Business Platinum® Card from American Express REVIEW (2019)

UPDATE: SOME OR ALL OF THE OFFERS BELOW HAVE EXPIRED

Premium credit cards with high annual fees and big perks are becoming the norm now, but the Platinum Card® from American Express is still my favorite. I reviewed the personal Amex Platinum before and talked about the 14 reasons why I think it’s worth the $550 annual fee. In this post I will review the Business Platinum® Card from American Express since right now it’s offering a limited time increased welcome bonus.

Let’s start with that increased welcome bonus.

Up to 100,000 Membership Rewards Points:

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express is currently offering a tiered welcome bonus of up to 100,000 points. 

• Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 within the first three months
• Earn a further 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending an additional $15,000 within the first three months

Now this spend requirement is pretty high. But if your business spends a lot, the 100,000 points are worth a lot. If you need some help to meet the minimum spend, I wrote a post about 9 easy ways to meet minimum spend requirements on your credit cards.

American Express Once in a LifeTime Rule

You can only earn a welcome bonus on each of the American Express cards once. So if you’ve ever had the Business Platinum® Card from American Express before you won’t be eligible to earn this bonus. Otherwise, it’s always a good idea to apply for Amex cards when they’re offering elevated bonuses. Which means now is a great time to get the Business Platinum® Card from American Express for the 100,000 points instead of the usual 75,000 points bonus.

Annual Fee

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express has a $595 annual fee which is one of the highest. It’s even higher than the Personal Amex Platinum fee, but it comes with a different set of perks and benefits that can easily offset the annual fee.

Points Earning

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express is really a perks and benefits card, not a great points earning card. With that said, the card offers 5x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and flights that are booked through Amex Travel. 

Booking flights to earn the 5x bonus through Amex Travel is fine. However, booking hotels through Amex Travel is not ideal because you won’t earn points with that hotel’s loyalty program and your elite status won’t be recognized on the reservation.

The Business Platinum® Card from American Express earns 1.5x Membership Rewards points for purchases of $5,000 or more in a single transaction. This is capped at 1 Million bonus points per year.

Otherwise, the Business Platinum® Card from American Express earns 1x on everything else.

Points Redeeming

There are several ways to redeem Membership Rewards points earned with the Business Platinum® Card from American Express but I will only focus on the best two.

Transfer to Airline Partners:

If you want to get the most value out of your Membership Rewards points, then transferring points to one of American Express’ 19 airline partners is the way to go. Points transfer to those partners at mostly 1:1 ratio. The transfers are also instant for most of Amex’s travel partners with the exception of a very few. 

Here’s a list of those Airline Partners:

The reason I love this redemption option is because of the outsized value you can get. Just to give you a few examples, I redeemed 50,000 KrisFlyer miles to fly in Singapore Suites from Beijing to Singapore ($2,000 in value). 

I redeemed 136,000 Etihad Guest miles to fly in Etihad Apartments from Abu Dhabi to JFK ($9,200 in value). 

I also redeemed 128,000 Qantas miles to fly in Emirates First Class from Boston to Dubai ($15,000 in value). 

On top of that, every so often Amex runs transfer bonus to those Airlines where you can use even fewer Amex Membership Rewards Points for those redemptions. 

The next best option is redeeming for airfare through Amex Travel for 1.54 cents per point

If you book a flight through Amex Travel using Membership Rewards Pay with Points, you get a rebate of 35% of those points back – There are restrictions though:

• You need to either be booking a first or business class flight, or book any cabin on your selected qualifying airline
• You can get up to 500,000 points back per year using this redemption method

$200 Airline Credit

The way this benefit works; every calendar year you get to choose one airline towards which this benefit will apply. This credit only applies toward incidentals like checked baggage fees, seat assignment fees, airline lounge passes and other incidentals.

Here’s a list of Airlines participating in this benefit:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Frontier Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Spirit Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines

Each year in January, you can change your selected airline.

