No Bonvoy credit card in Germany?
Aug 25, 2019, 9:00 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2019
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No Bonvoy credit card in Germany?
Why is there no Bonvoy credit card in Germany. It’s a bit unfair, that in other countries you get free nights and all hotel spendings with much higher points accounted. Reaching elite levels with this major difference is a very unfair thing, as in US it’s much easier to become a high tier member, then e.g. in Germany
Aug 25, 2019, 9:12 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: United Arab Emirates & Arizona, USA
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One would think that the overhead of implementing a credit card partnership with a German bank would be low, but isn't the country notorious for using credit cards much less than other rich countries? Are there many affinity credit cards in the country?
Aug 25, 2019, 9:46 am
#4
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On non Marriott spend, both cards get 2 pts/$, so US$100 would give 200 pts and C$137 would give 274 pts.
Aug 25, 2019, 10:30 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: YUL
Posts: 969
Right, thanks for the math, I'm not exactly good at it. But what I meant, though not very clear, is that the welcome bonus is 50000 points for the Canadian card, and much more for the US card.
Aug 25, 2019, 12:14 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEL
Posts: 1,057
Take that one up with the European Commission.
With interchange capped at 0,3% on credit card transactions, all rewards programs on European credit cards are trash compared to what's on offer in the U.S. and other parts of the world.
With interchange capped at 0,3% on credit card transactions, all rewards programs on European credit cards are trash compared to what's on offer in the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Aug 25, 2019, 4:02 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 102
As @fttc and @der_saeufer said, if you don't think it's fair OP, take it up with your government and vote for people who will make the credit card industry in Germany less restricted. Swipe fees in Europe are much lower than in America by law and because of that, credit cards are not nearly as profitable there.
Aug 25, 2019, 4:12 pm
#9
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As @fttc and @der_saeufer said, if you don't think it's fair OP, take it up with your government and vote for people who will make the credit card industry in Germany less restricted. Swipe fees in Europe are much lower than in America by law and because of that, credit cards are not nearly as profitable there.
OTOH, I'm not sure those would immediately go back to being cash only if said caps went away.
Last edited by tmiw; Aug 25, 2019 at 4:39 pm Reason: removed duplicate word
Aug 25, 2019, 4:36 pm
#10
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Aug 25, 2019, 4:39 pm
#11
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Still not worth the annual fee plus the forex fees.
Aug 25, 2019, 4:49 pm
#12
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I don't know. I have 3 Bonbon cards.
Cdn SPG Amex
US SPG Amex
And I just got the Marriott Chase Visa for all those places in Asia that don't take the no forex fee US Amex. I figure the free night offsets the $95 annual fee. All those cards pay for themselves with the free night.
Cdn SPG Amex
US SPG Amex
And I just got the Marriott Chase Visa for all those places in Asia that don't take the no forex fee US Amex. I figure the free night offsets the $95 annual fee. All those cards pay for themselves with the free night.
Aug 25, 2019, 5:22 pm
#13
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Aug 25, 2019, 5:29 pm
#14
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The answer is probably more that the German points credit card business is relatively under-developed and so while there are a handful of options, Marriott happens to not be one of them. Marriott's myopic focus on the US doesn't help, but it is not a "US hotel chain" other than in the sense of being HQ'd in the US. Notice that Hilton does offer a German credit card, despite being a smaller European hotel chain and being equally US based.
Aug 25, 2019, 6:25 pm
#15
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 6,338
Not sure that's a particularly valid example. There are only a couple of flights that people in Canada can get on Lufthansa (from Canada). Meanwhile Germans travelling just in Europe have access to over 80,000 Marriott hotel rooms.
The answer is probably more that the German points credit card business is relatively under-developed and so while there are a handful of options, Marriott happens to not be one of them. Marriott's myopic focus on the US doesn't help, but it is not a "US hotel chain" other than in the sense of being HQ'd in the US. Notice that Hilton does offer a German credit card, despite being a smaller European hotel chain and being equally US based.
The answer is probably more that the German points credit card business is relatively under-developed and so while there are a handful of options, Marriott happens to not be one of them. Marriott's myopic focus on the US doesn't help, but it is not a "US hotel chain" other than in the sense of being HQ'd in the US. Notice that Hilton does offer a German credit card, despite being a smaller European hotel chain and being equally US based.
But does it offer the sort of rewards a US Hilton card does? Isnt THAT the crux of the matter?