
Best for business rewards
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
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With a high hotel rewards rate and convenient bonus categories, this card makes a great business travel partner.
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4.7
Bottom line
Thanks to complimentary benefits like a free anniversary night and gold elite status, this card is a solid pick for small-business owners looking for a travel rewards card with hotel-specific perks.
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If you frequently travel for business and are an avid Marriott fan, then the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card may be right for you.
It not only earns rewards on travel and select everyday purchases, but it also comes with valuable perks like an automatic free night stay when you renew your card (and get charged an annual fee) each year. It also comes with automatic Gold Elite status and 15 Elite Night credits to help you get to the next elite level faster. Since your rewards must be redeemed for travel, points can be used for hotel stays, upgrades and a variety of hotel experiences at over 7,000 hotels worldwide. They can also be transferred to one of Marriott Bonvoy’s airline or car rental transfer partners.
Despite the impressive levels of value and flexibility, the card may not be a great fit for all your business travel needs. If you tend to stay at more than one hotel brand when traveling, you may not spend enough time at Marriott to get the best value out of the card and justify its annual fee. Plus, like most hotel rewards cards, the value of your rewards isn't worth as much as the points you can earn with a general travel rewards credit card, which tends to offer greater flexibility and value, though you lose out on the hotel-specific perks.
The card’s complimentary Gold Elite status unlocks a number of valuable features, such as late checkout, room upgrades and more.
You can earn one Free Night Award (valued at 35,000 points or less) every year after your card renewal month.
The points you earn are transferable to 38 travel partners, giving you more options when redeeming rewards.
The $125 annual fee could be hard to justify if you don’t take advantage of the card’s best perks.
Some of its redemption options are far less valuable compared to what other rewards cards offer.
This hotel card comes with a solid welcome offer, given its modest annual fee. For a limited time through May 3, 2023, you can earn 125,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points after you spend $5,000 in your first three months of card membership (offer ends 5/3/23). Based on Bankrate’s latest point valuations, Marriott points are worth about 0.7 cents apiece on average, which gives this offer a value of about $875 if you redeem for Marriott stays.
Provided you do some planning, you can make your Marriott Bonvoy rewards go a long way. What’s great about the Marriott Bonvoy® program is that you can earn unlimited points, though you will need to either earn or redeem points at least once every 24 months to ensure your points don’t expire.
You’ll earn the most points by staying at participating Marriott Bonvoy locations — 6X Marriott Bonvoy Points. You also receive Gold Elite status, a perk that could help you earn 25 percent more points than regular members on every eligible hotel purchase. This makes the card highly rewarding and incentivizes continued stays at hotels in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.
The Marriott card also offers 4 points per dollar for purchases in popular spending categories such as restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and U.S. shipping purchases, making it a fantastic option for small business owners who want to build points quickly.
Points can be redeemed in several ways, though award nights at one of Marriott Bonvoy’s hotels could get you the best value, especially if you can take advantage of your elite status and get a room upgrade.
Marriott recently switched to a dynamic pricing model, so the number of points you’ll need for a free one-night stay will vary based on a variety of factors, including where and when you book. If you have flexibility about when you travel, you can use Marriott’s PointSavers program to stretch your rewards. Just choose “flexible dates” when searching for a stay, and Marriott will show you discounted rates if available. If you don’t have enough points when booking a room, you can take advantage of the Points + Cash redemption option.
The Marriott Bonvoy Business card also comes with an extensive transfer program. This program allows points redemption for flights and car rentals across a global network of travel partners, giving you more options and flexibility that you’ll struggle to find with other hotel rewards cards.
But the overall value of your rewards will likely drop with these options. For example, your points transfer at a 3:1 ratio for most of Marriott Bonvoy’s airline transfer partners. This means three points earned with the Marriott Bonvoy business card are only worth one point when transferred to an airline loyalty program. On the bright side, Marriott Bonvoy will add 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer to select partners (excluding some partners, such as American Airlines, Avianca and Delta), which can make for a somewhat better transfer ratio of 2.4:1.
Each Marriott Bonvoy point is worth 0.7 cents according to Bankrate’s latest monthly point valuations. This is less than the standard credit card rewards point (1 cent per point) but a fair value among hotel rewards programs:
Rewards Program | Bankrate value* | Estimated value of 50,000 points/miles |
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World of Hyatt | 2.1 cents | $1,050 |
Wyndham Rewards | 0.9 cents | $450 |
Marriott Bonvoy | 0.7 cents | $350 |
IHG One Rewards | 0.7 cents | $350 |
Hilton Honors | 0.6 cents | $300 |
Best Western Rewards | 0.6 cents | $300 |
Radisson Rewards Americas | 0.4 cents | $200 |
It helps to know how much your points are truly worth based on your redemption option. When it’s time to redeem your points, divide the cash cost of your redemption option by the number of points it costs. This will give you the cash value of your points. If the cash value matches or beats our valuation of 0.7 cents, you’re getting a good deal on your Marriott points.
