Costs & Pricing

Metric	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card	Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card
Annual fee	$125 (no first-year waiver published)	$0 (CMA: Annual Fee None)
Employee card fee	$0; up to 99 Employee Cards	$0 (CMA: Annual Fee for Additional Cards: None)
Purchase APR	Prime + 12.74% to Prime + 21.74% (marketing 19.49%–28.49% variable at Prime 6.75% as of 1–2 Sep 2026). Placement by creditworthiness at opening. No intro APR.	Variable Prime + 9.99% to Prime + 21.74% (marketing 16.74%–28.49% as of late Aug 2026 at Prime 6.75%). Placement by creditworthiness and other factors at opening. Cap 29.99%. CMA formula wins over landing-page vintage ranges.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not offered	0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from account opening, then the variable purchase APR
Foreign transaction fee	$0	2.7% of each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars (via AE Exposure Management Ltd.)
Late payment fee	Up to $39; will not exceed Minimum Payment Due	Up to $39; $39 if Minimum Payment Due is not received by due date, not to exceed the Minimum Payment Due

Rewards & Value

Metric	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card	Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card
Base earn rate	2 Marriott Bonvoy points per $1 on other eligible purchases (no published cap). Card-side points only — Marriott member-stay points are a program overlay, not a card rate.	2 Membership Rewards points per $1 on the first $50,000 eligible purchases per calendar year, then 1X. Official copy: no category restrictions. Cap resets each calendar year, not cardmember anniversary.
Welcome bonus	Up to 125,000 Bonvoy bonus points: 75,000 after $6,000 eligible purchases + 50,000 after an additional $3,000 ($9,000 total) within the first 6 months of Card Membership (live public offer, 3 Sep 2026). Rotates — 3+2 Free Night Awards have appeared in other cycles. Offer end date not printed on the Business page.	Standard public offer (Amex compare and partner pages, late Aug–early Sep 2026): 15,000 Membership Rewards points after $3,000 eligible purchases in the first 3 months. Historical typical public offer has sat at 15k/$3k/3 mo for years.
Redemption value	Issuer does not publish a cent value. Do not invent one. Industry write-ups often use ~0.6–0.9¢ on paid-night replacement; airline transfers often lower. Do not assume 1¢.	Issuer examples for 10,000 points: $60 toward eligible Card Charges (~0.6¢); $100 on AmexTravel.com flights (~1.0¢); $70 at Amazon.com (~0.7¢); up to $100 toward select gift cards. Transfer value is partner- and award-dependent. Disclose cash/statement at 0.6¢ and AmexTravel flights at 1.0¢; do not assume transfer uplift unless the user picks a partner.
Transfer partners	Marriott Bonvoy airline partners at ~3:1 (not Membership Rewards). Not transferable to Amex MR.	Membership Rewards program (not card-unique; lists move). Commonly 16 airline + 3–4 hotel partners as of mid/late 2026. Secondary catalog compilations: most airlines 1:1; Aeromexico 1:1.6; Cathay 5:4; Emirates 5:4; JetBlue 250:200 or 1:0.8; Hilton 1:2; Marriott 1:1; Choice 1:1; Leading Hotels of the World reported 4:1 after July 2026. Etihad Guest transfers ended 30 June 2026. Re-check the logged-in MR transfer page. Typical minimum 1,000 points (JetBlue lower). Transfers generally no fee. Points do not expire while the Rewards Account remains open and in good standing.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card	Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card
Personal guarantee	Required in substance. CMA: Basic Cardmember and Company jointly and severally liable for all charges, including Employee Card use.	Yes. CMA: Joint and Several Liability — both the Basic Card Member and the Company are each individually responsible for the Account. We may seek payment from either or both.
Credit check	No personal-score impact to learn if approved. Personal score may be impacted if approved and the Card is accepted. Business credit may be impacted on submit.	Business credit may be impacted on submit; personal credit not impacted to receive a decision; personal credit may be impacted if the applicant accepts the card. Soft-then-hard pattern. Whose file: the applying Basic Card Member.
Employee cards	Up to 99 at $0 AF. Spend limits, merchant-type limits, real-time alerts, freeze/unfreeze, account graphs. Liability remains on Basic Cardmember + Company.	$0. Benefits dashboard copy: add up to 99 Employee Blue Business Plus Cards. Owner earns MR on employee eligible spend; alerts and summary reports. Owner/Company remain liable. Spend controls via alerts/Account Manager — not a Ramp-style native policy engine.
Product type	Revolving business credit card (not a charge card; not a spend-management / net-terms product)	Revolving business credit card with a stated Credit Limit plus Expanded Buying Power (excess due in full with the minimum payment). Not a charge card and not a fintech spend-management card.

Pros & Cons

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card

Pros

• $125 fee with an automatic annual Free Night (≤35,000 points) that can exceed the fee if redeemed against a high cash rate
• Complimentary Gold Elite + 15 ENCs without 25 paid nights
• 4X on four real small-business categories (worldwide restaurants, U.S. gas, U.S. wireless, U.S. shipping) with no published cap
• Up to 99 employee cards at $0 with limits and alerts; $0 FTF
• Apply-to-decision path that does not hit personal credit unless the Card is accepted

Cons

• $125 fee with no statement-credit offset; 35k Free Night cap plus dynamic pricing and resort fees
• Points are Marriott-locked; airline transfers are 3:1
• Purchase APR 19.49%–28.49% variable and no 0% intro — a poor revolver
• Personal / joint-and-several liability
• No lounge access, no Global Entry/TSA credit, thin trip-insurance stack vs premium Amex business cards

Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee and $0 employee-card fees
• 2X Membership Rewards on the first $50,000 eligible purchases each calendar year with no category tracking
• AmexTravel.com 2X that does not consume the $50k cap
• 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months
• Points sit in Membership Rewards and can transfer to airline/hotel partners; purchase protection and extended warranty listed on the official benefits block

Cons

• 2X layer caps at $50,000 per calendar year, then 1X
• 2.7% foreign transaction fee
• Public welcome bonus is modest versus premium Amex business cards (15k / $3k / 3 mo on compare pages)
• Joint-and-several personal liability
• No lounge, GE/TSA, trip-cancellation, or cell-phone benefits on the official list; post-intro APR band is high (16.74%–28.49% variable)

Verdict

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card

This is the live U.S. Marriott business cobrand — not Bevy/Brilliant, not Chase Marriott Business (closed to new applicants), and not the Canadian $150 / 5X/3X/2X card. It pays when the firm actually sleeps Marriott and uses the Free Night. A hotel-agnostic shopper should use Ink Preferred, Business Gold, or a $0 2% cash card instead. Do not put Bonvoy member-stay points in the card earn column.

Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card

This is the Membership Rewards twin of Blue Business Cash — same chassis, same $50k cap, same 0% intro, not cash back and not Business Gold. Confirm the live apply-flow welcome (15k standard vs targeted 25k–75k). Poor daily driver for uncapped high spend, foreign spend, or anyone who will revolve after the intro period.