Marriott Bonvoy Business Card Review 2026
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The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card offers a range of benefits that business owners who frequently stay at Marriott hotels will appreciate.
Its ongoing perks help you qualify for higher elite status, secure discounted rooms and grant you a free night (or two). It’s also a solid card for earning Marriott points and features a generous welcome bonus — just be sure you understand its convoluted eligibility rules.
If you’re in the market for a new business credit card or hotel card, here’s what you need to know about the Marriott Bonvoy Business card.
The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card gives business owners the opportunity to earn up to two free night awards every year and bonus points on common business expenses.
- Free Night Award every year you keep the card
- Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status
- 15 Elite Night Credits every year
- Annual fee is over $100
- Additional Free Night Award has a high spending requirement
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
- WELCOME OFFER: Earn 3 Free Night Awards after you spend $6,000 in purchases and an extra 2 Free Night Awards after you spend an additional $3,000 in purchases on the Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Each Free Night Award has a redemption level up to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points, for a total potential value of up to 250,000 points, at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Certain hotels have resort fees. Terms apply.
- Receive a 7% discount on eligible bookings as a benefit of being both a Marriott Bonvoy® member & a Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card Member when you book directly with Marriott through an eligible channel for a participating property under the Amex Business Card Rate.
- 6x points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.
- 4x points for purchases made 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.
- 2x points on all other eligible purchases.
- Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card renewal month. Plus, earn an additional Free Night Award after you spend $60K in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 points) at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Enjoy Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status with your Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card.
- Terms apply.
- See Rates & Fees
Balance transfer fee
Foreign transaction fee
Marriott Bonvoy Business card review
Welcome bonus
You’ll earn three Free Night Awards after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases and two additional Free Night Awards after you spend an additional $3,000 in eligible purchases ($9,000 in total) on your new card within the first six months of card membership.
Welcome bonus eligibility
American Express typically limits you to earning a welcome offer from a specific card once per lifetime. So if you’ve had the Marriott Bonvoy Business card before (or previous versions of it), you’re unlikely to be eligible for the card’s bonus offer. The good news is, Amex will let you know whether you qualify for the welcome bonus before your credit is pulled.
Since this is a co-branded Marriott card, and Marriott cards are issued by Chase and Amex, it has additional limitations. This welcome offer is also not available to anyone who:
- Has or has had the Chase Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Credit Card, Chase Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Business® Credit Card or Chase Marriott Rewards® Business Credit Card in the last 30 days
- Opened the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card or Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card in the last 90 days
- Earned a welcome bonus offer in the last 24 months on the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card or Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
Benefits
Anyone who wants to climb the Marriott Bonvoy elite status ladder will want what this card offers. For starters, you receive complimentary Gold Elite status. You also receive 15 Elite Night Credits every year you have the card. That’s a common perk for co-branded Marriott cards, but what makes this card’s Elite Night Credits special is that they stack with those you earn from consumer Marriott credit cards.
For example, if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, it comes with 25 Elite Night Credits every year. If you own both the Brilliant and the Bonvoy Business card, you’ll effectively earn 40 Elite Night Credits per year. That’s only 10 nights short of qualifying for Platinum status.
The card’s other valuable benefits include:
- 7% room rate discount on eligible Marriott bookings
- A Free Night Award (valid at hotels costing up to 35,000 points) every year after your card renewal month
- A second Free Night Award (valid at hotels costing up to 35,000 points) after you spend $60,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year
- Travel insurance and shopping protections
Rewards
Earning Marriott points
Purchases you make with the Marriott Bonvoy Business card earn Marriott Bonvoy points at the following rates:
- 6X points at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels
- 4X points at restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchases directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. shipping purchases
- 2X points on all other purchases
Redeeming Marriott points
The best way to use Marriott points is typically to directly redeem them for award nights. Using Marriott points this way is easy; simply log in to your Marriott account and search for the dates and location you’re interested in booking.
When you’re booking Marriott stays with points, keep in mind you can save points on reservations of five or more nights. With the Stay for 5, Pay for 4 promo, you only pay for four nights on points bookings of five nights. And you can earn multiple free nights for longer bookings, so for a 10-night stay, you would pay for eight nights (the two cheapest nights would be free).
You can also transfer Marriott points to an incredibly long list of 38 airline loyalty programs. While the transfer ratios for this redemption are poor (typically 3:1), you receive a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer (10,000 bonus miles for United MileagePlus transfers). That improves the transfer ratio slightly to 2.4 :1, which means you’ll receive 25,000 miles for every 60,000 points you transfer (in most cases). There are situations when this option is useful, especially if you can transfer in 60,000-point increments to maximize the bonus.
Marriott also partners with several niche airlines that aren’t available with other flexible rewards programs. That makes Marriott airline transfers helpful if you’re just short of having enough miles to book an award with certain airlines.
Rates and fees
Alternatives to the Marriott Bonvoy Business
Marriott Bonvoy Business card vs. Capital One Venture Business
The Capital One Venture Business could be a better travel business credit card for you.
The card earns at least 2X miles on every purchase and 5X miles on hotels (including Marriott properties), vacation rentals and rental cars booked through the Capital One Business Travel site. Although you can’t transfer Capital One miles to Marriott Bonvoy, you can use your miles to pay for Marriott stays booked through the Capital One Business Travel site. You can also redeem miles to offset travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per mile.
The card only has a $95 annual fee, which you can offset with two annual benefits. Every year, you’ll receive a $50 credit to use toward Capital One Business Travel bookings and up to $50 in credit for qualifying advertising or software purchases.
The main drawback to using the Capital One Venture Business for your Marriott stays is that it doesn’t have elite status benefits or provide the opportunity to earn free night awards.
The Capital Venture Business has a simple and lucrative rewards program because you earn at least 2X miles on every purchase and you can transfer those miles to travel partners.
- Earns flexible travel rewards you can transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Choice Privileges and Emirates Skywards
- Application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
- Up to $100 in annual credits
- Has an annual fee
- High spending requirement to earn the full welcome bonus
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
- Limited-time offer: Earn up to 150,000 bonus miles—75,000 miles once you spend $7,500 in the first 3 months, and an additional 75,000 miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions, and miles won’t expire for the life of the account
- Receive up to $220 in credits: Receive an annual $50 travel credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel, up to an annual $50 statement credit for purchases at qualifying advertising or software merchants, plus up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® every four years. Terms and conditions apply
- Unlimited 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Transfer your miles to 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Redeem your miles instantly for any travel-related purchases, from flights and hotels to ride-sharing services
- $95 annual fee
- Free employee cards which also earn unlimited 2X miles from their purchases
- Top rated mobile app
Marriott Bonvoy Business card vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
It earns 3X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases each year (then 1X points) in these categories:
- Shipping
- Advertising through social media and search engines
- Internet, cable and phone services
- Travel
While you can transfer Chase points to Marriott, you’ll usually get more value by redeeming for statement credits or using points to pay for travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal. That’s because both of those redemption options get 1 cent per point in value, whereas Marriott points are usually worth less than that (experts typically value them at 0.7 to 0.8 cents each).
Plus, Chase has so many other valuable partners, like Air Canada Aeroplan, United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is an excellent business card with useful benefits, valuable rewards and a generous welcome bonus.
- Earns flexible travel rewards you can transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs such as World of Hyatt, Southwest Rapid Rewards and many more
- Valuable welcome bonus worth $1,125 in travel when redeemed through Chase Travel
- Strong travel and shopping protections
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27.
- With Zero Liability you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more – your points don’t expire as long as your account is open
- Go further when you book with Chase TravelSM. Enjoy competitive rates, seamless booking and premium benefits.
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Receive complimentary access to DashPass by DoorDash.
- Member FDIC
Balance transfer fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
Is the Marriott Bonvoy Business card right for you?
The Marriott Bonvoy Business card is a good option for freelancers, independent contractors or other small business owners who value Marriott status and are extremely loyal to the brand.
Its Elite Night Credits stack with those you can earn from a consumer Marriott credit card, which is a big boost to your elite aspirations. Plus, you get a free night every year you renew the card and earn a second free night with a large amount of spending.
For anyone who doesn’t value elite perks with Marriott, other general travel credit cards earn rewards you can use for Marriott stays and give you many more options. Cards like the Capital One Venture Business and Chase Ink Business Preferred card provide access to award flights and nights with lower annual fees.
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For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, click here.
Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.
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