AMEX Business Platinum: GPT Business $300 Credit Is Now Live; Up to 300,000 Welcome Bonus

AMEX Business Platinum and Gold have officially added a new GPT Business reimbursement of up to $300 per year. The good news is that this benefit is calculated on a calendar-year basis, so you can get reimbursed up to $300 each year. However, note that GPT Business is different from regular GPT: it requires at least two users on the plan, and the cost is $600 for two people. Also note that you must enroll first before you can use this reimbursement.

• News link

GPT Business requires at least two users. The monthly fee is $30 per person, or $360 per year. If you pay annually, the cost drops to $25 per person per month, for a total of $600 per year. Possible ways to maximize it include:

• This credit is based on the calendar year, so opening or upgrading near year-end could potentially let you triple dip. My guess is that upgrading from Business Gold to Business Platinum will probably not reset the credit, but that is not certain.
• Since this is an annual credit, you can still pay monthly. That means you could pay for five months and effectively get five months for free. If two people each have Business Platinum and Business Gold, they could split the payments, with each person covering half the year, which fits the two required seats perfectly.

Right now, some applicants can see a welcome bonus of up to 300,000 points on the application page. AMEX may decide which offer tier to show based on your credit history, income, and relationship with AMEX. Try this link and see what offer you get—if you can pull the 300,000-point offer, there is really no reason to hesitate.

• AMEX Business Platinum application link (up to 300,000 points)

This is a very strong offer, and we have already added it to our list of recommended US business credit cards.

• Best US Small Business Cards【Up to $2,000+ in rewards】

AMEX Business Platinum Rewards Business Credit Card

【Note】If this is your first time applying for a business credit card, please read “Introduction to Business Credit Cards” carefully first.

Highlights

• 【Business version exclusive】35% points rebate: When you use points to book flights directly through AMEX Travel, you can get 35% of your points back. Redeem 1,000 and get 500 back. Since airfare redemptions price at 100 points = $1, after the rebate the effective rate becomes 65 points = $1, which means your points are worth about 1.54 cents per point. Note that the rebate applies only to all fare classes on the airline you selected for your airline fee credit (for example, if you chose UA for your airline incidental credit, then only UA flights qualify for the 35% rebate), and the booking must be made through AMEX Travel.
• 【Business version exclusive】2x on large purchases: Eligible purchases in certain categories and purchases of ≥$5,000 earn 2x points, up to $2,000,000, making this a good fit for large business spending. The total cap on this extra 50% bonus is 1,000,000 Membership Rewards points. In other words, the first $2,000,000 in eligible large purchases can earn 1.5x.
• Big spending bonus: Spend over $250,000 in a calendar year and receive extra bonuses: a $2,400 AP statement credit (this appears to be related to AMEX payment processing hardware or similar) plus an additional $1,200 AMEX Travel airfare credit. That works out to roughly an extra 0.48% return—not huge, but still something.
• Hotel Credit: This card now includes a benefit for The Hotel Collection (THC). When you book THC hotels through AMEX Travel, you may receive a room upgrade (if available). Stays of two consecutive nights also come with a $100 property credit that can be used for dining, spa, and other incidental charges at the hotel. THC is similar to FHR, though the hotels are generally less upscale, and there are even options around $100+ per night. Before booking, compare prices and benefits across other channels; if pricing is similar, try to take advantage of the THC benefits. The Hotel Collection benefit details
• 5x MR on flights and hotels: Flights and hotels must be booked through AMEX Travel (American Express’s in-house travel booking site) to earn it. Pricing on AMEX Travel is often close to outside channels, but do pay attention to cancellation policies. There are also frequent AMEX Offers tied to AMEX Travel, such as spend $500 get $100 back, which can stack very nicely with 5x.
• Premium airport lounges: Complimentary access to Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs, Airspace Lounges, and Priority Pass.
• Complimentary Leders Club elite membership

