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In loyalty news that broke last week, we found out that Marriott Bonvoy has launched two new co-branded debit cards in the UK, and while this isn’t news that’s likely to excite most of our readership, it’s news to which US expats living in the UK (or anyone with access to US and UK credit cards) may want to pay attention as I have an untested theory which may be of interest.
Who cares about UK loyalty cards?
Well, the answer to that question is, rather obviously, “a lot of British people”, but if you have access to US credit cards, there isn’t too much on offer in the UK that’s going to interest you.
US cards are considerably more rewarding than anything you’ll find offered in the UK (although I find it useful to carry a few UK Amex cards just for the Amex offers that I get targeted for), so as long as you’re not incurring foreign transaction fees, most US expats living in the UK should probably be concentrating most of their spending on their US credit card portfolio*.
The two new Bonvoy debit cards, however, may change things up a little as both come with a benefit that may make a significant difference to a Bonvoy member who also has access to US credit cards.
*Using the UK-issued British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card to earn a companion voucher could be an exception here.
It’s all about elite night credits
If you’re a fan of Marriott properties around the world you’re probably a member of the chain’s rewards program – Marriott Bonvoy – and you probably already know that if you’re going to be staying at Marriott properties with any kind of frequency, it pays to hold Marriott Bonvoy elite status.
As a reminder, here are how many nights you currently have to credit to Bonvoy to enjoy the benefits of the program’s various elite status tiers:
- Silver Elite – 10 nights
- Gold Elite – 25 nights
- Platinum Elite – 50 nights
- Titanium Elite – 75 nights
- Ambassador Elite – 100 nights + $23,000 in eligible spending with Marriott.
The Silver Elite and Gold Elite status levels are not particularly useful, but once you’re up to Platinum Elite, things get a lot better (you’ll get complimentary breakfast for two and access to Executive Lounges at a lot of Marriott properties, for example).
If you have access to US credit cards, you can enjoy all the trappings of Platinum Elite just by holding the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card which comes with a $650 annual fee and which bestows Platinum Elite status on cardholders as part of its benefits package.
Card holders also get 25 elite nights credited to their account at the beginning of every year.
If you want to start off the year with more elite night credits, your only option in the US is to hold the Marriott Bonvoy Business® Credit Card which comes with a $125 annual fee and which will credit your Bonvoy account with 15 elite night credits at the start of every year.
There are other Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit cards that also offer elite night credits as part of their benefits package, but you can only stack elite nights from one of the consumer cards with the elite night credits from the business card.
This means that as things stand, you can start the year with a maximum of 40 elite night credits from US-issued credit cards.
Now this is where the new UK-issued Marriott Bonvoy debit cards may be able to help out.
Will this work?
Amex in the UK issues a Marriott Bonvoy consumer credit card which offers 15 elite night credits as part of its benefits package, but these elite night credits will not stack with the credits that you get with the US-issued credit cards.
I know because I’ve tried!
Things may be different, however, with the new co-branded debit cards that have just been released in the UK.
I’m not going to delve into everything these cards offer as most of it is irrelevant for the purposes of this article, so here’s all you need to know:
- The UK Marriott Bonvoy Debit Card comes with a £55 annual fee (~$72) and gives cardholders 10 elite night credits.
- The Marriott Bonvoy Premium Debit Card comes with a £175 annual fee (~$230) and gives cardholders 15 elite night credits.
Crucially, the elite night credits from these debit cards are designed to stack with the elite night credits you can get from the UK-issued Marriott Bonvoy consumer credit card, so there’s a chance they will stack with the elite night credits from the US credit cards as well.
If that turns out to be the case, someone with access to US credit cards and these UK debit cards (e.g. an American expat currently residing in the UK) could set up this family of cards:
- US Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card ($650) – 25 elite night credits
- US Marriott Bonvoy Business® Credit Card ($125) – 15 elite night credits
- UK Marriott Bonvoy Debit Card (£55/~$72) – 10 elite night credits
That’s 50 elite night credits for an outlay of around $850.
If you get the premium debit card, you may be able to boost your elite night credits to 55 for an outlay of around $1,005, but you would have to decide if you think 5 elite night credits are worth a further $155.
Why bother with more elite night credits?
You may now be wondering why, if you can enjoy Bonvoy Platinum Elite status just by holding the right credit card, would anyone care about earning more elite night credits from elsewhere.
Well, there are two main reasons for this:
Firstly, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card may give a cardholder Platinum Elite status, but it only adds 25 elite night credits to a cardholder’s Bonvoy account, so if you want to earn a higher elite status than Platinum, you’ll need to find at least 50 more elite night credits from elsewhere.
Secondly, everyone who credits 50 elite night credits to their Bonvoy account triggers an “Annual Choice Benefit” through which a Bonvoy member can select one additional reward (in 2025 there’s a choice of 5).
The most popular reward to choose is the set of five Nightly Upgrade Awards and if you want to earn these, just holding the Bonvoy Brilliant Card isn’t going to be enough, you’re going to have to credit 25 more nights to your Bonvoy account.
If my theory works, anyone who sets up the card trifecta that I mentioned above will start the year with 50 elite night credits and will automatically be eligible for an Annual Choice benefit and will only be 25 nights away from earning Titanium Elite status.
Bottom line
Let me be very clear here: I do not know if the theory I’ve put forward will work (it’s why I keep using the word “may” and why I started this article calling this an untested theory), but I’m a little tempted to find out.
I’d have to upgrade my existing Amex Bonvoy card to the Brilliant card, apply for the business card and then the basic UK debit card, but none of that should prove troublesome – I just have to decide (a) if I can be bothered to do this and (b) if it’s worth doing (for me).
If any US expats living in the UK are reading this, let me know if you’re tempted to try this out.
