How could you spend 80,000 Amex Membership Rewards points from Amex Business?

UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

American Express is currently running special sign-up bonuses on American Express Business Gold (FREE for a year) and American Express Business Platinum.

Even better, ALL restrictions on getting the bonus have been dropped.

If you accepted, you WILL qualify for the sign-up incentive. It doesn’t what other cards you have or recently had.

American Express recently removed all restrictions on who qualifies for the sign-up bonus on Business Platinum and Business Gold. If you are accepted, you qualify.

This means, for example:

• if you have or recently had Business Platinum, you can apply for Business Gold and receive the bonus
• if you have or recently had Business Gold, you can apply for Business Platinum and receive the bonus
• if you have or recently had a personal Gold or Platinum card, you can apply for Business Platinum and/or Business Gold and receive the bonus
• if you have British Airways Accelerating Business, you can apply for Business Platinum and/or Business Gold and receive the bonus

You will, of course, need some sort of self-employment or small business income to apply.

This HfP article has full details on the offer. It covers:

• American Express Business Platinum card (apply here)
• American Express Business Gold card (apply here)

American Express Business Platinum now offers up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. To receive the full amount you must spend £10,000 within six months.

American Express Business Gold – which is free for your first year – now offers up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points. To receive the full amount you must spend £10,000 within six months.

The offer is valid for applications received by 22nd October 2024.

To help you decide if you want to apply, I thought we’d take a look at how you could use your full 80,000 bonus Membership Rewards points from Business Platinum.

This article is about how to make the best use of your Amex Membership Rewards points.  It does NOT cover every Membership Rewards redemption but it does cover the bulk of the pseudo-cash, cash and travel options. If we haven’t covered an option, you should assume that we don’t value it as highly as the options we have featured.

The American Express Membership Rewards website is here if you want to look for yourself at what is available.

What are your 80,000 points from American Express Business Platinum worth?

(If you choose to apply for Business Gold with the incentive of up to 40,000 points, simply halve the numbers below.)

0.75p – 1.25p per point (£600 – £1,000)

Airline miles.  Airline miles remain the best of use of Membership Rewards points.

The gap between airline miles and everything else gets wider and wider. Transfers to Melia Rewards, Radisson Rewards, Club Eurostar and Nectar (via Avios) used to get you similar value, but these have all been removed or devalued.

My last piece on valuing Avios points is here and Amex points transfer into Avios at 1:1.  This is why the sign-up bonuses are so valuable.

It is impossible to tie down a tighter range because of the number of different airline partners and the various ways (upgrade, long-haul, short-haul, economy, premium) you can redeem.  Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 to Avios, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Finnair, Flying Blue, Qantas and SAS. The transfer rate to Singapore Airlines is 3:2 and to Emirates it is 4:3.

My personal spreadsheet of the last 9.1 million Avios I have redeemed shows that I got an average value of 1.2p.  This is based on what I would personally have been prepared to pay for the flights I took, however, which may be far different from what you would have been prepared to pay.  My best redemptions far exceeded this.

0.75p per point (£600)

Marriott Bonvoy hotel transfers.  Amex points convert at 2:3 into the Marriott Bonvoy programme.

This article explains why we value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.5p which has held firm despite the move to nearer revenue-based reward pricing.

0.5p per Marriott Bonvoy point means, at a 2:3 exchange rate from Membership Rewards, you should be getting 0.75p per Membership Rewards point.  You now have a whopping 36 hotel brands to redeem at, including Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, W, Marriott, Autograph, Design Hotels, The Luxury Collection, The Ritz-Carlton, St Regis etc etc.

I have had some exceptionally good redemptions in recent years which have got me far more than 0.5p per Bonvoy point as the valuation article above shows. I don’t pull the trigger now unless I can get at least 0.75p.

0.67p per point (£533)

Hilton Honors hotel transfers.  Hilton has moved closer to a revenue-based redemption model in recent years, although you can get still outsized value at times.  Over time I have come to believe that 0.33p per point is a fair valuation for a Hilton Honors point.  The conversion rate is 1:2 to Hilton which is how I get to 0.67p per Amex point.  Hilton brands include Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and Hampton.

0.55p per point (£440)

Club Eurostar points.  Following the 2023 devaluation, I value a Club Eurostar point at 7p to 10p. The 15:1 transfer rate into Club Eurostar means you are getting 0.55p per point if you take a midpoint of 8.5p.

You should get slightly more than 0.55p if redeeming in Standard class and slightly less if redeeming in Standard Premier or upgrading from Standard to Standard Premier.

0.5p per point (£400)

The value of a Nectar point, given that you can redeem Amex points for Nectar points at a 1:1 ratio. 

0.5p per point (£400)

Retailer gift cards – Amazon, Harrods, Hotels.com, Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Waterstones etc.  20,000 Amex points will get you a £100 shopping voucher, for example.

0.45p per point (£360)

Radisson Rewards hotel transfers. Radisson Rewards in the UK covers Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson Edwardian, Park Inn and Park Plaza.

Until an October 2022 devaluation, Radisson Rewards points were a great use of American Express Membership points. The average value has now dropped from around 0.33p per Radisson Rewards point to around 0.15p as I show here. The conversion rate is 1 American Express Membership Rewards point to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

This means that you are getting around 0.45p per American Express point. You can’t do much better than this because Radisson Rewards pricing is now ‘dynamic’, with the points cost increasing if the cash price increases.

0.45p per point (£360)

Linking your Amex account to amazon.co.uk and paying for your purchases directly with points (more in this article).  This is a slightly silly option, however, as you can also redeem for Amazon gift cards and get 0.5p per point.

0.45p per point (£360)

Redeeming for American Express statement credit at 0.45p per Membership Rewards point you cash in.

Conclusion

There is real value, potentially well over £1,000-worth, in the 80,000 American Express Membership Rewards points you would receive as a sign-up bonus on the American Express Business Platinum card.

This assumes that you meet the target of spending £10,000 in three months to receive the full 80,000 points.

Even better (depending on your view of paying an annual fee) is the potential £500+ of value from the 40,000 points you would get with the ‘free for a year’ American Express Business Gold.

This HfP article has full details on the offer.

You can apply for the American Express Business Platinum card here.

You can apply for the American Express Business Gold card here.

You must apply by 22nd October 2024.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 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 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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: