6 reasons I love the Amex Business Platinum Card

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is easily one of the top business credit cards for travel enthusiasts — especially right now. After all, the current welcome bonus on this card could be worth about $3,000 if you transfer your points to the right partner, according to Bankrate’s valuations of points in its rewards program.

While a $695 annual fee applies, this card offers an excellent rewards rate on travel purchases and some business categories as well as myriad cardholder perks that are easy to maximize. In fact, statement credit offers on this card can be worth more than $1,800 if you use them all annually; plus, there are additional credit opportunities available every few years.

There are plenty of other reasons to love the Amex Business Platinum, including that it earns flexible points in the American Express Membership Rewards program. With all the potential benefits of the Amex Business Platinum Card, it’s no wonder many business owners — including myself — use it for their business-related expenses and bills. Here are six of my favorite features of the card. 

An excellent earning rate on travel purchases

I always use my Amex Business Platinum Card for travel purchases since I’ll earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotel purchases made through the Amex travel portal. This means I’ll earn 5,000 Amex Membership Rewards points for every $1,000 spent on eligible travel purchases through the portal.

In addition, purchasing flights through the portal with cash also earns airline miles and points toward elite status on the purchases. 

Solid earning rate in select business categories and on large purchases

This card offers a few different ways to maximize rewards on spending. For starters, cardholders earn 1.5X Membership Rewards points for purchases made in select categories including electronics goods retailers, software and cloud service providers, U.S. construction materials and hardware supplies, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more made outside of these categories (up to $2 million spent annually, then 1X point).

While these bonus categories won’t apply to every business out there, most can find some value here and earn some bonus points over the course of a year.

Small businesses that spend in the select categories or make a lot of purchases over $5,000 can certainly benefit here since every $5,000 in qualifying purchases will yield 7,500 Amex Membership Rewards points.

Flexible rewards program

One of my favorite and most valuable ways to redeem Membership Rewards is transferring points to American Express airline partners, which include options like Air France / KLM Flying Blue and Delta SkyMiles. Using points earned from my welcome bonus and everyday business spending, I was recently able to save thousands on a first-class flight to Australia with Qantas. 

In total, the Amex Membership Rewards program offers 18 different airline partners, including many international partners, and three hotel partners to choose from. It’s also common to come across transfer partner bonus offers, which can help you get a better transfer ratio when you move your points from Amex to an airline or hotel partner.

The American Express Membership Rewards program offers other redemption options in addition to letting you redeem points for transfers to Amex airline and hotel partners. For example, you can redeem points directly for travel purchases through the American Express travel portal, or you can use points for statement credits, cash back, gift cards, merchandise or online shopping, though those options yield lower value.

Statement credits that more than make up for the annual fee

Amex Business Platinum benefits include a ton of statement credits that can more than make up for the $695 annual fee, Credit opportunities include:

• Up to $400 in credits for Dell purchases (up to $200 semi-annually)
• Up to $360 in Indeed credits (up to $90 per quarter)
• Up to $150 in credits toward select Adobe purchases annually
• Up to $120 in wireless telephone service credits (up to $10 per month)
• Up to $199 in credits toward CLEAR® Plus Membership annually
• Up to $120 in credits toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fees every 4 years
• Up to $200 in credits toward airline incidentals with a qualifying airline annually
• Up to $300 in onboard credits with select cabin bookings while sailing participating cruise lines through Cruise Privileges program (per new cruise booking)
• Up to $100 in statement credits during eligible stays at The Hotel Collection properties

These credits alone can be worth more than $1,900, but keep in mind that some of these credits come with stipulations that limit their use. For example, the $200 airline incidental fee credit only applies to a single airline, and you have to select it ahead of time. Separately, the $400 in credits toward Dell purchases are good twice per year in increments of $200 every six months.

Generous travel benefits for cardholders

The Amex Business Platinum Card also comes with a range of valuable travel benefits, including Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, access to Amex Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Clubs when flying Delta, Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits and more. The card also offers a 35 percent airline bonus, which refunds 35 percent of your points when you use them to book flights with your preselected qualifying airline (any class) or a business or first-class flight with any airline through the American Express Travel portal.

I make sure to use all the travel perks to justify this card’s annual fee, but I get the most value from the CLEAR Plus Membership, access to Centurion Lounges and Priority Pass Select membership (note that a Priority Pass membership with unlimited visits has a retail value of $429 on its own). Since my home airport (Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas) has both types of lounges and often has a very busy security line, I get my money’s worth from these travel perks annually.

My family also loves the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts collection, and benefits like early check-ins, late checkouts and a property or spa credit are valuable to us. We get to try new luxury properties regularly that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, and the experiences have never disappointed.

It’s also worth noting that the Amex Business Platinum Card comes with several travel insurance benefits for cardholders, including trip cancellation and interruption insurance, trip delay insurance, secondary auto rental coverage and a baggage insurance plan. On a recent trip, I was able to get fully reimbursed for needed items like clothing and toiletries when my bag didn’t make its connection and was out of my possession for over a day. I always make sure to book long-haul trips on this card for the peace of mind that comes with knowing I can just buy what I need if things go wrong on my travels.

Amex lets you pool points earned with other cards

Another of my favorite strategies with my Amex Business Platinum Card is pairing it with other American Express credit cards to maximize rewards. Fortunately for cardholders, Amex makes it easy to earn Membership Rewards points with different card products and pool your points in one account.

Since business and personal cards combine seamlessly, there are many combinations of cards you can use to create an Amex trifecta or more. In addition to my Business Platinum, I currently have the American Express® Business Gold Card, the American Express® Gold Card, The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Blue Business Plus Credit Card® from American Express. Here are some highlights of the bonus categories I have covered with these cards, in addition to what I’m already getting from my Business Platinum: 

• 4X points on my top two monthly business spending categories (up to $150,000 annually on Business Gold, then 1X)
• 4X points on U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 annually on personal Gold, then 1X)
• 4X points at restaurants (up to $50,000 annually on personal Gold, then 1X)
• The laundry list of benefits from the personal Platinum
• 2X points on all other purchases (up to $50,000 annually on Blue Business Plus, then 1X)

While I may rotate cards in and out of my wallet based on long-term value, I will always keep my no-annual-fee Blue Business Plus open. As long as I have at least one Membership Rewards-earning card open, my points will never expire or disappear.

The bottom line

The Amex Business Platinum is pretty pricey when compared to other business credit cards on the market, yet the statement credit offers and premium travel perks can make it well worth the cost. This is especially true right now since you can earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases within three months of account opening.

Pairing this card with other Membership Rewards cards can create a powerful combination that provides an excellent overall set of rewards and benefits for your everyday needs. But, as with any credit card decision, make sure you research a number of the best business credit cards in order to find the one that really fits your needs.