The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card is getting a rather significant change to its $300 statement credit benefit — and some members might be able to squeeze an extra $75 worth out of their card this year.
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card $300 Statement Credit Change
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card members may currently earn up to $300 in statement credit each for eligible purchases made at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties. So, that can come in handy if want to treat yourself to onsite spa treatments, dinner or drinks in the hotel’s restaurant, etc. (Terms apply.)
But that perk undergoes a rather significant change on September 22.
The benefit will then become a dining credit. Cardholders can earn up to $25 in statement credit per month for eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide. (That’s still worth up to $300. Terms apply.)
Keep in mind that the card earns 3X Bonvoy points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery.
How Current Cardholders Might Benefit
If you’re a Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card member now (or become one soon) you can potentially squeeze $375 out of the $300 statement credit.
How?
A representative from American Express confirmed to me that if a card member uses their $300 Marriott Bonvoy statement credit prior to September, they can still earn up to $25 per month in dining credits from October to December 2022.
So, if you’ve always wanted to get the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card, now might be the time. You can enjoy the $300 Marriott Bonvoy property statement credit before September 22 — and then earn back up to $25 per month in dining credits from October through December this year.
Is the Statement Credit Change Good or Bad?
Beauty is in the eye of the becardholder.
Some people will like this change. Others will hate it.
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card carries a $450 annual fee. (See Rates and Fees.) I assume many Bonvoy Brilliant cardholders are Marriott enthusiasts and loyalists who enjoy the card’s free night benefit (redemption level at or under 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) and $300 statement credit at participating Bonvoy properties. (Terms apply.) Like, they actually use their Marriott card for Marriott purchases (gasp!).
Frankly, I think it’s easier to redeem $300 in property credits across one or two hotel stays than remember to use $25 each month in dining credits. And, let’s face it, you probably won’t spend exactly $25. You’ll spend less than that or go over. The latter is fine if the Brilliant is one of your regular go-to cards. But if you’re like me and divide spending across multiple cards depending on your current points/miles goals, this is kind of a pain in the butt. It’s just one more thing to remember (and maybe forget) each month.
And that’s probably the point.
I’m sure American Express is counting on plenty of breakage (unredeemed value) to make this more profitable for them. This leads me to wonder if the statement credit opportunities on other Amex cards largely go unused — and Amex is simply following those trends to up their profits.
Final Approach
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card‘s $300 statement credit benefit changes on September 22. It will transition from purchases made at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties to $25 each month at restaurants worldwide.
But card members who use their $300 Marriott Bonvoy statement credit prior to September can still earn up to $25 per month in dining credits from October to December 2022. That essentially makes the $300 worth $375 this year. (And there’s still time to apply if you’re interested.)
What do you think of this change? Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section!
To see rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
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I Will get the extra $75 credit this year. That said, this benefit now will take work each month to utilize fully. With the $300 resort credit it was easy and automatic. In my opinion this is certainly a devaluation
Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of this.
This whole thing sucks. I canceled the $450 Hilton Aspire card because you had to use a $250 but only at a hotel that has a resort, a hotel certificate that was good but only on a weekend, but not every hotel accepts those certificates and then there’s the airline credit but cannot be used for airfare. A $100 hotel credit but only on paid stays of 2 days or more at the St Regis or Ritz Carlton.
The $300 credit for Marriott hotels was a so much easier. And I guess they had me in mind when they gave that artificial date of September 22. My credit card renewal date is September 24th so I cannot use the $300 hotel credit. I’d rather have the $300 hotel credit which is much easier to spend.
So, now I’ll have a $25 restaurant credit from a Marriott credit card which is a hotel card, not a restaurants card,
and a $10 Uber credit and a $10 restaurant credit from the AMEX Gold card.
this will most likely cause me to cancel the card. much like the aspire, i love using the hotel credit for a vacation. wait, are they going to do this to the aspire eventually too? noooooooooo
Chris, isn’t in an additional $100?
The fine print with AmEx says “Effective 9/22/22, the $300 Marriott Bonvoy statement credit benefit will no longer be available. It will be replaced with a NEW benefit of up to $300 in statement credits per calendar year (up to $25 per month) for eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide.‡”
My read is that we can earn a $25 dining credit between September 22, 2022 and September 30, 2022, then again in October, November, and December for a total of 4 credits of $25 each before YE 2022.
The $75 figure is from an Amex representative. Amex credits like these generally become valid on the first of a month.
The extra $75 credit isn’t really accurate in any case, since the $300 credit is a card year credit as opposed to a calendar year credit. Someone who has a renewal in October will not get ANY extra value, as the $25 monthly credit will simply replace the $300 annual credit, and they will be able to get $300 worth of expenses covered over the following 12 months, the same as they would before. Someone with a renewal in August (or a new application) could get an extra value of $275, because they could use the full $300 hotel credit by Sept 22, then still use 11 $25 credit before renewing or cancelling.
That’s why I said it works out for “some members.”
Thanks for confirming with AmEx, the language isn’t clear. It’s odd that they’ve decided on 9/22/22 as the date for conversion. I renewed my card back in January 2022 and have already used my $300 hotel credit. I guess this means that I’ll still be able to get the credit Oct/Nov/Dec of this year for $375 in credits, then in 2023 it will simply be the $25/month dining credit.
Yeah, the 9/22/2022 date is certainly interesting. I don’t know if it has something to do with the end of the quarter and fiscal stuff (way above my pay grade) or what.
I agree with others that these AmEx monthly “coupon book” style credits are much harder to track and use. This is also not a card I would want to put dining on relative to more lucrative cards for dining. Having said that I’m not going to cancel, I still expect to get value well in excess of the annual fee from the card.