Link: Apply now for the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Marriott Bonvoy has quite a portfolio of credit cards, thanks to agreements with American Express and Chase. It can be overwhelming for many to decide which card makes the most sense.
While there are a few personal credit cards to choose from, there’s only one Marriott business credit card, so I wanted to take a closer look at it in this post. Long story short, if you’re going for Marriott Bonvoy elite status, this is definitely a card you’re going to want to have.
In this post:
Marriott Bonvoy Business Card Basics For March 2024
The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card is Marriott’s business credit card. Is this a card worth having, and under what circumstances? Let’s look at the welcome offer, annual fee, and much more.
Five Free Night Awards Welcome Offer
For applications through March 20, 2024, the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card has a limited time welcome offer of five free night awards after spending $8,000 within the first six months. Free night awards can be redeemed at properties participating in Marriott Bonvoy, for a standard room costing up to 50,000 points. Certain hotels have destination and resort fees.
Personally I value Bonvoy points at ~0.7 cents each, so to me, 250,000 points are worth $1,750. Now, I’d apply some discount to the value of this bonus, since free night awards give you less flexibility. However, this is still an exceptional bonus, in line with the best offers that we’ve seen on this card.
Marriott Credit Card Eligibility Restrictions
Given how many American Express and Chase Marriott cards there are, there are some pretty complicated restrictions regarding eligibility for this card.
First of all, the welcome offer isn’t available to those who have had this card or had the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express.
On top of that, the welcome offer is not available to applicants who:
- have or have had the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Business Credit Card from Chase in the last 30 days
- have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase in the last 90 days
- received a new card member bonus offer in the last 24 months on the the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase
For those with excellent credit, I find Amex business cards to be incredibly easy to be approved for. Anecdotally most people I’ve heard from have reported instant approvals on this card, so it really shouldn’t be very tough to be approved for, even if you haven’t gotten many business cards in the past. Just make sure you know that:
- You can be approved for at most two Amex cards in 90 days
- You can have at most five American Express credit cards at any point (this doesn’t include cards without a preset spending limit)
See this post for all major credit card application restrictions to be aware of.
$125 Annual Fee
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex has a $125 annual fee (Rates & Fees). You can add additional card members at no additional cost.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
The Bonvoy Business Amex has no foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees), so it could be a good option for your purchases abroad.
Amex Offers
One of the great features of Amex cards is access to Amex Offers, which gives members savings on purchases with all kinds of retailers. There’s huge value to be had in getting as many Amex cards as possible to get these offers on multiple cards.
Earning Points With The Marriott Business Card
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Card has some bonus categories that could prove useful for your business spending, though overall, this isn’t a credit card that I’d recommend using for most of your business purchases. There are much more generous business cards out there in terms of the points offered.
6x Bonvoy Points At Marriott Hotels
The Marriott Business Card offers 6x Bonvoy points for spending at Marriott hotels globally. For many businesses, this will be a worthwhile bonus.
Since I value Bonvoy points at ~0.7 cents each, that’s the equivalent of a ~4.2% return on hotel spending. Personally, I still prefer to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) for my Marriott hotel spending, as it offers 3x Ultimate Rewards points.
4x Bonvoy Points In Select Categories
The Marriott Business Card has some bonus categories that offer 4x Bonvoy points, including for purchases with:
- Restaurants worldwide
- U.S. gas stations
- Wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers
- U.S. purchases for shipping
Based on my valuation of ~0.7 cents per point, that’s a ~2.8% return on spending, which is pretty good but not amazing when you consider some other cards out there. There are other particularly good cards for restaurant and gas station spending.
2x Bonvoy Points On All Other Purchases
The Marriott Business Card offers 2x Bonvoy points on all other eligible purchases. I don’t consider 2x points per dollar spent to be especially compelling since I value that at a return of ~1.4%, and there are better cards for everyday spending.
Marriott Bonvoy Business Card Perks
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Card offers a variety of perks that could more than offset the annual fee. It could be worth picking up the card primarily for the perks, without spending all that much money on it. Let’s look at some of the benefits the card offers.
Annual Marriott Free Night Reward
The real perk that makes the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card worthwhile on an ongoing basis is that you get a free night award every year on your account anniversary, valid for a one-night hotel stay at a property costing up to 35,000 points.
It’s also possible to top off these awards with up to 15,000 points to stay at a more expensive property, which gives this perk even more flexibility.
These free night certificates are an exceptional deal, and one of the main reasons I think this card is worth having. Marriott is the world’s largest hotel chain, so regardless of your preferred hotel program, just about everyone may find themselves in a situation where this could come in handy. I consistently redeem this certificate at hotels costing $250+ per night, more than double the card’s annual fee.
Complimentary Marriott Gold Elite Status
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Card offers complimentary Gold Elite status. This offers some useful perks, like 25% bonus points, 2PM late check-out (subject to availability), enhanced Wi-Fi, a room upgrade subject to availability (to non-suites), etc.
