AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Credit Card Review (2023.9 Update: 2 x 85k FN Offer)

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2023.9 Update: The card is now offering 2 Free Night Awards each can be redeemed up to 85k points value per night, after $6000 spend in 6 months. This offer ends on 11/01.

2023.8 Update: The higher offer is expired. The current offer is only 95k.

2023.6 Update: The new offer is 150k+50k: earn 150,000 Marriott points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months; plus, earn 50,000 Marriott points after you stay 6 eligible paid nights at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy through 1/31/24. Offer ends 8/9/23.Application Link

Benefits

1. 2 x 85k FN offer: earn 2 Free Night (FN) Certificate redeemable up to 85k points on any Marriott Bonvoy hotel, after you make $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months. The recent best offer is 150k + 85k FN.
2. Marriott point is now the most flexible points (after the merger with SPG). We estimate that Marriott points are worth about 0.7 cents/point, see below for a brief introduction, so the 150k highest welcome offer is worth about $1,050.
3. Earn 6x Marriott points at Marriott hotels (including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and SPG brands). Earn 3x Marriott points at airlines and restaurants. Earn 2x Marriott points on everything else.
4. [New] $25 dining credit per month. That’s $300 in total per year.
5. [New] 25 Elite Night Credits every card membership year toward Marriott elite status. (They are not free night certificates!)  You will only receive Elite Night Credits from ONE Marriott co-branded personal credit card even if you have more than one Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton credit cards. You can get 15 more Elite Night Credits if you have a Marriott co-branded business credit card.
6. [New] Receive an annual free night that can be used in a Marriott hotel with a redemption level up to 85k Marriott points.
7. [New] Complimentary Marriott Platinum membership.
8. [New] Starting from 2023.1.1, if you spend at least $60k during the calendar year, you can choose one from the following:
   • 5 Suite Night Awards
   • Mattress and Box Spring $750 Discount
   • 85k Free Night Award (this should be the choice for most people)
9. Complimentary Priority Pass Select (PPS) card for the primary cardholder. (enroll here). You can bring 2 guests for free. Note that AmEx issued PPS cards no longer give restaurant credit (they can only be used in PPS airport lounges).
10. With this credit card, you can get access to Amex Offers, which often offers very good discounts at some stores. In the past we have seen offers like: Spend $15 or more and get $5 back at Walmart; Spend $75 or more and get $25 back on Amazon.com.
11. Up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre application fee.
12. No foreign transaction fee.
13. Refer a friend: You can earn 20,000 bonus Marriott points for every approved account you refer, up to 55,000 Marriott points per calendar year.

Disadvantages

1. [New] $650 annual fee, NOT waived for the first year. Note that the annual fee does not count towards the minimum spending requirement (and this is true for all credit cards)!

Introduction to Marriott Points

• Marriott points are the most flexible transferable points (After the merging with SPG, Marriott obtained all its airline partners).
• You can earn Marriott points with Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business, and the following cards that do not accept new applications but accept product change: Chase Ritz-Carlton, and AmEx Marriott Bonvoy.
• Marriott points are stored in your Marriott account, not in your credit cards, so you won’t lose your points by canceling the credit cards.
• Your Marriott points will expire if you don’t earn or spend any Marriott points in 24 months. As long as you earn make a purchase with the corresponding credit cards or stay in a hotel, or you redeem some points during the time frame, the point expiration date will be postponed accordingly.
• Marriott points can be transferred to a lot of airlines miles (you don’t have to have a Marriott related credit card to make the transfer), and the ratio is 3:1.25 (i.e. 3:1 transfer rate, plus you get 5k bonus miles for every 60k Marriott points you transfer at a time). The good options are: Alaska Airlines (AS) (Non-alliance), Japan Airlines (JL) (Oneworld), United Airlines (UA) (Star Alliance), American Airlines (AA) (Oneworld), All Nippon Airways (ANA, NH) (Star Alliance), Korean Air (KE) (SkyTeam), etc. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• Marriott points can also be redeemed for hotel stays obviously. Here’s the redemption chart: Marriott redemption chart. Generally speaking, you can get a better redemption value from lowest categories. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• In summary, we estimate that Marriott points are worth about 0.7 cents/point.

Recommended Application Time

1. You can only get the welcome bonus once in a lifetime, so be sure to apply when the historical highest offer appears.
2. Welcome offer not available to applicants who
   1. have or have had Chase Ritz-Carlton in the last 30 days,
   2. have acquired Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, or Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold in the last 90 days,
   3. or received a new Card Member bonus or upgrade offer for Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, or Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold in the last 24 months.
3. AmEx doesn’t typically care about the number of hard pulls.
4. You can try to apply for it when you have a credit history of 6 months.
5. Only 2 AmEx credit cards can be approved within 90 days, but this rule does not apply to charge cards. Multiple cards approved in the same day will only have one Hard Pull.
6. You can keep at most 5 AmEx credit cards, but this rule does not apply to charge cards.

Summary

After the revamp in 2022.9, the benefits improved a lot but the annual fee increased a lot. The biggest benefit is that you get complementary Marriott Platinum membership, which gives you breakfast. You no longer need to work for the number of nights. Plus, with this card, you earn 25 Elite Night Credit (which is more than other Marriott co-branded cards), If you also have the biz co-brand card which gives you 15 more Elite Night Credit, then you start with 40N every year, even Titanium membership will no longer be far away. However, the $650 annual fee is really high. The dining credit expires every month, which is quite annoying, we should discount its value to like $200 per year. Then it’s like you spend $450 equivalent annual fee to buy a 85k FN plus Marriott Platinum plus 10N (you get 25N with this card but other cards also gives you 15N). It will be worthwhile only if you truly need to stay in Marriott hotels a lot in the year.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Downgrade Options

After Applying

• Click here to check AmEx application status.
• AmEx reconsideration backdoor number: 877-399-3083. The “real” backdoor number of Amex is well protected. Different from Chase, the representatives from this AmEx reconsideration backdoor number only have the right to help you submit requests.

Historical Offers Chart

Application Link

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