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If you’re interested in quickly collecting a fat stack of Marriott Bonvoy points, opening the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card is a good move. After you meet the card’s minimum spending requirements you’ll earn a bonus 75,000 Marriott-point bonus.
But that’s just what you get from this business credit card’s welcome offer (one of the few hotel credit cards for businesses). The card also comes with all sorts of other goodies that can save you money or make your travel more comfortable and make the card worth paying its $125 annual fee (see rates and fees). So let’s take a look at all of the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business card benefits.
Benefits and perks
The Bonvoy Business card comes with a 75,000-point welcome bonus after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Plus, earn up to $150 back in statement credits on eligible purchases made within the first three months of card membership. The card has a $125 annual fee that is not waived the first year.(see rated and fees). But as you’ll see, it’s loaded with benefits and perks that can easily be worth much more than the annual fee.
Free night awards
Every year after your account anniversary you’ll receive a free night award that is good at participating Marriott hotels that cost up to 35,000 Marriott points per night. And you can even earn a second free night if you spend $60,000 or more on your card in a calendar year. This free night award is also only valid at Marriott hotels that cost up to 35,000 points per night.
Category 5 Marriott hotels cost 35,000 points per night for a Standard award night. So, for example, you could book a weekend getaway at a hotel like the Renaissance Santo Domingo Jaragua Hotel & Casino, as long as it wasn’t charging peak prices which top out at 40,000 points per night.
Earn bonus Marriott points
Every purchase you make with your Marriott Bonvoy Business card will earn Marriott points to put toward your next stay. You’ll get six Marriott points per dollar spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, four Marriott points per dollar spent at U.S. gas stations, at U.S. restaurants, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers, and on U.S. purchases for shipping. Any other purchase you make will earn two points per dollar.
Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver elite status
As long as you have the Bonvoy Business card you’ll receive automatic complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver elite status. Marriott Bonvoy Silver status comes with perks like, 10% bonus points on eligible Marriott purchases, priority late checkout (when available) and a Dedicated elite reservation line.
You’ll also have the ability to earn Marriott Bonvoy Gold elite status if you spend $35,000+ on your card in a calendar year. Marriott Gold elite status gets you access to upgrades to enhanced rooms (when available) and 25% bonus points on eligible Marriott purchases.
15 bonus elite-night credits every year
Every year you keep the card you’ll get 15 free elite-night credits. This is a nice head start toward the next elite status levels. You’ll only need 10 more elite nights in the same calendar year to earn Marriott Gold status or 35 additional elite night credits for Marriott Platinum.
This is a nice bump and can be extra valuable if it’s the difference between earning Gold or Platinum status in a year. Platinum status gets you access to suite upgrades and you’ll get free breakfast as well. Keep in mind that if you have more than one Marriott Bonvoy credit card with the 15 elite night credit bonus, they won’t stack. So you can’t ever get more than 15 elite night bonus credits from card perks.
Free premium internet
You’ll get complimentary premium internet access at participating Marriott hotels. This can be a lifesaver (and money saver) if the standard internet access is slow because premium access can easily cost $10+ a day at some hotels.
Stay for 5, pay for 4
One valuable feature of the Marriott Bonvoy program is “Stay for 5, pay for 4”. This is a benefit available to all Bonvoy members, not just cardholders, but it’s valuable enough to be worth mentioning here. With this perk you’ll get the lowest night for free on any award stay of 5 or more nights. And you can get more nights discounted for every five nights of your stay. So for a 10-night stay the two lowest priced award nights will be free.
No foreign transaction fees
If you need to use your Marriott Bonvoy Business card overseas it’s no problem because you’ll be charged no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees).
Easily track business expenses
Running a small business is hard enough by itself – and that’s before you get to the bookkeeping. With the Marriott Bonvoy Business card, you’ll have access to the American Express® Business App, which stores receipts you upload for up to seven years, or until you close your account.
In addition, you can use the Connect to QuickBooks tool which will give you an opportunity to match uploaded receipts to purchases. Personally, I know I spend way too much time manually inputting transactions into QuickBooks.
Return protection
If you try to return an item purchased with your Marriott Bonvoy Business in the past 90 days and the merchant won’t accept it, you could be covered by your card’s return protection. For eligible purchases, you could be refunded up to $300 per item and up to $1,000 per calendar year.
ShopRunner membership
As an Amex card, the Bonvoy Business comes with a free ShopRunner membership that normally costs $79 per year. With a ShopRunner membership, you’ll get free 2-day shipping at 100+ online stores. That could end up being a lot of savings from a perk that costs nothing extra.
Baggage insurance
When you pay for your entire fare with your Marriott Bonvoy Business card you (and your immediate family members) will get secondary coverage for damaged, stolen, or lost luggage. You’ll be covered for up to $1,250 per person per trip, but some “high-risk” items, like sports equipment, jewelry, and cameras are only covered up to $500.
You can read the full benefit terms here.
Car rental insurance
For car rentals of 30 or fewer days, you’ll get secondary coverage for theft or damage to the rental. This insurance will cover you up to a maximum of $50,000 per rental agreement. Just note, it doesn’t apply to certain larger vehicles or expensive cars, you can see the specifics in the terms here.
Free employee cards
If you’ve got employees, you can get them an employee card on your account at no extra cost (see rates & fees) and the best part is that all eligible employee purchases made with their card will earn rewards.
Plus, you can set spending limits, which makes it easier for you to manage their spending.
Access to Amex Offers
If you don’t already have an Amex card you’re missing out a lot of potential savings with Amex Offers. Amex Offers are targeted discounts that you attach to your card from your Amex account. These include savings for everything from hotels and airfare to gas stations and restaurants and because these deals are added directly to your card you can stack them with other discounts, like online shopping portal discounts.
It wouldn’t be hard to save more than the cost of your annual fee by taking advantage of just a few Amex Offers.
Overall value
You can reasonably expect to get .8 cents in value per Marriott points (based on our valuations), so this card’s bonus is worth ~$600. I don’t value Marriott Silver status at all since none of its benefits actually save you any money and as a stand alone benefits the 15 elite-night credits only have value if they get you over the hump into Marriott Platinum status (free breakfast).
The most valuable perk is the card’s annual free night certificate, which I give a value of at least $125, the same as the card’s annual fee. Because the second free night certificate requires such a large amount of spending I don’t think it will have value for many readers. That gives us a total first year value for the Marriott Bonvoy Business of $600.
Bottom line
The Marriott Bonvoy Business is the only business card that earns Marriott points and as a business American Express credit card it won’t appear on your personal credit report. That means that this card won’t add to your Chase 5/24 count.
You do need a business to apply for this card, but qualifying for a business card is easier than you may think. If you need helping completing the application read our step-by-step guide on filling out an Amex business card application.
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Featured photo by Joseph GTK/Shutterstock.
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