Amex Bonvoy Brilliant Change

[tschwa2]

My card renewed in late August, but my guess is that we may not get the automatic Plat and the extra 10 nights credit until our next anniversary date?

The game has gotten more complex. My suspicion is that the impetus for these changes is coming from Marriott and not from the banks themselves. Marriott seems to view its customers as suckers.

Next I'll want a Marriott Burst your Bubble card.

if you get a chance log onto marriott.com and see. It should have posted this morning.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Mea culpa. Yes, you're right. 10 additional elite nights did post.

Another blog post from a credit card cheerleader:

Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card Review: Platinum The Easy Way

Detailed review of Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card from Amex, which comes with Platinum Elite status. Do the perks justify the annual fee?

onemileatatime.com

 

[eyedude]

I canceled my card last weekend. The rep made no mention of the upcoming changes but I do not think I would have changed my mind. I just used an 85K certificate on a room worth 70K points. I really had to search for a place to use my certificate before it expired at the end of the year. I do not really have a need for an 85K certificate. I would prefer two 40K certificates...much more usable in my world. I am already titanium so the 25 nights and platinum are of no help.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The Platinum is a slight benefit. It only helps me because Rick has always had the status because he has had the SPG Amex for many years, and about all he does is add timeshare stays to his member #. That has been exceptional for keeping that status, but it really is a throwaway status, if you don't stay in hotels with free breakfasts. We stayed at the Vancouver Marriott and had access to the lounge for snacks and free breakfast every morning. It was amazing, but it's a rarity for us to stay in a hotel with breakfast included.

The 85K certificate is something we can use on Maui for a night in Wailea before our flight back. I need two hotel nights for that stay. I will look for Westin or Marriott for a few nights as well. I may just book that when my card renews. That makes it worth every cent of the $650, if I can get into the Wailea, but I can tell you that my luck hasn't been good for anything but the Courtyard Marriott lately. I look often. You might as well be in Orlando, staying in that hotel. It's a comfortable bed, however. And it's right across from Costco for dinner! Joking, but they do have the good ice cream.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

So the real question is whether it is worth $350 a year for an 85k hotel room? Similar to the 50k cert this is an orphan with our 35k nights which make great airport positioning stays and sometimes works in Vegas off-season or mid-week. I know it buys an extra night on Maui but still $350/night for a hotel room is rich for a one night positioning stay.

Platinum Elite is nice - we'll see if we get any upgrades or other perks but I am not holding my breath based on reviews.

Once we get the 85k cert after our anniversary in June we will likely downgrade to the $95 card and get another Hilton Aspire card unless it gets devalued. Of course we've been trying to downgrade this for 2 years but they keep adding goodies - last year was the restaurant credit which was nice. Maybe they will add more to convince us to remain another year?

 

[grrrah]

Yep, along with other changes. 85k free night award and annual fee will now be $650

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card

Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy points at Hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® and 3X points at Restaurants Worldwide. Enjoy luxury stays and travel perks. Terms Apply.

www.americanexpress.com

yikes. that feeincrease

I've carried both the $95 card and the Brilliant, and was planning to cancel the $95 as soon as I got the night certificate, but now I'm likely to cancel this one instead. My anniversary/fee will be billed in October, so I should probably decide soon.

Yeah, it seems is it worth $350 for an 85k night certificate... probably not for me. I would pay it for 85K points, but not likely for a night cert.

 

[pchung6]

Just expect Marriott to cut benefits again next year and devaluation of points value once again. The last I heard is Platinum status will soon be useless, Marriott will cut the lounge access and free breakfast for Platinum member from next year. I’m cutting my Brilliant card soon next month.

 

[Henry M.]

I called to downgrade back to the original Marriott Amex (the $95/yr one). I get value out of Bonvoy points, and the free night essentially covers the fee so this card still is worth it to me. I travel enough to use hotels that give me more than the 1 to 2% return I can get with other cards.

