AmEx Bonvoy Brilliant Luxury Card [General Discussion Thread]
Oct 19, 2018, 7:32 pm
#453
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 189
To answer my own question, manufactured spend on this card DOES result in bonus points posted (couple of days after the regular points post).
Oct 20, 2018, 1:30 am
#454
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,464
Thanks for the DP. I'm not really MS'ing, but I bought a large Marriott gift card because I have a bunch of future stays and none of the hotels were receptive to the idea of pre-charging my card. I was pretty sure that AMEX wouldn't consider a Marriott gift card to be a "cash equivalent" but it's nice to know it shouldn't matter even if they did.
Oct 20, 2018, 4:03 am
#455
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Programs: UA Platinum 2MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 632
Both wife and I have this card. Wife got 100k upgrade offer in Sept and upgraded her personal SPG Amex in mid-Sept. Her anniversary date is mid-Oct. She spend over $300 at a Marriott end of Sept and got $300 credit 10/2. Then she spend over $300 at an SPG property in October. Charge posted on 10/13 and she received another $300 credit on 10/15. I thought her formal anniversary date is Oct 14, but I could be off a couple of days one way or the other. Best of all, $600 in credits and no annual fee charged yet. Normally her annual fee posts on the closing date of her Oct statement which should be 10/26 this year. We'll see what fee she gets charged. She has not been charged a pro-rated fee for the one month she was upgraded before her anniversary. No 100K points yet as she hasn't hit $5k spend yet. No new free night cert yet either.
For me, I applied for a new Luxury Card during the 3 days in August before the new bonus restrictions took effect. Already had a bunch of SPG/Marriott Amex/Chase cards. . Luxury Card instant approval without credit pull. Received $300 credit after first Marriott spend. Received 100K points already. What is interesting is that I think I did not hit and have not hit $5K spend unless you count the $450 annual fee as spend. Regardless YMMV.
For me, I applied for a new Luxury Card during the 3 days in August before the new bonus restrictions took effect. Already had a bunch of SPG/Marriott Amex/Chase cards. . Luxury Card instant approval without credit pull. Received $300 credit after first Marriott spend. Received 100K points already. What is interesting is that I think I did not hit and have not hit $5K spend unless you count the $450 annual fee as spend. Regardless YMMV.
Oct 20, 2018, 5:21 am
#456
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 107
Both wife and I have this card. Wife got 100k upgrade offer in Sept and upgraded her personal SPG Amex in mid-Sept. Her anniversary date is mid-Oct. She spend over $300 at a Marriott end of Sept and got $300 credit 10/2. Then she spend over $300 at an SPG property in October. Charge posted on 10/13 and she received another $300 credit on 10/15. I thought her formal anniversary date is Oct 14, but I could be off a couple of days one way or the other. Best of all, $600 in credits and no annual fee charged yet. Normally her annual fee posts on the closing date of her Oct statement which should be 10/26 this year. We'll see what fee she gets charged. She has not been charged a pro-rated fee for the one month she was upgraded before her anniversary. No 100K points yet as she hasn't hit $5k spend yet. No new free night cert yet either.
For me, I applied for a new Luxury Card during the 3 days in August before the new bonus restrictions took effect. Already had a bunch of SPG/Marriott Amex/Chase cards. . Luxury Card instant approval without credit pull. Received $300 credit after first Marriott spend. Received 100K points already. What is interesting is that I think I did not hit and have not hit $5K spend unless you count the $450 annual fee as spend. Regardless YMMV.
For me, I applied for a new Luxury Card during the 3 days in August before the new bonus restrictions took effect. Already had a bunch of SPG/Marriott Amex/Chase cards. . Luxury Card instant approval without credit pull. Received $300 credit after first Marriott spend. Received 100K points already. What is interesting is that I think I did not hit and have not hit $5K spend unless you count the $450 annual fee as spend. Regardless YMMV.
The easy to use $300 credit and the free night award make my renewal next week somewhat of a no-brainer despite the $450 moving forward. I'm keeping my card for at least the next year to see how easy is it to use the certificates. I will also receive 2 of the 35,000 variety for my business cards.
My real question is will I actually use the card for spend next year? So far getting 0.8 to 1.1 cpp on rewards, so better than I thought. Hopefully they will keep running spend bonuses...
Oct 20, 2018, 7:36 am
#457
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA EP; WN CP;UA SILVER; MARRIOTT TITANIUM; HH DIAMOND; IHG PLAT; RADISSON PLAT; HYATT GLOBAL
Posts: 1,938
Oct 21, 2018, 9:04 am
#459
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,284
I upgraded my card via online offer this past week. The new physical card has not arrived. Will it be the same number, just a different printed design on the card? And how soon do my purchases start counting toward the $5k spend target? I've already made a few hundred in charges and would love for them to count....
Oct 21, 2018, 2:55 pm
#460
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 107
I upgraded my card via online offer this past week. The new physical card has not arrived. Will it be the same number, just a different printed design on the card? And how soon do my purchases start counting toward the $5k spend target? I've already made a few hundred in charges and would love for them to count....
Oct 21, 2018, 3:04 pm
#461
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: TUL
Programs: AA EXP 2MM; Marriott Titanium; Hilton Diamond; Hyatt Explorist; Vistana 5* Elite; Nat'l Exec Elite
Posts: 6,177
I wonder if it was a temporary new card. They were sending those in late August when they first started the upgrades. Since that time, Amex has indicated that one should continue to use their regular SPG Amex and a new card would arrive when the new card stock is received by Amex. I upgraded on September 5 and still have not received a new card.
Oct 21, 2018, 10:02 pm
#462
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: Whoever Has the Best Bonus
Posts: 5,183
I wonder if it was a temporary new card. They were sending those in late August when they first started the upgrades. Since that time, Amex has indicated that one should continue to use their regular SPG Amex and a new card would arrive when the new card stock is received by Amex. I upgraded on September 5 and still have not received a new card.
Just using my old SPG Amex till it shows up though .
Oct 22, 2018, 6:15 am
#463
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 107
I wonder if it was a temporary new card. They were sending those in late August when they first started the upgrades. Since that time, Amex has indicated that one should continue to use their regular SPG Amex and a new card would arrive when the new card stock is received by Amex. I upgraded on September 5 and still have not received a new card.
Oct 22, 2018, 7:03 pm
#465
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 4
I upgraded to this card as soon as it became available and have not had the annual fee charged yet. My renewal was Nov 17 last year. I just got a letter from AMEX today saying "When you recently transferred Card products, we sent you information about the Annual Membership Fee for your new Card. However, after reviewing your account, we have decided to retain your current Annual Membership Fee on your account at this time." Anyone else get this? Why are they being so generous?
Last edited by bcoco8; Oct 22, 2018 at 7:42 pm