That's why it's a personal choice depending on what works for each person - I had 4 certs of 35k@ (personal and biz for both self and spouse) and used it for 2 rooms x 2 nights for a short family getaway not far from home. For me it was obviously worth it. For others this may not be the case.

Not sure if I'm allowed to say this here, but I know there are places where you can sell your free 35k night certs for $140+ depending on your status (up to $160). So if someone finds themselves not being able to use their cert they can still sell it and will cover the annual fee+.

Bonvoy card has largely gone in the sock drawer, kept open only for the fact it makes up a decent chunk of my AAOA since I had the SPG card since its inception, and the account opening date was backdated to my first Amex card back in the late 90's. Also, I have about a 33k CL on it. It gets infrequent use now with 1 or 2 Bonvoy stays every other month charged to it. I've largely moved away from Marriott/Bonvoy and over to about 95% Hilton, 4% other unbranded non-chain hotels and maybe that 1% Marriott. IMHO the Hilton Aspire is king of the hotel cards right now for me. I suppose I'm also a little bit bitter at how Marriott took an a top notch loyalty program and gutted it, and then followed up with misstep after misstep on the Bonvoy rollout....so I've happily moved on. I like to keep and earn at least some Marriott points for diversity though. Never want to have ALL your eggs in one basket, and don't want to miss out if a sweet-spot redemption comes along in a program you don't have covered down.

Agree 100%. Congrats on being able to find good use for your 35k certs! Alas that is not the case for many of us coastal elites who don't vacation in China or flyover country (I generally avoid airport hotels too).

Personally I would never sell a cert as I still value my Marriott relationship (I'm one year away from lifetime Plat) but of course YMMV

Used them in PA. Happened to have worked out this year but not sure what will be going forward. When we go away just as a couple we practically only stay in luxury hotels which these certs obviously are no good for. But on the occasion that we take the whole family, luxury hotels are not what we're looking for so it works perfectly.

I wouldn't either but I'm guessing you don't exactly tell them you did that ;), just say you booked for family member or close friend.

I don't know about Marriott, but AA and UA both run sting operations on the various online fora to catch program members who are attempting to monetize program benefits. If you're caught selling miles, upgrades, travel certificates, etc., the usual consequence is account termination and forfeiture of miles.

I received my new Bonvoy Amex card last week. This thing looks trashy -- rendered in cheap, lightweight plastic with printed numbers unlike the old SPG Amex much heavier (partly metal?) with engraved numbers

Also, the graphics and color scheme embody the word tacky. The dark purple SPG Amex was nice -- not quite black, but distinctive (also happened to be the color of my alma mater).

This thing is embarrassing to take out of my wallet.

I agree that the purple SPG cards were way nicer than the replacements I recently received but my old ones were definitely not partly metal. They were also plastic but had the numbers imprinted which all credit cards are moving away from and switching to just having them printed on the back side.

The new card is a problem because the old SPG business card was purple and easy to pick out of the wallet. The new one is the same gray that the Chase Bonvoy Boundless card is. I was explaining to DH that he's to use the Bonvoy Business card at the P.O. and for shipping and not to confuse it with the Bonvoy Boundless card from Chase.

It's also the same color (and material) as the Chase Hyatt Visa.

FWIW, and in the spirit of the original post, I've shifted my spend from SPG to AMEX MR and am achieving a return of between 4 and 5% depending on how much one values a MR point.

SPG had been my go to and I used the changes over the past year to re-evaluate the situation. I did upgrade from SPG to Brilliant and am using that for Marriott stays as well as my personal and work related restaurant transactions.

For the remainder of my personal, my work, and my family's spend, I've doubled down on MR:
-Platinum for airfare (5x) and my personal and work spend (non-bonused at 1x)
-Gold for restaurants and groceries (4x)
-Business Blue for my family's spend (2x up to $50k)

For every $100 I spend with AMEX, I earn 2.36 points (based on my spend patterns). If you value MR points at 1.7¢, then the return is just over 4%; if you value MR points at 2¢, then the return is around 4.75%.

Transferring points for reward tickets unfortunately doesn't work for me right now as getting a family's worth of award tickets through MR on a somewhat direct flight on the days that work for everyone can be too costly as airline's move to value based redemption.

For me, this means booking airfare through amextravel and using Pay w/ Points. I will more than likely open up the Business Platinum for the 35% rebate on the preferred airline AMEX asks you to choose. In that scenario, spending $100k w/ AMEX will result in $3,600 in purchase power for my family's annual airfare. I can work with that.

I've had SPG since 2002 and used it exclusively for my spend since 2004. Many years of habits to change, but my wife and I decided to maximize our earnings and leverage one of two family vacations a year for no cost and with no changes to our actual spend.

I'm still with SPG Amex for now... the extra bonus point at every $25k keeps it my primary card this year. As soon as that promo is over... this card is solely used for Marriott stays and saved just for the free night. If/when a promo appears next year, I may pull it out again. Still remains an excellent card with the spend promo.

