[Ends Tomorrow!] Limited Time Offer: Earn 5 Free Nights On The Marriott Bonvoy Business AMEX, Stack Elite Night Credits With Marriott Consumer Cards

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Limited Time Offer: Earn 5 Free Nights On The Marriott Bonvoy Business AMEX, Stack Elite Night Credits With Marriott Consumer Cards

Terms and restrictions apply, see rates and fees here.

Limited time welcome bonus:

Through 3/20, you can earn 5 free night awards for opening the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card and spending $8,000 in 6 months.

Each night can be used at hotels that go for up to 50,000 points per night. You can also add up to 15,000 top-off points onto each certificate.

The certificates will expire 1 year after they are issued.

Annual fee: 

$125

Comparison to previous welcome bonus:

The previous welcome bonus was for 75K points or 3 free nights.

Welcome bonus terms: 

You won’t get the welcome bonus on this card if:

1. You have or had an active Chase Marriott business card in the past 30 days.
2. You were approved for a Chase Marriott Boundless, Bountiful, or Bold card in the past 90 days.
3. You received a signup bonus for a Chase Marriott Boundless, Bountiful, or Bold card in the past 24 months.
4. You have or previously had this card or the Starwood Business AMEX.

As with all AMEX cards, if you’re an existing AMEX cardholder, there is typically no hard credit pull for applying for a card.

You officially won’t get the welcome bonus on this card if you have or have had this card, though readers have reported success after several years.

You can tell if you are eligible for an AMEX welcome bonus by simply applying. If you are not eligible for the bonus you will get a popup notification after clicking to apply for the card. At that point you can decide whether to proceed or cancel the application before it is actually processed.

You must keep the card active without closing or downgrading it for at least 12 months.

Card earnings: 

• 2 points per dollar everywhere
• 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers, and on U.S. purchases for shipping
• 6 Marriott points per dollar at Marriott hotels.
• There are no foreign transaction fees.

Spend Threshold:

You’ll need to spend $8,000 on this card within 6 months.

You can pay your federal taxes for a 1.82% fee. If you overpay your taxes you can request a refund or apply it to your next year’s taxes.

My local natural gas company allows me to prepay up to $1,000 on a credit card for a $1.65 flat fee. That’s a great way to earn miles and help meet a spend threshold. My electricity supplier allows me to pay with a credit card for free as long as I am enrolled in autopay.

Discount on Marriott stays:

Marriott business cardholders now receive 7% off the standard paid rate at Marriott hotels. This discount is applied automatically when logged in.

Elite status: 

This card offers Gold Elite status, which gives 25% bonus points, 2pm late checkout, a points amenity, room upgrades, and more.

Stackable elite night credits: 

You’ll also get 15 elite night credits for having the card.

You can get 15-25 elite night credits for having a Marriott consumer card and 15 elite night credits for having this Marriott business card, for a total of 30-40 elite nights.

You can’t get 2 sets of elite night credits if you only have consumer cards or only have business cards, but if you have this card and any consumer card you will be able to stack both sets of credits.

If you have 40 elite night credits, you’ll need just 10 more elite night credits from stays, promotions, or spending on select cards to earn a Platinum choice award such as 5 suite award nights. At 75 credits you’ll earn Titanium status and a Titanium choice award such as a 40K free night or 5 more suite award nights. The credits also count towards earning lifetime status.

Airline transfer bonus:

You can transfer increments of 60K Marriott points into 20K-25K airline miles or 30K miles with United.

Marriott has dozens of valuable airline transfer partners, such as Aegean, Alaska, American, JAL, Qantas, and dozens more!

You can find Marriott transfer partners and ratios here.

Miles from these airlines can be very valuable and hard to get from other sources. For example JAL miles allow you to book awards on Emirates, AA, and BA with discounted or no fuel surcharges as well as mileage bargains. Alaska miles opens up bargains on airlines like El Al, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas with no fuel surcharges and they allow 2 free stopovers on awards.

AMEX Offers:

Earn statement credits at stores that you register for in your AMEX account.

AMEX protections: 

• An additional year of warranty coverage, double the original manufacturers warranty, and if you have any issue in the extended warranty year they’ll pay to have it fixed or refund your entire purchase price without a hassle. This benefit is far more valuable than warranty benefits offered by other banks.
• If you need to dispute a charge there’s nobody who makes it easier or as pain-free as American Express does. It’s the easiest dispute resolution process in the industry by leaps and bounds and you can do it all online.
• If your item is stolen or broken within 90 days you’ll be covered.
• Complimentary Shoprunner 2 day free shipping and return shipping on hundreds of websites.
• Secondary car rental CDW protection worldwide and primary available for $19.95/rental.

Premium Internet Access:

Cardholders get free premium in-room internet at Marriott hotels.

Business vs Consumer card:

This business card offers several 4 point per dollar spending categories, something that is not offered on Marriott consumer cards.

While general spending is no longer as lucrative as it was with the old Starwood AMEX that earned 3 Marriott points per dollar, you can earn more than you were able to with the old Starwood card in U.S. restaurants, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers, and on U.S. purchases for shipping.

AMEX business cards don’t appear on your credit report. That’s good for several reasons.

First of all they won’t count against your 5/24 count for opening new Chase cards. Only cards on your report that have been opened within the past 24 months count for that.

Second, when you spend money on personal cards your credit score will be hurt even if you pay your bill on time. A whopping 30% of your credit score is based on credit utilization. You can pay off your card bill before your statement is generated to avoid that, but that takes effort and laying out money well before you have to. Additionally it’s good to have the statement close with a couple dollars to show the card is active and being paid every month. On an AMEX business card it’s just not reported, so you can wait until the money is due without it having a negative effect on your score.

Third, if you close a business card it won’t ever have an effect on your score.

You may already have a business that needs a card to keep track of expenses. For example if your name is Joe Smith and you sell items online, or if you have any other side business and want a credit card to better keep track of business expenditures you can open a business credit card for “Joe Smith” as the business. You don’t need to file any messy government paperwork to be allowed to do that.
Just be sure to select “Sole Proprietorship” as the business type and just use your social security number in the Tax Identification Number field

Anniversary night:

You will receive a free night upon every card anniversary valid at hotels that cost up to 35K points. Anniversary nights expire 12 months after they post to your account.

You can add up to 15K points onto certificates, so you can book hotels that go for up to 50K points per night.

Bonus night:

If you spend $60,000 in a calendar year you will receive an additional free night within 8-12 weeks of completing the spend requirement. The free night is also valid at hotels that cost up to 35K points. Bonus nights expire 12 months after they post to your account.

You can add up to 15K points onto certificates, so you can book hotels that go for up to 50K points per night.

Marriott Card Comparison Chart:

Dan’s quick thoughts:

This card is slightly more expensive than the Chase Boundless and Marriott Bonvoy consumer cards, but comes with Gold status and stackable elite night credits as well as discounts on Marriott paid stays.

The signup bonus is great if you can maximize the free nights.

Marriott points are certainly not what they used to be, but the 35K annual free night should more than cover the cost of the annual fee.

Will you apply for this limited time offer?