AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant question

[DanCali]

The bonvoy cards recognize Marriott maintenance fees as the higher Marriott factored amounts? It’s not just for hotel stays?

Yes


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[jwalk03]

The bonvoy cards recognize Marriott maintenance fees as the higher Marriott factored amounts? It’s not just for hotel stays?

Yes. MVC Maintenance Fees count as Marriott spend and earn the premium.

 

[SkyBornDancer]

I don't know if it's "better" than CSR because it probably isn't, but it's worth looking at the Capital One Venture X (I have both CSR and Venture X).

Venture X has a $395 annual fee but gives $300/year travel credit (when booked through their portal) and 10,000 anniversary miles (worth $100) - so the card basically pays for itself.

They are planning to open some high-quality lounges like the Amex airport lounges (DFW is open, and DEN and Dulles planned). Like other premium cards it has Priority Pass and TSA Pre credit. And it offers Hertz President Circle status at least until the end of 2024 (may get renewed). 10x miles on hotels and car rentals booked through their portal.

Bonus offer is 75,000 points ($750) after you spend $4000.

DanCali, I am extremely curious about the VentureX card. I am mostly concerned because to get the 10x or 5x miles, my purchases need to be made through the Capital One travel portal. What's your experience with that? Do you always get the best prices? How about if you want to make travel changes such as rebook flights, cancel hotels etc. I am wary about becoming dependent upon their travel "shop" for all my needs

 

[jwalk03]

DanCali, I am extremely curious about the VentureX card. I am mostly concerned because to get the 10x or 5x miles, my purchases need to be made through the Capital One travel portal. What's your experience with that? Do you always get the best prices? How about if you want to make travel changes such as rebook flights, cancel hotels etc. I am wary about becoming dependent upon their travel "shop" for all my needs

I don’t have any experience with the travel portal but I would strongly advise against ANY Capital One card!!

I had a car rental agency literally double the price they were charging me, so I disputed the charge with Capital One. And even though I had the original signed rental contract showing the correct price and submitted it to them they still ruled in the Rental Company’s favor. It was the most absolutely ridiculous dispute process EVER. I refuse to do business with them ever again.

I have had other disputes on my Chase and AMEX cards and never ever had them refuse to refund the charge the way Capital One did. And for a blatantly unethical over charge with documentation!

Dispute rights with credit cards don’t matter- until they do, and I will never do any business with Capital One again! The only reason I haven’t completely closed the card is because it’s my oldest credit line on my credit report. But I won’t spend a red cent on it.

 

[kupool]

I have the Amex Platinum and love it. The perks are great, e.g. cash back, extended warrantees, etc. The 'exclusive offers' are even better. Best of all is the security you get with Amex. In 2018 I got a text from Amex and within a minute I got a call from them asking about a purchase that was made on my card. It was fraud. Amex immediately cancelled the card and overnighted a new card to the hotel I was staying at. I could go on about other experiences but that one experience is the one that made me a life long card holder.

 

[igopogo]

I’m also thinking of picking up a platinum Amex again. @kupool mentioned the extended warranty. I cracked a screen on a laptop the day after I bought it. It was a cheap laptop and the cost of repairing it didn’t make sense. I called and Amex credited the full price of the laptop before I even had a chance to fill out the documentation. I will never forget that level of customer service.

My only pause is the new restrictions on guest access to the Centurion lounge. We live near SFO so this isn’t trivial, but maybe still not a deal breaker.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I don’t have any experience with the travel portal but I would strongly advise against ANY Capital One card!!

I had a car rental agency literally double the price they were charging me, so I disputed the charge with Capital One. And even though I had the original signed rental contract showing the correct price and submitted it to them they still ruled in the Rental Company’s favor. It was the most absolutely ridiculous dispute process EVER. I refuse to do business with them ever again.

I have had other disputes on my Chase and AMEX cards and never ever had them refuse to refund the charge the way Capital One did. And for a blatantly unethical over charge with documentation!

