Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card

The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card is the sole hotel co-branded credit card in Canada aimed at business owners, and that’s already a main reason to have this card on your radar. Throw in an excellent signup offer, excellent year-to-year retention offers, and 15 qualifying nights each year, and this card is a winner.

Bonuses and Fees

The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card offers 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points upon spending $5,000 in the first three months, as well as 10,000 Bonvoy points upon making a purchase in months 14–17, for a total of up to 90,000 Bonvoy points.

The card has an annual fee of $150.

You can refer friends and family from the Marriott Bonvoy Card to the same card or the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, earning a referral bonus of 15,000 Bonvoy points each time, up to a maximum of 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in a calendar year.

Finally, supplementary cards are $50 apiece; as with all American Express cards, you’re allowed up to nine supplementary cards per card account.

Earning Rewards

In terms of the return on everyday spending, you’ll earn 5 Bonvoy points per dollar spent at all Marriott hotels, including room charges, food and beverages, and incidentals.

One perk of the Bonvoy Business Card that’s not available with the personal version is that you’ll earn 3 Bonvoy points per dollar spent on gas, dining, and travel purchases.

Meanwhile, you’ll earn 2 Bonvoy points per dollar spent on all other purchases.

I’d only ever consider using the Bonvoy Business Card on the 3x category of gas, dining, and travel, and even then, there are better cards out there if you truly wanted to optimize (such as the American Express Gold Rewards Card for gas and travel or the American Express Cobalt Card for dining).

Redeeming Rewards

As one of the only major hotel brands to offer a co-branded credit card in Canada, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card makes Marriott the preferred brand of choice for most Canadians when booking hotels around the world.

All Marriott hotels are priced dynamically, depending on the season, and even the day of the week. That being said, there are some general ranges you can expect hotels to price at:

Low-end hotels: 5,000 points – 15,000 points per night

Mid-tier hotels: 20,000 points – 60,000 points per night

High-end hotels: 70,000+ points per night

Keep in mind that the “tier” the hotel falls into is also highly dependent on the market it’s in, so you can expect the Fairfield Inn and Suites near Disneyland, California to price at mid-tier levels even though it’s a limited service brand.

With the 70,000 points you earn as a sign-up bonus, you can stay for 5+ nights at low-end hotels, a few nights at mid-tier hotels, or maybe even one night at a high-end hotel.

Marriott’s “Stay 5, Pay for 4” policy makes one of the nights free on redemption bookings, further sweetening the deal with booking hotels on points.

Perks & Benefits

The Amex Bonvoy cards also offer unique benefits to make your stays at Marriott hotels more memorable.

Cardholders are rewarded with 15 elite qualifying nights within the program, which gives you instant Silver Elite status and can go a long way towards helping you qualify for higher status tiers.

On top of that, cardholders can also enjoy an anniversary Free Night Award worth up to 35,000 points on each card anniversary date, which, if redeemed wisely, can easily outweigh the $150 annual fee.

Insurance Coverage

The Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business Card offers practically identical insurance benefits to the personal version. Highlights include:

• Travel accident insurance, up to $500,000, for you, your spouse, and any dependent children under 23

• Flight delay insurance, up to $500, for hotel and restaurant expenses and other sundry items in the event of a flight delay

• Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance, up to $500, against the loss of personal items if your hotel or motel room is burglarized

In addition, as a card geared towards small business owners, this card also offers coverage of up to $10,000 in case of permanent, total disability to you as a sole proprietor as the result of an accidental injury. Hopefully you’ll never have to make that particular claim!

Historical Offers