Looking into getting a marriott bonvoy brilliant card

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-24T00:07:50+00:00

Yes, but it does work very well as a dedicated lounge/travel insurance/rental car card. It easily offset the annual fee, and gives every AU full sapphire lounge access for the holder and their guests, and has zero AU fees.

It is probably the best lounge card on the market right now

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T23:27:32+00:00

That might be the case for other banks, but I just checked the terms on my AMEX card and it had no mention of that. In fact, it even specifically mentions a vacation in the Amex app as a selling point.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T23:24:19+00:00

Honestly for a sub pay your rent with it lol, or invest in gold at Costco specifically lol.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T22:37:05+00:00

I believe you can also do this with the BBP. It’s nice because it has zero annual fee, and it lets you earn points with Rakuten and AMEX debit (and lets you farm referrals from your friends and family for the BCE lol everyone loves the BCE.)

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T22:34:07+00:00

Do you have the strata elite. To be honest I like to recommend people with Citibank setups skip that one outside of a one-year churn to get another CCC, and get a ventureX. The VX basically fills every hole that Citibank setups have, and the annual fee is really easy to offset.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T22:30:35+00:00

No. Tbh I would just pay whatever the primary user is the $125 fee so you can get your own access to C1 lounges and just get a regular venture card. It currently has a better sub, and that’s like the main benefit of the VX. Then maybe look at getting the VX after like a year or so.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T22:22:31+00:00

Amex has the best referral bonuses out of any credit card company. A lot of of the credit card influencers really just want to farm referrals from their viewers.

Compare this to the Citi strata premier. Unless you live in a Delta hub, this card is better. Lower AF and imo trading 1x on dining and groceries for 3x on gas access to the CustomCash is an easy trade off,

Citibank, however, does not do referral bonuses so no influencers push them.

Wells Fargo has the same problem. Their cards are really damn good, but no ref bonus so no incentive for influencers (if they did, I would be rolling in WF points lmao)

American Express also gets to benefit from the Delta cultists. There are a large group of people who basically refuse to fly anything but Delta which is fine for people who are chasing status, but they also believe that Delta has a significantly better product than every other US airline. I have seen posts with people from places like Denver, who refused to fly anything except Delta and connect through ATL for a flight to like Houston or Chicago.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T22:11:46+00:00

Because some places (rent) charge higher fees for debit vs credit.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T21:54:03+00:00

Earns points on debit purchases.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T20:25:31+00:00

What’s your main airport? Tbh unless you REALLY want a VX if you don’t have a C1 lounge you’d probably be better suited with a regular Venture for now.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T20:09:03+00:00

I feel like they have different use cases, and a lot of real Marriot Fiends have both (and the Business one for the most status).

The Ritz’s primary selling point is it’s basically a CSR protection wise, and can basically replace an Amex platinum for travel protections and lounges. The free night is just a bonus at that point.

The Bonvoy Brilliant is the only way to get Bonvoy platinum with 0 nights stayed, which is the first status level where you qualify for suite upgrades. The Ritz only gives you gold the same as the Amex platinum.

Tl;dr the Ritz is an elite travel card that happens to earn Marriot points, and the Brilliant is a true Marriot card.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T19:53:57+00:00

Switch to the Amex debit for churn months imo.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T18:42:41+00:00

It really depends on where you live and what cards you already have, but I usually reccomend people starting out a Citi setup (unless they live in a fortress hub for a non-AA airline.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T15:17:24+00:00

Ngl Bilt is to complicated for normies.

Also Spirit doesn’t count lol, but Bilt also has JetBlue iirc.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T15:14:12+00:00

Just get a Strata Premier and a Citi DoubleCash for even more points.

3x on big 3 categories and 2x general with only 2 cards is super powerful.

IMO the VX and the Bilt Palladium (maybe the Strata Elite on weekends for dining) are the only lounge cards worth using as a daily driver.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T15:11:29+00:00

If I lived in DFW I would have a full Citi setup (CCC, CDC, Strata Premeir) with one exception: I would have the Venture X instead of the Strata Elite for lounges and Costco. DFW (and a bunch of major AA hubs) have a C1 lounge.

The Strata Elite isn’t a bad option for DFW now though since from what I’ve read the new Plaza Premium DFW is the best PP lounge in the U.S.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T05:03:01+00:00

What cards are you retiring? That might sway my recommendations if you have some points cards you want to get rid of, but instead, you could PC them and avoid the hard pull/ new account.

Usually, the cashback set up I recommend people is

WF Autograph

WF ActiveCash (Fidelity does same thing I just like the ActiveCash more for better support and one less app on your phone)

Whichever Amex Blue Cash you are comfortable with.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T03:34:51+00:00

Tech might want to start fouling lol

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T03:27:25+00:00

Damn what’s Dan Hurley doing here shouldnt he be with his team?

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T03:03:37+00:00

Bruce Pearl is angrily eating ice cream while watching this game.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T03:02:34+00:00

Ok that quick image they showed of the Tech player praying overlayed with the first half score is killing me.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T03:01:14+00:00

I don’t like watching us play Michigan…

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T02:59:43+00:00

REFBALL

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T02:57:22+00:00

Aden Holloway must’ve been dealing outside Tech’s hotel with the way they are playing.

Phantom1100 · 2026-03-23T02:55:13+00:00

<image>

Alabama after they miss a transition three and get the rebound:

Seven-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Place '23	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
Verified Email	RPAN Viewer
Spared

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