$200 Dell Credit

You can earn up to $200 in statement credits annually for purchases at Dell on your Amex Business Platinum Card. These credits can be earned, up to $100, on a semi-annual basis, from January – June and July – December. You have to enroll in this benefit before making a purchase in order for the credit to work. At first I thought this benefit was useless because I can’t remember the last time I bought a Dell product. However, you’ll be surprised at the amount of products you can buy through Dell. Bose headphones, Canon cameras and lenses, Sony TVs and a ton more.

Lounge Access

The American Express Global Lounge Collection unlocks access to more than 1,100 airport lounges across 120 countries and counting. With the Platinum card, you and 2 guests can enjoy complimentary access to the Centurion Lounges which are some of the nicest lounges in the U.S.

As a Business Platinum® Card from American Express holder you’ll get access to Delta Skyclubs whenever you’re flying on Delta even in economy. You can bring guests at a rate of $29 per guest.

You’ll also receive a free Priority Pass Select Membership which gives you and 2 guests unlimited access to over 1,000 lounges around the world.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit

When you apply for and receive your Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®, not only can you get expedited screening at select airports, but you’ll receive a credit for the application fees on your statement. You’ll get this statement credit once every 4 years after you apply for Global Entry ($100) or TSA Pre✓®($85). I always recommend to apply for Global Entry because it also gives you TSA PreCheck as an added bonus.

Free Gogo WiFi

As a Business Platinum® Card from American Express you’ll get 10 complimentary single flight segment passes for Gogo inflight internet each calendar year. These passes are loaded to your Gogo account and you can easily use them on your flights. Amex Gogo passes are valid on eligible flights on Alaska, American, Delta, and Japan Airlines, and can even be used on international flights.

WeWork Membership

As a Business Platinum® Card from American Express , you’ll get one year of complimentary Platinum Global Access from WeWork. To get this exclusive offer you need to enroll by 12/31/2019. With this membership, you can access premium, WeWork spaces in 75+ cities and 20+ countries. This may not be useful for everyone, but the estimated value of this benefit is $2,700.

Fine Hotels and Resorts Program

As a Business Platinum® Card from American Express you can book stays through the Fine Hotels and Resorts Program that offers plenty of benefits. Benefits include daily breakfast for two, room upgrade when available, property amenity valued at $100, guaranteed 4PM late check-out, noon check-in when available, and complimentary Wi-Fi.

Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status

As a Business Platinum® Card from American Express , you can upgrade to Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status without meeting any stay requirements. Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status comes with benefits like:

• Earning 25% bonus points on stays
• You’ll be given an enhanced room at check-in when available.
• 2 p.m. late checkout when available.
• And more.

Hilton Honors Gold Status

• Guaranteed Discount: A discounted, changeable & refundable rate is exclusively available for Hilton Honors Members.
• Digital Check-In: choose your room, and customize your stay from your mobile device up to 24 hours in advance.
• Complimentary in-room and lobby Standard Internet access during stays at Waldorf Astoria™ Hotels & Resorts, Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Canopy™ by Hilton, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™, Tapestry Collection by Hilton™, Embassy Suites Hotels™ and Hilton Grand Vacations™
• Two complimentary bottles of water per stay (at Waldorf Astoria™ Hotels & Resorts, Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™, Tapestry Collection by Hilton™ Embassy Suites Hotels™, Hilton Garden Inn™ and Hilton Grand Vacations™ hotels)

Business Platinum® Card from American Express Bottom Line:

This card comes with one of the highest annual fees and a steep minimum spend requirement but it definitely makes up for it in benefits and perks – The 100,000 points bonus offer is well worth it. If you haven’t gotten this card yet and have been thinking about it, now is the time. The reason is the Amex once-in-a-lifetime-rule, so it’s always a good idea to apply for Amex card when they offer elevated welcome bonuses.

This is a card you’d get for the benefits and perks alone. With the Amex Business Platinum Card, you get the best lounge access offered by any card – Centurion lounges, Delta Skyclub, Priority Pass Select and more. You also get a ton of useful statement credit every year. $200 Airline credit, $200 Dell credit, $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit. You get 10 Gogo WiFi passes every year. And you get a one year WeWork membership valued at $2,700. And much more!