Amex Business Platinum review: Plenty of premium benefits for frequent business travelers

Traveling for business can be a drag as you move from city to city to meet clients, generate leads, and visit vendors. But adding a little luxury to the process can improve your travel experience and help you feel refreshed during long travel days. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers numerous travel benefits, including travel and dining credits, airport lounge access, hotel elite status, and more.

Learn more about this premium business travel card to decide if it suits your business needs.

Beyond earning and redeeming Membership Rewards points, the Amex Business Platinum Card includes numerous perks to add extra value to cardholders. Here is a sample of the benefits you’ll receive.

Enjoy over $1,000 in statement credits on select purchases, including travel, dining, technology, recruiting and more:

• Up to $400 in annual statement credits (up to $200 semi-annually; enrollment required) on U.S. purchases with Dell Technologies (through June 30, 2025)

• Up to $360 in annual statement credits (up to $90 quarterly; enrollment required) on purchases with Indeed (through June 30, 2025)

• Up to $150 in annual statement credits for select auto-renewing Adobe business subscriptions (through June 30, 2025; enrollment required)

• Up to $120 in annual statement credits for purchases with U.S. wireless telephone service providers (enrollment required)

• Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for incidental fees with one qualifying airline of your choice

• Up to $199 in statement credits per calendar year on CLEAR Plus membership (subject to auto-renewal)

• Fee credit for Global Entry (every four years) or TSA PreCheck (every 4.5 years)

Hotel benefits and status

Link your card to receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status (enrollment required) for as long as your card is open.

Additionally, when you book rooms in the Fine Hotels & Resorts collection through Amex Travel, you can receive benefits like room upgrades when available, a $100 toward eligible charges, late checkout, and more.

Related: The best hotel credit cards

Receive complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges that participate in the American Express Global Lounge Collection. Eligible lounges include Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass Lounges (enrollment required), Escape Lounges, and more. Cardholders also receive access to the Delta Sky Club when flying Delta.

When booking travel with your Amex Business Platinum, you’ll receive automatic travel protections at no extra charge. These protections include trip delay insurance, trip cancellation or interruption insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, baggage insurance, and more.

Read more: How credit card travel insurance works

Using your card to make regular purchases also provides protection on eligible items. Purchase protection covers new purchases that are stolen, accidentally damaged, or lost within 90 days from the purchase date. Extended warranty coverage provides up to one additional year to U.S. manufacturer warranties of five years or less. Cell phone protection reimburses you for repair or replacement costs up to $800 twice every 12 months (after a $50 deductible).

Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

• 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel

• 1.5x points on select business categories (U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers, U.S. electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers, and U.S. shipping providers) and on purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million per card account per calendar year)

• 1x points on all other spending

Purchases you make that are eligible for multiple bonus categories will only receive the highest eligible bonus rewards.

Amex Business Platinum cardholders have several ways to earn Membership Rewards points on purchases, limited-time offers, and successful referrals.

As a new cardholder, you can earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $20,000 during the first three months. That’s equal to business spending of about $6,667 per month or more. The welcome offer is in addition to the points you’ll earn on each transaction.

When booking flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel, you’ll earn 5x points per dollar. This allows business owners to maximize points on travel purchases booked through Amex’s travel portal. There’s no annual limit to the 5x rewards you can earn on these travel purchases.

Related: Amex points vs. Chase points — Who has the better rewards program?

Select business purchases and large transactions are eligible to earn 1.5x points for every dollar spent. Eligible business categories include:

• U.S. construction material suppliers

• Hardware suppliers

• U.S. electronic goods retailers

• Software and cloud system providers

• U.S. shipping providers

Because these bonus categories are designated solely for U.S. spending, this isn’t the best card for you if your business buys the majority of supplies and materials abroad.

Additionally, all purchases of $5,000 or more qualify for these bonus points, regardless of the type of retailer. If you make a lot of bulk purchases for your business or office space, this could be a great way to rack up extra points. Bonus points are available on up to $2 million of spending each year.

You’ll earn 1x points on everyday spending that does not earn bonus points.

If you want the perks of the Platinum Business Card but spend outside of bonus categories, consider pairing the Amex Business Platinum with the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express to earn 2x points on everyday purchases (up to $50,000 per year, then 1x) that don’t qualify for a bonus category.

Amex Offers are limited-time promotions with select retailers and in specific categories that you must manually activate to use. Offers are based on your customer profile, card type, spending patterns, and other factors. The offers typically provide a statement credit, bonus points based on the purchase amount, or a flat number of points for making a qualifying purchase.

When you add employee cards to your account, you’ll earn points based on their spending. These points add to your rewards balance to accelerate your ability to make a redemption. You can set individual spending limits for each card to limit their ability to make purchases. Be aware that some employee cards charge annual fees, so make sure the benefits outweigh the cost.

