Amex Cobalt: Up to 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points via Membership Rewards

Have you already claimed the welcome bonuses on both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards? You cannot earn them a second time, because American Express applies a once-per-lifetime bonus rule. To keep building a Marriott Bonvoy balance, your best option becomes the American Express Cobalt^® Card.

In practice, you put your grocery and restaurant spending on the Cobalt (5 Membership Rewards points per dollar), then transfer those points to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1.2 ratio. That works out to the equivalent of 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar. In the first year, including the Cobalt welcome bonus, that adds up to 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. After that, the same budget earns roughly 54,000 points a year. And because this is a separate card, those points stack on top of the welcome bonuses from the Marriott Bonvoy cards.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points with Membership Rewards

Marriott Bonvoy points in Canada

With Marriott Bonvoy points, you can book free hotel nights at more than 7,000 hotels around the world.

The simplest way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is to apply for one of the two cards offered by the Marriott Bonvoy program in Canada:

But once you have earned 100,000 points, or even 200,000 points if you pool the points earned by a spouse or a friend into a single account, your balance stops growing easily.

To keep earning, you have to put your monthly spending on your Marriott Bonvoy credit cards or stay regularly at the group’s hotels, while taking advantage of the recurring Marriott Bonvoy promotions.

And do not count on cancelling and then reapplying for one of the Marriott Bonvoy cards: American Express closed that door in 2020. The one-bonus-per-lifetime rule is now fully in force.

So unless you move into U.S. credit cards to chase new welcome bonuses, as with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express^® Card, you will need other ways to accumulate points.

Membership Rewards points and Marriott Bonvoy

American Express Membership Rewards is the best-known flexible points program in Canada.

You can transfer Membership Rewards points to partners such as Marriott Bonvoy. The conversion rate is 1:1.2.

So 10,000 Membership Rewards points = 12,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

The strength of the Membership Rewards program is its six credit cards for individuals and small businesses, which means several ways to accumulate even more Membership Rewards points or Marriott Bonvoy points.

72,000 points with the Cobalt Card

One of the best credit cards in the Membership Rewards program is the American Express Cobalt^® Card. It earns the most points on everyday purchases such as groceries and dining, including food delivery and restaurants.

With the current Cobalt welcome offer on the American Express Cobalt^® Card, you can earn up to 15,000 Membership Rewards points, which is up to 18,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in the first year.

For every month in which you spend $750, American Express awards 1,250 bonus Membership Rewards points, or 1,500 Marriott Bonvoy points. Over 12 months, that comes to 18,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

And by concentrating that minimum spending in the categories earning 5x the points per dollar (groceries, food delivery, convenience stores, restaurants), you could accumulate at least 60,000 Membership Rewards points, or 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in a single year. That means spending at least $9,000 over the first 12 months, with the monthly breakdown shown in the table below.

Below you can see the number of Marriott Bonvoy points accumulated over 12 months with the American Express Cobalt^® Card in the categories earning 5x the points per dollar, which equals 6x the Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar once you transfer your points to that program:

72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for $9,000 of purchases in 12 months is a solid haul for Marriott Bonvoy collectors.

And even if you decide not to convert your 60,000 Membership Rewards points into 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, those points still hold a value of $600 against any purchase charged to the Card.

Good to know: the Cobalt welcome bonus, worth 18,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, is paid out in the first year only. In later years, the same budget earns roughly 54,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

This method is aimed mainly at people who have already claimed the welcome offers on the Marriott Bonvoy credit cards.

If that is not your case, start by applying for one of them, because the welcome bonus on offer is excellent:

Where the American Express Cobalt^® Card pulls ahead of the two Marriott Bonvoy credit cards is its earning categories at 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar, or 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar.

Groceries, food delivery, convenience stores, restaurants and bars: for every dollar spent you earn the equivalent of 6 Marriott Bonvoy points, where the Marriott Bonvoy cards give only 2 or 3 points.

More and more grocery chains now accept American Express (Metro, Super C, Giant Tiger, Safeway, Whole Foods, and others). And IGA has started accepting it at some locations.

So if, in the first year, you spend the required monthly minimum at those merchants earning 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar, you will earn 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Spend more and you earn more.

In fact, the only limit American Express imposes is $2,500 in monthly spending in the categories earning 5 points per dollar, or 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar. That works out to $30,000 a year, or 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a month and 180,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a year.

Measured against my own average budget for a family of two adults and two children, $1,000 a month in groceries, food delivery, SAQ and Amazon gift cards, and gas gift cards bought at the grocery store looks realistic. All the more so because hundreds of merchants indirectly qualify for 5 points per dollar through gift cards.

With that kind of budget, you could pull in 6,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a month, or 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a year.

That total of 72,000 Marriott Bonvoy points already includes the Cobalt welcome bonus, worth 18,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Run the numbers against your own monthly budget and spending categories.

What can you get with Marriott Bonvoy points?

As mentioned in the introduction: free hotel nights. The award chart, which used to have 8 hotel categories, is now dynamic. Prices therefore vary with high and low season, but also with the country and the hotel brand.

You can look at these examples in South Africa, in Morocco, in Bali, in the Philippines or in other countries.

It can also work well around the Disney parks, by staying outside the parks.

That adds up to serious savings on accommodation.

Conclusion

If you like the Marriott Bonvoy program and you have already claimed the welcome bonuses on both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards, the American Express Cobalt^® Card is your best option for quickly accumulating Marriott Bonvoy points.