[Shinhan Card Marriott Bonvoy] Recommended Card for Sole Proprietors Paying Four Major Insurances and Local Taxes. Analysis and Use Cases for Free Night Awards, Breakfast Discount Vouchers, Platinum Tier, and Airport Lounge Access for a Companion.

Hello.

I’m the director of a dental clinic, dreaming of becoming an implant master and a gourmet.

For my first post in my Credit Card 101 series, I analyzed the Lotte Card Hilton Amex card released in 2025. I received mine a few days ago and now need to start using it, but the promotion is running until 2025.01.31, so if you enjoy overseas travel, definitely consider getting it. You should absolutely take advantage of the event.

I posted a brief analysis, and my conclusion was this: if you like overseas travel and your annual credit card spending exceeds KRW 24 million, it is definitely worth considering. However, you should mainly use Hilton-affiliated hotels (mostly Hilton and Conrad).

Marriott Bonvoy The Best Shinhan Card

If you look at White Director’s Daily Life category, I previously posted about the JW Marriott staycation I took last November. The credit card mentioned then was the Marriott Bonvoy The Best Shinhan Card, which is what I want to analyze today.

If you’re Korean, don’t you go to Jeju Island once or twice every year or two? If you want to enjoy a truly private, top-class family staycation there, you can’t help but think of JW Marriott Jeju.

It is a luxury five-star hotel that can cost over KRW 1 million per night, but with the Bonvoy Marriott The Best Shinhan Card, you can enjoy it with more than twice the value for money. Come to think of it, even the Shilla and Lotte Hotels in the Jungmun Tourist Complex used to cost around KRW 500,000 per night.

Marriott Bonvoy The Best

Annual fee: KRW 267,000. What are the benefits? Who should get it?

If you look at Shinhan Card’s official website, it highlights three key points. Of course, paying that hefty KRW 267,000 annual fee makes you wonder whether the benefits match it.

Let’s analyze each one!

1. Free night award at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels

This is not limited to Korea; it gives you one free night at a hotel anywhere in the world. Of course, it is one per annual fee cycle and must be used within one year of issuance.

The spending requirement is only KRW 1 million, so this is something most people can probably receive without much difficulty.

This works by loading one “free night voucher” into the app.

Even after reaching KRW 1 million in spending, it does not activate immediately, so it’s better to plan your trip while keeping the timing in mind. Let’s use JW Marriott Jeju, where I stayed, as an example.

To book with points, you need to check the “Use Points/Awards” box on the right-hand photo and search. The dates also need to be checked as “Flexible.”

It changes frequently, but point-based stays usually appear for very near dates or very distant dates. As you can see, 1/29 requires 52,000 points and 1/30 requires 50,000 points.

This free night award is worth 35,000 points. If the room costs less than that, it covers the stay, but if it costs more, you have to pay the difference in points yourself. And you can only book stays of 50,000 points or less per night. In other words, 1/29 cannot be booked.

As far as I know, AI adjusts point availability depending on the hotel situation. You can only use this award when your desired date becomes bookable, so you need to plan your schedule accordingly.

**For reference, Saturday stays at JW Marriott Jeju often do not open up.

Even if one night costs KRW 1 million, the award replaces 35,000 out of the 50,000 points, so the free night award is worth about KRW 700,000. That more than offsets the card’s annual fee.

2. Marriott Bonvoy elite membership provided

The Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program offers benefits based on membership tier. Among them, holding the Marriott Bonvoy The Best Shinhan Card grants elite membership benefits.

From the moment you join the Marriott Bonvoy program, you are a “Member,” and among the full tiers of Silver - Gold - Platinum - Titanium - Ambassador, this card can provide Gold or Platinum status.

When you receive the Shinhan Card, you are basically given Gold Elite status.

If you reach KRW 60 million in annual spending, you are given Platinum Elite status.

I went to The Westin Guam while holding Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, and the reason to go through the trouble of spending KRW 60 million a year just to get Platinum Elite is precisely because of?

“Enhanced room upgrades (including suites)” and “free breakfast for two.”

Unlike the Gold Elite status that you can get just by holding the Hyundai Amex Platinum Card, the main points of Platinum Elite are that breakfast for two is provided by default and the chance of a room upgrade is higher.

However, if there are Titanium or Ambassador guests at the same time... my chances of getting an upgrade would naturally go down ^^;;

Titanium Elite requires 75 nights per year, so it is difficult for many people who have to earn a living (work hard!!) to obtain it... (and of course, me too ㅋ)

The spending requirement for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status is generous.

Credit card terms and conditions are always incredibly complicated. lol In short, if you spend KRW 60 million within the annual fee cycle, they will upgrade you to Platinum Elite within 4 to 6 weeks. And that Platinum status is not just for one year; it lasts until February of the second following year.

(This can change, so you should check each time.)

If you have a reservation using the free night award, having Platinum Elite status also lets you enjoy room upgrades and free breakfast for two, which is a nice bonus. Since Marriott has so many properties overseas, the ways to use it are endless.

It’s also notable that the excluded categories for spending qualification are more generous than expected. That’s why people say it’s a card for sole proprietors. For starters, national taxes, local taxes, and the four major insurances are all included in the spending qualification.

If you search a little, you can easily find many credit cards that earn rewards when paying national taxes, local taxes, and the four major insurances. Those are some of the hardest items to earn benefits on with a credit card, so using this card for them helps you reach the KRW 60 million annual target.

In addition, maintenance fees, gas bills, and electricity charges also seem to count toward the spending requirement.

*** If you make good use of the Marriott Bonvoy membership system, you can reach the KRW 60 million spending requirement every other year and maintain Platinum status with almost no loss. In theory, it’s best to receive it early in the year, while receiving it late in the year is somewhat disadvantageous.

(However, if you can generate KRW 60 million in spending every year, you don’t need to worry about that.)

3. Marriott Bonvoy points earning

There’s a reason I put “Marriott Bonvoy points earning” third. It’s simply not very attractive~ lol

Since I already have this card, I think I should definitely generate over KRW 60 million in annual spending and get Platinum Elite status... so let’s look at it from that perspective.

If you spend over KRW 60 million a year, the two benefits above naturally follow. You can receive 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, and at the current exchange rate, one point is about KRW 13–14, which comes to roughly KRW 200,000 worth of points.

(This is the converted value if you buy and use points. It is linked to the dollar.) This points-award item based on total spending follows the same generous standard as the KRW 60 million spending requirement.

The issue is here. (But come to think of it, this is much better than the Lotte Hilton card lol) The base earn rate is 1 Marriott Bonvoy point per KRW 1,000 spent. Even at KRW 14 per point, that’s a 1.4% earn rate.

The special earn rate applies to overseas spending, flights, taxis, cafes, and Marriott participating hotels. These earn 3 Marriott Bonvoy points or 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per KRW 1,000, which works out to 4.2% or 7%, so it’s quite good.

I have the First Korean Air Card, so I get a better earn rate for overseas spending, flights, and cafes, so I usually use this card for taxis or Marriott hotels. Oh, and for taxis, you can’t use automatic payment through a platform (like Kakao T); you need to tap the card directly.

The excluded categories here are different from the KRW 60 million spending requirement. They are much stricter.

National taxes, local taxes, the four major insurances, maintenance fees, city gas, water, electricity, and so on—all the usual things are excluded. You absolutely need to know this before using it!! That’s why many sole proprietors get it just to obtain Platinum Elite status.

Another thing to know is that to enjoy the special earn rate, you need at least KRW 300,000 in spending in the previous month. But overseas spending is excluded from that requirement. Only domestic spending counts toward the KRW 300,000 minimum, so it’s good to set up some recurring payments if possible.

That’s why I set up automatic transfers for employment insurance and industrial accident insurance among the four major insurances and use them. It’s to automatically meet the previous month’s spending requirement as well. Also, Shinhan Card is almost the only card issuer that waives the 0.8% fee~ (Samsung Card did so until 2023...) Usually, I put the larger National Pension and Health Insurance payments on the Lotte Amex Skypass card to earn Korean Air miles.

4. Free airport lounge access

This is also a pretty good benefit. You can use airport lounges four times a year, and it also gives free access for one companion. I think it worked at all lounges except Matina Gold at Incheon Airport, and when I used it, Matina Gold also allowed entry if I paid an additional KRW 10,000 per person.

Whether or not you have a companion, it counts as one use, so if you use it to the fullest, that means eight total entries. The calculation period is from 1/1 to 12/31.

The free companion benefit for airport lounge access also requires KRW 300,000 in previous-month spending, but overseas spending is recognized. It’s complicated, so it would be nice to set up some recurring payments.

5. Breakfast discount service (breakfast chore)

A.k.a. the breakfast discount service known as the “breakfast chore”!! (It’s only for breakfast!!!! But apparently some hotels offer it for lunch/dinner too.) This is such a two-edged coupon, but they give two of them.

It can be used twice a year, but not on the same day. You have to use them on two separate occasions. The calculation period is from 1/1 to 12/31.

Be sure to check the list of hotels where the breakfast discount service is available before visiting. A lot of people go just for breakfast.. It seems many people go to JW Marriott Seoul and The Westin Josun Seoul... and some people also use Moxy Myeongdong... Personally, I recommend using both vouchers at once at JW Marriott Jeju.

I’ll leave the breakfast chore link here. lol Still, if you use both vouchers, that’s KRW 100,000 in total.

6. Marriott Bonvoy elite night credit provided

Simply put, it counts as 10 nights and reflects them in your qualification progress. For reference, the Platinum Elite status you get after spending KRW 60 million is originally a benefit that requires 50 nights per year. With this card, 10 nights are credited, so you only need 40 more nights, right??

For reference, there is also the Marriott Bonvoy The Classic Shinhan Card, which also gives 10 elite night credits if you meet a certain spending requirement. Some people apparently get both cards and build up 20-night and 15-night credits as their default. (It seems the maximum is 15 nights! Thanks for the comment.)

Still, from what I’ve seen, the 10-night elite night credit wasn’t that useful... Even if you pile on events and everything, reaching 75 nights for Titanium Elite is really unrealistic lol. So I put it as the very last benefit ^^;;

7. Visa Signature benefits - hotel valet parking and airport valet parking

If you meet just KRW 300,000 in previous-month spending, it provides this benefit three times per month. It covers valet parking at most hotels. If you have a card like this, it makes the occasional hotel wedding much more convenient, right? ㅎㅎ

And if you know enough to look into the Shinhan Card Marriott Bonvoy The Best card, you probably travel to Incheon Airport quite often, so you can use airport valet parking for free. Three times a month is almost like unlimited, isn’t it.

At Incheon Airport Terminal 2, daily parking is only KRW 9,000, and you can also have the KRW 20,000 valet fee waived... so this is truly a card optimized for travel.

Who should get the Marriott Bonvoy The Best Shinhan Card?

I think it should be someone who can meet the KRW 60 million annual spending requirement. Realistically, not many people spend KRW 5 million a month just on cards, so... I think it’s difficult for individuals and more suitable for sole proprietors.

If you are someone who can spend KRW 60 million within the annual fee cycle on taxes, local taxes, four major insurance payments, and other expenses generated by operating a business, I think the benefits of holding this card will be quite large.

Or if you’re someone who thinks, “I’ll go to JW Marriott Jeju at least once a year!!” then this card is pretty good. As you can see from my linked post, you can enjoy an extremely high-quality family staycation at a relatively reasonable price~ But of course, such excellent staycation conditions may not always continue.

Marriott has many hotels in Korea too, but if you mainly use it domestically, I think it’s a bit excessive. I think it’s most optimized for people who are willing to stay at Marriott hotels 1–2 times when traveling overseas. I tend to think very carefully before getting each card.

I counted, and I’m using 15 credit cards... It’s not because I’m living extravagantly, but because as a sole proprietor, there are all kinds of reasons that led to this... In any case, I don’t have many hobbies like golf or shopping, and I value family travel as my biggest hobby and joy, so this card feels very precious to me.

There are many parts that I think are good benefits, but the only real difficulty is that you have to use it strategically in real life. PLCC cards tied to hotel memberships naturally become more valuable the more you use that hotel platform, right? To fully benefit from the Platinum tier you earned by spending KRW 60 million a year, I think you should probably stay at Marriott hotels for at least 10 nights on overseas trips. lol Still, every time you get free breakfast for two... you’ll probably feel it was worthwhile. (But there are places that don’t provide it, like Josun Palace, or overseas properties such as Edition and Ritz-Carlton, and so on.)

It’s already a well-known card, but I wrote this post diligently to point out the key points. As seen in my previous review of the Lotte Card Hilton Honors Amex Premium Card, there are clear pros and cons to holding and maintaining these two cards, so please consider carefully before applying!!

That’s it for White Director of Dentistry’s Credit Card 101!!