Compare the Features and Benefits of Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card and
Citi® Double Cash Card

If you’re on the hunt for a Marriott credit card, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card is a relatively newcomer to the family of Marriott cards. Issued by American Express, this card debuted in 2022 and offers a middle ground for Marriott loyalists who are looking for solid perks without paying up an annual fee as high as $700, as with some other premium cards.

Instead, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card comes with a $250 annual fee. And with that, you’ll get automatic Marriott Bonvoy® Gold elite status just by being a cardholder. Normally requiring 25 elite nights per night, carrying the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card is one of the ways to bypass this threshold.

As such, you’ll get 2 p.m. late checkout (based on availability), 25% bonus points at Marriott properties, and enhanced room upgrades upon availability. However, even Bonvoy® Gold elite status leaves a bit to be desired, as it doesn’t come with complimentary breakfast, suite upgrades, or a guaranteed late checkout benefit.

Outside of elite status, the Bevy card offers 1,000 bonus points per paid eligible stay at properties participating in Marriott Bonvoy and earns 6x bonus points per dollar on eligible Marriott Bonvoy hotels. You can also earn 4x bonus points per dollar on restaurants worldwide (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) and U.S. supermarkets, on up to the first $15,000 spent per year combined. That’s a potential of earning 60,000 bonus points on those two bonus categories alone, and you’ll earn 2x points after this limit and all other eligible purchases.

Another incentive to keep the card and pay the ongoing annual fees is the potential to earn a free night award, with a redemption value of up to 50,000 points and can be topped up with as many as 25,000 points from your account, allowing for a maximum value of of a room that costs 75,000 points. This certificate is actually much better than the one that comes on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, as its redemption value is capped at 35,000 points per night. Unfortunately, the major downside is that you have to spend at least $15,000 on the Bevy card per year to earn it, which breaks down to $1,250 in monthly spending.

In estimated monetary value, we calculate that Marriott Bonvoy® points are worth about 0.6 cents each. That means you can achieve around $300 in value from the Bevy free night award if you can meet the spending requirements, which can easily wipe out the $250 annual fee before considering all the other perks.

Lastly, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express card makes for a solid travel card with no foreign transaction fees (see rates & fees), trip delay reimbursement, baggage insurance and more. However, you may want to look for a credit card with primary rental car insurance, as the Bevy only provides secondary coverage for theft and damage.

Rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card

The Citi Double Cash® Card isn’t a card loaded with features and benefits.

But it has one killer feature that makes the card a must-have for nearly everyone and that’s the simple fact that it earns 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.

And before we forget, it also comes with a pretty amazing intro offer for balance transfers, as outlined in the Key Facts at the top of the page and in the 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers section above.

You don’t have to think about bonus categories with this credit card. The answer to “what will I earn here” is always 2% as long as you pay your bill.

Just one caveat: the Double Cash does not come with some expected benefits, like trip protections or purchase protection. However, it does have extended warranty making it a solid choice for retail purchases.

That said, why is it a must have credit card for nearly everyone?

Three reasons:

1) There is no consumer credit card issued by a major bank that earns a higher % of cash back with no annual fee, no limit on cash back, and no “other requirements.” None.

2) You can use this as your one credit card if you are completely averse to using multiple credit cards (although you’ll need to be aware of the foreign transaction fees charged if you travel internationally). But even better is to use this as your “default” card. What I mean by that is you may have a card that earns 4X on dining and groceries and another that earns 3% on drugstores, but that’s it. What about an insurance payment? What about daycare?

On most other credit cards, if you aren’t spending in a bonus category, you only earn 1X or 1% back. For example, the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card pays 3X in certain categories (Air/Hotel, Gas, Restaurants and Supermarkets) and 1X in everything else. So you can “Double Up” by having both cards.

The Citi Double Cash card earns 2X Thank You® points on everything. If your purchase is in a Citi Premier card bonus category, go ahead and make the purchase with your Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. If it’s in any other category, make the purchase with your Double Cash card. That way, you’ll get one percent when you make the purchase and another percent when you pay it. With a Double Cash card in your pocket, you can always take it out when you have no bonus category available, ensuring that you never, ever earn less than 2% back on any purchases.

3) While you’ll earn cash back rewards with this card, it earns it as ThankYou® points. If you only have the Double Cash alone, that keeps things simple. It’s cash! You can cash out as a statement credit, via direct deposit to your bank account, or by check.

Pair with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card – a great credit card strategy

In that case, once again, you simply pair this card with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. That would allow you to pool all of your ThankYou® points together and, because of the Premier, you’ll unlock access to all of the transfer options listed below, the best kind of credit card rewards:

What are some of the ways you can use Citi ThankYou® points for outsized value with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card?

We outline all of that on the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card page, since that is the card that unlocks these features. Please take a look at the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card review for everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou® points.

The Citi Trifecta: With the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card and then a Citi Rewards+ Card, earn a 10% Points Rebate on Redemptions

Unfortunately, the Rewards+ is no longer available to new applicants. However, if you already have one you’re reaping an additional benefit.

Each calendar year, Citi will rebate back 10% of the first 100,000 ThankYou® Points that you spend, so you can get back up to 10,000 points per year Best of all, it isn’t tied in any way to your spending on the card. Just having the Rewards+ in your profile and linked to the same ThankYou account will ensure that you get the rebate.

Citi Application Rules

Citi won’t approve more than 2 cards in a 60-day period, although we recommend 65 days, just to be safe. This means that if you decide to apply for the Double Cash and combo with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card card, you are good to get both at any time. A 3rd Citi card would require waiting tunnel 60days passed.

Bottom Line

The Citi Double Cash is quite simply a card that should be in 99% of wallets. The 2% cash back on everything (1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay your bill), with no annual fee, is too good to pass up, even if you are using it in conjunction with other credit cards to maximize your bonus categories – as you should be!