Dispute rights with credit cards don’t matter- until they do, and I will never do any business with Capital One again! The only reason I haven’t completely closed the card is because it’s my oldest credit line on my credit report. But I won’t spend a red cent on it.

FWIW...I don't have a Capital One Card but I have Capital One Bank accounts. Capital One Bank IT and non-branch customer service is terrible and they make no sense to differentiate between their 360, Capital One bank and an online bank where I signed up years ago.

 

[GetawaysRus]

I have occasionally been checking for AmEx offers on our Brilliant card. Money saved on AmEx offers effectively lowers the high annual fee on this card. If there are enough good offers, it tilts me in favor of retaining the card.

Year to date, unfortunately, usable AmEx offers on the Brilliant have been slim pickings. But there is one now that I can use: spend $115 or more on your wireless bill, get back $10. This offer expires on August 15 and can be used 3 times.

So that will be $30 in my pocket. It's not a huge win, but it's something. C'mon AmEx, keep 'em coming if you want me to keep this card.

I also see current offers for money off subscriptions to several streaming networks: Paramount+, Peacock, and Showtime. I probably won't be using any of those, but perhaps someone else can.

I read some earlier posts in this thread about spending 60K on this card to get an additional 85K free night certificate. I don't see how that's beneficial. I also have a 2% cashback card, so 60K of spending would be worth $1,200 in cash back. I'll take the cash over a free night cert.

 

[GetawaysRus]

DanCali, I am extremely curious about the VentureX card. I am mostly concerned because to get the 10x or 5x miles, my purchases need to be made through the Capital One travel portal. What's your experience with that? Do you always get the best prices? How about if you want to make travel changes such as rebook flights, cancel hotels etc. I am wary about becoming dependent upon their travel "shop" for all my needs

I have a Venture X and I like it. This card is not on my "maybe I should think about canceling it because the annual fee is too high" list. As with all these expensive cards, you have to weigh the advantages versus the cost.

Why do I like it? I suspect we all value the benefits differently, but the main benefits for us are:
1. The annual fee is $395, but that is offset if you can use the $300 credit for booking travel through CapOne Travel and you also get 10,000 CapOne "miles" annually. 10,000 CapOne miles is worth $100 when redeemed. So the net fee is actually zero if you can use that $300 credit.
2. I have been able to use the $300 annual credit to book a rental car on one of our vacations. Prices for rental cars through CapOne Travel have been competitive, but you do have to be careful. Many of the rentals they show are non-cancellable. I prefer to book a reservation that I can cancel if necessary.
3. We often fly via a stop in Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The DFW CapOne lounge is quite nice, far superior to the Priority Pass lounges in the USA. I've had the Venture X a little over a year and we have used that lounge 3 times. This has been very valuable (a) when an airline screws up our plans. For example, on one trip, our first flight of the day was delayed by 2 hours because they didn't have an adequate crew. So we missed our connection in DFW and ended up with a long wait between flights. A lounge visit made that more tolerable. (b) Also, if I can get a better fare if I am willing to accept a somewhat longer connection time in DFW, I know that I can visit the CapOne lounge. That has led to some significant savings. I'm usually booking with airline miles, and sometimes it will be a lot less miles for an itinerary with a somewhat longer connection.

There are numerous other benefits of the Venture X. I've only listed the ones we value the most.

 

[Steve Fatula]

I have occasionally been checking for AmEx offers on our Brilliant card. Money saved on AmEx offers effectively lowers the high annual fee on this card. If there are enough good offers, it tilts me in favor of retaining the card.

Year to date, unfortunately, usable AmEx offers on the Brilliant have been slim pickings. But there is one now that I can use: spend $115 or more on your wireless bill, get back $10. This offer expires on August 15 and can be used 3 times.

So that will be $30 in my pocket. It's not a huge win, but it's something. C'mon AmEx, keep 'em coming if you want me to keep this card.

