Does anyone have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex?

[WDWkristin]

I saw on tik tok that the Canadian Marriott Bonvoy Amex has a yearly fee but then you get a free night’s stay per year worth more than the fee. I think this would be handy for our drive down to Disney. Has anyone used this? I was also wonder If anyone knows when they do their 80,000 welcome points promo. Right now it is 50,000.

 

[hcortesis]

I saw on tik tok that the Canadian Marriott Bonvoy Amex has a yearly fee but then you get a free night’s stay per year worth more than the fee. I think this would be handy for our drive down to Disney. Has anyone used this? I was also wonder If anyone knows when they do their 80,000 welcome points promo. Right now it is 50,000.

I do. Got it mostly to use at the Ritz but like most other reward cards, the value of the points has been decreasing and decreasing. Have not used the free night bonus as I believe it is 35,000 points and I tend to stay at higher point cost hotels. I think you can use those 35K points as a "deposit" towards a more expensive hotel. Not sure. Still sitting on a couple of hundred thousand points, mostly from sign up bonuses and I know I need to use them soon before they become worthless. Well, almost useless.

 

[kristabelle13]

The free night certificate (FNC)is 35K points and you can supplement it up to 15K points to book free nights 50K or less.

I’ve used the free night certificates in Hawaii, Anaheim, NYC, Seattle, London, Whistler, and Kananaskis.

Points are generally valued between 0.7 and 0.8 US cents each - so any room where the cash price is over somewhere between $245 and $280USD for 35K points would be considered a decent return. Alternatively, you can factor in the annual fee into those calculations if you choose.

One caveat, you cannot use the FNC as part of a 5th night free with points. (Ie. The 4 nights must be paid with points only- a FNC won’t trigger the 5th night free). But you can use it as the 6th night on the same reservation. That’s usually my go to move. I get three FNC per year (Amex MB Personal, Amex MB Business + Titanium choice gift for staying 75 nights/year)

 

[Alison S]

I'm also a new user.
If you're using it to pay for Marriott hotel stays, you can rack up the points quickly. I had 6 nights booked in Residence Inns back in January and between points from using the amex + points from my Marriott Bonvoy membership, I received around 20k points- enough for a 1 night hotel stay (worth around $250). Even with the fee, I've saved about $125 there.
Then I received the 50+5k promo. I think the 80k was quite awhile ago. I've used those points to book one hotel room that is $550/night.
I have not received the free night yet so I'm not exactly sure how that works!
Between all of this, I still have 28k points left and I'll be getting more from my upcoming hotel stay.
I don't think the card it worth it if you're not using it for Marriott hotels due to the lower point earn rate.

The downside is that it really pushes you to stay in Marriott hotels. I have to force myself to not book them when they're not the best choice, lol. If you have some travel in the future exclusively in Marriott hotels, it may be worth it to you!
(My referral link)

 

[WDWkristin]

We like to stay at mid range hotels on our drive to Disney (2 nights each way) so it sounds lit a good fit for us. A $245 hotel room in the middle of nowhere on the drive is sleeping in the pent house suite

 

[Alison S]

We like to stay at mid range hotels on our drive to Disney (2 nights each way) so it sounds lit a good fit for us. A $245 hotel room in the middle of nowhere on the drive is sleeping in the pent house suite

The bonus points will go a long way if you're staying at cheap hotels. I often see places for 10,000 points locally. You can see if it's worth it to you to keep it after the first year.

 

[WDWkristin]

Ooh 10,000 would be amazing. I should plan my stops around low point areas!

 

[Alison S]

Don't forget to keep checking back to see if the price dropped! I like using the website (not the app) for this. You can modify and check to see if the price or points has gone down and change your booking easily. I have a booking this summer in TO and it's gone down from like $2300 to $1800. I just keep checking every week or so! Of course, don't make a non-refundable booking and do this!

One thing that annoys me is that the Marriott branded airport hotel that I'd use a few times a year is ridiculously expensive. It's a courtyard and it's always 28,000 points (or $400) no matter what. I've decided that it makes more sense to stay at a non-Marriott one for a much cheaper cash rate. This annoys me because when I look at other Canadian airport hotels the courtyards or other brands are much more normal prices!

 

[peacefrogdog]

I've used the free night to book hotels for pre-cruise stays, or to have a room to sleep the evening of flight arrival before checking into a Disney or Universal hotel the next day. The $120 CDN annual is always less than what it would have otherwise cost even for these relatively cheaper hotels (e.g. springhill suites, Townplace suites, Residence inn etc.). It's especially worth it in Miami where hotels tend to be pricer than those in Orlando.

While I keep the Bonvoy card for the reason above, I find the Amex cobalt a better card for everyday use because you can get 5X multipliers of Amex Rewards points for food purchases, and the Rewards points are more flexible. For example, you can use those rewards to redeem for Aeroplan (at a 1:1 ratio), other airlines, or for Bonvoy points (I can't recall exchange off hand, but they offer periodic discounts for Bonvoy points one to two times per year).

 

[DL1WDW2]

We have used the Free Night at the Gaylord near WDW during the holidays .
Really enjoy our stays …