For example, if you book a room overnight at a five-star luxury Marriott hotel that costs $711 or 82,000 points, your points would be worth 0.9 cents ($711 / 82,000 = $0.0086). That beats the estimated value of 0.7 cents, so you’re getting a great deal. But if you redeem your points for a stay that costs $296 or 59,000, the value of your points drops to 0.5 cents ($296 / 29,000 = $0.005), which doesn’t match the estimated value you should expect for your rewards. In this case, it would be better to try and book a room with a better value or pay with cash and save your points for a better redemption option.
While this card comes with fewer benefits compared to a general travel rewards credit card, its hotel perks are so generous that you’ll easily make the $125 annual fee back if you’re a Marriott regular. This is great if you’re the type of business traveler who doesn’t fly frequently but still uses hotels as needed for your and employees.
This card’s annual fee of $125 is steep for small businesses that don’t require frequent travel, but it’s possible to offset the fee with the rewards you earn. As long as you can take advantage of the card’s bonus categories, you can offset the annual fee by spending about $3,000 per year at Marriott properties or about $375 across your 4X categories per month.
Although the card’s late payment fee is upwards of $39, there is no foreign transaction fee or over-the-limit fee. But you will have to watch out for the penalty APR. If you make two or more late payments in a year or fail to pay the minimum payment before the closing date of the billing period, you could get hit with a 29.99 percent penalty APR that will last for a minimum of 12 billing cycles.
Like many other premium travel rewards cards, the Marriott Bonvoy Business doesn’t offer a 0 percent introductory APR for purchases and balance transfers. Regular APRs for purchases range from 20.49 percent to 29.49 percent variable, which is hardly below the current average interest rate.
The Marriott Bonvoy Business card certainly has its perks, but if you prefer to stay with a different hotel brand or want a more versatile rewards card, you have options. Here are two alternative cards that could provide better value.
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When it comes to choosing between the Marriott Bonvoy Business card and The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card , it’s likely just a matter of which hotel brand you prefer. They both have similar features, but there are a few key differences. For example, the Marriott Bonvoy Business card gives you an automatic free night every year after your card renewal month (and annual fee charge), but you’ll have to spend $15,000 in eligible purchases to earn a free night with the Hilton Honors business card.
Despite the lack of an automatic free night, the Hilton Honors business card has its own features that help it to be a standout card. It charges a slightly smaller annual fee and offers higher bonus rewards for various purchases. Hilton Honors points aren’t as valuable as Marriott Bonvoy’s points, but the difference of 0.6 cents vs. 0.7 cents can be quickly erased since you can rack up an incredible amount of points a lot faster.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card can’t match the Marriott Bonvoy Business card when it comes to hotel perks. So frequent travelers and Marriott loyalists would miss out on the free nights, elite status and other cost-saving perks.
But what the Ink Business Preferred card lacks in hotel rewards, it makes up for with its rewards and versatility. It’s a business card that earns points generously for travel purchases, and those points can be redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal with a 25 percent bonus. You can also transfer your points to one of Chase’s travel partners, including Marriott Bonvoy.
With the right transfer partner, your Chase Ultimate Rewards points could jump in value from 1.25 cents (when redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal) to an estimated 2 cents each. That’s more versatile and valuable than the points the Marriott Bonvoy Business card offers, which are only worth an estimated 0.7 cents.
To optimize rewards for your business spending, pair your card with a cash rewards card with no annual fee, such as the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card. The Ink Business Cash will give you 5 percent cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases on office supplies and the ability to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to your Marriott Bonvoy account. This would be a great card to use to fill gaps in your spending that might otherwise earn you only 2X points with your Marriott Bonvoy Business card.
Additionally, pairing it with a flat-rate rewards business card like the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card might also be a wise option since you’ll be able to earn more rewards on expenses that fall outside your Marriott card’s bonus categories.
From hotel perks to complimentary protections, the Marriott Bonvoy Business benefits and rewards make this card an excellent option for a small-business owner who travels frequently and often stays at Marriott hotels. This card also has a good rate on restaurants worldwide and gas stations, which can earn points whether or not you are close to home.
But you must be happy to stay exclusively at Marriott Bonvoy properties, which shouldn’t be too much of a hassle because the program has a wide range of variety in their branded chains. However, if you’re after more variety in a rewards program, then a general travel rewards credit card may be more suitable.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Business, please click here.
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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.