The Best Credit card for Professionals, Self-Employed and SMEs

Marriott Bonvoy is the largest hotel group around the world with over 8,000 properties. Marriott Bonvoy has partnered with American Express to offer 2 credit cards in Canada:

• One for consumers : the Marriott Bonvoy^MC American Express^MD card
• One for businesses (professionals, self-employed and small businesses): the Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card

Unlike the consumers version which only has 2 categories of purchases, our Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card card has a ^3rd category allowing us toearn 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar on:

• All our travel purchases (hotels, airplanes, car rentals, cruises…)
• All our gas purchases / at gas stations
• All our restaurant / bar bills

Add to that all the other purchases a company can make! On our side, it is for example:

• Membership in a professional order (the Ordre des Pharmaciens du Québec accepts payment by American Express card through Paypal)
• subscriptions to services (telephone / internet, online accounting software, Google Apps, iCloud…)
• our computer equipment
• our office supplies
• …

For everything else, we use our Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD credit card on Plastiq.com to pay other vendors.

Some of our expenses realized on Plastiq:

• Canada Revenue Agency
• Revenu Québec
• GST / QST
• Accountant
• Website development agency
• External consultants
• …

We stay at Marriott Bonvoy hotels very regularly and use our Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card to pay for these stays (when we are not using our points).

By doing so, you earn 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar! And that goes for any expense at a Marriott Bonvoy-owned property:

• night in a hotel
• services received in the establishmentcenter businesscenter, spa…)
• meeting room rental
• event organization
• restaurants, bars

By using your Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card to pay for them, then you too could earn 5 Marriott Bonvoy points / dollar!

Each year, our Marriott Bonvoyᵐᶜ Business American Express^MDcard provides us with a night-status credit to our Marriott Bonvoy account.

With this, one immediately obtains the Silver Elite status, which gives the right to :

• Priority late departure
• 10% points bonus on stays
• Free Wi-Fi

Also, these 15 nights-status allow us to advance more quickly to the next status. As a result, only 10 nights (25 nights) are required to achieve Gold Elite status during the year.

The Gold Elite status allows you to

• A 25% points bonus on stays
• Upgrade to a superior room
• Late check-out until 2pm

Or Platinum Elite status – only 35 nights left in the year (50 nights total).

With the Platinum Elite status, you get many benefits including

• 5 Annual Upgrades in a row
• Lounge Access
• Free breakfasts

Six to eight weeks after the anniversary date of the American Express card account, we get a free night certificate. It is deposited directly into our Marriott Bonvoy account.

It is possible to exchange this certificate for a free night of up to 35,000 points plus a top off of 15 000 points. Plus, you can combine it up to 15,000 points, to get a free night worth up to 50,000 points.

If used properly, this certificate can represent several hundred dollars!

Take a look at what we were able to get recently during a trip to Europe. A 4 star hotel on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice that would have cost more than 500 CA$ per night!

Did you know that? The annual fee for your business credit card is considered a“management and administration fee”.

So they can be deducted on your return on line 8871, if you use your Carte Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card for business expense purposes!

Do not hesitate to consult your tax advisor on this subject!

This card is not exclusively reserved for executives of large companies.

In fact, as long as you have an activity that generates income or business expenses, you may be eligible for this card .

This is the case, for example, for professionals or self-employed workers who declare their business income and expenses in their annual personal income tax return to Revenu Québec or the Canada Revenue Agency.

We could add to this the range of benefits offered to American Express members (such as Front of the Line), regular promotional offers – now available online – or the travel insurance offered by the card .

In short, all these reasons make the Marriott Bonvoy^MC Business American Express^MD card is, in our opinion, the best credit card for professionals, self-employed or small businesses in Canada!

To learn more or to apply for, click here!