How to get Marriott Bonvoy status

If you already hold the US Amex Platinum or Amex Business Platinum, you're one step from Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite: enrollment alone gets you there, for as long as you keep the card. Canada's Amex Platinum (Canada) and Amex Business Platinum (Canada) confer that same Gold Elite the same way, and the Amex Centurion (US) and Amex Corporate Platinum (US) confer it too, both complimentary on enrollment.

Silver Elite is a smaller door. In the US, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (Chase) and Marriott Bonvoy Bold (Chase) hand you Silver Elite automatically each calendar year as a cardmember. In Canada, the Marriott Bonvoy Amex (Canada) and Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex (Canada) do the same, plus 15 Elite Night Credits a year (capped at 15 total across the two cards). It's a lower tier than the Platinum cards deliver, but a lower-cost card to carry.

Those same two Canadian Bonvoy Amex cards can push further, to Gold, but not free: $30,000 CAD in net purchases before the card's annual reset date, or 10 paid nights plus its 15 Elite Night Credits. Either route earns Gold for at least a year — worth it near those marks, less so if you'd just be chasing what the Platinum card gives free.

Several Marriott-branded cards confer Gold too: the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Amex, Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex, and Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful (Chase) all hand it over automatically while the card is open. The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card (Chase) does the same but is closed to new applications, reachable only by product-changing up from another Chase Marriott Bonvoy card. The Boundless, which hands you Silver free, reaches Gold only through $35,000 in purchases in a calendar year.

At the top, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex reaches Platinum Elite automatically for as long as you hold it, with 25 Elite Night Credits a year on top. The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card can get you there too, but only by spending $75,000 each account anniversary year — worth it only if you'd hit that spend anyway. Titanium and Ambassador have no card or match route — both earned through stays alone.