2. I haven't seen a lot of chatter re: Bonvoy rewards program, and what I do see tends to not be great. The current offer I'm seeing is for 100,000 points with min spend, which looks like I could get a free week (or close to it) at a hotel. Is there any reason to avoid this card/program?
All points are not created equal. Don’t see 100,000 Marriott points and think that’s the same as 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Amex Membership Rewards points, Citi Thank You Points, Alaska Mileage Plan miles, Southwest Rapid Rewards points, etc. These are each their own currency with their own rules how you can use them and varying degrees of usefulness and value.
I'm a little concerned that you think 100k Marriott points will get you a free week at a hotel. Perhaps at a Category 3 or lower hotel? See Marriott's points chart
here. Are you factoring in the Free Night Certificate as well? You won't get that until your cardmember anniversary, after you've held the card for a year. A lot of us struggle with just finding a decent place to redeem these 35k point FNCs at a hotel and on dates that actually work with our schedules and Marriott's peak/standard/off peak calendars.
The reason you probably don't see much discussion of Marriott's cards is because the halcyon days of churning through the "Starriott Gauntlet" of Marriott and SPG cards ended about a year and a half ago. Nowadays, Marriott points are hard to earn from credit card signups and spend even though both Chase and Amex issue them, because Marriott has placed onerous restrictions on who qualifies for the bonuses, when and how; so applying for or holding a Marriott card from Chase could make you ineligible for a bonus on a Marriott card from Amex, and vice versa. Add to that the fact Marriott has made at least a half dozen rounds of changes to their Bonvoy program, credit cards, and hotel categories in the past year+ (e.g., nerfing the earning rate of their credit cards, hotel category changes -- mostly up, peak/off peak points pricing, how fifth night free works, how points advance works, loss of elite nights from cards, loss of elite night qualifications from meetings, loss of mid-tier elite benefits, increase in credit card annual fees, etc.) that have resulted in many of their hotels costing more points than they did a year ago, their fixed value Free Night Certificates that come with their credit cards losing value as they become harder to redeem (not to mention the months it takes to actually receive them after an Amex Bonvoy card anniversary), and generally a poorer guest experience if you have only mid-tier elite status.
Marriott is interesting because after their merger with SPG, they have a lot of properties everywhere, and Marriott has a lot of unique, high-end aspirational properties. However, a lot of us have moved our business over to Hilton and Hyatt, which provide generally better guest benefits and value.
You should not start signing up for a hotel program's credit cards unless you have a plan for the points, know how many points you'll need for where and when you want to redeem them, as well as understand the restrictions that these cards may have for earning a signup bonus and what effect signing up for one of these cards will have on your broader strategy.