Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Credit Card: Good Choice for Frequent Travelers & Marriott Loyalists

Welcome Benefits

The welcome benefits offered on the card can be helpful for those looking for exclusive privileges on stays at Marriott Hotels.  You get:

• 1 Free Night Award (up to a value of 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points)
• Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status for free, (otherwise offered on completing 10 nights a year at Marriott hotels)
  
• 10 Elite Night Credits (that can be used for room and membership upgrade) under the Marriott Bonvoy Program for primary cardholder. While a good benefit for solo travellers, it could be a concern for those who like sharing card benefits with family members.

Reward Points

With Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Credit Card, you are rewarded for spends, via the Marriott Bonvoy Points, that can later be redeemed for booking stays at participating Marriott properties, moments experiences, travel and other services and merchandise. The rewards are offered as follows:

• 8 Marriott Bonvoy Points per Rs. 150 spent at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy
• 4 Marriott Bonvoy Points per Rs. 150 spent on travel, dining & entertainment
• 2 Marriott Bonvoy Points per Rs. 150 spent on all other applicable purchases

Exemptions for reward points earning on Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Credit Card: Fuel, Smart EMI / Dial an EMI transaction, Wallet loads / Gift or Prepaid Card load/ Voucher purchase, Cash Advances, Payment of Outstanding Balances, Payment of card fees and other charges, Government related transactions & Rental transactions.

Complimentary Lounge Access

• 12 complimentary lounge access each year outside India 
• 12 complimentary lounge access each year, within India at both domestic and international terminals each year

Along with the benefits on stays at Marriott properties, the card also offers generous number of complimentary lounge access, across both international and domestic terminals, within and outside India. Other cards in this fee range, such as SBI Card Prime and HDFC Regalia Gold, also offer access to lounges outside India, but  Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card is clearly superior here with respect to the number of free lounge access it offers.

Milestone Benefits

On reaching the spend based value, you earn the following benefits:

• 1 Free Night Award on spending  Rs. 6 lakh in an anniversary year
• 1 Free Night Award on spending Rs. 9 lakh in an anniversary year
• 1 Free Night Award on spending Rs. 15 lakh in an anniversary year

Similar to the card activation benefits, the milestone benefits are also limited to Marriott hotel bookings. Due to these restricted co-branded features and not many benefits in other categories, the milestones may be difficult to meet for most consumers who own other good credit cards. Only those who travel frequently and stay at Marriott properties several times a year, may be able to make use of the milestone benefits. Otherwise, the bar for milestone benefits is set too high for most consumers.

To help readers understand how much they can save with the Marriott Bonvoy Card, let us take the example of where the user spends Rs. 1.25 Lakh in a month (Rs. 15 Lakh in a year), divided among the following categories:

Considering the average earning of 3,500 MB Points in a month, the cardholder will be able to earn 42,000 MB Points in a year. Now, for example, if one night stay at Westin Hotels* is valued at 15,000 MB Points, they will be able to get 3 free stays, by adding a minimal amount to cover the difference of 3,000 MB Points.

Along with this, as the user reaches the milestones of Rs. 6 Lakh, Rs. 9 Lakh and Rs. 15 Lakh in a year, they would also get 3 free night awards at the participating hotels. They would also get 1 free night award as joining bonus.

In all, the cardholder will be able to get up to 7 free stays at Westin Hotels.

*Note: The above values are for illustration purpose only. Actual cost of stay will vary as per the hotel type, location, date and several other factors.

You can consider getting this card if:

• You prefer Marriott and other participating hotels in Marriott Bonvoy for hotel stays
• You wish to avail lounge access within and outside India
• 12 lounge access domestically and internationally is sufficient for you
• You want a card exclusively for hotel stay benefits
• You own other credit cards with high reward rate and travel benefits like low forex markup, generous air miles, etc.
• You can spend at least Rs. 6 Lakh a year to up to Rs. 15 Lakh with this card
• You can utilize the co-branded reward redemption options offered on the card
• You want luxury hotel benefits at a comparatively affordable fee of Rs. 3,000

You can explore other other credit card options if:

• You want a single credit card with all rounder benefits
• You want a travel credit card that covers benefits on hotel stays, forex markup, lounge access, etc.
• You expect a higher base reward rate on your credit card
• You can consider a high annual fee credit card in exchange for the right travel and reward benefits
• You want a credit card with flexible reward redemption options