American Express® Business Platinum Review

Overview

The Amex Business Platinum is basically the business version of the personal Platinum: a huge coupon book wrapped around a humongous annual fee, with a sky-high welcome bonus to match. If your business spends a ton of money, the welcome bonus can be genuinely great, but almost everything else about this card only makes sense at serious scale.

The honest truth is that outside of travel it barely earns anything, and most of its credits are things a typical business will not use. This is a card for a big business spender chasing that welcome bonus in year one, not a long-term everyday workhorse.

Our 4.0 out of 5 rating

Each score weighs the rewards rate, value after the annual fee, welcome offer, points flexibility, and perks, with every point valued at a flat 1 cent. This is our editorial assessment to help you compare cards, not a guarantee of approval or of the value you will get.

Rewards: how it earns

Here is the catch that mirrors the personal Platinum: this card barely earns outside of travel. You get 5x on travel booked through Amex, and 1x on basically everything else. So for all your normal business spending, dining, advertising, shipping, supplies, you are earning a flat one point per dollar, which is weak for a card at this price. If you are not routing big travel spend through it, the earn rate is nothing special.

Brand and bonus rates: beyond the everyday categories above, this card also earns:

• 35% points back when using Pay with Points for flights (up to 1M points/yr)

Every point and mile above is valued at a flat 1 cent, the same honest standard we use for every card. Run your own spending through the calculator to see what this card would actually return for you.

Pros and cons

The welcome bonus

This is the whole reason to get the card. The welcome bonus is up to 300,000 Membership Rewards points after $20,000 in three months, which is around $3,000 in value. That is a massive bonus, but the $20,000 threshold is steep, you need a genuinely powerful business spending real money to hit it in three months. If you can, the payoff is huge; if you cannot, there is very little here worth the fee.

Is it worth the annual fee?

The $895 fee is enormous, and you have to be honest about what it buys. You get a $200 airline credit and a hotel credit, plus a pile of coupon-book credits, Dell, Indeed, Adobe, wireless, that sound great but that most businesses will not actually use. You also get Centurion and Delta lounge access, which matters if you fly a lot. Do the math on the welcome bonus: 300,000 points is about $3,000, but the $895 fee chops right into it, so you are really netting closer to $2,100 in year one, and only if you do not value the lounges on top. It is a hard fee to justify past year one unless your business is spending at a very high level.

First-year value vs ongoing value

The welcome bonus makes year one the high point: roughly $4,277 in value once you count the bonus, this card’s rewards, and its credits, minus the $895 fee. After that, the honest figure is about $1,277 a year, so judge whether it earns its keep on the ongoing number, not the first-year headline.

*First-year value counts the welcome bonus, estimated rewards, and annual credits, minus the annual fee; ongoing value is a typical year after. Every point at a flat 1 cent, on average spending.

Benefits and protections

Beyond the rewards, the perks and protections worth knowing about include:

• $200 airline fee credit annually
• $200 hotel credit (Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection)
• Up to $400 Dell Technologies credit ($200 Jan to Jun, $200 Jul to Dec)
• Up to $360 Indeed credit ($90/quarter)
• Up to $150 Adobe credit annually
• Up to $120 wireless telephone credit
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit
• Delta SkyClub access when flying Delta (up to 15 visits/yr)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Primary rental car coverage
• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance and trip delay insurance
• Cell phone protection up to $800
• Purchase protection and extended warranty

Lounge access

This card includes airport lounge access. Here is exactly what you get, including the Priority Pass distinctions that vary by card:

• The Centurion Lounge and Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge
• Priority Pass Select membership, airport lounges only (U.S. Amex cards no longer include Priority Pass restaurants)
• Delta Sky Club when flying Delta same-day: 10 visits per year, unlimited after $75,000 in annual spend; no free guests ($50 per guest)
• Escape, Plaza Premium, Airspace and other Global Lounge Collection lounges (1,550+ lounges across 500+ airports)

Statement credits

• $200 airline fee credit annually
• $200 hotel credit (Fine Hotels + Resorts)
• $400 Dell Technologies credit
• $360 Indeed credit
• $150 Adobe credit
• $120 wireless telephone credit
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit (~$100)

Ecosystem and transfer partners

The American Express® Business Platinum earns Membership Rewards, one of the more valuable currencies in rewards because of where the points can go. You can move points 1 to 1 to 10 airline and hotel partners: Delta SkyMiles, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and The Leading Hotels of the World. As a hub card, this is the one you route points through before transferring out. The sweet spots are usually premium-cabin flights and high-end hotel nights, where a single point can be worth well more than the 1 cent we value it at here.

Airline partners: Delta SkyMiles, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, The Leading Hotels of the World.

Hotel partners: Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors.

See the full American Express ecosystem →

Who should get it, and who should skip it

I will be blunt about who this is for: a big business baller. If your company spends a ton of money, can hit $20,000 in three months, and will use the travel perks and lounges, then grab it in year one for the enormous welcome bonus, and honestly, I would get rid of it after that. Take the bonus and move on.

For most businesses, though, I would pass. If advertising or everyday categories are where your money goes, the Business Gold earns far more for a much smaller fee. The only other reason to carry the Business Platinum is if you want the flex of slapping it on the table, and that is not a good reason to pay $895 a year.

How it compares

If the American Express® Business Platinum is not quite the right fit, these related cards are worth weighing against it:

Frequently asked questions

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