Credit Card Review — American Express Platinum Business

I have covered off other Membership Rewards (MR) earning credit cards from American Express with the latest being the American Express Platinum so today I am reviewing the business variant of the Platinum card, the American Express Platinum for Business.

If you’ve been following along, you will know that I have a huge man-crush on MR points because they provide extreme flexibility in redemption. A good analogy for MRs is like having Euros while in Europe. It doesn’t matter what country you are in, as long as you are in the EU, you have the right currency. Similarly, if you have MRs, you can convert those points to:

• Air Canada Aeroplan at a 1 to 1 ratio
• British Airways Avios at a 1 to 1 ratio
• Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles at a 1 to 0.75 a ratio
• Alitalia’s MilleMiglia Miles at a 1 to a 0.75 ratio
• Delta’s Skymiles at a 1 to 0.75 ratio
• Etihad Guest Miles at a 1 to 0.75 ratio

If you only collect Aeroplan, you are beholden to that program which gives you a lot less flexibility than if you had access to 6 different programs to transfer to. Much like your personal financial portfolio, you need to have diversity in you points programs.

Can I Sign Up For A Business Card?

The first thing anyone says me when I recommend this card is “I don’t have a business … can I get this card?”. The answer here is yes. Literally, anyone can have a sole proprietorship which would qualify you for the business card. And while every card issuer is different, American Express does not require you to provide a business license or any other articles of incorporation. I mean, if you think about it, many sole proprietorships do not officially register their businesses. As many new businesses don’t have a credit rating, AMEX uses your personal credit history as the measuring stick for whether you qualify for the card. My first AMEX Gold Business Card was under the business name “Jayce Loh” so you too can open a business card with American Express.

Sign Up Bonus

Okay. Pay attention here.

If you sign up for the American Express Platinum Business card using the regular sign up, you will receive 40,000 MRs. If you sign up using my referral, you receive 75,000 MRs (link at bottom of article). That’s a 35,000 difference. That is a HUGE difference.

Now with the business variant of both the Gold and Platinum, you have a bit of a high hurdle when it comes to spend in order to receive the sign-up bonus. You need to spend $5,000 in the first 3 months of the card to receive the bonus. I personally would suggest that you get both the Gold Business and the Platinum Business but you need to be smart about it so that you can be sure to meet your minimum spend requirements.

If you put your everyday spend on the card, most people can get to $5,000 without breaking much of a sweat.

The annual fee for the card is $399, which is amazingly low for the number of MRs you would receive. If we look at it at a Cents Per Mile (CPM) perspective, you are earning at $0.00532 per point or 0.532 CPM. My personal goal is to earn points at less than 1¢ per point and this well exceeds that threshold. In short, this is an excellent card to have if you are looking to collect points.

Everyday Spend Bonus

As with the American Express Platinum Card, you receive 1.25 points for every dollar you spend. So that means you would have and additional 6,250 MRs from meeting your minimum spend requirements PLUS the sign up bonus of 75,000 MRs, giving you a grand total of 81,250 MRs. That’s enough for 2 people to fly to Mexico or Central & South America in economy class with 1,250 points left over. That’s amazing! You are also only 8,750 points away for travel for 2 to Hawaii in economy. All for $399 in an annual fee.

Unfortunately, there is no Annual Travel Credit as seen in the American Express Platinum card but the annual fee is so low on this card that it almost doesn’t even matter.

Other Key Benefits

Status with Hotels and Car Rental Agencies

With the Platinum Business card, you get many of the same benefits as the Personal Platinum Card, including status at many popular hotels:

With the Platinum card, you get the following statuses:

• SPG — Gold and because of the Marriott/SPG merger, Marriott Gold (reciprocal benefit)
• Room upgrade at check-in, subject to availability
• Earn three Starpoints® per eligible U.S. dollar spent, a 50% bonus over Preferred status members
• Late check-out on request and when available
• Your choice of a welcome gift with each stay. Choose from bonus Starpoints, complimentary in-room Internet access or a complimentary beverage
• Fairmont — Platinum Status when you charge 5 nights at a Fairmont to your Platinum card
• Guaranteed early check-in and late check-out, upon availability
• Complimentary access to health clubs (excluding spas)
• $100 USD Dining or Willow Stream Spa Certificates
• Two complimentary suite upgrades
• Two complimentary room upgrades
• One complimentary night
• Personalized welcome amenity
• Fine Hotels and Resorts Program — Enjoy exceptional amenities around the globe with access to more than 700 properties thought the Fine Hotels & Resorts Program. Special extras may include upgrade to a higher room category at check-in (based on availability), daily continental breakfast for two and a guaranteed 4.00 p.m. check-out upon request.

Lounge Access

As was pointed out to me by reader MC in the comments below, the Platinum Business card only offers free lounge access to Plaza Premium lounges. These lounges are amongst the best in the business but are limited in location. Currently, the Plaza Premium Lounges are in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto as well as multiple locations worldwide. The Vancouver lounge is breathtaking and it’s one I visit every time I am in Vancouver.

For a list of Plaza Premium Lounges, refer to this link.

As an added bonus, you also have access to Delta Sky Club Lounges.

If you would like to access Priority Pass Lounges, the annual fee of $99 USD is covered by American Express but you are required to pay an entry fee of $27 USD per entry, which for some is reasonable and for others that are frugal like me, might be a bit on the high side depending on the length of layover.

Insurance Benefits

The insurances provided by this card are top notch as well and very similar to the Personal Platinum coverage except that you do not have Emergency Medical coverage, which can be a dealbreaker for some.

The included coverages are:

• Trip Interruption
• Trip Cancellation
• Car Rental Theft and Damage
• Lost or Stolen Baggage
• Baggage Delay
• Flight Delay
• Hotel/Motel Burglary
• Travel Accident
• Extended Warranty
• Purchase Protection

More details about this and other cards’ coverages can be found in my Comprehensive List of Credit Card Insurances by Card.

Sign Up

Personally, I find this card to be irresistible based on the huge sign up bonus as well as the other benefits of the card so if you plan on signing up, I would highly suggest you use my referral link as you receive 35,000 more points than if you use the public offering.

The public offering for this card is 40,000 Membership Rewards after you meet the minimum spend on the card ($5,000 in the first 3 months) but if you use my link, you will get 75,000 Membership Rewards points.

If you plan on applying for this card and you would like to help out the blog, please use the link below. If you don’t find this post or the blog useful, feel free to search out the sign up from American Express directly but please leave a comment below to let me know why so that I can improve the blog for the future.

PointsNerd Referral

Originally published at PointsNerd.