists diverge in reliability. IHG Premier lists a $100 spend-threshold credit (gated behind $20,000/year in spend — modeled at $0), a $50/year United TravelBank credit (requires loading TravelBank specifically — modeled at $0), and an Instacart+ trial with a small monthly credit (modeled at $0). Marriott Boundless lists one additional credit: up to $100/year in airline statement credits, split into two $50 increments each requiring $250 in eligible spend — we model that at $50/year since it's real but requires deliberate spend-splitting to fully capture.
Who should pick which
- Frequent traveler with mixed hotel loyalty, or heavy dining/gas spend — IHG Premier's 5x reaches those categories regardless of which hotel chain you actually book, making it the stronger everyday-spend card of the two.
- Marriott loyalist who books there most of the time — Marriott Boundless's 6x is the single highest hotel-specific rate between these two cards, and its free-night credit is modeled at the higher value.
- Comparing against a broader premium travel card — see how either stacks up against a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred before committing to a hotel-specific annual fee.
Run the optimizer with your real spend to see which credit-and-earn combination nets more for your actual travel pattern.
Data verified as of September 3, 2026.
Want the live numbers side by side? See the IHG One Rewards Premier vs. Marriott Bonvoy Boundless comparison page — it renders current rates and fees straight from our verified card data.