The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is really aggressive right now with an elevated offer to earn 200,000 points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first 3 months.

They’ve refreshed the product and they’re definitely creating buzz with it. This is an $895 annual fee card (see rates and fees). I thought I’d gotten a great offer for the card when it was 150,000 about 20 months ago. I’m a bit jealous of the bigger offers available now.

Here’s what the card delivers.

Lounge Access

American Express touts to over 1,550 lounges. The truth is most of those are via the Priority Pass Select membership you can enroll for. And most premium cards come with one of those – it’s not a differentiator.

What’s unique about this card is:

• access to Centurion Lounges
  
• 10 complimentary Delta Sky Club visits when flying on an eligible Delta flight (basic economy fares not eligible)

Delta Sky Club LAX

Delta Sky Club Austin

The Centurion lounge network is larger than Chase’s and Capital One’s lounge network, and that’s appealing. There are lounges at:

• Atlanta (ATL)
  
• Charlotte (CLT)
  
• Dallas (DFW)
  
• Denver (DEN)
  
• Houston (IAH)
  
• Philadelphia (PHL)
  
• Phoenix (PHX)
  
• Las Vegas (LAS)
  
• Los Angeles (LAX)
  
• Miami (MIA)
  
• New York (JFK)
  
• New York (LGA)
  
• San Francisco (SFO)
  
• Seattle (SEA)
  
• Washington, D.C. (DCA)
  
• Salt Lake City (SLC) (announced)
  
• Newark (EWR) (announced)

Centurion Lounge New York JFK

International locations include Buenos Aires; Sydney and Melbourne; Hong Kong; Delhi and Mumbai; Tokyo Haneda; Mexico City (3) and Monterrey; Amsterdam; Stockholm; and London Heathrow

Centurion Lounge Hong Kong

Centurion lounges can be crowded. Guests aren’t free unless you spend at least $75,000 per year on the card. And while they’ve recently refreshed the food and I haven’t yet tried the new menus, over the past few years the buffet offerings haven’t reached the peaks they did when the lounges first opened. So it’s worth being realistic.

I do like the barbecue – and the mac and cheese bar – in Denver. I like the speakeasy and coffee house at New York JFK. I don’t like the Philadelphia lounge.

Centurion Lounge New York JFK

Centurion Lounge New York JFK

As much as I travel, I want to have access to these lounges. If Centurion lounge membership was $895, I’d give it a miss. But it comes bundled with the card, and I’ve genuinely ‘make money on’ the credits offered, getting a lot more value than the card’s annual fee. And it’s worth those hoops for lounge access.

Centurion Lounge Seattle

Centurion Lounge Seattle

Credits More Than ‘Pay For’ The Card

While it’s an $895 annual fee card, you can easily get far more value than that just on rebates for the kind of spending you may do anyway.

$600 Hotel Credit: up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings (the latter requires a minimum two-night stay).

$209 CLEAR Plus Credit: Sometimes CLEAR gets you through security faster than PreCheck, not always. I travel enough that I want all options on the table, especially when lines are long and I don’t show up to the airport super early. I don’t like queueing. This credit covers the cost of membership.

$200 Airline Fee Credit: You choose one qualifying airline and receive up to $200 in statement credits each calendar year for incidental fees like checked bags that are charged by that airline to the card. The past several years I’ve had luck buying under-$100 Southwest Airlines tickets with my credit (I register Southwest as my airline of choice) but I assume at some point this will no longer work, since it isn’t supposed to.

Hilton credit: Enroll and Hilton For Business members get up to $200 back per calendar year when you make an eligible purchase at Hilton properties across the globe.

Wireless phone credit: Get up to $10 in statement credits per month for wireless telephone service purchases made directly with a wireless provider in the U.S. on the Business Platinum Card. That’s up to $120 back per year. Enrollment required.

Dell Credit: Enroll and get up to $150 in statement credits on U.S purchases directly with Dell Technologies on the Business Platinum Card and an additional $1,000 statement credit after you spend $5,000 or more on that same card per calendar year.

Adoba Credit: Enroll and get a $250 statement credit after you spend $600 or more on U.S. purchases directly with Adobe per calendar year on the Business Platinum Card.

$2,400 American Express One AP Statement Credit after spending $250,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year for use in the next calendar year on monthly fees for Amex’s digital accounts payable product for automating supplier payments.

The hotel, phone, CLEAR, airline fee and Hilton credits are the ones I consider directly applicable.

Elite Status

The card comes with a number of different hotel and car rental statuses that you can enroll for. You can opt into Marriott Bonvoy Gold and that comes with guaranteed 2 p.m. check-out at non-resort/convention hotels. It’s not useful to me as a lifetime Platinum, but it’s convenient for many. And this card is how I get my Hilton Honors Gold status – I’m not a Hilton regular, but Gold is helpful for the occasional stay (such as for a food and beverage credit at U.S. properties and breakfast abroad).

Crockfords Las Vegas

They’ve also just added Leading Hotels of the World Sterling status which comes with one-category room upgrade priority; continental breakfast; early and late check-out if available and Sixt Platinum status. You get 5 pre-arrival one-category room upgrades each year for use on revenue stays. Some interesting properties are included.

On the rental car side there’s Avis Preferred Plus (normally requires 10 rentals or $4,000 spend in a calendar year) and offers complimentary upgrades; Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle (I have the status via my Capital One Venture X); and National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status which in my view is best of the three and gets you executive aisle selection when renting a mid-size vehicle.

Great Redemption Options

Cardmembers get 35% points back using Pay with Points for flights booked through Amex Travel with one of nine selected qualifying airlines, up to 1,000,000 points back per calendar year. That means you can choose an airline and with that carrier effectively get better than 1.5 cents per point redeeming directly for paid travel – no worries over availability.

You can also transfer points to:

• Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Club, Singapore Airliens KrisFlyer, Avianca LifeMiles
  
• oneworld: Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles, British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  
• SkyTeam: Aeromexico Rewards, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Delta SkyMiles
  
• Non-alliance: Etihad Guest, Emirates Skywards (5:4 ratio), JetBlue TrueBlue, Aer Lingus Aer Club, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
  
• Hotels: Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy

Qatar Airways First Class

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.

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