Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Mid-fee Marriott hotel business card: 6X at Bonvoy hotels, 4X on restaurants / U.S. gas / U.S. wireless / U.S. shipping, annual 35k-cap Free Night, complimentary Gold Elite, 15 elite night credits, $0 employee cards
Costs & Pricing
Annual fee (primary): $125 (no first-year waiver published)
Employee card fee: $0; up to 99 Employee Cards
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.
Intro APR (purchases): Not offered
Intro APR (balance transfers): Not offered as a public promo (BT is a CMA charge type; fee not disclosed as a separate public line — do not assume $0)
Foreign transaction fee: $0
Cash advance APR: Prime + 21.99% variable (≈28.74% at 6.75% prime). Fee $5 or 3%, whichever greater. Interest from transaction date.
Late payment fee: Up to $39; will not exceed Minimum Payment Due
Penalty APR: Prime + 25.99% variable (CMA wins over review sites quoting 29.99%). Triggers: returned payment; 2 late payments in 12 billing periods; or Minimum Payment Due unpaid by that period’s Closing Date. At least 12 billing periods; exit after 12 consecutive timely periods with no returned payments.
Other fees: No overlimit fee (issuer may still require prompt payment of amounts over limit). Account re-opening $25. Paper-statement and rush-card fees not disclosed. Plan It currently not available for Small Business Cards (Amex FAQ).
Rewards & Value
Bonus Categories & Promotions
- ★ 6X charged directly at participating Bonvoy properties, standalone Marriott-branded retail, and Marriott-branded online stores (including Marriott gift cards bought at Marriott online stores). Not OTAs, third-party processors, or home-share. No published cap.
- ★ 4X at restaurants worldwide; standalone U.S. gas stations; wireless billed directly by U.S. providers; U.S. shipping. No published cap. Ads, office supplies, software, Amazon, wholesale clubs: 2X unless MCC matches.
- ★ Marketing “up to 18.5X” at hotels = 6X card + Bonvoy member base + Gold 25% stay bonus. Only the 6X is the card earn rate.
Partner Credits & Perks
- ✓ Annual Free Night Award at or under 35,000 Bonvoy points after the Card renewal month (resort fees extra)
- ✓ Second 35,000-point Free Night after $60,000 purchases in a calendar year
- ✓ 7% Amex Business Card Rate on eligible direct bookings (applied at booking, not a statement credit)
- ✓ No airline incidental, hotel statement credit, Dell, Uber, wireless, or Global Entry credits
Transfer partners: Marriott Bonvoy airline partners at ~3:1 (not Membership Rewards). Not transferable to Amex MR.
Credit, Limits & Spending
Credit limit: Assigned credit limit plus a separate cash-advance limit. Issuer may raise or cut at discretion. Not NPSL / not a charge card.
Personal guarantee: Required in substance. CMA: Basic Cardmember and Company jointly and severally liable for all charges, including Employee Card use.
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.
Recommended credit: Excellent/Good (review-site guidance only, not an issuer cutoff)
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.
Virtual cards: Not marketed as Ramp-style vendor-locked cards. SKU-specific virtual-card program Not disclosed.
Product type: Revolving business credit card (not a charge card; not a spend-management / net-terms product)
Network: American Express
Benefits, Protections & Tools
Travel
- ✓ Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite for the Basic Card Member while the account is open (25% bonus on eligible hotel purchases, upgrade when available, late checkout until 2 p.m. subject to availability, welcome points, enhanced Wi-Fi — Qualifying Rates at participating hotels)
- ✓ 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year (limitations apply per Bonvoy member account; secondary reporting: personal Marriott card ENCs can stack)
- ✓ Annual + $60k Free Night Awards (≤35,000-point level; resort fees extra); 7% Amex Business Card Rate; premium in-room internet at participating hotels
- ✓ Baggage Insurance Plan when the entire common-carrier fare is charged (dollar caps not on the public listing)
- ✓ Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance — secondary; decline CDW; unavailable in Australia, Italy, New Zealand. Public listing prints no dollar cap (secondary sources often cite $50,000 — unofficial). Premium Car Rental Protection is a paid add-on.
- ✓ Global Assist Hotline (referrals >100 miles from home; Card Member pays third-party costs)
- ✓ No lounge access, TSA/Global Entry, airline-fee credit, trip delay/cancel (not listed on this dashboard — do not import Brilliant/Platinum)
Purchase Protections
- ✓ Purchase Protection up to 90 days; Amex detail-page language commonly $1,000 per covered purchase / $50,000 per account per calendar year (confirm on this SKU’s certificate)
- ✓ Extended Warranty: +1 year on U.S. manufacturer warranties of 5 years or less
- ✓ Return protection and cell-phone protection not listed
Business Tools
- ✓ Employee cards + limits + alerts + freeze; Account Manager role
- ✓ Amex online account graphs / employee spend views; CSV / Amex business exports; QuickBooks is platform-level, not a card-unique ERP
- ✓ Amex Offers for Business (add in app; not a fixed annual credit)
- ✓ No native AP / invoice capture / ERP policy engine
Eligibility & Application
Who can apply: U.S. small-business path. 18+, U.S. mailing address, SSN (Marriott help). EIN required for partnerships and corporations. Sole-prop SSN path is implied, not spelled out. Nonprofit/holding-company treatment Not disclosed. ITIN / non-resident Not disclosed.
Business requirements: No published time-in-business or revenue floors. Personal income collected; numeric floor Not disclosed.
Issuer rules: Amex once-per-lifetime / have-or-have-had this Card including SPG Business; in-app pop-up. Commonly reported Chase Marriott 30/90/24-month lookbacks are not in the CMA. Chase 5/24 does not apply as an Amex rule, but a prior Chase Marriott card can affect this bonus. Product-change path from Bevy/Brilliant Not disclosed.
Application impact: Business credit may be hit on submit; personal credit on accept. Instant “know if approved” path advertised (as little as 30 seconds on some Amex business pages).
Best for: Marriott hotels Free employee cards No foreign transaction fee U.S. shipping Best as second/specialized card
Pros & Cons
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
Buy (Marriott specialist)
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.