15 Elite Nights Toward Marriott Status
Another great status perk for having the Marriott Business Amex is that you get 15 elite nights toward status annually just for having the card. Note that several co-branded Marriott credit cards offer this, and you can only receive the benefit once on a personal card and once on a business card.
In other words, if you have three personal Marriott cards, you wouldn’t get 45 elite nights, but if you have one personal and one business, you can earn 30-40 nights!
This makes it more attainable to earn Platinum Elite status long-term, where status gets valuable, as you start receiving complimentary breakfast and suite night awards.
Platinum Elite status requires 50 nights, so if you have this card, you’d only need to earn an additional 35 elite nights, and if you also had a personal card, you’d only need to earn an additional 10-20 elite nights, depending on which card you got.
This is a reason you want to get this card — if you don’t have the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, then you won’t be able to earn 30-40 elite nights toward status annually just from credit cards.
7% Marriott Room Rate Discount
I wouldn’t get too excited about this benefit, but the card offers a 7% Marriott room rate discount. Simply log into your Marriott Bonvoy account as the primary cardmember, and you should see the “Amex Biz Card Member Rate” listed.
Why do I say you shouldn’t get that excited? Because this will generally be 7% off the standard flexible rate, and not off the lowest rate you’d otherwise have access to. You’ll likely often find cheaper AAA rates, advance purchase rates, etc.
So this is something to be aware of, but not something I’d necessarily expect to use regularly.
Is The Marriott Business Card Worth It?
Many great small business credit cards exist, so is the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card right for your business? First, let me say that I wouldn’t be using this as a primary business credit card for spending. That’s because the card doesn’t have an industry leading rewards structure for business spending.
That being said, I think the card is worth applying for, and I also think it’s worth having the card for its perks. More specifically, I value the annual free night award significantly more than the card’s annual fee, so that alone is enough reason to get the card, in my opinion.
Let me cover a couple of other aspects of this card — how does this compare to Marriott’s personal cards, and what other business cards should you be considering?
Marriott Bonvoy Personal Vs. Business Card
When it comes to Marriott’s mid-range credit cards, there’s the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, and then there’s the personal Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (review).
If you’re trying to decide between the cards, which should you go for? There are a few primary differences in terms of the value:
- The business card has some bonus categories that earn 4x points, while the personal card has some 3x earning potential
- The business card’s annual fee is $30 higher ($125 rather than $95)
- The business card is significantly easier to be approved for, since I find Amex is much easier with approvals than Chase for those with excellent credit
- The business card can earn you an incremental 15 elite nights per year beyond what you earn on personal cards
Personally I think the business card is the better option, given the incremental 15 elite nights you can earn, plus the card not counting toward Chase’s 5/24 limit, in case that’s a consideration.
What Is The Best Business Credit Card?
If you’re looking for the single best business credit card out there, I highly recommend the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review). The card has a great bonus (and these points are much more valuable than Marriott points), has a reasonable $95 annual fee, offers 3x points in useful categories, and more.
You simply can’t go wrong with this as your business rewards card.
Bottom Line
The Marriott Bonvoy Business Card is a strong contender for a business card to hold onto long-term. The 15 elite nights toward status (which can be stacked with a similar offer on a personal card), as well as an annual free night award, are a great value proposition. Add in the great bonus, and there’s a lot of merit to applying for this card.
If you want to learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card or apply, follow this link.
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees).
AX Marriott Business 35K cert gets me a free night next month in Fairbanks, Alaska...prepaid price is $347...that's almost triple the cost of the card.
I like having this card because it is my only AMEX CC. I value the $20 primary rental car coverage you can get aith Amex and the partner offers. I just took advantage of the $60 credit when you spend $300 at a Marriott today.
At this point its too hard to figure out all the Marriott iterations and limitations to even consider another Bonvoy product
Sorry Lucky but this is a really terrible article for multiple reasons. First of all, you blatantly lie and say that "there's only one Marriott business credit card," when in fact Chase also has Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business credit card, and yes it's open for applications, and I have both of these business cards. The fact that you compare this business card to a Marriott personal card but not the other Marriott business credit...
Sorry Lucky but this is a really terrible article for multiple reasons. First of all, you blatantly lie and say that "there's only one Marriott business credit card," when in fact Chase also has Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business credit card, and yes it's open for applications, and I have both of these business cards. The fact that you compare this business card to a Marriott personal card but not the other Marriott business credit card is just bizarre.
Furthermore, since you're comparing this card to Marriott personal cards, shouldn't you mention that the standard offer for the Bonvoy Boundless card is exactly the same right now (5 free nights up to 50,000 points each), but it only requires $5000 in spend rather than the $8000 under the card you’re promoting?
It's so obvious that you're only promoting this card because of an affiliate link, but at least give the correct information and provide fair comparisons rather than cherry-picking examples to make this offer look better than it actually is.