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New American Express cashback deals launched – and Shop Small changes?

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American Express has launched a new batch of cashback deals, with a couple of new hotel deals among them.

As usual, you may see all, some or none of these offers on your American Express account. You need to look at the ‘Offers’ section on your online statement pages or the Amex app for every card you hold.

Some offers will also be available for supplementary cardholders, as long as the card is registered with Amex. Other offers will only be for the primary cardholder.

This is what we seem to have that are new and relevant to HfP readers:

Gett

The taxi app is offering 15% cashback on all rides until 30th June.

Financial Times

Instead of the old offer which offered a fixed £25 discount, the FT is now offering 25% cashback on a transaction of any size. This is valid on transactions taken out by 20th June.

If you already pay for the FT, you may want to see if there is a way of adjusting your subscription (can you get a pro-rata refund on an annual sub and then take out a new one?) so that a payment is made during this period.

Red Carnation Hotels

You may not have heard of Red Carnation, but it owns a number of smart boutique hotels in expensive parts of London. It also owns Ashford Castle in Ireland (below) which you may have seen on the recent BBC2 series with Giles Coren, but this is NOT taking part in the offer.

You receive £75 cashback on a £350+ spend by 30th September.

Red Carnation Hotels is no longer a Virgin Atlantic points earning partner.

You can take a look at their full portfolio here.

Hand Picked Hotels

I have no experience of this UK chain, but you can get £50 cashback on a £400 stay by 30th June.

There are a lot of other offers out there too. My wife has 58 on her Preferred Rewards Gold card, which is more than double what I have on my Platinum card. Not bad going given that the shops are shut ….

American Express Amex Shop Small

Meanwhile ….. is Shop Small changing?

A reader posted an interesting titbit from Amex Australia in our comments section yesterday.

In Australia, Amex Shop Small is changing into a ‘year round’ event. Instead of getting A$5 cashback on each qualifying A$10 purchase for a short period, cardholders will receive an extra 3 points per A$1 spent for the next year. There is a cap of 40,000 bonus points between now and the end of March 2022.

There is no guarantee that we will see the same in the UK, but this is how the wind is blowing.

If I owned a small shop, I might find this new offer more attractive. Instead of getting ‘once a year’ visits during the Shop Small promo period, a shop may attract new regular customers who know they will get additional rewards on every purchase, every day.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (76)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Lady London says:

    I can’t believe how many new shops I’ve found by giving them a first try on a decent money-off offer, that I then return to again and again at full price as a regular customer.

    Also same for online sellers. But far more effective if it’s a shop I visited in person. Even making a journey to buy from them.

    An extra point or two on all spend does not move my needle or cause me to change my habits at all.

    I can’t help thinking Amex will keep a better hold of their merchant base and support them better if they stick to the original around-Decembet timing and keep it to £5 off £10.

  • Andrew says:

    Long live the £5 off £10! But I remember the first Shop Small and it was £5 off £5, and an unlimited number of retailers you could visit.

    • Gus says:

      Don’t think it’s cumulative. I have used this offer on my card and my spouse’s for the subscription box back in 2018 and now have got on my card and my spouse’s again. I have paid £40 and already received the money on my account.

      • Gus says:

        Sorry replied on the wrong thread cause a comment came in after the refresh. Sorry about that.

  • jil says:

    No sign of FT in my account

    • Harry T says:

      Nah, I’ve had plenty of offers from companies despite previously saving offers for them and not using them.

    • Nick says:

      It depends on the retailer. Some are happy to open it up to all cardholders, others will want it to be targeted. The level of targeting is agreed with Amex as part of the setting-up of the offer – they tend to be open to pretty much whatever the merchant wants.

      • Brian W says:

        Do you work for Amex @Nick? What are you basing this information on?

        • Rob says:

          I’ve spoken to one of the airlines that did an Amex offer, this sounds right. The biggest problem is people saving the offer (with a cap in place, because the company wants to cap its potential cost) and then not using it – but people will save them even if they only have a small chance of using it, because the offer disappears when the registration target is hit ….

  • kt1974 says:

    The clue is “redeemed”. Of course they’ll keep offering to you if have saved but not used them, but several retailers that I have redeemed have never reappeared despite HFP articles telling me they are in the new offers.

  • Harrier25 says:

    It’s always in my offers but I don’t even know what Sweaty Betty is and I don’t think I want to know as it doesn’t sound very appealing!

  • Robert says:

    Craft Gin Club: we’ve successfully used this. We’ve got it on several cards so will be switching the payment card every months until May. I don’t know if it works on shop spend but can’t see a reason it wouldn’t.

  • Rob says:

    No, merchant funded (except for Shop Small).

  • Jimbob says:

    There’s an online code for 25% off first box =£30, then the amex offer triggers on the second box.
    So 2 boxes for a total of £50

    • lumma says:

      If you have tracking cookies enabled I find you get further discounts offered for craft gin club if you don’t sign up through online ads. I got 50% off my first box and I had the £20 off £40 deal on two cards so should get 3 months for £20 each.

      No way is it worth £40 a month though. Reckon the gin is worth £20-25 and the extras £5-10, especially when most will probably cost the company nothing in order to get out to consumers.

    • Jonathan says:

      It doesn’t trigger on 2nd box in my experience. Needs an individual transaction >£40.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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