Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card

Rewards by category

Our take

The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card is the business half of the Bonvoy co-brand lineup, and its earn table is unusually simple: 6x points at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy, 4x on one bundled tier, and 2x on everything else. The 4x tier is a single issuer bullet that fans out across four kinds of spending — restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone service purchased directly from U.S. providers, and U.S. purchases for shipping. The issuer states no spending cap on any of it, and the annual fee is $125.

Read the qualifiers before you route spending here. SwipeCaddy values a Bonvoy point at 0.7 cents, so 6x is about 4.2% back, the 4x tier lands near 2.8%, and the 2x base works out to roughly 1.4% — below a flat 2% cash-back card. Three of the four 4x legs carry a U.S.-only restriction: gas, wireless service, and shipping earn the bonus only in the U.S., and the same purchase abroad drops to the 2x base. Restaurants are the exception and earn 4x worldwide. The wireless leg is also narrower than our phone-and-internet category: the issuer names wireless telephone service bought directly from U.S. providers, so internet, cable, and landline bills are not stated as qualifying.

In a wallet, this is a Marriott card first and a category card second. At a Marriott property it ties the $95 Boundless, the $250 Bountiful, and the $650 Brilliant at 6x, so our ranking breaks the tie on annual fee and the Boundless still comes out ahead. Where it earns its keep is the 4x tier, which no consumer Bonvoy card offers on shipping or wireless service. Give it Marriott stays and U.S. shipping and phone bills, keep restaurants on it when nothing better is out, and let a flat-rate card carry the 2x remainder.

The math

Run $400 a month of dining through this card and you're earning about $134 a year at our conservative valuations. Against the $125 annual fee, that top rate needs roughly $1,325 a month of dining spend before it beats a no-fee flat 2% card.

Where it lands in our rankings: #2 for shipping

Store bonuses

• Marriott6x

Common questions

Does Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card have an annual fee?

Yes — $125 per year.

What does Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card earn on dining?

4x on dining.

What rewards does Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card earn on everything else?

2x on all other purchases, in Marriott Bonvoy.

Where does the Marriott Bonvoy Business card's 4x actually apply?

It is one bundled tier covering four things: restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone service purchased directly from U.S. service providers, and U.S. purchases for shipping. Only restaurants earn 4x outside the U.S. — the other three legs are U.S.-only, and the same purchase abroad earns the 2x base. The wireless leg is also narrower than it looks: the issuer names wireless service, not internet, cable, or landline.

Does it beat the consumer Marriott cards at a Marriott hotel?

No — it ties them. The Bonvoy Business, the $95 Boundless, the $250 Bountiful, and the $650 Brilliant all earn 6x at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy. When earn rates tie, SwipeCaddy breaks the tie by annual fee, so the $95 Boundless ranks ahead of this $125 card at the front desk. The business card's real edge is off-property, in its 4x tier for U.S. shipping and wireless service.

Related reading

• How we value points and miles (and why our numbers are lower than everyone else's)SwipeCaddy ranks cards by reward rate × a conservative cash value per point: 1¢ for cash back and transferable points (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt), 1.1–1.3¢ for airline miles, 0.4–1.4¢ for hotel points, and 0.8–0.9¢ for store currencies. Optimistic transfer values are recorded for context but never ranked, because most people never achieve them.