If you travel regularly on business and prefer to stay at Marriott-branded hotels, having the new Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card is a serious option to consider, thanks to its numerous benefits and generous welcome offer.

Now that you have access to more than 6,700 hotels under the Marriott Bonvoy™ loyalty program and changes in spending categories, you’ll have more ways to earn and redeem points with this new card.

The Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card comes with the travel and purchase benefits you want with an American Express-branded card. It also comes with tools that help you manage you and your employees’ expenses on the card, plus access to concierge services that are helpful while on the road.

The Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card is a great option for those who are Bonvoy loyalty program members. If not, then you may want to look at another travel-branded card, such as the American Express^® Business Gold Card, which gives businesses more spending flexibility, better ways to earn and redeem points and doesn’t tie you to the Marriott brand.

• Welcome offer

  Earn 75,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

• Free night award

  Every year on your card anniversary, cardholders will receive a free night award at a participating Marriott Bonvoy hotel for a redemption level of 35,000 points (not including any resort fees).

  And if you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year, you’ll earn another free night award of the same value.

• Automatic Gold Elite status

  Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card holders receive complimentary Gold Elite status, which includes priority late checkout when available and 25% bonus points on stays, among other perks.

  Additionally, the card offers 15 Elite Night credits every year to help you move up to the next status level.

• Generous rewards rate outside of Marriott stays

  What sets the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card apart from many of its competitors is its generous rewards rate for purchases made outside Marriott stays: 6x Marriott Bonvoy Points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program. 4x points at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping. 2x points on all other eligible purchases.

• Points transfer opportunity

  Another big attraction is the ability to transfer Bonvoy points to more than 40 airline frequent flyer programs, mostly at a 3:1 ratio. You also receive a 15,000-point bonus every time you transfer 60,000 points to a participating frequent flyer program.

To see the rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, please click here.

• Annual fee

  The annual fee for the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card is $125. That said, if you take advantage of the welcome offer in the first three months of having the card, that effectively negates the annual fee the first year.

• Limited travel benefits

  The travel benefits are limited with the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card. Compared to many other American Express travel rewards cards, the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card does not come with some standard coverage, such as for trip cancellation, interruption or delay protection or even cellphone protection.

To see the rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, please click here.

Compare it to the American Express^® Business Gold Card

 

If you don’t want to be tied to one hotel loyalty program and want more flexibility in earning and redeeming miles, you may want to consider the American Express^® Business Gold Card as an alternative to the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card.

Earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.* For ongoing rewards, get 4X Membership Rewards® points on the 2 select categories where your business spent the most each month*.

It’s nice that you can choose two spending categories to earn higher rewards, including airfare purchased directly from airlines, advertising in select media (online, TV, radio), purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions, gas stations, restaurants and shipping.

Note that there’s a $150,000 yearly cap on your chosen spending categories; after that, it drops to a point per dollar spent, even on employee cards.

Like the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, the American Express^® Business Gold Card comes with business tools such as free employee cards, an account manager, access to the American Express® Business App and the ability to transfer transaction data from your online statement directly into a QuickBooks account.

Transfer your Membership Rewards® points to 18 airline and three hotel loyalty programs. Use your points for travel, gift cards, online shopping and paying for points on websites like Amazon.com, Ticketmaster.com and Walmart.com. You can also donate your points to charities through Just Giving.

When you book flights at American Express Travel using Membership Rewards Pay with Points, you’ll get 25% of them back, up to 250,000 points back per calendar year.

The card comes with the Pay Over Time option, which lets you carry a balance with interest on purchases of $100 or more. And it doesn’t come with a pre-set spending limit, giving you flexibility when it comes to purchasing power.

The American Express^® Business Gold Card offers most of the same travel and purchase benefits as the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card.

Get access to travel discounts and amenities when you enroll in The Travel Collection by Travel Leaders Group at no additional cost. Plus, the Hotel Collection offers cardmembers a $75 hotel credit on qualifying charges, plus a room upgrade upon arrival when available, at americanexpress.com/hc.

All this comes at a higher annual fee of $295.

To see the rates and fees for the American Express^® Business Gold Card, please click here.

The Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card offers a generous welcome offer, higher points in spending categories that are important to businesses and some nice travel and purchase perks. If you’re loyal to the more than 6,700 properties under the Marriott family, you can redeem those points for hotel room and upgrades, along with travel, gift cards and unique experiences.

But if you don’t want to be tied to using your points with Marriott and its partners, the American Express^® Business Gold Card may be a better option.

Its higher annual fee comes with more benefits than the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, including an ability to choose which spending categories you want for higher points, stronger tools to help manage your business and extra travel, purchase protection and business perks. It also has more ways to redeem your points with the Membership Rewards program.

Marriott has done a good job beefing up the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card. And its welcome offer is a great way to entice new cardmembers. But you must be loyal to Marriott hotel brands to get the most out of this card.

To see the rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, please click here.
To see the rates and fees for the American Express^® Business Gold Card, please click here.

The information related to Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.

The information related to Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.