Originally Posted by
SanDiego1K
Look at the benefits for each card and determine what the effective rate is. Then make your decision. The Bonvoy Brilliant card reimburses $300 for Marriott stays. That leaves $150. You get a free night certificate worth 50K points. I just used 2 35K certficates on a trip and saved $250-ish for each of them. If you don't stay at Marriott it makes no sense to have it. If you do, you might find value in it.
I keep not being enticed back to AMEX Gold or AMEX platinum as I can't get the math to pencil.
That's exactly how I see it as well as I justify multiple Amex cards with a high fee. The Marriott card pays for itself or saves money, even if I don't use any of the other benefits because I already have them with other Amex cards. The same can be said with the Gold card depending how you use if for dining or groceries.
So in the end the OP needs to do the math on the benefits that are important and being used and add that value up relative to the AF paid.