Quick highlights
- Rewards rate: 6X points at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels (up to 18.5X points through the Bonvoy loyalty program with Gold Elite status) and 4X points on worldwide restaurant, U.S. gas station, U.S. shipping and U.S. provider wireless telephone service purchases; 2X points on all other purchases
- Welcome offer: (Limited Time Offer) Earn 5 Free Night Awards, valued at up to 50,000 points each for eligible stays, after spending $8,000 of eligible purchases with the first six months of card membership. Offer ends July 10, 2024. Resort fees & terms apply.
- Annual fee: $125
- Purchase intro APR: N/A
- Balance transfer intro APR: N/A
- Regular APR: 20.99 percent to 29.99 percent (variable)
Current welcome offer
This hotel card comes with a terrific limited time welcome offer, given its modest annual fee. You can earn five Free Night Awards after you make $8,000 in eligible purchases within the first six months of card membership. (Offer ends July 10, 2024.) Each night carries a redemption value of up to 50,000 points, giving this bonus a potential value of 250,000 points. Though the spend requirement is higher, this offer is a slight upgrade from its previous signup bonus: three Free Night Awards after you make $6,000 in eligible purchases within the same timeframe.
While this offer carries solid potential redemption value, it's also much less flexible than some of the card's previous offers. Other Bonvoy Business welcome offers have granted points instead, which you could use more freely to book as few or as many stays as you could manage based on your preferences.
Rewards rate
Provided you do some planning, you can make your Marriott Bonvoy rewards go a long way. What’s great about the Marriott Bonvoy® program is that you can earn unlimited points, though you will need to either earn or redeem points at least once every 24 months to ensure your points don’t expire.
The Bonvoy Business’ unlimited rewards are an excellent value considering the only other Marriott card to offer complimentary Gold Elite status and similar rewards rates is the consumer Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card. That card has a $250 annual fee and a yearly rewards rate spending cap on certain categories.
How you earn
You’ll earn the most points by staying at participating Marriott Bonvoy locations — 6X Marriott Bonvoy Points. You also receive Gold Elite status, a perk that could help you earn 25 percent more points than regular members on every eligible hotel purchase. This means you’ll earn 18.5X points at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels (the 6X base rate plus 10X points as a Bonvoy member and another 2.5X points with Gold Elite status), making the Bonvoy Business one of the most rewarding credit cards for Marriott hotel stays.
The Marriott card also offers 4X points on purchases in popular spending categories such as restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and U.S. shipping purchases. All other purchases earn 2X points, so the Bonvoy Business can be a fantastic option for small business owners who want to build points quickly.
How to redeem
Points can be redeemed in several ways, though award nights at one of Marriott Bonvoy’s hotels could get you the best value, especially if you can take advantage of your elite status and get a room upgrade.
Marriott uses a dynamic pricing model, so the number of points you’ll need for a free one-night stay will vary based on a variety of factors, including where and when you book. If you have flexibility about when you travel, you can use Marriott’s PointSavers program to stretch your rewards. Just choose “flexible dates” when searching for a stay, and Marriott will show you discounted rates if available. If you don’t have enough points when booking a room, you can take advantage of the Points + Cash redemption option.
The Marriott Bonvoy Business card also comes with an extensive transfer program. This program allows points redemption for flights and car rentals across a global network of travel partners, giving you more options and flexibility that you’ll struggle to find with other hotel rewards cards.
But the overall value of your rewards will likely drop with these options. For example, your points transfer at a 3:1 ratio for most of Marriott Bonvoy’s airline transfer partners. This means 3 points earned with the Marriott Bonvoy business card are only worth a single airline point/mile when transferred to these loyalty programs. On the bright side, Marriott Bonvoy will add 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer to select partners (excluding some partners, such as American Airlines, Avianca and Delta), which can make for a somewhat better transfer ratio of 2.4:1.