I was flying United Polaris business class back to North America from Norway and Nick was slumming it across the Atlantic in AA economy when news broke about new Marriott credit cards and changes to existing ones. Tim covered the news. I thought Tim’s coverage was awesome. If you haven’t already read his post, please do so now: Marriott releases its new card lineup — Is it a Bevy of Bountiful Brilliance? In that post, Tim accurately described the two new $250 Marriott cards as buzzkills (sticking with the “b” theme); and he justifiably crowned the Ritz card as the clear winner in this shakeup (and Nick followed up with a post dedicated to that idea). Where I diverge from Tim is his assessment of the Bonvoy Brilliant. He wrote “To me, this seems like a fair-ish upgrade, if not a home run.” Really Tim? To me, it’s a foul ball.
Here are the details about the Bonvoy Brilliant card, side by side with the original and my predictions published in August:
| Before 9/22/22 | Greg’s Guesses | Brilliant Reality | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $450 | $650 | $650 |
| Statement Credits | $300 Marriott Spend | $300 Dining ($25 / Month) | $300 Dining ($25 / Month) |
| Free Night Award | 50K Certificate | 85K Certificate | 85K Certificate |
| Free Night w/ Spend | N/A | 85K Cert after $50K Spend | 85K Cert after $60K Spend (as a choice benefit) |
| Annual Choice Award | N/A | After $50K Spend: Choose 50K points, 40% bedding discount, gift set, gift Gold status, or 15% off Ritz Yacht Collection | After $60K Spend: Choose 85k Free Night Award, Five Suite Night Awards or $750 off a bed on Marriott Bonvoy Boutiques |
| Automatic Elite Status | Gold Elite | Platinum Elite | Platinum Elite |
| Elite Status w/ $75K Spend | Platinum Elite | Titanium Elite | None |
| Automatic Elite Credits | 15 Elite Nights | 25 Elite Nights | 25 Elite Nights |
| Earnings from Spend | 3X airfare charged by airline; 3X US restaurants, 6X Marriott; 2X on all other eligible purchases | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Travel benefits | Priority Pass Select with 2 free guests + Global Entry fee credit | Unchanged | Unchanged |
I get why Tim described the Bonvoy Brilliant changes as a fair-ish upgrade. For $200 more per year, the cardholder gets automatic Platinum elite status, an 85K free night certificate instead of 50K, the ability to earn another 85K cert with $60K spend, and 10 extra elite nights towards status. For those who previously thought that the $450 annual fee was worth paying, it’s not a stretch to say that $200 more is peanuts compared to the benefits that are possible with these enhancements.
So, why am I so bummed by this bounty of brilliant benefits?
First, let’s review why $650 may be too much to pay for a Marriott credit card…
- Dining credits: Sure you can get $300 back each year by using your card to pay dining expenses, but keep in mind that it means missing out on valuable rewards from other cards. In my case, for example, I earn 5x for dining with my Citi Prestige card. For this $300 spend, I’d have to settle instead for 3x (far less valuable) Marriott points in order to pass Go and collect $300. To be sure, this isn’t a huge problem, but it’s the reason that I don’t value the $300 at full face value.
- 85K certificate: If Marriott continues to increase hotel award prices with abandon, then this criticism will be moot, but for now only the highest end properties cost 85K to 100K per night. This means that many people doing ordinary travel will use their certificates for less than 85K value. If you use your certificates at hotels that cost 60K points per night, then the value of an 85K cert over the old 50K cert is only 10K points. It’s still unquestionably better, but my point is that it won’t always be used for 35K points more value.
- 25 elite nights: The fact that this card offers 25 elite nights instead of 15 means that it will be easier to get to 50 elite nights in order to earn a Choice Benefit selection. Unfortunately, the only 50 night selection that’s worth taking for most people is the 5 Suite Night Awards. And even more unfortunately, it seems like most Marriott hotels don’t accept those awards. For me, they often go unused. The 25 nights is a bigger benefit for those who are working towards 75 night Titanium status. In addition to getting more perks (like United Premier Silver status), at 75 nights you can choose a 40K free night award as your Choice Benefit. For those seeking Titanium status, one way to play this is to select 5 elite nights as your 50 night Choice Benefit. That way, if you also have a Marriott business card (which gives you an additional 15 nights), you’ll only need to stay 30 nights per year at Marriott hotels to get 75 night Titanium status.
So… it really depends on your situation whether the $650 Bonvoy Brilliant card is worth its annual fee. Will you earn the $300 in dining credits without much trade-off? Will you use the 85K cert toward great value? Do the 25 elite nights matter to you at all? For some and maybe even for many, the answers to some of these questions will be yes and it will make sense to get and keep this card. My bet, though, is that for most people it simply doesn’t make sense to pay that much for this card. But that’s not why I’m bummed about this card…
The spend is the thing.
