The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

This is one of the best offers from our partner American Express.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Details and benefits

You’ll hit the ground running with the Business Platinum’s tiered welcome offer; earn 75,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $15,000 in the first three months.

The rewards structure is strictly geared toward frequent travelers, with 5x points on flights and prepaid hotel bookings through Amex’s travel portal. All other purchases earn just 1 Membership Rewards Point per dollar. Business people who make frequent large purchases can take advantage of a 50 percent bump in earnings on eligible purchases over $5,000 — you can earn up to 1 million extra points each calendar year.

Where the Business Platinum really shines is its perks:

• Premium Roadside Assistance
• Up to $200 in statement credits each year for incidental fees charged by a qualifying airline of your choosing.
• One statement credit for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application fee every four years.
• Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status.
• Hilton Honors™ Gold Status.
• Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection (which includes Centurion® Lounges).
• Enroll to earn up to $200 in statement credits each year (up to $100 semi-annually) on U.S. purchases with Dell.
• Standard Amex perks such as Baggage Insurance and Travel Accident Insurance.
• Terms apply.

American Express offers other useful tools with all of their business credit cards, including the American Express® Business App to help you track expenses on the go, spending limits and purchase alerts on employee cards, account manager designations and more.

This luxury travel card does come with a hefty $595 annual fee, and it’s considered a charge card, so you would be required to pay off your balance in full each month.

Is the Business Platinum Card from American Express worth it for you?

The Amex Business Platinum was created for a very specific audience: high-spending business travelers. Between the rewards structure and impressive list of travel perks, you’ll get a lot of value out of this card if you plan on spending a lot of time in the air this year.

For those who aren’t planning on maximizing the travel benefits associated with this card, the $595 annual fee isn’t worth it in the long run. You’ll want a business credit card that offers cash back rewards instead.

While the only significant avenue for earning points with the Business Platinum is through travel purchases, you can pair this card with The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express to maximize rewards in other spending categories. With the Blue Business Plus, you’ll earn 2x points on your first $50,000 in purchases each year (then 1X) without having to pay an annual fee it’s an easy way to earn more points on those everyday business expenses.

Get the most value from the Business Platinum Card from American Express

Travel is the name of the game with the Amex Business Platinum. You’ll want to use this card on all of your airfare and hotel purchases, and make sure to book through the Amex portal to earn that 5x bonus.

If your budget allows, spend $15,000 within the first three months to earn the 75,000-point welcome bonus.

Make sure you have loyalty accounts with Amex’s 21 travel partners and that they are linked to your Membership Rewards program account. Whenever possible, transfer points and book award flights and hotel stays through those loyalty programs. They’ll offer more value per point than the Amex travel portal.

Furthermore, you need to make sure you’re taking advantage of the impressive array of perks that this card offers. Apply for Global Entry (which includes automatic TSA PreCheck) with your Business Platinum; it makes going through security and customs a much smoother process, and it saves a lot of time. Make layovers more enjoyable by routing through airports with lounge access. This card also has no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees).

The sky’s the limit when you truly maximize all the ways the Business Platinum can upgrade your business travel experiences.

How much are the Business Platinum Card from American Express rewards worth?

Let’s assume you typically take eight business trips throughout the year, each averaging two nights. If you’re spending $450 per flight and $150 per night for lodging (and booking your travel through Amex), you’ll earn 30,000 points. According to The Points Guy, Amex Membership Rewards points are worth 2 cents each after factoring in redemption rates, award availability, fees and more.

Using that valuation, those eight business trips alone earn you enough points to completely offset the $595 annual fee — and that’s not including the up to $200 airline incidentals credit, Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application fee credit (up to $100 every 4 years) and perks like lounge access that are harder to quantify.

How to redeem rewards

American Express Membership Rewards ranks among the most valuable rewards programs — but the real value of your Business Platinum rewards depends on how you redeem.

You’re really only getting maximum value out of your points if you redeem for travel. American Express has 21 transfer partners, and many of them allow you to transfer your Membership points at favorable rates. While it requires a little bit of research and extra effort, utilizing these transfer partners stretches your rewards the furthest.

You can read more on rewards redemption, here.

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