I'm not happy with this change.
To keep or not to keep, that is the question. I can only see a few slivers of hope for keeping this card.
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https://thepointsguy.com/news/marriott-bonvoy-brilliant-new-dining-credit/
Be sure to read this section of that blog post:
Fortunately, there’s a bit of good news here, as an American Express spokesperson provided TPG with the following statement:
“If a cardmember 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.”
This actually means that existing cardmembers can essentially double dip by using both the $300 Marriott credit
and the $25 in monthly dining credits until your next renewal date.
As an example, if your card renewed in March 2022, your $300 Marriott Bonvoy credit reset on that date. If you use all of that credit before Sept. 22, you’ll then enjoy five months of $25 dining credits — Oct. 2022 through Feb. 2023 — before another annual fee is due.
I looked back at my old emails, and I found that my account opening date was Aug. 24, 2018 (right after the SPG Luxury Card launched). This means that I should have just under a month this year to utilize the $300 Marriott benefit before it ends. Then, I’ll have nearly a year of $25 monthly dining credits before I need to incur another annual fee.
If you’re an existing cardmember, it may be worth digging up your approval email (or calling American Express) to verify exactly when this benefit will reset for you.
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So yes, The Points Guy article is correct. My sign-up date was Aug 23, 2018 according to my records. This should allow me to pre-pay $300 of Marriott timeshare maintenance fees in late August (or perhaps early September?) and then also get the restaurant credit benefit once it begins. So I'm good at least until my August 2023 anniversary date.
The other things I'd weigh in deciding whether to keep this card:
- the value I get from AmEx offers (especially in comparison to the standard AmEx Bonvoy card). This is very hard for me to gauge, however.
- the value of the 50K free night certificate - this would have to be compared to the free night certificate from the standard AmEx Bonvoy card, which I believe is 35K
- the Global Entry $100 credit - but I just used that this past month, so that won't help me until I'm due to renew in 5 more years
- the 15 annual Bonvoy elite night credits - that doesn't help me either because I already have a Chase personal Marriott credit card