6X only applies to Marriott Bonvoy hotels booked directly with Marriott or the hotel. Otherwise, earn 2X.
At U.S. gas stations
With U.S. Cellular Providers
Worldwide
With U.S. Shipping companies
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
If you’re a business owner with a Marriott Bonvoy member account, there’s only one Marriott credit card that can deliver all the benefits you’re looking for. For Marriott perks galore, the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card is a stellar option. Better yet, its annual fee that pays itself for many small business owners who can take full advantage of the benefits offered by the card – especially that annual free night.
Let’s talk about how cardholders can earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points with the card. You’ll earn 6x points on eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy, and fortunately, there are more than 8,500 (and growing!) properties worldwide. The Bonvoy Business is one of our favorite business credit cards for small business owners that lean into Marriott for hotel stays.
You’ll also earn 4x bonus points per dollar of eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping, and 2x points on all non-bonus purchases. To tie it all together, there are no caps to the number of points you can earn from the card.
Marriott Bonvoy points are still incredibly versatile, as no other hotel chain can boast the sheer number of properties that participate in this loyalty program. Besides redeeming your Marriott Bonvoy points at hotels, you also have the flexibility to transfer them to participating airline loyalty programs and directly for eligible airfare and car rentals through Marriott’s unique Air+Car Transfer program.
Even if you decide to pay for your stay on your own accord, this business credit card unlocks a 7% room discount at participating properties. This can amount to significant savings depending on how often you’re staying at Marriott hotels.
What really makes this Marriott credit card stand out from the rest is the free nights you can earn with the card (though certain hotels have resort fees). With your card membership, you’ll pay the annual fee on every account anniversary, and in the following month you’ll receive a Marriott free night award. This has a redemption value of 35,000 points, or roughly $210 in value at hotels participating in this loyalty program. Plus, you can add on up to 15,000 of your own points if you’d like to use the certificate at a hotel costing between 25,000 and 50,000 points for the night.
You’ll get the chance to earn an additional free night award if you’re a high-roller and can meet the $60,000+ spend threshold per calendar year, and this is certainly doable for businesses with many expenses.
On site at Marriott hotels and resorts, you’ll be rewarded even further with automatic Gold elite status. You’ll earn 25% more Marriott points as a Gold member (on top of the card’s 6X earning rate!), as well as access to 2 p.m. late checkout (based on availability) and room upgrades. Finally, you’ll get premium room internet access, making sure you stay connected no matter where you’re traveling.
In sum, this long-list of perks makes it one of our favorite hotel business credit cards, as earning Marriott Bonvoy points can be easier than ever from your routine business expenses.
Note: There are some confusing eligibility rules around this card. If you have the Bonvoy American Express card, Ritz Carlton Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card, or the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, you are free to apply for this card.
If you have a Chase Marriott Boundless, Chase Bonvoy Bold, or Chase Bonvoy Bountiful, you will only be eligible to apply for this card if it’s been more than 24 months since you received the bonus on that card.
Rates and Fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
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% cash back on all of your everyday purchases. Technically, you earn 1% when you spend and 1% when you pay, but semantics aside, you’re earning 2% cash back on absolutely all eligible purchases.
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.
You don’t have to think about bonus categories with this credit card. The answer to “what will I earn here” is always 2%.
Just one caveat: the Double Cash does not come with many expected benefits, like extended warranty or purchase protection. For those reasons, you may want to use another card for high value merchandise 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. 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 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 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.
In that case, once again, you simply pair this card with a Citi Premier credit 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:
Citi ThankYou Transfer Partners | Transfer Ratio | Approximate Transfer Time * |
---|---|---|
AeroMexico | 1:1 | Generally instant |
Air France Flying Blue | 1:1 | Instant |
Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 | Instant. |
Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles | 1:1 | Instant |
Etihad Guest | 1:1 | Instant |
Emirates | 1:! | Instant |
Eva Air | 1:1 | ~1-3 days |
Jet Airways InterMiles | 1:1 | Instant |
JetBlue TrueBlue | 1:1 | Instant |
Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 1:1 | ~1-7 days |
Qantas | 1:1 | Instant to 1 day |
Qatar Privilege Club | 1:1 | ~2 days |
Singapore Airlines | 1:1 | ~1-2 days |
Thai Orchid Plus | 1:1 | ~3-7 days |
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
Virgin Atlantic | 1:1 | Instant to 2 days |
Hotels | ||
Choice Hotels | 1:2 (Citi Prestige / Premier / Chairman cards) 1:1.5 (No fee Citi ThankYou cards) | Instant |
Wyndham Rewards | 1:1 (Citi Prestige / Premier / Chairman cards) 1:0.8 (No fee Citi ThankYou cards) | TBD |
Leaders Club | 5:1 | TBD |
Preferred Hotels and Resorts "I Prefer" | 1:4 | TBD |
Accor Live Limitless | 1:0.5 | TBD |
What are some of the ways you can use Citi ThankYou® points for outsized value with a Citi Premier?
We outline all of that on the Citi Premier card page, since that is the card that unlocks these features. Please take a look at the Citi Premier review for everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou® points.
The Citi Trifecta: Add the Citi Premier and then a Citi Rewards+ Card for a 10% Points Rebate
You can make your Citi Premier and Citi Double Cash rewards combo even more rewarding if you add in a no-annual fee Citi Rewards+ card.
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 it in your profile and linked to the same ThankYou account will ensure that you get the rebate.
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 Premier and Citi Rewards+ card, you’ll have to pick one to wait and apply for on Day 66. We’d recommend getting the Rewards+ last, since the benefits are when you redeem.
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 buy 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!