Why you need Marriott personal and business cards

One of the best benefits linked to Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card Family are the complimentary elite night credits you receive each year, ranging from 15 to 25 nights, depending on which card you have.

Better yet, if you have a personal and business credit card, you can earn up to 40 elite night credits per year, giving you a big head start toward elite status each year.

Let’s explore the value you get when you have a Marriott card for both consumer and business.

Accelerate to Platinum Status and Annual Election Benefits

Since you can accumulate Elite night credits, it’s worth having a personal and business Marriott card if you’re eligible. Some Marriott credit cards include 15 Elite nights per year, including Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (see rates and fees).

However, the more premium Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers 25 elite night credits per year, which could be worth it if you’re looking for the quickest path to elite status.

You may be wondering why this is relevant when several of the Marriott cards and American Express Platinum® Card We also offer Gold Elite status (registration required; terms apply) or the ability to earn higher status based on spend.

The big difference is that this automatic status doesn’t come with elite night credits, meaning you’ll still need to meet standard qualification thresholds if you want to enjoy the benefits of the program. Annual Election Benefits or achieve even higher levels of status.

Related: The Complete Guide to Earning Marriott Elite Status with Credit Cards

If you frequently stay at Marriott properties, you can accumulate these credits for 15 to 25 Elite nights in addition to your own travel to upgrade to next elite level faster.

When you accumulate credits between a business card and a personal card, each of which comes with 15 Elite night credits, such as Unlimited and the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card — you will have 30 elite night credits at the beginning of each year.

Achieving Platinum Elite status requires 50 nights per year, which means you’re already 60% of the way there. To reach the next level, you would need to stay only 20 additional nights (or earn the nights by spending the credit card on the Boundless card).

And once you’ve reached Platinum Elite status, the benefits can be incredibly valuable, including lounge access and Night Improvement Awards.

those with the Bright Receive complimentary Platinum Elite status each year as a card benefit. This entitles you to benefits such as room upgrades and complimentary breakfast. However, you will not have the necessary credits (50 nights) to earn the Annual Choice Benefit associated with Platinum status, which are:

That said, the 25 elite night credits you get with the Bonvoy Brilliant card can be stacked with the 15 elite nights you’ll get with the Bonvoy Brilliant card. Bonvoy businessallowing you to start each year with 40 elite night credits.

TPG Senior Editorial Director Nick Ewen used this option and had only stayed four nights at Marriott properties in 2024.

That’s 80% of what you need to get your first Choice Benefit selection (50 nights) and more than half of the 75 nights required for Titanium Elite Status. Achieving Titanium unlocks another annual election benefit, along with additional perks like the ability to upgrade to standard suites at Ritz-Carlton properties.

Annual Awards Nights

If you want an even faster path to status, you may want to consider more than two Marriott cards. In fact, there are several reasons to have so many Marriott credit cards as you can get. This is because of the incredible value you can get from anniversary award night certificates.

Both the Unlimited and Business Cards offer an anniversary reward night. up to 35,000 points. However, the premium Bright — with its $650 annual fee (see rates and fees) — offers an annual awards night worth up to 85,000 points per night (some hotels have resort rates).

Based on TPG October 2025 ratingsMarriott points are worth 0.7 cents each, meaning 35,000 points are worth $245.

Depending on how you travel, you may be able to get even more bang for your buck with these award nights. A former TPG employee used his at the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park in Sydney, where they were upgraded to a huge terrace suite during peak travel season, and at The St. Regis Beijing for a room that would have cost more than $300 a night.

Even with Marriott’s dynamic pricing, you can still redeem these rewards for more than your card’s annual fee, meaning this benefit alone can justify keeping your Marriott credit cards year after year.

But there are two exceptions: Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card and Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful® Credit Card Don’t automatically offer free night awards every year. With both cards, you would need to make $15,000 in purchases each year to receive a Free night award worth up to 50,000 points. (Certain hotels have mandatory resort fees.)

Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Card information has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bonuses by spending category

In addition to annual award nights and Elite night credits, having a personal and business Marriott card can help you earn more points in several spending categories.

All Marriott cards listed below earn 2 points per dollar spent on everyday spending and 6 points per dollar spent at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program. But it is the other bonus categories, most of which do not overlap, that can help you maximize your winnings:

• Unlimited: Earn 3 points per dollar spent on the first $6,000 spent on combined purchases each year at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants (then 2 points per dollar spent after that).
• Cluster: Earn 4 points per dollar spent on the first $15,000 of combined purchases at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets each calendar year (then 2 points per dollar after that).
• Abundant: Earn 4 points per dollar spent on the first $15,000 in combined grocery and restaurant purchases each year (then 2 points per dollar spent after that).
• Bright: Earn 3 points for every dollar spent on dining at restaurants around the world and on flights booked directly with airlines.
• Business: Earn 4 points for every dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide and U.S. gas stations and on wireless phone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and U.S. shipping purchases.

So, if you’re a big fan of Marriott and want to focus your earning strategy solely on Marriott Bonvoy points, you can have multiple cards and maximize your earnings across multiple categories.

Related: Are you eligible for a new Marriott Bonvoy card? This box tells you yes or no

In a nutshell

Marriott makes it easy to qualify for Elite status by allowing customers with personal and business credit cards to earn two sets of Elite night credits each year. In fact, many TPG employees started this year with 40 elite night credits. When you add this to the annual award night certificates on these credit cards, it’s practically a no-brainer to have both personal and business Marriott cards in your wallet.

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Apply here: Unlimited Marriott Bonvoy
Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Group
Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Business

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For Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex rates and rates, click here.
For Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Amex rates and rates, click here.
For Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex rates and rates, click here.