The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express card comes with a bevy of benefits, and if your business pushes through some hefty spend, or has large expenses on the horizon it could be worth considering for your business.  Personally, I’ve carried a Biz Plat for a few years now, and continue to extract great value. Annual fee has increased to $695 (Rates and fees)

Each and every year I spend time analyzing my credit card portfolio to see if the benefits outweigh cost to carry. I chose again in 2021 to not only keep the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express in my wallet, but take advantage of 2 targeted offers to increase my wallet size to 3 Amex Biz Plats.

Let’s take a look at the offer, the new benefits, old benefits, and peep some of the killer redemptions you can make with those valuable American Express Membership Rewards.

Here are some perks I love about The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

• Earn 1.5X points (that’s an extra half point per dollar)
  • on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers,
  • As well as on purchases of $5,000 or more
  • Up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year.
  • Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus
• Up to $199 in statement credits per calendar year on your CLEAR® Plus Membership  (enrollment required )
  • subject to auto renewal
• Up to $200 annual airline incidental fee reimbursement (enrollment required )
• up to $120 Annual Wireless Credit ( enrollment required )
  • Up to $10 per month wireless credit,
  • Must make payments directly to any US Wireless provider
• Global Entry fee reimbursement – worth up to  $100 (enrollment required )
  • Every 4 years
• Priority Pass Select membership  (enrollment required )
• Cell Phone Insurance
  • $800 per claim, 2x per 12 month period
  • $50 deductible per approved claim
• Delta Sky Club lounge access – when flying on Delta
• Centurion Lounge access – network expanding and very worthwhile
  • I do love these clubs! Check out SFO, MIAMI
• Access to Fine Hotels and Resorts
  1. Amazing benefits such as free breakfast, resort credits, room upgrades, early check in, late check out, etc
     • Using Amex FHR has earned me $100s per stay each time I use it.
• Over 20 transfer partners: like Singapore Air, Air Canada, Air France, British Airways
  • Read about our best uses of Amex Points
• Marriott Gold status (enrollment required )
• Hilton Honors Gold status (enrollment required )
• The Hotel selection
  1. slightly different than Fine Hotels and Resorts, but provides great benefits, credits, and upgrades
• 5x points on flights booked through Amex Travel
• Access to International Airlines Program rates for select premium cabin flights originating in the USA
• Up to $400 Annual Dell credit ( enrollment required )
  • This is split into 2, $200 credits, applied every 6 months: Jan to June and July to Dec
• Up to $360 Indeed credit ( enrollment required )
  •  get $90 per quarter, Up to $360 annual statement credit
  • on all Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services
• Up to $150 Adobe credit ( enrollment required )
  • : $150 annual statement credit on select purchases,
  • Adobe Creative Cloud, creative apps and services, and Acrobat Pro DC with e-sign.
• Annual fee $695 *Rates and Fees; terms apply

1.5x points on up to $2 Million per calendar year at these categories

Lemme just say…if you’re in the construction business – this is a whopper of a deal for you. You’ll now enjoy all the benefits of Business Platinum AND get a 1.5x on construction materials and supplies. Add in electronics as well – it’s time to stack up points.

Eligible U.S purchases at:

• • US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers,
  • As well as on purchases of $5,000 or more
  • Up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year.
  • Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus

$120 Wireless Credit + Cell Phone Insurance (enrollment required)

In order to get the Wireless Credit simply charge your bill to the Amex Business Platinum and get a $10 per month statement credit. Amex Business Platinum also comes with free cell phone insurance. Super easy.

• $800 per claim, 2x per 12 month period
• $50 deductible per approved claim
• Terms Apply

35% of your points back when you redeem with Amex Travel. So, in effect, $0.0154 value per point. Up to 1 Million bonus points (enrollment required)

Rules for getting the 35% back:

• Must be with your selected Airline
• OR must be in a premium cabin
• capped at 1 million bonus points
• terms apply

How does this work?

• If a flight is $1000 it would be charged as 100,000 points
  •  35k those points would be reimbursed back into your account

Don’t forget about the ability to refer friends to almost any Amex.

American Express changed their program last year and created an absolutely fantastic perk: the ability to refer a friend to almost any card that Amex issues. This means that you can earn bonus Amex points by referring friends not only to this Amex Biz Plat, but to most any other Amex, up to 55k bonus points per year. It’s a great way to earn even more value out of the card.

If you have an Amex and would like to leave a referral go to this post and add yours.

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What are some outstanding uses of Amex Points? Check out these 5…

Lufthansa First Class 100k points when transferred to Aeroplan or 87k when used via Avianca.

How incredible is that redemption?

Emirates First Class for 85k points when transferred to Emirates

One little “suite” spot of the Emirates chart is flying from NYC to New Milan on their A380 for 85k points. You’ll enjoy a suite with doors that close, top shelf champers, pjs, a vanity, and if your heart desires…a shower at 7 miles in the sky. You can also fly from EWR to Athens for the same number of miles.

A bonus tip: If you search NYC to MXP you’ll see results that route you through Dubai, some with over night layovers. That means, you could fly almost 20+ hours of insane Emirates 1st for the same 85k miles, but include a peek at Dubai and lower your taxes and fees by a ton.

Emirates just became a transfer partner of Chase as well which means you can stretch your points even further if you have both point currencies.

ANA Business Class ROUNDTRIP for under 100k, or 110k in first class when transferred to Virgin Atlantic

We spoke of this sweet spot in our Chase post. One of the best bargains out there, and when you’re earning points in multiple programs that are partners with Virgin Atlantic, it makes access that much easier.

You can also book these one way for half the published price which is downright incredible.

Singapore Suites for 53k when transferred to Singapore Airlines

Again, a mutual transfer partner of both Chase and Amex, and a great opportunity to fly in one of the world’s best first class products: Singapore Suites. For just 53k points you can fly between Singapore and numerous Asian Cities ( New Delhi, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong) sipping Krug and feasting on lobster Thermidor. Better yet…Singapore eliminated taxes and fees on their own metal. BYAH! You can fly the old suites, shown below, or on some routes, the new suites.

Fly up to 14k Miles in Business Class for 135k points when transferring to Asia Miles

Asia Miles is a transfer partner of Amex and has many hidden sweet spots. One of which is their multi-partner award chart. Check out the link above if you want to read all the ins and outs, but you can fly A LOT for just 115k miles when you use Asia miles and fly on 2 or more One World partners of Cathay Pacific.

Fly on one of the best business class products across the Atlantic, Air France.

I made use of this last year, at a rate of 55k, and immensely enjoyed my experience. It’s an instant transfer partner, and is truly a fantastic way to fly.

Overall

The American Express Business Platinum has a ton of benefits, but it also costs a hefty sum each year. Personally, when I sit down and crunch the numbers, it’s been a valuable addition to my wallet. Make sure you run the numbers, but certainly if you’re going to add this card to your wallet, you want to do so when the welcome offer is high like it currently is now. 100k.