6X Marriott Bonvoy Points at Grocery Stores on Chase/Amex Bonvoy Credit Cards

6X Bonvoy Points at Grocery Stores on Chase/Amex Bonvoy Credit Cards

While we await some action from card issuers on premium card fee rebates (for benefits that can’t be used while we can’t travel), there is a new promotion that recognizes that we aren’t spending on travel now – but we are spending quite a bit on groceries.

In addition to the usual credit cards that earn bonus points on grocery store spend, you’ll be able to earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy points on any credit card you have that earns Marriott Bonvoy points.

6X Bonus Points on Groceries on Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards…

This includes the Bonvoy Boundless and even the no-annual fee Bonvoy Bold, you’ll earn 6X points as follows:

From May 1 through July 31, 2020, you’ll earn a total of 6X Points on up to $5,000 spent at grocery stores with your Marriott Bonvoy™ Card.

The legacy Chase Bonvoy cards, like the Business cards and the Ritz Carlton card will all get the same 6X points on groceries.

And on the Amex Bonvoy cards…

The currently offered Bonvoy Brilliant as well as the Bonvoy Amex (closed to new applicants) are both eligible for this promotion.

The Bonvoy Business credit card from American Express is excluded.

6X Marriott Bonvoy points at U.S. supermarkets on up to a maximum of $7,500 in eligible purchases from May 1 through July 31, 2020.

Offer Registration

For both issuers, no registration is required, just wait until tomorrow to start spending.

Good Deal?

Note that in all cases you will get 6 total points per dollar (not 6 bonus points).

I currently value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents, though I’ve been meaning to update that to 0.6 cents after the most recent category changes. So let’s use 0.6 cents as the figure. That means you are getting a return of about 3.6 cents per dollar spent on groceries.

Based on my “Best credit cards for groceries” page, there are 4 credit cards that still beat this in terms of rewards yield.

Amex Everyday Preferred Credit Card: 7.65% Estimated Rewards Value

American Express Gold Card: 6.8% Estimated Rewards Value

Blue Cash Preferred Card: 6% Estimated Rewards Value

Amex Everyday Credit Card: 4.08% Estimated Rewards Value

That’s based on my 1.7 cent per point value for American Express Membership Rewards points.

That said, Marriott Bonvoy got extremely difficult to earn after the credit card devaluation that reduced the earnings by 1/3 on general spend. You currently would earn 6X Bonvoy points on most of the above cards for spend at a Marriott hotel but not anywhere else.

There’s also no other way to acquire Bonvoy points outside of actually staying at Marriott hotels, with the exception of a 1:1 points transfer from Amex MR or Chase UR – but with a 1:1 transfer, that return is so poor you are better off doing almost anything else with those MR or UR points. I wrote about how hard it would become to earn Marriott Bonvoy points when the merger closed.

So, I do think there is a case to be made for putting grocery spend on these cards, despite a lower return. Even the Gold Card, with a 4X earn rate, would only yield 4X Bonvoy points per dollar if converted.

If you are like me and use Bonvoy points for higher end stays with the 5th night free, I would probably take advantage of this.

Remember that you can additionally buy gift cards at grocery stores (just don’t do that to meet a minimum spend requirement on a new card). So you could use this to earn 6X Bonvoy points on anything you can get a gift card for, like Amazon.com.

Thoughts or questions?

Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.

You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.