As for what I'll use once spend promo is over... likely switch to Hilton Aspire Amex (so still staying with Amex). But may apply for Platinum Amex and use/earn MR. We shall see. Still a few months away from that decision.

I've switched to Chase Ultimate Rewards for all but Marriott spend (Amex). Sapphire Reserve for travel and dining. Freedom for everything else. Prior to all this, it was all SPG Amex. My points balance is going to take a hit once I spend it down, but the freedom has been liberating.

I don't care what the card looks like. My first SPG amex was blue, then there was the burgundy and silver and then purple. Not too sentimental about any of them. Messed up the earnings and I was done.

I've grown to appreciate the non embossed flat cards as they take up less room in my wallet.

Same for me with the 25k promo, however will switch to Chase Freedom Unlimited thereafter for non bonus spend.

What's the go to card to switch to right now? Finding the 35K award basically unusable, and the points not going as far as they used to at all.

Do you just call Amex and ask them to switch you to the card or what's the best procedure?

It really depends on your spending pattern. Then you can decide which card to switch to and it may not be an Amex. Also if you want a different card it may be better to sign up for a new one rather than switch (which anyway isn't always possible), because you will get the new card sign up bonus which you wouldn't get if you converted.

The only other card you can switch (product change) the base $95 Bonvoy Amex to is the $450 version since Amex only allows product changes within the same card "family" these days and that's the only other Bonvoy card that Amex has. So if you don't want that card, you'd have to cancel the Bonvoy Amex and sign up for something new (with Amex or elsewhere). Depending how long you've had the Bonvoy/SPG Amex and how many other cards of what ages you have, that may incur some marginal credit score penalty.

Any bets on whether we will see another spend promo from Amex? I'm betting that transaction volume goes way down after the end of the 25k bonus for $25k spend promo, plus more cancellations due to the AF. But I can't imagine they want to keep paying the equivalent of 3 points/$1 on regular spend.

It probably depends on how successful the Brilliant card has been for them. I use that card a decent amount but will likely cancel the regular Bonvoy at some point. Amex seems more focused on its charge cards and Delta cards nowadays.

Not what I wanted to hear. That's unfortunate. Is there a zero fee version of this Marriott Card I could use? I find the points useless due to the devaluation and even the free night worthless since it's limited to low level category hotels.

There is a zero fee card, but it is offered by Chase. If you get an upgrade offer from Amex, you could upgrade to the Brilliant for a bonus (anywhere from 75,000 to 125,000 points), and that card comes with a more useful free night. Otherwise cancelling may be your best bet

I figured the promo had to be some sort of test, to see how much spending varied based on the drop to 2 points/$ and then when reverted (with 25k tiers) to 3 points/$. So if I am right, depends on their number crunching the data after promo over 12/31.

The card will go back in the sock draw after 12/31. I managed to make 75k out of the possible 100k bonus that was up for grabs, so not too bad.

I managed to get the full 100k by end of last month and immediately stopped spend cold turkey. I hope their data analysis sees this so that we either get future spend bonuses like this or they just increase to 3 points per $ across the board.

I kept the Amex because I needed the 15 night booster shot to get Plat status. Compared to the Chase Visa, it had marginally better benefits. I dumped my Chase Visa only use the Amex when staying at a Marriott. The 35K cert is something I can use but would not be a big reason to pay the AF.

I would prefer to see 3x or something similar (maybe after hitting spend thresholds) on the Brilliant - it could be an excellent card (rather than a decent one) with one or two mods

Agree. If Amex execs had any brains (they don't) they would copy Chase and offer 3x points on the $450 AF card and 2x points on the $95 AF card (as Chase does for CSR and CSP). 2x points just doesn't cut it for everyday spend, particularly with all the devals after program merger.

My guess is that they contractually can not offer more per $ than the Chase Marriott cards. That’s why the 25k for $25 is kind of brilliant as a promo. Obviously they can afford the economics, but I’m guessing their hands are tied contractually.

Concur on this. I think Marriott had to find a way to keep both happy after the merger (presumably they either contractually couldn't get rid of either of them, or either or both banks threw so much money at Marriott such that they decided to keep both).

Though I still find it surprising that Marriott didn't want to or didn't allow Amex to sweeten the offer on the $450 card. The premium credit card space is pretty crowded these days and the Bonvoy Brilliant card is perhaps the lamest $450 card out there, at least among those from the major banks.

In case anyone cares, the Long Beach, CA Marriott is 35K points and the day I used the cert recently the hotel rate was $180. And it has free parking which is a rare thing at So Cal Marriott properties.

One neat thing that you can use the Bonvoy card, or many other Amex cards for is the Plan It feature. It can come in handy if you are temporarily juggling finances. I'm not sure if the Chase Sapphire has this?

But why not 10k for 1x bonus or 5k, etc. What is magical about the $25k spend level? Either way I hope they continue some spend incentive in 2020. Won't use the card unless they do, it doesn't make financial sense without the incentive.