Amex Bonvoy Playing cards: New Provides for As much as 90,000 Factors

If you’d rather redeem your points towards more modest accommodations, 70,000 points should be enough for two nights at a mid-market hotel, five nights at a decent hotel in an emerging market, or 10+ nights at the most affordable redemptions the Marriott Bonvoy program has to offer.

To maximize this offer and earn the full 85,000 points, you won’t have to pay the annual fee for the second year. However, there’s a strong argument to be made for keeping the card for the long term, due to the annual Free Night Award worth up to 35,000 points.

Ideally, you could time your application in advance of a number of hotel stays, thereby working on the minimum spending requirement while sticking with the 5x multiplier at Marriott properties. 

Indeed, this card is one that we recommend to have as a key part of your credit card travel strategy.

The listed end date for this offer is May 6, 2024, so be sure to apply before then to take advantage of this elevated offer.

Amex Bonvoy Business Card: Up to 90,000 Points

Meanwhile, the new offer on the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card has a slightly higher welcome bonus, and a slightly higher minimum spending requirement, too.

By applying through a refer-a-friend link, you can earn up to 90,000 Bonvoy points, structured as follows:

• Earn 75,000 Bonvoy points upon spending $6,000 in the first three months
• Earn an extra 2 Bonvoy points per dollar spent on eligible gas, dining, travel purchases, up to 15,000 points

To maximize the second part of the welcome bonus, you’d need to spend a total of $7,500 on eligible gas, dining, and travel purchases in the first six months. 

Therefore, the best move would be to charge as much to these categories in the first three months to work on both parts of the welcome bonus.

As with the personal version of the card, the first part of the welcome bonus is lucrative on its own; however, it’s worth noting that the minimum spending requirement is double that of the personal version.

The business version has a $150 annual fee, which is $30 higher than the personal card, and the additional 5,000 points will help to offset that difference.

Plus, you’ll get another annual Free Night Award worth 35,000 points, starting with your first anniversary as a cardholder.

The Bonvoy cards are great choices as keeper cards, since the value of a Free Night Award worth 35,000 points will easily exceed the $120 annual fee on the personal card or the $150 annual fee on the business card.

The sooner you get started with these cards, the better.

As with the personal version of the card, the current offer is set to expire on May 6, 2024, so be sure to apply before then to take advantage of the elevated offer.

Amex Bonvoy Cards: 15 Elite Qualifying Nights + Anniversary Free Night Award

In terms of the cards’ earning rates, you’ll earn the following:

• 5 points per dollar spent at Marriott hotels
• 2 points per dollar spent on all other purchases

On the business card, you’ll also earn 3 points per dollar spent on gas, dining, and travel purchases.

It’s best to use Canadian Bonvoy cards purely for spending at Canadian Marriott hotels, as the 5x earnings are unbeatable there. However, you can prioritize other cards with higher earning rates for other general purchases.

(Marriott hotels outside of Canada are also not ideal, thanks to the card’s 2.5% foreign transaction fee. If you have a US-issued Bonvoy cards for foreign hotel bills, you won’t get dinged on the foreign exchange fee.)

Both the personal and business Marriott Bonvoy cards offer 15 elite qualifying nights towards your Marriott Bonvoy status every year. By holding onto one of them, you’d only need to complete 35 elite qualifying nights to reach a total of 50, where Platinum Elite status and all of its associated perks start to pay off.

Unfortunately, the two sets of 15 elite qualifying nights cannot be stacked into 30 – that’s only possible with the US-issued personal and business cards, not the Canadian ones.

As mentioned above, the most meaningful perk on the Bonvoy card is the anniversary Free Night Award, which you’ll earn upon renewing the card for a second year.

These are worth up to 35,000 Bonvoy points each, so a smart redemption here would easily outweigh the card’s $120 and $150 annual fees.

You’re also able to top-up your Free Night Award by up to 15,000 Bonvoy points, thus booking a property that’d otherwise cost up to 50,000 Bonvoy points.

Conclusion

The latest round of welcome offers for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card are for up to 85,000 and 90,000 Bonvoy points, respectively. 

These offers are amongst the best we’ve seen in the past few years, and once you’ve unlocked the welcome bonus, both cards are certainly worth keeping around for the long-term.

This round of offers is set to expire on May 6, 2024, so be sure to apply before then to boost your Bonvoy balance!