LAST CHANCE: Get 40,000 points and a FREE NIGHT with the Marriott Bonvoy Amex card

UPDATE – SEPTEMBER 2023:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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Marriott Bonvoy is currently running an increased sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card.

Since we first covered this deal, we’ve also seen bonuses launched on the two Barclaycard Avios credit cards (10,000 and 50,000 Avios) and the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card (30,000 Virgin Points).

The Marriott Bonvoy American Express offer has been a little forgotten so I thought I’d push it again today.

What is the special sign-up bonus?

Until Tuesday 30th May 2023, so time is running out, the sign-up bonus is doubled from 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to 40,000 points.

This is worth roughly £200 of free Marriott stays based on our 0.5p per point valuation, or 13,333 Avios based on the 3:1 conversion rate. 

There is an extra carrot too. You will receive a voucher for a free night at any Marriott Bonvoy hotel costing up to 25,000 points. You can top this up to a maximum of 40,000 points using your Bonvoy points balance if you wish.

You can apply here.

The representative APR is 48.9% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.7% variable.

There is an annual fee of £75 per year.

What is the sign-up bonus?

Until 30th May 2023, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is doubled from 20,000 points to 40,000 points.

You will also receive a free night voucher, valid for one night costing up to 25,000 points at any Marriott Bonvoy hotel. You can top up the voucher with 15,000 points from your existing Marriott Bonvoy points balance to book a room costing up to 40,000 points.

You need to spend £3,000 within three months of joining to receive the bonus.

Do I qualify for the sign-up bonus?

To receive the bonus, you cannot have had a personal American Express card in the previous 24 months.

You CAN apply if:

• you currently have, or have had in the past 24 months, an American Express Business card

• you currently have, or have had in the past 24 months, a supplementary card on your partner’s American Express account

Neither of these scenarios count as ‘having had a personal American Express card’.

The Bonvoy card is a good place to (re)start if you are coming to the end of your Amex ‘fallow’ period.

If you get the Marriott Bonvoy American Express, you would still qualify for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus bonus AND The Platinum Card bonus at a later date.

What is the day to day earning rate on the card?

You will earn two Marriott Bonvoy points for every £1 you spend on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card.

Based on our average value of 0.5p per point per Marriott Bonvoy point, you are getting a 1% return on your spending. If you are smart in redeeming, however, you can do far better than this. I got 1.2p per point when I redeemed at The Ritz Carlton Al Wadi Desert resort in Ras Al-Khaimah in December 2020 for example, with cash rates at over £1,000 per night.

The earning rate at Marriott Bonvoy hotels is six Marriott Bonvoy points per £1. This is an excellent card to have if you spend a lot with Marriott in the UK, although you need to be wary of the 3% FX fee when abroad.

What other benefits does the card have?

The card benefits are outlined on the application page here.

15 elite night credits per year

You will receive 15 elite night credits in Marriott Bonvoy per year. The first batch of 15 nights should appear within a couple of weeks, with nights posting in January in subsequent years.

You may find it worthwhile paying the £75 annual fee purely to get the 15 elite nights.

Let’s take a look at the elite night credit in more detail. These are the ‘nights’ requirements for different levels of Marriott Bonvoy status:

• Basic Member: 0-9 nights
• Silver Elite: 10-24 nights
• Gold Elite: 25-49 nights
• Platinum Elite: 50-74 nights
• Titanium Elite: 75-99 nights

Because the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 15 elite night credits, you will receive Silver Elite status immediately.

If you want to earn Gold Elite status, you would only need to complete 10 nights at Marriott Bonvoy hotel in 2023. This is because you will receive a further 15 elite night credits next January (and every January thereafter) and the qualification level for Gold Elite is 25 nights.

15 elite night credits also makes it a lot easier to push on to Platinum Elite or Titanium Elite.

To progress, you will only need:

• 35 additional nights for Platinum Elite (as you get 15 nights for free)
• 60 additional nights for Titanium Elite (as you get 15 nights for free)

Platinum Elite is where it gets interesting.  You can see the list of Platinum Elite benefits on the Marriott website here but to summarise the relevant ones:

• You get Executive Lounge access when the hotel has a lounge

• You get a 50% bonus on your base points on every stay

• You get a room upgrade, including suites, if available 

• You get a welcome amenity – which can include restaurant breakfast if the hotel has no lounge or you would prefer to use the restaurant (this article explains the Bonvoy breakfast benefit by brand)

• You get a GUARANTEED 4pm check-out except at convention and resort hotels

However you look at it, Platinum Elite is a good package.

50 nights is a stretch unless you are travelling heavily each week.  35 nights, on the other hand, is manageable for a lot of people.

If you believe that you could comfortably do 35 Marriott Bonvoy nights per year then it is worth paying £75 for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card in order to secure Platinum Elite status.

The 15 elite nights per year also count towards lifetime status.

You receive Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy

Because you receive 15 elite night credits per year, you are guaranteed to keep Silver Elite status for as long as you hold the card.

This is because Silver Elite is triggered at 10 nights per year and Marriott will give you 15 elite nights per year just for being a cardmember.

The benefits of Silver Elite are not huge, of course.  You can see the different Marriott tier levels here.

The key benefits of Silver Elite status are:

• 10% bonus on base points earned
• ‘Priority’ for late check-out requests

…. and that’s it, at least in terms of stuff you will find genuinely useful.  It isn’t a lot but it should stop you getting the room overlooking the bins.

You get Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status for spending £15,000 in a card year

There is a second way of earning Gold Elite status.

Instead of doing 10 elite nights per year, you will also be promoted to Gold Elite by spending £15,000 per membership year on the Marriott Amex.

You get a free night voucher you get when you spend £25,000 in a year

This sounds great, given some of the luxury properties in the Marriott portfolio.  However it can only be used at hotels which costs up to 25,000 points per night.

This isn’t much.  For comparison, the very top Bonvoy redemptions can now cost 120,000 points per night.

The good news is that Marriott will allow you to ‘top up’ your free night voucher with up to 15,000 points from your Bonvoy account. This allows you to use your free night voucher to book a hotel costing up to 40,000 points. This should get you a room selling for £200.

The sign-up bonus can be converted into 13,333 Avios or other airline miles

If you do meet the criteria to qualify for it, you will receive a sign-up bonus of 40,000 Bonvoy points if you apply for the card by 30th May.

40,000 points is good for around £200 of free hotel nights or will convert into 13,333 miles with over 40 airlines including Avios and Virgin Flying Club.

Now that Emirates, Etihad, American and United no longer have UK credit cards, the Marriott Bonvoy Amex is the best way to earn miles in these programmes.  There are also 30+ other airlines who never had a UK credit card, such as Air Canada, where this credit card is the best way to earn miles in the UK from day to day spend.

Conclusion

For the next five days, you can get a doubled sign-up bonus if you sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card.

Marriott will even thrown in a free hotel night on top.

If you qualify, 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points is well worth a look. This should get you a free hotel night worth around £200, and potentially more if you are strategic.

You will also receive Silver Elite status for as long as you hold the card.

Irrespective of whether you qualify for the bonus, for anyone who can easily do 35 Marriott nights per year, the ability to receive 15 elite night credits will make the Marriott Bonvoy American Express worth getting. It makes Platinum Elite status – the sweet spot – achievable.

You can apply for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card here.

Remember that you need to apply by Tuesday night to get the special bonuses.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.