Marriott Bonvoy Business Card Review: A Business Hotel Card With a Free Anniversary Award Night and Automatic Elite Status

If you're a business traveler who frequently stays in Marriott Bonvoy properties, the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card may be a good fit for you. This business hotel card has a welcome offer of 3 Free Night Awards for new cardmembers, promises automatic elite status, and offers a free award night at every card anniversary, plus a chance for high spenders to earn an additional free award night each year. (Terms apply.) Read our full Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card review to see if this is the right credit card for you.

This credit card is a good fit for: Business travelers who prefer Marriott Bonvoy properties and could benefit from elite status perks and a free anniversary night.

Top perks

The Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card includes some notable highlights.

Welcome offer

The Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card comes with a bonus offer available to new cardmembers who meet the minimum spend requirements. (Terms apply.)

Here's what you need to know:

• Earn 3 Free Night Awards, Worth Up To 150K Total Marriott Bonvoy Points after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in eligible purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership.

READ MORE: Best Sign-Up Bonus Credit Cards

Earns rewards

You can earn rewards on your spending with the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card. (Terms apply.) Here's a breakdown of how you'll earn rewards when using your card:

• Earn 6 points per $1 on hotels that participate in the Marriott Bonvoy program
• Earn 4 points per $1 on restaurants worldwide, gas stations, shipping providers, and wireless phone services purchased directly from service providers
• Earn 2 points per $1 on other purchases

If you frequently stay at hotels within the Marriott Bonvoy program and also spend in the above categories, you could earn significant rewards with this card.

Free anniversary night

The Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card rewards cardholders with a free hotel night at every card anniversary. (Terms apply.) With this perk, you can stay one night at a participating Marriott Bonvoy property that costs 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points or fewer per night.

Are you wondering what kind of value this perk provides? Marriott Bonvoy organizes its properties by category level and its redemption chart lists off-peak, standard, and peak rates.

With up to 35,000 points, you could book a Category 1-4 property at any time of the year, including on peak travel dates, or a Category 5 property at the standard or off-peak rate.

With this in mind, you can likely book a hotel with a nightly cash rate of $200 or more, which makes this card's $125 annual fee worthwhile.

SEE MORE: Best Hotel Credit Cards

High spenders can earn a second free night every year

This credit card rewards high spenders with an additional free hotel night each year. If you spend at least $60,000 in a calendar year, you'll earn one Free Night Award. (Terms apply.)

As with the free anniversary night, this award night entitles you to stay one night at a participating Marriott Bonvoy property that costs 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points or fewer per night.

Elite status perks

As a cardholder, you'll receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status. You can enjoy perks like priority late checkout and enhanced room updates when available, and a 25% bonus on points earned on hotel stays. (Terms apply.)

Earn Elite Night Credits

With the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card, you'll earn 15 Elite Night Credits each year. This can help you work your way up to a higher elite status level. (Terms apply.)

No foreign transaction fees

No foreign transaction fees are charged when using the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card. These charges typically cost 3%, so using this card when traveling abroad can save you money. (Terms apply.)

LEARN MORE: Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards

What could be improved

The Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card has some great perks, but here's what could be improved:

Annual fee

The Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card comes with an annual fee of $125. So you'll need to decide if the annual fee is worth it based on how you'll use your card. If you're looking for a hotel credit card without a yearly fee, you'll need to look elsewhere.

This American Express credit card is intended for consumers with good to excellent credit. It's recommended you have a FICO® Score of 670 or more when applying for the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ Card. It's possible to get approved with a lower score or be denied with a higher score.

Since this is a business card, you'll need to have a business to apply for this card. But card issuers are flexible on the business types they accept. For example, consumers with a side hustle or small business may be eligible for business credit cards.

• You are a business traveler who frequently stays at Marriott Bonvoy properties.
• You feel comfortable meeting the minimum spend to earn the bonus offer.
• You can benefit from an annual free award night.
• You want to achieve automatic Gold Elite status.

However, this isn't the best card for all business owners. If you're looking for a card with a lower annual fee (or no annual fee) or don't stay in Marriott Bonvoy properties often, this may not be the right card for you. In those cases, other travel rewards credit cards may be a better fit.

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.