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The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card now offers up to $25 per month in credit toward worldwide restaurant purchases.
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The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card is a premium hotel credit card with great travel benefits.
The card offers up to $25 in statement credits per month for eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide.
If you max out this credit every month, you can get a value of up to $300 per calendar year.
Read Insider’s guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card is one of the best hotel credit cards around (read our review here). It comes with a Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card annual fee, but for that price, you get valuable benefits such as:
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Platinum elite statusAnnual free night award (valid for Marriott hotel nights costing up to 85,000 points — plus you can combine it with 15,000 points for nights costing up to 100,000 points)25 elite night credits each calendar yearPriority Pass Select airport lounge membership**Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit (worth up to $100)
Right now, the card has an elevated welcome bonus offer of Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card. Insider estimates Marriott points value to be 0.7 cents each, making this bonus worth an average of Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card. That’s double the value of this card’s normal welcome offer.
The card’s ongoing benefits (not counting the welcome bonus) could quite effortlessly save you $1,000+ per year. But there’s another valuable card benefit — and it’s perhaps the easiest to use: Up to $300 in annual statement credits for dining purchases. I’ll show you how it works.
We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.
How to use the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant $300 dining credits
When you open the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, you’ll receive up to $25 in statement credits each month toward purchases at restaurants worldwide for as long as you keep the card open. That amounts to up to $300 per calendar year. Just note that the dining credit cannot be used for:
Gift card purchasesMerchandiseNightclubsConvenience storesGrocery storesSupermarkets
You also may not receive the credit if you pay with your card through an electronic wallet or third-party processor. If you make a restaurant purchase near the end of the month and the transaction processes on the following calendar month, your credit for the current month will be used.
The credit is automatic; you don’t have to register for it or enroll your card before using it.
Does this credit make the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant worth it?
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card is the only Marriott card that offers a statement credit like this. Most other Marriott credit cards incur annual fees between $95 and $250.
If you spend at least $25 per month on dining, this benefit is as good as cash $300 in cash each year. That goes a long way toward offsetting the card’s Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card annual fee. You’ll effectively pay $350 per year for the card’s remaining benefits, such as Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership** (worth at least $429 annually), a free night certificate worth 85,000 points per night (worth an average of $595, per Insider’s valuations, etc.
Bottom line
Even with a price hike in annual fee, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card is a no-brainer for many Marriott loyalists. The annual $300 in available statement credit at restaurants is a decent perk in the credit card world for a couple of reasons:
It’s extremely valuable ($300 is a lot of money!)It’s straightforward and easy to use
This benefit is use-it-or-lose-it each month. But as long as you spend at least $25 per month at restaurants, you’ll be saving money you would have spent otherwise.