How I’m Maximizing Amex Business Platinum’s Welcome Offer for a Summer Europe Trip

Update:

The information below has expired and is no longer available.

The summer travel season is rapidly approaching, which means it’s time to get booking. However, with my points balances running low, I decided it was time to “reload” by taking advantage of some lucrative welcome offers.

One such card is The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, which is currently offering a very interesting — and lucrative —- welcome bonus offer.

Here’s my plan to leverage this welcome bonus offer to help pay for my flights to (and from) a family trip to Italy, and extend my stay in the country by a few days.

Amex Business Platinum Card Welcome Offer

Right now, eligible applicants for the Amex Business Platinum card can earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. This new welcome offer also includes a $500 statement credit after you spend $2,500 on qualifying flights booked directly with airlines or through AmexTravel.com with your Amex Business Platinum card within the first 3 months of card membership.

You can earn 1 or both of these offers. This welcome bonus offer ends on June 30, 2025.

Based on our valuation of Membership Rewards points at 2.2 cents apiece, 150,000 points are worth $3,300. But add the $500 airfare statement credit, and you’re left with a total value of $3,800!

Top Benefits of the Amex Business Platinum Card

The Amex Business Platinum card isn’t one that you apply for to earn the welcome bonus offer and then tuck away in a sock drawer, never to be used again. Despite its steep $695 annual fee (rates & fees), it offers tons of earning potential and travel-focused benefits that make it a worthwhile resident in your wallet.

Note that some of the following perks and benefits require enrollment, and Amex is making changes to the existing Adobe and Dell credits that feature on the card as of July 1, 2025:

Meeting the Minimum Spend Requirement

The Amex Business Platinum card’s current welcome offer is generous — but the minimum spending requirement is proportionally high, with $20,000 in required spend in just 3 months.

That’s a lot of spending. But, with a lot of expenses headed my way, the timing couldn’t be better. I’m in the midst of a big move, one in which the costs are adding up quickly.

I’ve had to furnish a new apartment with mostly new furniture, cooking supplies, electronics, and more, and had to purchase ancillary things such as a new auto insurance policy, all on top of paying rent.

Taken together, this is close to $15,000 all-in, which is still short of the $20,000 required for the minimum spend requirement on the Amex Business Platinum card. However, my new building only charges a 1.5% fee for paying rent on a card. It’s charged per transaction, so I prepaid 3 months of rent with my Amex Business Platinum card to push me over the minimum spend threshold quickly.

I likely will open a Bilt Mastercard (rates & fees) in the future because I love the fact you can transfer Bilt Rewards Points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, but this strategy worked for right now and allowed me to earn a very lucrative Amex welcome bonus offer!

Remember, there’s another component of this welcome offer: earning a $500 statement credit after spending at least $2,500 on airfare booked directly with the airline or through AmexTravel.com.

I have a plan for that, too — keep reading to learn about it.

Redeeming Amex Points for a Flight to Italy

With the minimum spend requirement out of the way, the fun part begins: finding and booking flights. As a reminder, I have a fresh stash of 150,000 points to work with, which opens up plenty of options for flying to and from Europe.

The American Express Membership Rewards program has a lengthy list of airline transfer partners, which allow you to unlock incredible value in exchange for your points. Some of my favorite options include Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

I typically check these 3 programs first before diving deeper, if it’s necessary. I lucked out on my first try (thank you, availability gods). I searched for a flight between Chicago (ORD) and Rome (FCO) on July 17, 2025, and there were a few itineraries available on SWISS Air business class.

As an added bonus, it’s an airline I haven’t tried yet but have been very keen to do so!

Amex Membership Rewards points transfer to Aeroplan almost instantly at a 1:1 ratio, so I immediately logged into my Amex account and transferred the 70,000 points required to book this flight. I logged out of my Aeroplan account, logged back in, and saw my points ready to use. I booked the flight and paid for the taxes and fees, and I was officially going to Rome!

Redeeming 70,000 points for a one-way flight to Italy left me with 80,000 points, which I earmarked for lodging since I had the cash portion of the welcome offer to utilize — more on that now.

