Marriott Amex cards: Enhancements for 2021 (dining, wireless, and spend bonuses)

21

a hotel entrance with a street and a building

American Express today has launched awesome temporary perks for most of their hotel and airline co-branded cards.  In this post I’ll highlight the perks available to Marriott cardholders.  In separate posts I covered perks for Delta and Hilton cardholders:

Each of the perks listed below should be found when you log into your Amex account, select your Marriott card and scroll down to view “Amex Offers & Benefits” (or, on mobile, click the tab labelled “Offers”).

Note that these offers are only for those who’s accounts were active as of January 1, 2021. Those with newer accounts are not eligible.

The Amex Press Release regarding these offers can be found here.

Restaurant Rebates

a bagel with salmon and vegetables

Each Amex Marriott consumer card is offering a monthly rebate for spend at U.S. Restaurants, as follows:

Simply use your card for restaurant spend each month in the U.S. and you should receive the rebate automatically.  These offers will work for dine-in, take out, or delivery.

Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.

Cell Phone Services

a person holding a phone

The Bonvoy Business Amex card is offering a monthly rebate for U.S. wireless telephone services (e.g. cell phone service):

Use your card to pay $15 or more towards your cell phone service each month in order to earn $15 back.

Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.

Spend Bonuses

Credit card terminal chip payment

Through the end of 2021, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Marriott Bonvoy Business, and select Marriott Bonvoy cardholders will find the following Amex Offer in their account:

  • Spend $7,500, Earn 7,500 Bonus Points

If you spend exactly in $7,500 intervals, this is like getting an extra 1 point per dollar on all spend.  Since the eligible Marriott cards always earn a minimum of 2X on all spend, this is an opportunity to earn 3X on spend through the end of the year.  Our current Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Marriott points is 0.72 cents per point.  With this offer, you’ll be earning the RRV equivalent of 3 x 0.72 = 2.16% back for all spend.

If you have multiple Marriott cards, you can only enroll one card with this spend offer.  So, make sure to enroll the card that you most want to put spend on.

Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.

My Take

The restaurant and wireless rebates are like free money for most of us.  Yes, it requires a tiny bit of work to make sure to use them each month but still… it’s easy money.  One exception is for Verizon customers who get a $10 monthly discount by auto-paying via debit card or bank account.

Regarding the spend bonuses, personally I don’t think that an extra 1X is enough to motivate spend just for the points.

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