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Official application link: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express with up to a 75,000-point bonus.
There’s one very good reason why The Business Platinum® Card from American Express stands out as a best-in-class pick among the top business cards: It offers unparalleled travel rewards and perks. From airport lounge access to huge points earnings on airfare and hotel spending, this is a card the frequent business traveler really could use to his or her benefit. And, we recently learned that the card will add some potentially useful benefits in February 2019 but that these increased benefits will be accompanied by an increased annual fee.
The Business Platinum Card also features some benefits not available on the personal Platinum Card® from American Express, most notably a 35% rebate on Pay With Points. Although The Business Platinum Card offers excellent benefits, the hefty annual fee means it won’t make sense for anyone who owns a business that doesn’t accrue major travel expenses or whose primary spending categories are more in line with the bonus categories offered by other business rewards credit cards.
Who is this card for?
The Business Platinum Card is best suited for entrepreneurs who charge thousands of dollars of monthly business expenses to their cards; who are heavy travelers; and who can take advantage of premium luxuries offered by the best travel reward credit cards. Amex is an old pro at offering these perks, the best of which is arguably free access to the issuer’s Centurion Lounges, exclusive waiting areas that offer exquisite amenities for both holders of the business and personal Platinum cards. (This perk also is offered to Centurion card holders at no extra charge.) Card holders who live near or frequently travel to the eight US airports that feature one of these lounges should factor this into account when deciding whether to apply for this card.
There are a number of travel-related distinctions between the personal and business versions of this card that should be considered, perhaps the most important of which is a 35% rebate available to Business Platinum members who book a business or first-class ticket — or any class flight with their selected qualifying airline — through American Express Travel using Membership Rewards points. Rebates are capped at 500,000 points a year, which may be too low for companies looking to offset more of their travel expenses.
Welcome Offer: Up to $1,500 in Value
You’ll earn 50,000 points after you spend $10,000 in the first three months and an extra 25,000 points after you spend an additional $10,000 also within the first three months from account opening. If you can meet this hefty $20,000 spend requirement, you’ll earn points worth more than three times the card’s annual fee (at least until the annual fee increases). Based on TPG’s valuations, Membership Rewards points are worth 2 cents apiece, meaning the value of your bonus could get you up to $1,500 in value.
The Business Platinum Card welcome offer is more rewarding than the welcome offer on the personal Amex Platinum card, which offers 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 within the first three months from account opening. But, that slight downgrade in bonus value comes with a significantly reduced spend requirement. Your typical monthly business expenses may help you determine which card is the more valuable choice.
Earning
Rewards on most spending with The Business Platinum Card are pretty average at 1 point per dollar spent. For businesses that have significant expenses, Amex will add a slight incentive to coax you to use its card: All purchases of $5,000 or more earn 1.5 points per dollar, up to one million extra points per year.
Everyday office spending is not the reason to get this card, though. You’ll earn 5x points when you purchase airfare and prepaid hotel rooms on amextravel.com (including Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts). That’s the same return as you’ll see on the personal Platinum Card, though with the personal Amex Platinum Card you also get 5x points on airfare booked directly with airlines.
Redeeming
You can redeem your points for gift cards, through Amazon or other online retailers, to pay for charges on your bill or even to pay your fare in New York City taxis, but these options all significantly devalue your earned points to 1 cent per point or less, and we wouldn’t recommend using your points this way.
The most lucrative way to redeem points is to transfer them to one of 21 partner airlines or hotels. Going this route may take a bit of sleuthing, but a little work can help increase the value of your points significantly above the TPG valuation. For example, you could transfer 80,000 of your Membership Rewards points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program and book a one-way flight from Sydney to Singapore in a First Class Singapore Suite. A paid ticket would cost you $4,700 based on our sample searches, netting you a great per-point value of almost 6 cents.
If you redeem your points via American Express Travel, they’re worth about 1.54 cents per point because of that 35% rebate. That’s a higher return than you’ll earn booking travel on Amex with the personal Platinum card, and it’s about on par with what you’d get with the Chase Sapphire Reserve when using Chase Ultimate Rewards to book travel through the issuer’s portal (1.5 cents per point).
