The new Amex Business Platinum annual £200 travel credit works better than we thought

American Express added a £200 Amex Travel credit to the benefits package on the Business Platinum card on 10th October.

Importantly, you receive this credit EVERY membership year. It isn’t a one-off.

The only catch is that the £200 must be spent in a single transaction. If you use it against a hotel booking, it will need to be pre-paid and therefore will not qualify for elite status benefits or hotel loyalty points.

For most people who read HfP, this is almost as good as £200 of cash.

There was some confusion over how the current year credit was applied

When we discussed this offer with American Express, we were initially told that existing cardholders would receive a £200 credit on 10th October which had to be used in their current membership year.

This was a bit tough on people like myself, who has a 11th November membership year. It only gave me four weeks to book something.

The good news is that American Express had a change of heart before the launch:

• for existing Business Platinum cardholders, your initial £200 of Amex Travel credit lasts for a full 12 months, irrespective of your year end – you have until 10th October 2023 to use it

• as soon as you pass your next anniversary date, an additional £200 of Amex Travel credit will be added to your account – this will be valid for exactly 12 months

This means that, for the first year, existing cardholders may see 2 x £200 Amex Travel credits showing on their account at some point.

Even though you have two credits, they cannot both be used against the same booking. You would need to split your hotel or flight booking into individual nights or individual passengers in order to use both £200 credits on the same trip.

Don’t forget that:

• you need to spend more than £200 for the transaction to trigger the cashback (if you spend £150 you get nothing, you don’t get £150)

• you lose the credit if you subsequently cancel your flight or hotel booking

Where can you see your travel credit?

You won’t see it on your American Express Business Platinum statement or in the app.

However, if you log in to Amex Travel at travel.americanexpress.co.uk, it will show. The expiry date is also shown clearly.

PS. Don’t forget that American Express Business Platinum is currently offering a huge 60,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus if you spend £8,000 within three months.

The rule for receiving the bonus is that you haven’t had a personal OR business Amex card which earns Membership Rewards points (Green, Gold, Platinum, Centurion, Amex Rewards Credit Card) in the last 13 months.

The annual fee is £650, refundable pro-rata if you cancel.

You can find out more in our article here and you can apply here.

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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:

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.

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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.