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The Business Platinum Card® from American Express review: A bigger return on investment than ever

 /  14 min
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Snapshot

4.8

Bankrate rating
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Rating: 4.8 stars out of 5

Bottom line

Although the annual fee seems steep, the Amex Business Platinum card could be unparalleled if you’re looking for a card with a premium pool of luxury travel perks — including a wealth of annual credits and reimbursements. For businesses who stay local, the card’s recent update added up to $830 in new statement credits focused on everyday business expenses rather than travel. These new benefits alone are more than enough to recoup the intimidating annual fee.

BEST BUSINESS CARD FOR LUXURY TRAVELERS
  • Rewards value
    Rating: 5 stars out of 5
    5 / 5
    APR
    Rating: 2 stars out of 5
    2 / 5
    Rewards flexibility
    Rating: 3 stars out of 5
    3 / 5
    Features
    Rating: 5 stars out of 5
    5 / 5
Good to Excellent (670 – 850)
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Recommended Credit

Intro offer

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$2400

Offer valuation

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1X - 5X

Rewards Rate

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Annual fee

Regular APR

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express Overview

The Amex Business Platinum can be a valuable option for a variety of small-business owners thanks to its practical perks and simple flat-rate rewards, which make the $695 annual fee relatively easy to offset.

The card comes with impressive travel benefits like up to $200 in airline fee credits each year at one selected qualifying airline, up to $189 back per year on a CLEAR® membership (subject to auto-renewal), elite Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors status and more. You’ll also enjoy hundreds in business spending credits with Dell, Adobe, Indeed and U.S. wireless telephone providers. 

These benefits, plus a flexible rewards program covering large purchases and key business categories like software, shipping and more make the Amex Business Platinum a terrific all-purpose business rewards card. 

  • Credit Card Cash Back

    Rewards

    • 5X Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com
    • 2X points on prepaid rental cars booked through AmexTravel.com
    • 1.5X points (on up to $2,000,000 per calendar year) on key purchases of $5,000 or more (electronics goods, retailers, software, and cloud service providers; construction materials and hardware supplies; shipping providers)
    • 1X points on all other purchases

    Expert Appraisal: Good
    See our expert analysis

  • Rewards

    Welcome offer

    • 120,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership

    Expert Appraisal: Typical
    See our expert analysis

  • Credit Card Search

    Rates and fees

    • Annual fee: $695
    • Regular APR: 19.49 percent to 27.49 percent (variable Pay Over Time APR)
    • No foreign transaction fees

    Expert Appraisal: Typical
    See our expert analysis

  • Congrats

    Other cardholder perks

    • Global entry or TSA PreCheck credit 
    • Airport lounge access
    • Car rental loss and damage insurance
    • Extended purchase warranty 
    • Credits for Adobe and Dell purchases

    Expert Appraisal: Exceptional
    See our expert analysis

The Business Platinum from American Express pros and cons

Pros

  • Checkmark

    The card’s flexible spending limit and stellar rewards rates make it suitable for both general business spending and travel purchases.

  • Checkmark

    Carries of the most valuable intro bonuses you’ll find on a business card.

  • Checkmark

    Includes hundreds in annual credits and valuable travel perks like airport lounge membership

Cons

  • The $695 annual fee may be difficult to offset, especially for occasional travelers.

  • Some perks can be hard to use, and you may not squeeze the total value out of certain benefits, like the private jet discount program or the hotel and cruise booking credits

  • You need to plan on paying off your balance each month in most case

Why you might want the Business Platinum from American Express

The Amex Business Platinum card offers a solid rewards rate and a terrific mix of travel and business perks, making it easy to offset the annual fee and squeeze a ton of value out of the card..

Perks: A ton of valuable credits 

One of this card’s biggest selling points is its generous roster of practical, easy-to-use perks. While the exact value you’ll get get from these perks will depend on where you spend, you could enjoy thousands in annual credits and reimbursements, including:

  • An average of $600 in perks with a Fine Hotels and Resorts program property when you book through American Express Travel.
  • Up to $400 in statement credits per year on Dell purchases (up to $200 semi-annually)
  • Up to $360 statement credit on Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services (up to $90 back per quarter)
  • Up to $300 in onboard credits on participating cruise lines with select room bookings through the Cruise Privileges Program (per new cruise booking)
  • Up to $100 in statement credits for eligible stays at The Hotel Collection properties
  • Up to $200 per year in statement credits for qualifying airline fees, such as baggage fees, with a selected airline
  • Up to a $189 annual statement credit when you use your card to cover the cost of a CLEAR® airport security membership
  • Up to $150 in statement credits per year on select Adobe business plan purchases, including the Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC
  • Up to $120 in statement credits per year for telephone service purchases made directly with  a U.S. wireless provider (up to $10 back per month)
  • Up to a $100 statement credit every four years to cover a  Global Entry application or up to an $85 statement credit every four and a half years to cover TSA PreCheck application fees

These perks could offer enough value to offset the card’s annual fee on their own, but you’ll also unlock some ofs the best airport lounge access privileges on the market, including access to  Amex Centurion lounges,  Priority Pass Select lounges, Delta Sky Club lounges, Airspace Lounge locations, Escape Lounges, Plaza Premium lounges, Lufthansa Lounges and more. In all, you’ll be able to rest in over 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and more than 500 airports. 

