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


As a reminder, there are currently excellent offers for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card.

This time, there’s a nice boost from the previous set of welcome bonuses, and all points are awarded in the first year.

If you’re interested and eligible, be sure to check out the below offers, which are only available until May 6, 2024.

Amex Bonvoy Card: Earn Up to 85,000 Points

After resting at a lower welcome bonus of 55,000 points since Summer 2023, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card has bounced back with a great offer.

Currently, you can earn up to 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in the first year, structured as follows:

  • Earn 70,000 Bonvoy points upon spending $3,000 (all figures in CAD) in the first three months
  • Earn an extra 3 Bonvoy points per dollar spent on eligible gas and travel purchases, up to 15,000 points

In order to earn the second part of the welcome bonus, you’d need to spend $5,000 on eligible gas or travel purchases. Therefore, the best move would be to charge travel expenses to card in the first three months, as you’d be working towards the first part of the welcome bonus and the extra bonus category.

It’s worth noting that earning 70,000 points upon spending $3,000 in the first three months is still a great offer.

Based on our current valuations, we’d value Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents per point, meaning that we’d value 70,000 Bonvoy points at $560, and 85,000 points at $680.

However, they can indeed be redeemed for much higher value than that, if used strategically.

For example, 70,000 Bonvoy points could be enough for a one-night stay at an aspirational resort, such as Le Méridien Maldives, or at a higher-end property in Canada, such as JW Marriott Parq Vancouver.

Book Le Méridien Maldives for less than 70,000 points per night

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 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.

If you hold the following combination of Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit cards…

Canadian personal + Canadian business

15 elite qualifying nights

Canadian personal + US personal

15 elite qualifying nights

Canadian personal + US business

15 elite qualifying nights

Canadian business + US personal

15 elite qualifying nights

Canadian business + US business

15 elite qualifying nights

US personal + US business

30 elite qualifying nights

Amex US Bonvoy Brilliant + US business

40 elite qualifying nights

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.

Redeem your Free Night Award at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver.

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!



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