I am Platinum for life already. I liked the $300 credit for Marriott spend, but I don't necessarily eat at restaurants every month. I also don't usually stay at hotels that require 85K points/night so much of that certificate will be wasted. The 50K certificate was better for me. Bottom line, the new card and fee are a devaluation of benefits for me. They even devalue my Platinum status by making it available to a lot more people, causing more competition for the upgrade perks it includes.

While talking to the agent she mentioned checking out all the different AmEx cards available. The agent realized you can no longer apply for the $95 card. It has been replaced by the Marriott Bevy card that costs $250. She was able to downgrade my card to the $95 one, but you can no longer get that level of card with a new application.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

While talking to the agent she mentioned checking out all the different AmEx cards available. The agent realized you can no longer apply for the $95 card. It has been replaced by the Marriott Bevy card that costs $250. She was able to downgrade my card to the $95 one, but you can no longer get that level of card with a new application.

Your reasons for downgrading sound logical. Did the agent say we now cannot downgrade to the $95 card? We don't want the new Bevy (junk card).

 

[Henry M.]

The agent is able to downgrade to the $95 card (was it called Boundless?). It is just not available for new accounts. I used to have that card and the Brilliant card at the same time, but eventually gave it up for just the Brilliant. I went back to it again today. I keep my "Member since" date and credit limit.

Note that the new fee is not in effect for renewals this year. It is only for renewals in 2023 and later. However, for me, the $300 got cut significantly since the $25/moth restaurant spend is already in effect, instead of the $300 Marriott spend that I used to pay maintenance fees. Thus, I didn't want to continue the $450 fee anyhow.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Boundless is a good name for a card that gets less. Stupid name for a card because it has a negative tone to it. Rick has that one, and I make fun of the 35K certificate that he gets, but it does give us a hotel room worth the fee each year while on the road. That makes it worthy of the fee.

I have been looking at hotels on Maui for the last two nights of our stay, and the cost is over 85,000 points for almost every one of them. Hmmm....I may not keep that card.

 

[luv_maui]

With the 85,000 pt night certificate, I’m now on the fence, since we would easily get $350 of value out of the certificate, and auto platinum (for whatever it’s worth since there will be too many platinums) plus the increased from. 15 to 25 night credit, the question becomes if staining titanium is reasonably feasible now with a 40 night head start (personal 25+ business 15).

we have 6 months to figure this out, before next annual fee

 

[GetawaysRus]

The issue I'm having with the 85K certificate is that the cert could become an orphan. How often do my bride and I spend just one night at a high category hotel? It's rare. And if we ended up with a several night stay, the cost would be high in either Bonvoy points or dollars for the remainder of the stay. But still, it's possible.

So here's another idea that would net a second 85K certificate by product changing from a Chase Boundless (and possibly the Chase Bold card?) to the Chase Ritz-Carlton card. Two 85K certs would give us a lot more flexibility in planning. To do this, I think you'd already need to be holding the AmEx Brilliant card and a Chase Marriott credit card that could be upgraded.

Yes, the Ritz card is now the best value Marriott card

NOTICE: This post references card features that have changed, expired, or are not currently availableIn Tim’s post on Thursday, he covered the changes to the lineup of Marriott credit cards. Buried deep within that detailed post, some readers may have missed the golden nugget: the...

frequentmiler.com

Changing to the Ritz card isn't a slam dunk, however. It has a $450 annual fee compared to the $95 fee on the Boundless. Ouch - these fees hurt. The Ritz card does have a $300 credit for airline incidentals, but I'm not so sure how easy that would be to take advantage of. That is, if you play the credit card rewards game, your flight costs may be covered by your reward miles and points, which would leave you with little in the way of airline incidental fees.

Here's another link that discusses that $300 airline credit on the Ritz card. If you could take full advantage of the $300 annual credit, then you'd get an 85K cert for only $55 more than the 35K cert you'd get from the Boundless card.

Chase Ritz-Carlton Visa airline fee credits: What works?

The Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa Infinite card is no longer available to new applicants, but it is available to those with Chase Marriott consumer cards via a product change. The Ritz card carries a hefty $450 annual fee, but the Ritz card offers both an annual free night certificate worth...

frequentmiler.com

The rewards travel game gets complicated sometimes....

 

[jabberwocky]

I’m thinking I will be cancelling my Brilliant card and moving over to the Amex Hilton Surpass card.

With Vistana coming into Abound, I’ll have Platinum status anyways (actually close to Titanium) and I’m getting close to true lifetime platinum status (based on nights plus Platinum status). For me it might make more sense to have diamond status with Hilton - then I can simply choose the hotel based on cost and convenience rather than worrying about accruing status nights. Too many plats in Marriott has kinda ruined it and I don’t see value in Brilliant card at that price point.

 

[Negma]

We are keeping it for now. Don’t forget that at 75 nights you also get another annual night award choice, we took the 40k room night. The extra 10 (for a total of 25) nights might make it easier to always get to 75 nights( so far we have always been way over it). But we will reevaluate next year.

 

[teddyo333]

We've decided to keep our cards as well. My wife and I both have the brilliant card as well as the Ritz card. This give us four 85k certificates per year and since Marriott allows us to top them off by 15K they are actually worth 100K per certificate. This will definitely give us value over the annual fee increases that have been put in place.

 

[grrrah]

The agent is able to downgrade to the $95 card (was it called Boundless?). It is just not available for new accounts. I used to have that card and the Brilliant card at the same time, but eventually gave it up for just the Brilliant. I went back to it again today. I keep my "Member since" date and credit limit.

Note that the new fee is not in effect for renewals this year. It is only for renewals in 2023 and later. However, for me, the $300 got cut significantly since the $25/moth restaurant spend is already in effect, instead of the $300 Marriott spend that I used to pay maintenance fees. Thus, I didn't want to continue the $450 fee anyhow.

Boundless is the $95 Marriott Chase Visa. It is just called the Bonvoy Amex. I have both currently and have enjoyed the 35k and 50k certificates plus the benefits of the Brilliant, but am likely to cancel the Brilliant soon.

I'm trying to read the details of the Bevy card and we may qualify for the introductory offer (125k bonvoy points), but its vague enough that it isn't clear. The Chase Boundless it sounds like we are inneligble because of the $95 Amex bonvoy card within 24 months.

 

[grrrah]

So the $95 Bonvoy card has been discontinued for new applications, but if you have it you still get to keep it, and they are allowing people to downgrade based on the posts above.

There is also a new $250/yr Amex Bonvoy Bevy card with a nice 125k bonvoy points welcome offer, and 50k certificate after 15k spend annually.

I just checked eligibility then applied for the Bevy with the 125k bonvoy point welcome offer for the Bevy card, and will cancel the Brilliant. I believe any of the Marriott Chase cards will make you ineligible. I will likely wait until I spend enough to get the 50k certificate (and of course the 125k welcome) then cancel this one as well, and live with the $95/yr Bonvoy. Hope I can get the 50K cert before the 2nd annual fee is due

 

[regatta333]

If you read the fine print on the $25 monthly restaurant credit, which is supposed to be worldwide,

In addition, in most cases, you may not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet, through a third party, or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it.

This pretty much eliminates any dining credits for restaurants in Europe. I used the card to charge a meal several days ago at a restaurant in Spain. No credit so far, which is why I went back to read the fine print. Seems to me they want to make it as difficult as possible to redeem this credit. In any event, I will be cancelling this card when it is up for renewal in January.

 

[Henry M.]

That pretty much negates any benefit of the card for me! Glad my downgraded card is arriving today. The number didn't change at all. It is just a plastic card instead of a metal one and I assume a new CVV code.

 

[regatta333]

I did get the dining credit for the restaurant in Spain. Just posted to my account, despite what it said in the fine print.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Whoa. Is the dining credit supposed to start in September or October?

 

[rickandcindy23]

I guess I could just use it at every restaurant, but of course I haven't started doing that quite yet. I have to get into that habit. Old habits die hard.

 

[regatta333]

Started Sept 22, which was the effective date of the card benefit changes.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Isn't that tricky of them? Will use it today to up our Starbucks account so we don't miss the September credit.