American Express allows cardholders to earn additional points by referring friends and family through a custom link. When your referral uses your link and is approved, you’ll earn bonus points (up to an annual maximum) based on which card they are approved for. Unlike points earned from purchases, Amex will issue a Form 1099 for your taxes based on the value of these points.

American Express offers numerous ways to redeem rewards. However, not all of them offer the same value to cardholders. If you have a Business Platinum Card, these options have the highest redemption value:

• Flights booked through Amex Travel. When booking a flight through Amex Travel, you’ll get 1 cent per point in value. But when you pay with points using the Business Platinum Card, you’ll get even more of a boost — a 35% airline bonus when you use points to book Business and First Class tickets on any airline, and the same 35% bonus for any ticket on your selected qualifying airline.

• Fine Hotels & Resorts reservations. Amex Business Platinum Cards offer exclusive benefits at select properties. Additionally, you can redeem points for 1 cent per point in value instead of using cash.

• Airline and hotel transfer partners. Transferring points to an Amex partner loyalty program can unlock significantly higher value for flights and hotels, depending on how the points are used.

• Select gift cards. Redeeming points for gift cards from select retailers also provides 1 cent per point in value. However, numerous retailers offer a lower redemption value.

Read more: Should you use credit card points for shopping or travel?

The American Express Business Platinum Card is an ideal rewards card for business owners who want luxury travel benefits. Frequent business travelers can earn 5x points when booking flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel. The card also includes complimentary airport lounge access, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors Gold elite status, and several other travel benefits.

While it has a high annual fee, business owners who utilize all of the card’s annual credits will come out ahead. However, if your business spending isn’t already focused in the categories that can help you earn annual credits (both travel purchases and business spending), you may be better served by a different business credit card.

Related: Are travel credit cards worth it?

• Earn up to 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex

• Flexible Membership Rewards points have numerous redemption options

• Valuable annual credits across a range of spending categories

• Complimentary airport lounge access and other travel benefits

• $695 annual fee (see rates and fees), plus additional costs for employee cards

• No 0% intro APR offer

• Some redemption options have a value under 1 cent per point

• Credits only help offset annual fee if you use them regularly

The Business Platinum Card from American Express can be used to make purchases at any retailer that accepts Amex cards. In the U.S., 99% of all retailers that accept credit cards take Amex cards. However, when traveling internationally, you may find that Amex cards are not as widely accepted.

When making purchases outside the U.S., the Amex Business Platinum does not charge foreign transaction fees. This benefit waives currency conversion charges of up to 3%, which some banks charge.

• Make payment online through the Amex mobile app

• Set up recurring payments

• Call (800) 472-9297 to make a payment by phone

• Mail payment to:
  American Express
  P.O. Box 96001
  Los Angeles, CA, 90096–8000

The Amex Business Platinum Card is an excellent travel card for business owners who have a lot of expenses and can save money from annual credits. For businesses looking to earn rewards for a lower price tag, these alternatives offer significant value.

Why we like it: The American Express Business Gold Card rewards business owners with 4x points on the top two eligible spending categories each month (among six possible categories). You’ll get the 4x bonus points on the first $150,000 you spend each year, then 1x points. Plus, get 3x points on flights and prepaid hotels when booking through Amex Travel and 1x on all other purchases.

The Amex Business Gold Card also earns Membership Rewards points, so you have the same flexible redemption options, including transferring to airline and hotel partners. Annual statement credits, including up to $240 for eligible U.S. purchases at FedEx, Grubhub, and office supply stores (up to $20 per month; enrollment required) and a Walmart+ monthly membership credit (subject to auto-renewal) can help offset the card’s $375 annual fee (see rates and fees).

Read our full review of the American Express Business Gold Card.

Why we like it: Business owners who value flexible points and airport lounge access should also consider the Capital One Venture X Business card. It earns an unlimited 2x miles on everyday purchases, plus 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel and 10x miles on hotels and rental cars purchased through Capital One Travel.

Cardholders also get airport lounge access, travel protections, benefits when you book Premier Collection hotel stays, free employee and virtual cards, and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credits once every four years. The card has a $395 annual fee, which can be easy for business travelers to offset when factoring in the $300 annual travel credit for Capital One Travel bookings and 10,000 annual bonus miles starting after your first anniversary.

Why we like it: The Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card is an all-purpose business rewards credit card that earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. It is an ideal choice for business owners who want to earn rewards without paying an annual fee. The card also comes with an intro 0% APR on new purchases, which can help give you extra time to pay off business purchases. Over time, you can even pair it with other Chase credit cards to unlock additional redemption options.

Read our full review of the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card.

This article was edited by Kendall Little.

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