Originally Posted by
Adelphos
The status aspect of the Brilliant is underplayed. Everyone seems to note that getting Diamond with the Hilton Aspire is a good perk. It's the same with Platinum and the Brilliant. Both status levels offer breakfast, lounge access, and a decent shot at an upgrade. Lounge access is more useful with Marriott as there are more lounges. Plus, with 25 nights, you get 5 SNAs if you stay 25 nights with Marriott. Hilton doesn't offer a similar benefit. Hilton's free night is better, but Platinum can be worth a fewl hundred dollars for the moderate Marriott traveler (someone staying 15-30 nights a year). Crucially, holding on to cards like Brilliant, Aspire, etc let you spread your hotel stays around. You can stay at the boutique, Four Seasons, Airbnb, whatever for that particular trip because you don't have to worry as much about hitting elite nights in any particular program.
I think that if you see this card as NOT being low hanging fruit, its value is more clear. I personally don't like it for me because I keep status with paid stays and it sure has become hard to get an upgrade at US locations. But I also love it because now we can now also use my wife's certificates on international travel and getting the full gambit of benefits on 8 certificates per year (4each) is huge. Lounge access and breakfast for our family of 4 usually save us over $50 per day on stays. In the Caribbean last year, this put us at about 400 per night in value per 35K certificate, when you calculate costs avoided in room rate, taxes and food. Of course we paid 100 per card to earn those certificates but I think I made my point. I easily use the dining credit each month so the card is a huge win for my P2, and I definitely at least break even on my own numbers.
Just for the sake of debate, I want to acknowledge that the AMEX Priority Pass is not great (we didn't even apply for it) but there are worse variants out there as well. For quite a few people, this is probably a redundant junk benefit. Also, a single 85K cert is probably more difficult to use (and get good value) without combining it with paid or point nights unless you need a 85K cert for a single overnighter. On the other hand, this card insures 8 mobile phones for no additional charge which is worth the entire annual fee and then some, over a year.