Hot Tip:

Learn about all the best ways to earn and redeem Air Canada Aeroplan points for maximum value!

Earning the $500 Airfare Statement Credit

I had a flight to Italy, but now I had to get home. I knew I wanted to use the final 80,000 points of my welcome offer for lodging in Rome, so I turned to the $500 statement credit portion of this offer for finding a flight home.

I figured I could score a one-way business class flight for between $2,500 and $3,000, allowing me to take care of the $2,500 airfare spending threshold and get a good deal on a business class flight across the Pond at the same time.

A quick search on Google Flights told me I was correct in that assumption. In fact, I found an Aer Lingus business class flight from Rome to Chicago via Dublin (DUB) for after my family trip wraps up for just over $2,500, truly allowing me to maximize the welcome offer.

I immediately clicked through to Aer Lingus’ site to book my ticket. I put the $2,526 purchase on my Amex Business Platinum card and while I’m still waiting for the statement credit to appear, I’ve never had an issue with an Amex statement credit in the past, so I’m sure it’ll pop up soon.

Taking advantage of this portion of the welcome offer allowed me to score a one-way business class ticket for just a hair more than $2,000 — I’d consider that a pretty great deal for summer travel.

Redeeming Amex Points for a Hotel in Rome

While Amex has a very long list of airline transfer partners, the hotel transfer partner list is comparatively limited, with just 3 available:

• Choice Privileges
• Hilton Honors
• Marriott Bonvoy

Membership Rewards transfer to Choice and Marriott at a 1:1 ratio, but, they transfer at a 1:2 ratio to Hilton Honors, meaning for every 1,000 Amex points transferred, I’d receive 2,000 Hilton Honors points.

Yes, Hilton Honors has high redemption rates, and no, I rarely transfer points to a hotel program other than World of Hyatt, but I needed a hotel for 2 nights in Rome before I meet up with my extended family in southern Italy, so this felt like a great time to utilize these fresh Amex points for a hotel stay.

Hilton’s relatively recent relationship with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has opened a ton of new redemption options, particularly in Europe, where boutique hotels are plentiful. This worked in my favor because Hilton has many SLH properties in Rome available for booking with Honors points.

During my search, I discovered the Palm Suite, an SLH hotel, and found it to be the perfect option. It’s set in an 18th-century building adjacent to both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, but its interior is thoroughly modern and quirky, a nice change from many Roman hotels that sport outdated, overwrought interior design.

For my 2-night weekend stay, I was able to find Standard Room Reward rates of 95,000 Hilton Honors points per night. This seems like a lot — and it is. However, thanks to the transfer ratio, I’d need to only transfer 95,000 points from my Amex account to earn the 190,000 required to book the hotel for 2 nights.

However, I already had 50,000 Hilton Honors points sitting in my account, meaning I only needed 140,000 additional points to bridge the gap. As such, I’d need to transfer just 70,000 Amex points to my Hilton Honors account.

My points transferred immediately and I then used the 190,000 Hilton Honors points I had to book 2 nights at Palm Suite. The room was selling for €608 (about $691) per night. Based on our valuations, 95,000 Hilton Honors points are worth about $475, which means I came out way ahead by using points for this stay.

Hot Tip:

If you ever find yourself short on Hilton Honors points, the brand runs fairly regular sales on points purchases, often allowing you to purchase points for as little as 0.5 cents apiece, which is exactly what we value each Hilton Honors point at. These points sales can be a great way to top up your account if you are shy of redemption, even after transferring points.

Final Thoughts

Planning a trip with a single welcome offer is certainly possible, but it takes a considerable amount of patience and some degree of flexibility.

In this case, I knew I had a pricey trip coming up, and because my unique life circumstances meant that I’d be spending a hefty sum of money in a short amount of time, I knew I could apply for the Amex Business Platinum card and take advantage of its limited-time welcome offer (150,000 bonus points and a $500 statement credit).

By doing so, I was able to use this welcome bonus offer to secure business class flights to and from Italy, along with a 2-night stay at a luxurious boutique property in the heart of the Eternal City before moving to the south of the country for a vacation with family!