Credits Summary

• Hilton $200 credit: A new quarterly Hilton credit of $50 per quarter. Important: you must enroll first for this benefit to take effect. Any eligible charge posted by a Hilton hotel should work, including room rates, hotel dining, and activities. It is already December, so if you have the card, use this credit soon. Based on past Aspire experience, prepaid hotel charges should trigger it as long as the charge posts successfully. Enrollment link
• Dell credit $150: First, you get an easy $150 credit. Then after spending $5,000, you can receive another $1,500 back in statement credits. Note that Dell gift cards sold on Dell’s website are not processed directly by Dell and usually will not trigger the credit, though some third-party gaming gift cards may work. Of course, if you are making normal Dell purchases, just use it as intended. Around mid-year and year-end, business cards often also get dell.com 10% back AMEX Offers, which can be stacked if you are willing to wait. Dell credit enrollment
• $200 airline credit: $200 per calendar year in airline incidental fee credits, effectively bringing the annual fee down to $250. You can use it once in your first year and again at the beginning of your second year, effectively getting it twice within one cardmember year. This credit can often be triggered easily by purchasing airline gift cards. See: AMEX airline credit analysis
• $120 Wireless: $10 back each month on eligible wireless/mobile service purchases, for a total of $120 per year. Cell phone bills should qualify, and you may be able to simply prepay $10 to your account each month, making this a very real and usable benefit. See: AMEX Wireless Telephone Services credit guide
• $600 annual FHR credit: $300 every six months. Booking must be made through AMEX Travel or FHR and paid with this card. AMEX FHR booking and Platinum hotel credit guide

Some less useful credits

• $250 Adobe: Get a $250 credit after spending $600+ on eligible Creative Cloud for teams and Acrobat Pro DC purchases under Adobe prepaid plans. This does not look easy to cash out and is a better fit for actual small-business use.
• $360 Indeed: Get $90 back per quarter on Indeed purchases, up to $360 per year. Also not especially easy to cash out, and better suited for real small-business use such as recruiting.

AMEX Card Benefits

• [Business Card Only] AMEX Open Savings: Use an AMEX business credit card at eligible merchants to earn an extra 2x MR or receive a 5% discount. Participating merchants include FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, Hertz^®, HP.com, and more. See: Open Savings overview
• AMEX Offer: For example, Amazon spend 20 get 20 back, Walmart 15-5, and 75-10 on phone bill payments. AMEX often sends cardholders excellent offers, letting you earn cash back while spending. See also: Best recent AMEX Offers, Past great AMEX Offers, and AMEX Offer guide.
• [Business Card Only] More and better AMEX Offers: Business credit cards often receive more exclusive offers, such as 20% off deals at Staples, Office Depot, Sam's Club, and more, and these can sometimes be used to buy gift cards. These targeted offers usually do not appear on personal cards.
• Small Business Day: Every year, AMEX credit cards can participate in the Small Business Day promotion, with extra rewards at participating merchants. See: Small Business Day overview
• Higher credit limits: AMEX is relatively generous with customers and often gives higher limits than other banks.
• Free ShopRunner membership: Get free two-day shipping at many online stores. Details: official link
• Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card get the manufacturer's warranty extended by one additional year automatically.
• Free credit report: Cardholders can check their EX credit bureau score for free. See: comparison of free credit scores

Cons

• The annual fee is a bit high, and the restrictions on earning 5x are fairly numerous.

Points System Overview

• Points Value: The average value is 1.5c/p, so 100 MR = $1.5 (Points Value & Analysis)
• Direct Redemption: Redeem travel through amextravel.com at 1c/p (without a premium card); redeem eligible flights through amextravel.com at 1.54c/p (with Business Platinum); redeem for cash in an investment account at 1.1c/p (with Schwab Platinum).
• Points Transfers: Transfer 1:1 to ANA miles (good for round-trip US-China flights and round-the-world tickets); transfer 1:1 to British Airways miles (good for China-Japan routes and short-haul domestic US redemptions); transfer 1:1 to Air Canada miles (good for US-China business class awards and infant tickets); transfer 1:1 to Delta (good for business class, and can also redeem any Delta flight at 1c/p).
• Points Features: All MR points earned by one person are pooled into a single account and can be used directly. As long as you still have at least one MR-earning card open, all MR points will remain valid; be sure to use them up before closing all of your cards. Nearly all MR-earning cards allow you to transfer MR points to airline miles or hotel points. MR points can be transferred to airline or hotel accounts in an authorized user's name.
• My Take: The most common use of MR is transferring to airline miles, mainly ANA, Air Canada, Delta, and British Airways. Delta can help cover SkyTeam options; ANA and AC can selectively cover Star Alliance options; BA can be used for some oneworld awards. Among these, ANA is especially valuable for US-China economy, business, and first class awards. AC and Delta are also good for covering domestic US flights, while BA is best for nonstop domestic US flights. Hotel transfers are a weak spot for MR, and none are really worth transferring to. As for booking hotels or flights directly through AMEX Travel, you usually only get 1 cent per point in value, so I generally do not recommend it. Cash back and gift cards also max out at only 1 cent per point. Therefore, the final valuation is 1.7c, mainly considering the broad airline partner coverage, mostly instant transfer times (ANA takes 2-3 days; others are instant), and the value of these airline miles. The weaknesses are that MR is not very useful for hotel redemptions, and direct airfare bookings do not provide strong value either.
• Detailed Analysis: Membership Rewards Guide >>