If you often stay at Marriott or Hilton properties, you’ll also have a leg up on their loyalty programs since the Business Platinum offers complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status.

The Amex  Business Platinum is also one of the best cards for travel insurance if you’re a frequent flyer for business, thanks to the layers of security it can protect your travel plans with. You’ll get standouts like $20,000 per card in trip cancellation and interruption insurance every 12 months, trip delay insurance for up to $500 per trip (up to two claims each 12 months), return protection and up to $3,000 of baggage delay insurance. 

Rewards: An ideal fit for frequent travelers and low-maintenance cardholders

Frequent travelers might get the most out of the Amex Business Platinum due to its travel-oriented rewards and perks. However, cardholders who make frequent business purchases can also come out ahead thanks to the card’s boosted rewards rate on select business expenses and on purchases of $5,000 or more.

Unlike other general travel cards, the Business Platinum requires you to purchase flights and prepaid hotels through the American Express Travel portal to earn 5 points per dollar spent. Though this makes the card less flexible than some competing business travel cards, 5X points is an excellent rate no matter how you slice it.

If your business has significant expenses or you don’t travel as often, you still have an excellent opportunity to earn major rewards. Purchases that ring up to $5,000 or more and will earn 1.5X points, as will eligible purchases in the following categories (on up to $2,000,000 in combined purchases per year for both 1.5X rewards rates): 

  • Electronic goods and associated retailers 
  • Software Cloud service providers 
  • Construction materials and hardware supplies 
  • Shipping providers 

You’ll also enjoy decent flexibility when it comes time to redeem rewards. You can use points for booking travel — including flights, hotels, cruises, and more — through American Express or transfer points to one of Amex’s many travel partners. Transferring may even allow you to increase the value of your points.

Using points for travel bookings through the Amex portal will get you at least 1 cent per point in value, but based on Bankrate’s credit card point valuations, you could get around 2.1 cents per point in value with the right transfer partner. 

Plus, you can take advantage of the card’s 35 percent Airline Bonus feature, which gives you 35 percent of your points back when you use points to cover eligible flights with a qualifying airline of your choice and book through American Express Travel. 

Why you might want a different business card

While the Amex Business Platinum could make a lot of sense for travel-minded small-business owners, it’s still an expensive card to carry.

Unless you can take advantage of the card’s perks, you may be better off with a lower-cost rewards card. You’ll also need to pay off your in full each month unless they use the Pay Over Time feature, which could be a dealbreaker if you sometimes need to carry a balance or want an intro APR to free up cash flow.

Welcome offer: Great value but high spending requirement

The Amex Business Platinum gives new cardholders a chance to earn 120,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.

While this is an impressive offer — especially considering the previous offer was only 100,000 points with the same spending requirement — a $15,000 spend in three monthst may be tough to meet for smaller businesses. 

Plus, since you must pay off your balance every month (unless you opt into Pay Over Time), you may not have the flexibility you need to finance a large purchase and earn this bonus.

Redemption: Best value via travel

Amex offers various redemption options, but you should probably focus on redeeming your rewards for booking travel — including flights, hotels, cruises, and more — through American Express or its travel transfer partners. Although there’s a broad scope of redemption options, many offer subpar redemption values, with some offering as little as 0.5 cents per point in value

According to Amex’s rewards calculator, the only ways to get at least a 1-cent-per-point redemption value is to use your rewards for flights, stays at the Fine Hotels and Resorts properties and flight upgrades (when available). 

First-year value vs. ongoing value

The $695 annual fee can seem intimidating at first glance. Depending on how you plan to use the card, you can recoup the annual fee with the card’s valuable features with relative ease. The $830 of new credits added for office-centric expenses like computer hardware, software and employee cell phones can recoup the cost if you won’t be using the travel features as much. Still, frequent business travelers will gain much more value out of the features. For instance, the free airport lounge access and the possible guest passes alone outweigh the annual fee based on how much yearly membership for a few of the lounge programs costs.

Once you break it down, you’ll receive up to $1,030 yearly in purely non-travel-related credits, which jumps to $2,534 in annual credits once you account for one stay each through the Fine Hotels and Resorts program, The Hotel Collection and the Cruise Privileges Program. Factoring in the airport lounge value makes your yearly benefit value skyrocket to $3,508.

Making up for the annual fee solely through rewards is more challenging, but doable if you or your employees travel often. Based on the 1.35-cent point value, you’d have to spend about $859 per month on qualifying American Express Travel purchases to break even on the annual fee or a much steeper $2,861 per month in your 1.5X category purchases otherwise.

Luckily, most — if not all — of the Business Platinum card’s benefits outside the welcome offer are ongoing, so you won’t have to worry about diminishing returns after your first year.