I was excited about the rumored changes to the Bonvoy Brilliant because finally there was going to be a Marriott card where it makes sense to earn points through credit card spend. The rumor had it that with $50K spend we would earn 50K bonus points as a Choice Benefit plus an automatic 85K cert. With the card earning 2X for most spend, that meant that $50K spend would have resulted in at least 150K points plus a second 85K cert. That would have been an excellent deal. If you think of the 85K cert as being worth 50K points (it’s not worth 85K because it is limited in many ways that points are not), then the rumored card would have earned the equivalent of 4x on the first $50K of spend each year. With points on average worth about 0.75 cents each, that’s like earning 3% back on $50K spend (or much more for those who are good at cherry picking good value awards). I would have been all in on that deal.
With the actual not so brilliant Bonvoy Brilliant changes, if you value 85K certs at 50K points, you will get nearly the equivalent of 3X points on exactly $60K spend. Heck, to make things simple, lets assume that the 85K cert is worth 60K. In that case, $60K spend nets 3x. At a value of 0.75 cents per point, that’s only 2.25% back. Yes, you can do better by cherry picking valuable awards, but I’m not sure it’s a trade-off I’m willing to make. Think of it this way: $60K spend will get you 120K points plus an 85K cert. You could use that cert plus the 120K to stay two nights in an excellent hotel that costs 100K points. That sounds pretty good until you compare it to other options for that spend. For example, you could spend $60K on the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Ink Business Unlimited card in order to net at least 90,000 points. If you transfer those points to Hyatt, you’ll have enough for two nights at a top tier Hyatt hotel or 6 nights at a 15K per night hotel. And, unlike with Marriott, you won’t pay resort fees. Or you could spend the $60K on the Citi Double Cash card in order to earn 120,000 ThankYou points. Those points can be cashed out for $1,200 or could be transferred (for example) to 240,000 Choice points. You could use those to stay approximately a zillion nights in Nordic Choice hotels, half a zillion nights in Ascend Collection or Cambria hotels, or 4 to 5 nights in the best Preferred Hotels & Resorts. I could go on and on. My point is simply this: for most people there are better options for your spend.
So, get (or keep) the Brilliant card if its perks work for you. Think twice, though, if you’re thinking about spending $60K per year on the card. What other great perks would you be missing out on if you put the same spend on other cards?
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Greg and FM Team – I have seen some data points on -line that AmEx will no longer let you downgrade the Brilliant to the Bovy card – you can only go to the $250 annual fee card. Ouch!! That was my plan.
Thanks. Love your blog!! MLH
“ If Marriott continues to increase hotel award prices with abandon, then this criticism will be moot, but for now only the highest end properties cost 85K to 100K per night. “
Marriott: Hold my BonvoyBeer
Starting in 2023 there will be plenty of opportunities to max out the 85K certs.
Just got my email from Marriott:“Congratulations James. You’re Platinum Elite!”. Problem is that I already was Platinum, as part of Marriott’s Covid status extension (from 2021 status), and I would assume through February 2023 as they’ve stated already.
The question now is – if I cancel my Brilliant when it’s due this October (or after the 85k cert posts), will Marriott remember that I had Plat status before? Or will they just yank it and down to Gold I go?
Another thing, somebody on the Flyertalk thread pointed out that the T&Cs for the dining credits exclude transactions made with a wallet, such as Apple pay and I imagine that probably includes Square, etc which many restaurants use. I did a $25+ transaction at my local Pizza Place using Apple Pay and it posted in a way I haven’t seen before as “AplPay Pizza Fresh …”. The transaction just posted today, so I don’t know if it will eventually trigger the credit or not.
Here’s the relevant sentence from the terms on Amex’ web site, under the card, under the benefits tab, there’s a pop-up for terms on the $300 dining credits:
In addition, in most cases, you may not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet, through a third party, or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it.
WTF? I always use Apple Pay at restaurants and/or Square terminals or some other third party electronic reader when paying at food trucks and they’ve always generated the dining credits on every other card. If it doesn’t generate the dining credits I won’t even be renewing at $450, (My renewal should process in early December. at that time it should still be $450. $650 kicks in on Jan 1, I believe)
Notice it says “may”, so I don’t know if they are just giving themselves an out if it doesn’t post as dining or they don’t want to give up the benefit when there’s a third party wallet involved in the transaction. I guess I will eventually find out and others will report in the FlyerTalk thread. For now, it’s just adding more uncertainty to the usefulness of the benefit.
IMO, it’s enough of a pain in the butt to remember to go out of your way to first carry the card with you and use the stupid credits every month. I wonder how the conversation with the retention people will go at the renewal time?
Greg, have you considered if there’s any reasonable downgrade options? I already have the Amex Bonvoy Biz card (converted from SPG biz Amex) and the Chase Bonvoy Boundless card (formerly an older Chase/Marriott CC).