My Take

Compared with the personal Platinum, this card does not have the personal version's $200 Uber credit, but the annual fee is $100 lower, and most of the other benefits are very similar. Of course, the biggest difference is the business card's 35% points rebate on redemptions! Here's why this is such a powerful benefit:

We know that the highest-value way to use Membership Rewards is usually by transferring to airline partners such as ANA and AC, then redeeming for business-class or first-class award tickets, often getting around 2.5 cents/point in value. Economy redemptions, by contrast, are often only about 1.3 cents/point. The weakness of award tickets is that it can be hard to find the flights you want. Award inventory is limited on each flight, popular routes get snapped up quickly, and on some routes award tickets are not a good deal at all, such as domestic flights within the U.S.

By contrast, booking through AMEX Travel is similar to buying directly from an airline's website, and pricing is usually close to the prevailing cash fare. So with the 35% points rebate, the value of MR can be pulled up directly to about 1.54 cents/point. That means economy tickets can also be redeemed at about 1.54 cents/point, and the same applies to domestic U.S. flights. The 35% rebate effectively fills in two low-value redemption categories and raises the average value of your points. Put simply: if you can find a high-value award ticket, transfer points and book it; if you cannot, just use points to buy the ticket directly. The "floor value" of MR is about 1.54 cents/point.

Even better, all MR earned across AMEX cards are pooled together, so MR earned from your other AMEX cards can also be redeemed through the business card's 50% rebate to achieve about 1.54 cents/point in value! From a cash-back perspective, the personal Platinum's 5x on airfare is effectively about 7.7% back; the Everyday Preferred card's 4.5x at supermarkets is effectively about 7% back; and the Blue Plus card's 2x on all purchases is effectively about 3% back. Of course, the value of all welcome bonuses also goes up accordingly.

So if you are eligible to hold the Business Platinum, the business version is the better choice.

Existing Cardmembers

Over the past few days, more data points on reimbursements and benefit behavior have come in, so here is a consolidated summary. There is also more concrete information on how the new annual fee will be charged:

• Annual fee: According to VFTW, existing cardmembers currently holding any version of the Business Platinum will still be charged the old $695 annual fee if their fee posts before December 2, 2025; after that, it will be $895 across the board. New applications are $895. Existing Business Platinum cardmembers will not see the higher annual fee until their next renewal date or after December 2, 2025.
• When the new benefits take effect: Both new and existing cardmembers can use the new benefits. However, enrollment is required first, so make sure to enroll before making purchases.
• What old benefits remain: The $200 Hilton credit remains, the $200 airline incidental fee credit remains, and CLEAR increases to $209, matching its official price.

Tips for using the credits:

• FHR $300: Issued as $300 per half-year and must be used before the end of the year. If you want to "stockpile" FHR Credit, see the article on Knowledge Planet (not suitable for public posting).
• Hilton $200 credit: The terms clearly state that gift card purchases do not qualify for reimbursement, and Hilton gift cards have also been unavailable on the official website for a long time. If a hotel front desk can sell gift cards, you may be able to charge them to your room bill and pay together, or swipe directly at the front desk.

Application

[Note] If this is your first time applying for a business credit card, please first read the “Introduction to Business Credit Cards” carefully.

This card is relatively easy to get approved for, and usually about one year of credit history is enough for decent approval odds. This card is a charge card.

• AMEX official application status check link
• For the same AMEX credit card, the public welcome bonus is generally available only once (once-per-lifetime restriction)
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-528-4800, 877-399-3083, 866-314-0237) to speed up credit card approval or request a review of a denied application.
• AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards total.
• You can apply for a total of two AMEX credit cards every 90 days, excluding charge cards.
• After you submit your application, a pop-up may appear telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome bonus. In that case, it is usually best not to continue with the application (detailed analysis)
• More about applying for AMEX credit cards

Application Link