Benefits and Costs First-year value Ongoing value (no welcome offers)
Yearly rewards* +$654 +$654
Welcome offers +$1,620 (Membership Rewards sign-up bonus points redeemed through American Express Travel with 35% Airline Bonus)
Perks (of monetary value)
  • +$550 (average Fine Hotels and Resorts program value per stay, including credits)
  • +$545 (Delta SkyClub membership)
  • +$429 (Priority Pass Select membership)
  • +$400 (annual Dell purchases credits; $200 semi-annually)
  • +$360 (Indeed hiring and recruiting credits; up to $90 per quarter)
  • +$300 (onboard credits for qualifying Cruise Privileges Program bookings; up to $300 per cruise booking)
  • +$250 (combined credits for qualifying bookings with The Hotel Collection)
  • +$200 (annual airline fee credits)
  • +$189 (annual CLEAR® membership credit)
  • +$150 (annual eligible Adobe product credits)
  • +$120 (annual U.S. wireless telephone provider credits; up to $10 per month)
  • +$25 (TSA PreCheck/Global Entry application credit; up to $100 every four years)
  • +$550 (average Fine Hotels and Resorts program value per stay, including credits)
  • +$545 (Delta SkyClub membership)
  • +$429 (Priority Pass Select membership)
  • +$400 (annual Dell purchases credits; $200 semi-annually)
  • +$360 (Indeed hiring and recruiting credits; up to $90 per quarter)
  • +$300 (onboard credits for qualifying Cruise Privileges Program bookings; up to $300 per cruise booking)
  • +$250 (combined credits for qualifying bookings with The Hotel Collection)
  • +$200 (annual airline fee credits)
  • +$189 (annual CLEAR® membership credit)
  • +$150 (annual eligible Adobe product credits)
  • +$120 (annual U.S. wireless telephone provider credits; up to $10 per month)
  • +$25 (TSA PreCheck/Global Entry application credit; up to $100 every four years)
Annual fee -$695 -$695
Total value $5,097 $3,467

*Based on our formula used to calculate each card’s average rewards rates and average ongoing rewards value, using Bureau of Labor Statistics spending data and an assumed $48,000 yearly spend over three years ($4,000 per month).

We tried it: Here’s what our experts say

Here’s how Bankrate credit cards writer Ryan Flanigan takes advantage of the American Express Business Platinum card’s credits and benefits.

I use almost every perk and credit that this card offers. While the annual fee is high, I get far more value in return just from its list of credits and benefits. The perks cover various needs I have throughout the year. For example, I enjoy waiting for my flights in lounges and using my airline credits the first day they’re available. And I can always use Dell credits for things like smart home products. The points rebate opens up significant value when booking business and first-class flights. While I don’t use this for a ton of everyday spending, the value of the credits and travel benefits alone will keep this card in my wallet.

— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards

How the Amex Business Platinum Card compares to other business cards

The Business Platinum may be ideal if your business spends a lot on travel, but since not many issuers offer premium business cards with flexible spending limits like American Express, you can consider other Amex business credit cards that offer more rewards in different categories.

Image of The Business Platinum Card®  from American Express
Bankrate Score
See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply
Apply now Lock
on American Express's secure site

Annual fee

$695

Intro offer

Earn 120,000 points
Info

Rewards rate

1X - 5X
Info

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)
Info
Image of American Express® Business Gold Card
Bankrate Score
See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply
Apply now Lock
on American Express's secure site

Annual fee

$375

Intro offer

Earn 70,000 points
Info

Rewards rate

1X - 4X
Info

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)
Info
Image of Business Green Rewards Card from American Express

Business Green Rewards Card from American Express

Annual fee

$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95

Intro offer

15,000 points
Info

Rewards rate

1X - 2X
Info

Recommended Credit Score

Excellent (740 – 850)
Info

Best cards to pair with the Amex Business Platinum

As a general-purpose travel card, you could shore up your rewards strategy by supporting the Amex Business Platinum with cards that earn rewards on your other major business expenses. 

Who is the Amex Business Platinum right for?

Bankrate’s Take — Is the Amex Business Platinum worth it?

Businesses that spend big and seek luxury hotel and airline perks for their frequent travels will find the American Express Business Platinum one of the most worthwhile cards on the market — especially now that it has a plethora of new credits and reward opportunities for popular non-travel expenses.

The annual fee can certainly carry some pressure, but the Business Platinum’s annual credits alone can easily offset the cost while your rewards generate even more value. Although these day-to-day benefits can be tempting, small businesses that aren’t sure they’ll take advantage of the additional features may want to consider another travel card considering those factors are the Business Platinum’s main value.

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.

All information about The Business Green Rewards Card from American Express has been collected independently by Bankrate and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.

For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card from American Express card, please click here. For rates and fees of the American Express Business Gold card, please click here.

Frequently asked questions

Written by
India Davis
Editor, Credit Cards

India Davis is an editor specializing in credit cards and updates. She believes in putting the reader first and carrying out a brand’s voice to its fullest potential. She has lived and worked in three different countries and hopes to explore more of the world post-pandemic.

Edited by Senior Editor, Credit Cards

* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.