Here’s why you need both a personal and business Marriott Bonvoy credit card

Editor’s Note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

One of the best perks of Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card Line is a free elite night credit you get each year — from 15 to 25 nights, depending on the card you have. For many years, this privilege was limited to one set of credits per Bonvoy account, no matter how many credit cards you have. That changed in 2020, with Marriott allowing its members earn up to 30 nights with both small business cards and personal cards.

In September 2022, This privilege gains even more value, as cardholders can now earn up to 40 elite night credits annually through the credit card. That’s a pretty good start to elite status each year.

If you’re still trying to figure out how best to take advantage of this policy, you’re not alone. And you might be trying to solve this problem before advanced bonus offers on two of these cards ends on January 11, 2023.

Today we’ll take a look at all the reasons why you can get more value with both the personal and small business Marriott card.

Since you can accrue elite night credits, be sure to keep both your personal Marriott card and your business card if you qualify. Most Marriott credit cards come with 15 annual elite nights – including free annual Marriott Bonvoy Bold . Credit Card. However, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers 25 elite night credits per year.

You may wonder why this is relevant when some Marriott cards, along with Platinum Card® from American Express, which also offers Gold Elite status or the ability to achieve higher status based on spending (registration required). The big difference is that this automatic status doesn’t grant you the corresponding number of elite nights — so you’ll still need to hit the normal threshold if you want to enjoy the program’s Choice Benefits or earn the status tiers. even higher.

Related: The complete guide to Marriott elite status with a credit card

If you regularly stay at Marriott properties, you can accrue these 15-25 elite night credits on your own travel to upgrade to the next elite tier faster.

When you stack credits between a personal business card and a business card — like Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card — you will have 30 elite night credits at the beginning of each year. Reaching Platinum Elite status takes 50 nights per year, which means you’re 60% of the way. You just need to stay another 20 nights (or earn nights through credit card spending on a Boundless card) to reach the next tier.

And once you’ve reached Platinum Elite status, the benefits can be incredibly valuable — including things like free breakfast and upgrade set.

Related: Why I love the Marriott Bonvoy premium card

For those who have Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, you can get free Elite Platinum status every year. This will give you benefits like room upgrades and free breakfast. However, you will not have the required number of stay credits (50) to earn annual selection benefits associated with Platinum status. This benefit allows you to choose from one of the following:

That said, the 25 elite night credits you earn on Bonvoy Brilliant can be stacked with the 15 elite nights offered by Bonvoy business cardallows cardholders to start each year with 40 elite night credits — like TPG chief content officer Nick Ewen, who is yet to set foot in a Marriott property in 2023.

That’s 80% of what you need to earn your First Choice Benefit option (stay 50 nights). That’s also more than half of the 75 nights needed for titan elite status. Reaching Titanium tier unlocks another Choice Benefit along with additional perks like the ability to upgrade to standard suites at Ritz-Carlton properties.

I said that before, but I’m willing to take as many Marriott credit cards as possible. This is because I get incredible value from the anniversary awards night certificate. All mid-tier Marriott credit cards offer a well-deserved anniversary bonus night up to 35,000 points. However, the premium Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card — with an annual fee of $650 (see rates and fees) — offers an annual awards night worth up to 85,000 points Every night.

TPG values ​​Marriott points at 0.84 cents per pointthat means 35,000 points worth $294—nearly three times the annual fee on those cards.

However, depending on how you travel, you could get even higher returns on these award nights. I used mine at Sheraton Grand Hyde Park in Sydneywhere we were upgraded to a large suite with a terrace during peak tourist season, and at The St. Regis Beijing for a room costs over $300 a night.

With Marriott moves to dynamic pricing, the usability of these prizes is more difficult to predict than in the past. However, these rewards can still be redeemed for more than the credit card’s annual fee, meaning that this benefit alone may justify keeping your Marriott credit card every year.

Related: Ouch: Not only you, Marriott hotels now have more points

There are two exceptions here. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card and Bountiful Marriott Bonvoy Card from Chase does not offer an automatic free night award every year. On both cards, you need to earn $15,000 in purchases per year, then you’ll get a Free night prizes worth up to 50,000 points.

Information about the Bountiful Marriott Bonvoy Card has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

In addition to the annual bonus nights and elite night credits, owning a personal and corporate Marriott card can earn you more points in some spending categories. All four Marriott cards earn 2 points per dollar on daily spending and 6 points per dollar at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels (except for the annual complimentary program). Bold Bonvoy; see details below).

Related: Which Marriott Bonvoy credit card is right for you?

But it is the additional bonus categories, most of which do not overlap, that can help you maximize your earnings:

So if you’re a huge Marriott fan and just want to focus your monetization strategy on Bonvoy points, you can have multiple cards and enjoy earning rates across several categories.

Related: Are you eligible for a new Marriott Bonvoy card? This chart tells you whether or not

Marriott made it so much easier qualify for elite status by allowing customers with both personal and business credit cards to earn two sets of elite night credits per year. In fact, many TPG employees started in 2023 with 40 elite night credits. This, plus the annual awards night certificates on these credit cards, makes it easy to keep both your personal and business cards in your wallet.

Related: Who qualifies for a business credit card?

Despite some ups and downs over the years, I still believe that there is a lot of value in Marriott Bonvoy program if you know where to look. For me, most of that value comes from four different Marriott credit cards that I keep in my wallet.

Register here: Marriott Bonvoy Bevy’s American Express Card
Register here: Marriott Bonvoy Bold . Credit Card
Register here: Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card
Register here: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card
Register here: Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card

For Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex prices and fees, please click this.

Additional reporting by Ryan Wilcox, Chris Dong, Christina Ly and Ryan Smith.