It’s important to note the Amex Pay With Points 35% rebate is also good for all fights on one airline per year, which you’ll choose once a year on Amex’s website. You’ll also earn an annual $200 airline fee credit on that same carrier, good for incidentals like baggage fees, meaning it can’t be used to purchase airfare. You can still earn the 35% rebate on other carriers booked through the Amex site, but only on business or first-class tickets. So, you’ll generally get more value when you transfer your points to one of the issuer’s airline partners instead of booking through the Amex Travel portal. Note that the 35% rebate is capped at 500,000 points per calendar year.
Perks
Rewards and redemption limitations aside, the Amex Business Platinum really shines when it comes to travel perks. When your travels don’t take you to an airport that offers a Centurion Lounge, you’ll have wider access to The American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes more than 1,200 Priority Pass lounges worldwide, as well as Delta Sky Club lounges, which you can access when you’re flying Delta.
Any premium travel rewards card worth its fee also offers reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. The Business Platinum Card is no exception, giving you a reimbursement for your application fee once every four years. Card members also receive 10 free Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes per calendar year. (You’ll also get free Boingo Wi-Fi access inside airports and at locations throughout the country.)
As for benefits that come in handy once you reach your destination, this card gives you access to Gold status with Hilton Honors and Marriott, helping you to boost rewards earnings for hotel stays. You can find other places to stay, too, with Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program. When you book a stay at one of these hotel properties through Amex Travel, benefits include noon check-in if available, guaranteed 4pm check-out, a room upgrade if available, daily breakfast for two and a unique amenity valued at $100 or more. And if you book online, you’ll earn 5x points and get elite benefits during your stay.
The Amex Business Platinum Card also features extended warranty protection that provides up to two additional years on eligible US manufacturer warranties of five years or less. Additionally, purchases on your card are protected from accidental damage or theft for up to 120 days from the moment you purchase them.
In February 2019, the Business Platinum Card will introduce new benefits including a complimentary year of access to WeWork locations around the world, up to $200 in statement credits each year for any Dell technology purchases and an increased hotel credit for Hotel Collection stays. However, once these increased benefits are implemented, the annual fee will also jump from $450 to $595.
What cards compete with the Amex Business Platinum?
The Amex Business Platinum Card is a premier travel rewards credit card, offering top-of-the-line travel perks. To find similarly stacked rewards cards, you may have to look toward personal credit cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which offers a bevy of airport perks — and a much more flexible redemption program.
As for business credit cards, American Express® Business Gold Card offers similar redemption options to the Business Platinum, but at a lower annual fee of $295. This card offers six bonus categories (one of which is airfare purchased directly from airlines) and allows you to earn 4 points per dollar on the two categories where you spend the most each month (up to $150,000 in combined purchases for these two categories per calendar year; then 1x point thereafter).
Similarly, you can earn 3% cash back on up to $50,000 in annual spending (then 1%) on a category of your choice from eight options, including airfare purchased directly from airlines, with the SimplyCash® Plus Business Credit Card from American Express. If airfare isn’t a major business expense, you could apply that 3% cash-back bonus to hotel rooms purchased directly from hotels, US restaurants or US purchases for shipping, among other options. This card charges no annual fee.
If travel isn’t a big part of your business, there’s no reason to own the Amex Business Platinum Card. Look instead to top business cards that offer great rewards in categories like office supplies, internet service or computer equipment. A solid choice here is the Ink Business Cash Credit Card.
Bottom Line
The Amex Business Platinum Card is a niche card that’s perfect for the big traveler, but not worth the money for business owners who don’t count airfare and hotel stays among their largest business expenses. As far as business cards go, though, its travel perks are difficult, if not impossible, to beat. One other thing to keep in mind: This is a charge card, meaning you have to pay your bill off in full at the end of each billing cycle. If you tend to carry a balance on your business credit card, you’ll want to find another option. Amex does offer a Pay Over Time feature on this card, which allows you to carry some balances after you enroll, but you’ll pay a variable annual percentage rate of 20.24%, which is fairly high.
Here’s the link to apply for the The Business Platinum® Card from American Express with up to a 75,0000-point bonus.
Source: thepointsguy.com