American Express Business Platinum review: worth the annual fee for frequent travelers
The American Express Business Platinum Card is a high-end travel card that rewards big-spending small business owners with luxury features and significant rewards. Amex offers a comprehensive travel and retail perk package in exchange for a $695 annual premium.
Cardholders enjoy unrivaled airport lounge access, exclusive hotel status, travel and consumer insurance benefits, and Fine Hotels & Resorts privileges. Furthermore, the Company Platinum card offers over $1,000 in statement credit to offset eligible expenditures with select small business vendors such as Dell, Indeed, Adobe, and U.S. wireless telephone providers.
Card Ratings Editor’s Analysis: Pros & Cons
Pros
In the first three months, new cards can earn 120,000 Membership Rewards bonus points by spending $15,000 on eligible transactions.
This card provides free admission to airport lounges all over the world. Enrollment may be required.
Get up to $200 in airline fee credit per year with a pre-selected airline to offset some of those high-cost travel charges like checked baggage fees and in-flight refreshments.
Cons
The annual charge is significant. If you don’t plan to spend enough to cover the annual charge, a no-annual-fee travel rewards business card could be a better option.
- AMEX Business Platinum Card Benefits
The American Express Platinum Card allows big-spending business customers to earn 120,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on qualifying purchases within the first three months of membership.
When you book flights and prepaid hotels through the American Express travel portal regularly, you earn 5X Membership Rewards points for every $1 spent, 1.5X points on business categories and purchases of $5,000 or more up to $2 million in purchases per year, and 1X point per $1 on most other eligible purchases. The worth of your business is over $1,000.
Also, when you use Membership Rewards Pay with Points for all or part of a flight with a qualifying airline, the American Express Business Platinum card delivers a 35% Airline Bonus. When you book a flight on amextravel.com, you can get 35% of your points back, up to 500,000 bonus points every year.
Travelers will appreciate the Business Platinum Card from American Express, which includes up to $200 in annual statement credit to cover incidental airline fees with one pre-selected airline, a fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, a fee credit of up to $179 for your CLEAR membership, and access to airport lounges all over the world.
The American Express Business Platinum Card® offers no foreign transaction fees, offering you peace of mind when traveling worldwide.
- AMEX Business Platinum Travel Benefits
With the American Express Business Platinum Card, you can earn up to $200 in annual statement credit to cover incidental airline fees – such as checked bags, in-flight meals, seat upgrades, and so on – on a qualifying airline of your choice (the same airline on which you’ll earn 35 percent of your points back when you redeem).
For an application fee paid to your Business Platinum Card, you can also earn one Global Entry ($100) or one TSA PreCheck ($85) statement credit every four years or every 4.5 years.
It grants you access to airport lounges in more than 140 countries. The American Express Global Lounge Collection offers more lounge alternatives than any other card on the market, ensuring that your vacation is luxurious regardless of the purpose.
How do you qualify for Amex Business Platinum?
You must be an “approved officer” of a corporation to receive a business card. Essentially, this means that you must have the legal authority to enter into borrowing agreements on behalf of a corporation with financial institutions. You are already an “approved officer” if you own a sole proprietorship business or a small business on your own.
How Amex Business Platinum Compares To Other Cards
- AMEX Card vs Personal Card
Premium travel advantages come with a hefty annual price. Both cards come with a $200 annual airline fee credit that can be used to cover incidental airline fees such as baggage fees and in-flight refreshments with a pre-selected airline, as well as access to the Global Lounge Collection, which gives travelers more lounge options than any other card on the market. The personal card, on the other hand, comes with Uber VIP status and Uber Cash, which may be used to pay for rides and/or Uber Eats orders in the United States.
- AMEX Business Platinum vs AMEX Business Gold
The American Express Business Gold Card is an excellent option for the American Express Business Platinum Card since it has a lower annual cost, a great new card member welcome bonus offer, and lucrative daily point earning. The yearly charge for the Business Gold card is $295, which is significantly less than the annual fee for the Business Platinum card.
- AMEX Business Platinum vs Capital One Card
Spend $15,000 on qualifying purchases with AMEX within the first 3 months of Card Membership to get 120,000 Membership Rewards points, whereas with the Capital One card, spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months of account opening to earn 60,000 miles, which is equal to $600 in travel. Capital One card has an annual fee of $95 while AMEX Platinum Card has an annual fee of $695 justified by the luxury and rewards it offers.
- Is AMEX Business Platinum a good card?
The Business Platinum Card from American Express is suited for frequent business travelers who value-enhanced conveniences when traveling and can balance the substantial annual cost with the benefits they earn. If the additional travel benefits aren’t important to you, you might want to look at a different business card with more points earning potential in other categories.