In the milesopedia community, there is a question that comes up frequently:
Which credit card should I use in Marriott Bonvoy properties?
Some members often reply that it is more interesting to use the American Express CobaltMD Card for:
Because with the American Express CobaltMD Card, you can earn 5x points per dollar (that’s 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar).
In comparison, the two Marriott Bonvoy credit cards – the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card – earn “only” 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar for all spending at Marriott Bonvoy locations.
Except we forget Marriott Bonvoy credit cards’ combination with the points earned with the Marriott Bonvoy program!
With Marriott Bonvoy, you can earn up to 10 Marriott Bonvoy points for every US dollar spent at Marriott Bonvoy properties:
And members with an Elite status earn a 10% to 75% bonus in points!
To simplify things, this table show you how many points you’ll earn per US dollar spent based on your status.
Let’s take the example of a $500 US hotel bill paid with your Marriott Bonvoy credit card earning 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per CA dollar.
Knowing that the amount displayed on your credit card is in Canadian dollars and that American Express uses this amount to award your points, let’s do the conversion at the rate of 1 US$ = 1.35 CA$.
So our $500 US spend is equal to $675 CDN; you’ll earn 3,375 Marriott Bonvoy points (5 points per dollar).
To sum up, with a $675 CDN bill at a Marriott Bonvoy property, charged to a Marriott Bonvoy credit card, you can earn between 8,375 and 12,125 points, depending on your status.
We value the Marriott Bonvoy point at $0.009: this is a $75 to $109 value on a $675 CDN purchase.
So the ROI is from 11% to 16%!
And the principle will be the same for all other expenses made at a Marriott Bonvoy property such as:
Charge it to your room so Marriott Bonvoy can award you the points!
If you use a card like the American Express CobaltMD Card to pay at the hotel restaurant or bar, you’re missing out on this exceptional opportunity to earn Marriott Bonvoy points!
If you are not a hotel guest but eat at the hotel restaurant, try asking the waiter to add your Marriott Bonvoy account number to the bill.
In some hotels (especially those previously owned by Starwood Preferred Guest), it works! You will get 5x the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card points and the points awarded by Marriott Bonvoy for your consumption.
The two Marriott Bonvoy credit cards are quite similar in their features. They both offer:
The version for self-employed, professionals and small business owners, the Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card, however, stands out with an additional feature:
So it will be an interesting card to get if you make a lot of purchases in these categories.
Savings are here:
