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American Express|Personal
PremiumVerified May 2026
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex
4.1/5
Annual Fee
$650
Sign-Up Bonus
up to 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
Bonus Value
$1,050
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Earn 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months.
Our Take
The Platinum status is legitimately valuable (lounge access, suite upgrades), but the $650 fee is steep. Justify it only if you stay at Marriotts 8+ times a year.
Key Benefits
- Auto Platinum status
- 85k free night cert
- $300 dining credit
- Priority Pass
All Benefits
- $650 annual fee on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card, with no first-year waiver disclosed on the issuer's Rates and Fees terms page (terms apply)
- Welcome offer: earn 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after $6,000 in eligible purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership, plus an additional 50,000 bonus points after spending an additional $2,000 (total $8,000) within the same 6 months, for up to 150,000 total Bonvoy points
- Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar on eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy (the cobrand earns Bonvoy points directly, not transferable Membership Rewards)
- Earn 3X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines (not on third-party OTA bookings)
- Earn 2X Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar on all other eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card
- Effective earn rate at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties can reach up to 21X total Bonvoy points per dollar when you stack the 6X card earn with the 10X base Bonvoy member earn plus the 50% Platinum Elite bonus (5X) on stays charged to the card
- $300 Brilliant Dining Credit each calendar year (broken into up to $25 per month in statement credits) for eligible purchases on the card at restaurants worldwide, posting automatically and not requiring an Amex Offers enrollment
- $100 Marriott Bonvoy Property Credit per stay at participating The Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis properties, applied as a statement credit for qualifying on-property charges when you book direct using a special card-linked rate with a two-night minimum stay
- Annual Free Night Award issued each year after your Card renewal month, redeemable for one night at a Marriott Bonvoy property with a standard redemption level at or under 85,000 points (resort fees still apply at certain hotels)
- Top off the 85,000-point Free Night Award with up to 25,000 additional Marriott Bonvoy points so you can apply it at a property whose standard redemption exceeds 85,000 (effectively up to 110,000-point properties), introduced when Marriott consolidated the cobrand free-night certificate program
- Brilliant Earned Choice Award: after spending $60,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year, choose one bonus benefit from a menu published at choice-benefit.marriott.com/brilliant (one award per calendar year)
- Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status while you remain a Card Member (normally requires 50 elite nights), unlocking 50% bonus Bonvoy points on stays, complimentary room upgrades including select suites when available, guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout, complimentary enhanced in-room internet, and a welcome gift of points or amenities at check-in
- 25 Elite Night Credits posted to your Marriott Bonvoy account each calendar year automatically, accelerating progress toward Titanium (75 nights) and Ambassador Elite (100 nights plus $23,000 USD qualified spend) tiers
- Priority Pass Select enrollment included at no additional charge for the primary cardholder, with unlimited visits to over 1,200 Priority Pass airport lounges in over 130 countries regardless of carrier or class of service
- $100 statement credit toward Global Entry (every 4 years, covers the $120 application fee in part) OR up to $85 statement credit toward TSA PreCheck (every 4.5 years, when applying through a TSA PreCheck official enrollment provider) when you pay the application fee with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card; Global Entry approval includes complimentary TSA PreCheck
- No foreign transaction fees on international purchases made with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card (the issuer does not add a foreign currency conversion surcharge)
- Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance: when you charge an entire round-trip to your Eligible Card and a covered reason cancels or interrupts the trip, coverage is provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company (an AIG Company), subject to terms, conditions, and limitations published in the Card Member Agreement
- Cell Phone Protection benefit available to American Express Card Members when the primary monthly wireless bill is paid with the card; reimburses repair or replacement up to the published per-claim cap (commonly cited as $800 per claim with a $50 deductible by independent reviewers) per the Amex cell phone benefit documentation
- Premium Global Assist Hotline: 24/7 medical, legal, financial, or other select emergency coordination and assistance services for Amex Card Members traveling more than 100 miles from home (third-party service costs are the cardholder's responsibility)
- Regular variable APR of 19.49% to 28.49% on purchases, based on creditworthiness and other factors determined at the time of account opening, per the issuer's Rates and Fees terms page
- No introductory APR offer disclosed on the application terms page for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card; this is a premium cobrand card not positioned as a balance-transfer product
- American Express acceptance at 99% of places in the United States that accept credit cards (per the February 2024 Nilson Report cited on Amex product pages), making the 2X base earn on non-bonus categories broadly usable
- Marriott Bonvoy points earned on the card do not expire as long as the Bonvoy account has any qualifying activity (earning or redeeming) at least once every 24 months, per Marriott Bonvoy program rules
- Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to most airline frequent flyer partners at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred under the standard Bonvoy program, giving Brilliant cardholders effective access to dozens of airline partners via Bonvoy as well as direct hotel redemptions
- Air+Car Transfer Program: redeem Marriott Bonvoy points directly for flights and car rentals across hundreds of travel partners through Marriott (the program runs independently of Amex Membership Rewards transfers)
- Amex Offers: targeted enrollable statement-credit and bonus-points offers from merchants (dining, travel, retail, streaming) loaded to the card account, refreshed regularly and stackable with category bonuses
- Amex Experiences: access to Card Member-only ticket presales for theater, concerts, sporting events, and the By Invitation Only experiences program through American Express Experiences
- Pay Over Time / Plan It feature available to extend eligible purchases of $100 or more into fixed monthly installments with a flat fee in lieu of interest, giving cardholders cash-flow flexibility on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card
- Card construction is metal (the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant has been issued as a metal card since its 2019 launch and refresh), confirmed by independent reviewers including Upgraded Points and One Mile at a Time
- Annual Free Night Award typically posts 8 to 12 weeks after the Card renewal month and expires 12 months after issuance, giving cardholders roughly a year to use each year's certificate before it lapses (cited consistently by Upgraded Points and OMAAT reviews)
- Card Member is responsible for resort fees, destination fees, taxes, gratuities, and incidentals at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties when redeeming the annual Free Night Award (Marriott Bonvoy property-fee policy as documented on marriott.com and confirmed by Upgraded Points)
- Eligibility note: American Express applies its one-bonus-per-product-lifetime rule (the 'once per lifetime' / family rule) to Marriott cobrand cards; cardholders who currently hold or have previously received a welcome offer on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Bevy, or other Marriott Amex products may be ineligible for the welcome offer, as widely documented by One Mile at a Time and Frequent Miler
- Cross-product family rule: Amex also blocks the welcome offer for applicants who currently hold or have received a welcome offer in the prior 30 days on certain Marriott Bonvoy Chase products (Boundless, Bountiful, Bevy of the Chase variants), per Amex's published application terms and confirmed by Frequent Miler
- Free Night Award is widely cited as the keep-or-cancel test for the card: independent reviewers (Upgraded Points, One Mile at a Time, The Points Guy) conclude the 85,000-point certificate alone (with up to 25,000 top-up) typically retails between $500 and $1,000+ in cash value at peak Category 8 properties, comfortably exceeding the $650 annual fee for cardholders who use it
- Marriott Bonvoy program covers over 30 brands including Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, JW Marriott, W Hotels, Edition, Le Meridien, Westin, Sheraton, Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Courtyard, Residence Inn, AC Hotels, Aloft, Element, Moxy, Four Points, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield, TownePlace Suites, Protea, and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, so all card spending earn and elite benefits apply across this footprint
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Earn up to 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
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