I also see current offers for money off subscriptions to several streaming networks: Paramount+, Peacock, and Showtime. I probably won't be using any of those, but perhaps someone else can.

I read some earlier posts in this thread about spending 60K on this card to get an additional 85K free night certificate. I don't see how that's beneficial. I also have a 2% cashback card, so 60K of spending would be worth $1,200 in cash back. I'll take the cash over a free night cert.

I use bascially every streaming service offer Amex has. It allows me to sign up (for free with offer typically), get a few months, watch everything I am behind on, then cancel. My savings last year were $353.44 from offers. YMMV

So far this year, not as good as last year but they change all the time so who knows.

 

[klpenny]

Hi. Just got my recent AMEX Brilliant credit card renewal charge. It is still $450 not $650. My husband has the same. Anyone else had this happen? I think I might keep it as now with $300 dining credit, which I do use, it is $150 and is worth it for the hotel stay alone.

 

[VacationForever]

Has anyone considered the $250 American Bonvoy Bevy card? I got the offer in email, with 100K bonus upon $4K spending in the first 6 months. It is tempting but I have a card that gives me cash back of 3.6 cents per dollar spent on restaurants and travel, and 2.5 cents on all other spendings, with no annual limit.

 

[ann824]

I have occasionally been checking for AmEx offers on our Brilliant card. Money saved on AmEx offers effectively lowers the high annual fee on this card. If there are enough good offers, it tilts me in favor of retaining the card.

Year to date, unfortunately, usable AmEx offers on the Brilliant have been slim pickings. But there is one now that I can use: spend $115 or more on your wireless bill, get back $10. This offer expires on August 15 and can be used 3 times.

So that will be $30 in my pocket. It's not a huge win, but it's something. C'mon AmEx, keep 'em coming if you want me to keep this card.

I also see current offers for money off subscriptions to several streaming networks: Paramount+, Peacock, and Showtime. I probably won't be using any of those, but perhaps someone else can.

I read some earlier posts in this thread about spending 60K on this card to get an additional 85K free night certificate. I don't see how that's beneficial. I also have a 2% cashback card, so 60K of spending would be worth $1,200 in cash back. I'll take the cash over a free night cert.

You can also choose 5 suite night awards which can be even more valuable.

 

[SkyBornDancer]

I have a Venture X and I like it.

Thank you. I especially appreciate these below details. Really paints a helpful picture.

3. We often fly via a stop in Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The DFW CapOne lounge is quite nice, far superior to the Priority Pass lounges in the USA. I've had the Venture X a little over a year and we have used that lounge 3 times. This has been very valuable (a) when an airline screws up our plans. For example, on one trip, our first flight of the day was delayed by 2 hours because they didn't have an adequate crew. So we missed our connection in DFW and ended up with a long wait between flights. A lounge visit made that more tolerable. (b) Also, if I can get a better fare if I am willing to accept a somewhat longer connection time in DFW, I know that I can visit the CapOne lounge. That has led to some significant savings. I'm usually booking with airline miles, and sometimes it will be a lot less miles for an itinerary with a somewhat longer connection.

Question, When you book airline tickets with Capital One travel portal, can you get credit for airline miles programs?

 

[SkyBornDancer]

Has anyone considered the $250 American Bonvoy Bevy card? I got the offer in email, with 100K bonus upon $4K spending in the first 6 months. It is tempting but I have a card that gives me cash back of 3.6 cents per dollar spent on restaurants and travel, and 2.5 cents on all other spendings, with no annual limit.

Ooh. What card is that please?

 

[VacationForever]

Ooh. What card is that please?

You mean my cc? BOA preferred rewards card.

 

[GetawaysRus]

When you book airline tickets with Capital One travel portal, can you get credit for airline miles programs

Although I haven't booked flights through CapOne travel yet, Google knows the answer:

And Google also tells us: