Which Amex to get in Canada? (Cobalt vs. Bonvoy)

[Revenge]

I am moving over to Canada for work for about 6 months.

I want to apply for an Amex over there (thinking of using the international transfer feature that Amex offers, it worked well for me when I moved to the UK years ago).

I am trying to decide which Amex to apply for and the 2 main contenders seem to be the Cobalt (American Express Cobalt® Card | Amex CA) and the Marriott Bonvoy (Marriott Bonvoy Card | Marriott Bonvoy | Amex Canada).

The things that appeal to me about the Cobalt card are:

• MR points transferrable 1:1 to AC Aeroplan and Avios, which would give me good redemption options for Star Alliance and OneWorld, including flights back home in Australia.
• Transfer rate of 5:6 from Amex MR to Bonvoy, gives me flexibility to transfer from Bonvoy to other airline partners (broad list).
• Great earning rate of 5 points per $ on food (restaurants, supermarkets, cafes, etc.) I eat and drink out a lot so this could really add up!

The things that appeal to me about the Bonvoy card are:

• Marriott is my main hotel chain so the bonus 15 nights for status qualification would really help with my status and getting perks during my stays.
• The free Marriott stay is helpful - hotels in the US and Canada are expensive these days!
• General earn rate of 2 Bonvoy points per $ seems decent.

I'm hoping to get some guidance from the points geniuses on this site. What would you do?

TIA for your insights!

 

[Revenge]

Just as an update to this, I decided to go with the Cobalt. I'm excited as I think this is a really good product.

Earning up to 5 MR points per 1CAD will be great. The MR transfer options in Canada also have good ratios.

1 MR =

• 1 AC Aeroplan
• 1 BA avios
• 0.75 KLM FlyingBlue
• 0.75 CX AsiaMiles
• 0.75 DL SkyMiles
• 0.75 Ethihad
• 1.2 Marriott Bonvoy
• 1 Hilton Honors