Ben from OMAAT is going gaga over the new benefits, but we all don’t travel like Ben.
My assessment is straightforward. Would I pay $350 ($650 fee – $300 dining) for an 85k/night room. The answer today is Yes. But if Marriott further de-values their points, that will likely turn into a No.
And for reference, I also have the Prestige and I’m close to earning LT-Platinum.
Amex
The cost of becoming Platinum by Amex is $650 a yr – minus benefits
– the 25$ a month restaurant credits- valued at half that = 150$ a yr
and a free 85k night worth at least 350$ easily
= total 500 benefits = about 150$ overall cost each year
Anyone staying more than 1 or 2 times at a good marriott with lounge benefits – e.g., in Asia will easily benefit from this
Chase
The cost of becoming Platinum by 75k spend on Ritz card on January every other year is
$450 a yr annual fee x2= 900 + lost cash of 75k spend = @2.625c = 1968.75 = total 2700$ at least for 2 yrs
Benefits 2 nights = 700$
+ 300$ airline rebates (value 200$ at least each year)
+ value of 150k marriott = about 1000$ -instead of buying them on sale at 0.7c =
Total 2100 benefits – so cost is at least 600 for 2 yrs = 300 a yr
Unlike the blogheads telling us how great the Ritz card has become, I think the Amex route is actually much better
“foul ball” 🙂 Spot on.
For me, it’s STEEERIKE THREEEEE….
To paraphrase the immortal words of Phillies legendary pbp man Harry Kalas, that card “is outta here.” (as in “outta my wallet” –– after the current year up.)
This decision would be a lot easier for me if I knew how much $$ I value platinum status. Not being an Marriott loyalist I see us booking maybe 7 nights a year at a Marriott that didn’t already have free breakfast. And even then I could often just switch to a Hilton ( with Diamond status ) or Hyatt ( GOH ) if I really wanted the perks.
Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know, I noticed the Bonvoy Brilliant now has cell phone protection.
P.S. I might switch my cell phone payment from the Freedom Flex to this card, partly also to stay out of pop-up jail. 😉
“Bummed” as in the British vernacular?
:-O
I was eagerly waiting for a Marriott credit card to provide Platinum status. I work in an OTA (in IT) and can book Marriott at really really cheap prices. Hence on most of our vacations, we end up staying at Marriott.
Starting last year, I think, Marriott stopped considering those (famtastic) nights as qualifying nights and I lost all my status.
Although I am not very thrilled with the benefits, I think it will provide enough value in terms of free breakfast or lounge access for my family of 4.
My buddy who travels with a Hockey team looks at Free Full Breakfast then goes from there.Time and money saver to the team..ALOHA
I am debating upgrading my card to get platinum status next year purely for a 7 night stay at the st regis Maldives to get free breakfast.
Is that crazy?
Think 2 people at a cost of $150 per would be good value vs the fee after dining credits.
Not crazy. We had Platinum status while we were at St. Regis Bora Bora and I think the breakfast was $50-75 per person. It was a la carte but we could order anything we wanted so we would have a big breakfast and an early dinner to save the $50+ it would have costed for lunch.
Funny how much better that you are treated at a St Regis than a Marriott in NJ. I’m Titanium and breakfast (after a meager $10 credit/person) cost me $25/person (and it was terrible quality).
Yeah I agree, Marriott stays in NA have been unimpressive to say the least ans I doubt that will change.
To play the devil’s advocate, I’d rather be treated nicely at a St. Regis on vacation than an airport Courtyard or a Renaissance for work.
Ultimately Platinum status worth is basically dependent on how many Marriotts stays outside the US you have. I remember getting a high floor nice view upgrade at the Miyako Osaka Marriott as a lowly Gold member.
Greg, the BIGGEST problem is that Marriott eliminated the award chart in favor of dynamic pricing. When the award chart was around, a Category 8 property was 85k in “regular” season and 100k in “high” season. The 15k top-off limit would work.
With dynamic pricing, in all but the lowest of low season pricing, those same properties are well beyond the 15k top-off limit. For practical purposes, one could NEVER use an 85k certificate at a former Category 8 property even with a 15k top-off. One would be looking at former Category 7 properties at best.
These jokers know exactly what they’re doing.
Perhaps the next card will be named the BuFu.
For me, I pay to stay at a specific Westin when I don’t have points, and with the price increases it’s easy to get $350 from the certificate and if I use it at a higher property some years it will be worth more. If I can get breakfast a few times that is probably worth $50 and then the $300 in credits which will take some work using the card each month. I am hoping Platinum gives me a few more upgrades to better rooms, but I don’t expect any suites. I can always downgrade to the $95 card if it doesn’t work out as I upgraded to double dip this year.
The craziest thing is to remember that not long ago Marriott (Starwood) had THE card for everyday spending, basically lionized by travelers. They just had to screw it up.