A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question regarding holding various Marriott co-branded cards in several countries and pooling the elite night credits, if possible.
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You can access Marriott Bonvoy here.
READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points Offers
Here’s the question from the reader:
As always we love to send our questions to you and hoping I can get an answer to this situation
Holding an Amex Marriott business card and a brilliant Amex Marriott card I get 15 plus 15 nights credit for a total of 30. I also have a UK based Amex Marriott card , in 2020 I get a letter with revised program which entitles me for a 15 night credit on that card so the total would be 45 nights.
On another note I have a UAE base marriot card which entitles me for a 5 night credit which could put me into 50 nights
Having said this I never got the 15 night credit for the UK based credit so raised a complaint which never took me anywhere and finally I was told the total credits nights I can ever get would be 30 and the UK card can not add the 15 nights credit for me.
This information is wrong as I am getting my UAE base 5 night credit so I am confident cross country credits are allowed.
I have approached Marriott and Amex many times but to no results
Are you able to help me what I am supposed to do and what’s the mystery?
I know that you cannot get more than 30 nights from the US cards, but it is unclear what nights you can earn from Marriott-affiliated cards around the globe (they just launched a new line of co-branded cards in China last week – read more here).
We contacted Marriott who told us the following:
Marriott Bonvoy prescribes limits on ENCs for credit card holders based on the terms and conditions of each card separately and collectively.
As noted, a maximum of 30 ENCs is permitted for the right combination of US cards while a maximum of 15 ENCs is provided for by the UK card.
Since the 30 ENCs provided by the US combination is better than the max 15 ENCs provided by the UK program rules, the US benefit is better for him than the UK restriction.
In the case of the Emirates NBD Mastercard, this limit is not yet included in the ENBD card terms and conditions, so the 5 ENCs with that card are not yet subject to caps.
This situation is a bit unique since most consumers cannot legally qualify for all of the cards he has obtained based on residency rules set by each bank (eg maintaining residence status in the UAE) but Amex has been making qualification easier globally for Amex products.
Conclusion
It seems that you can pool up the Elite Night Credits as long as the product Terms and Conditions don’t prohibit this.
As a Marriott spokesperson pointed out, it must be very rare that a person holds card products in more than one country, although I have from four.
I guess you can qualify for a Platinum or higher by having these from various markets, although I have not read through the various T&Cs to see what exclusions they have when it comes to posting the ENCs.
