[Expired] How I’m Saving $3,300+ on Travel With the Amex Business Platinum’s 150K Bonus

As a business owner, I count on the The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express to maximize my expenses. Not only that, but I use its various perks like lounge access and statement credits (enrollment required for some benefits) to save my business money every year.

And with its elevated welcome offer right now, the Amex Business Platinum card can save your business some serious cash on travel, too. The card is offering this welcome bonus:

• Earn 150,000 200,000 points after spending $20,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months.

Let’s look at how you can earn this welcome bonus offer with your regular business spending and how I’d redeem it to save big on 2 business trips.

Amex Business Platinum Card’s Limited-Time Welcome Offer

The Amex Business Platinum card is currently offering a limited-time welcome offer, including a large sum of bonus points and an AmexTravel.com flight credit.

The Membership Rewards points can be transferred to partners or redeemed through AmexTravel.com in conjunction with the card’s 35% Pay With Points rebate (up to 1 million points per year). This rebate works on premium cabin flights with any airline and economy flights with an airline of your choice.

The card also has a handful of other benefits for business owners. You can use the card to access a variety of airport lounges around the world, including American Express Centurion Lounge, Delta Sky Club (10 visits per year when flying Delta), Priority Pass Select upon enrollment, Plaza Premium, and others.

You can also use various statement credits from Dell, Adobe, Hilton, and Indeed to save on business expenses (some require enrollment). Plus, it includes complimentary midtier elite status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy upon enrollment.

Our review of the Amex Business Platinum card has the full list of benefits.

Earning Amex Business Platinum Card’s Welcome Offer

Spending $20,000 in 3 months to meet the minimum spending requirements of this welcome offer might sound like a lot. And while that’s undoubtedly true, you can speed up the process by paying regular business expenses with your new Amex Business Platinum card.

For example, I recently earned the welcome offer on my new American Express^® Business Gold Card by making a large estimated tax payment at the end of Q1. You can pay U.S. federal taxes with a credit or debit card using one of the Internal Revenue Service’s authorized payment processors: Pay 1040 and ACI Payments, Inc.

You owe a processing fee when you pay taxes with a card, but it should be offset by the value of the Amex Business Platinum card’s welcome offer. And don’t forget: Transactions of $5,000 or more earn 2x Membership Rewards points on up to $2 million in purchases per year.

Further, you might consider paying rent with your Amex Business Platinum card if you lease a retail or other commercial space for your business. You can process these payments with a service like Plastiq, which can cut a check to your landlord in exchange for a processing fee. You may also be able to pay your office or retail space’s utility bills with a card, either directly or through Plastiq.

Look through your regular business expenses and see which you can pay or prepay with a new Amex Business Platinum card. As most business owners know, the saying “you have to spend money to make money” often rings true, but you can use it to your advantage when earning this hefty welcome offer.

The second part of the welcome offer — the $500 flight credit — is earned after you charge $2,500 worth of flights to your Amex Business Platinum card. These can be booked through AmexTravel.com or directly with an airline. You can earn this by booking flights for yourself or an employee, so look through upcoming travel plans and see if you can prepay upcoming travel expenses to earn the credit.

Redeeming the Welcome Offer for Business Travel

So you applied for the Amex Business Platinum card and earned the welcome offer. Now for the fun part: redeeming the points and flight credit from your welcome offer. Below, I’ll show you how I’d use them to cover 2 upcoming business trips.

Before we start, remember that you only receive the $500 flight credit after booking $2,500 worth of flights through AmexTravel.com or directly with an airline. I’ll assume you have already earned this portion of the welcome offer.

Attending Conferences in Dallas and Fort Lauderdale

I’m speaking at 2 conferences next month that require me to travel from New York City to Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. These conferences are back-to-back, so I’m flying from New York to Dallas, Dallas to Fort Lauderdale, and then back to New York.

I already booked my travel, but if I were starting from scratch with this Amex Business Platinum card bonus, I’d book much of the airfare with a mixture of the $500 flight credit and Membership Rewards points.

For the New York to Dallas portion, I’d book a flight from New York (LGA) to Dallas (DFW) using the $500 flight statement credit, which is earned after spending $2,500 on flights booked directly with airlines or through AmexTravel.com within the first 3 months.

This Delta Air Lines flight is my best bet, and it costs $234 when I need to fly next month. Plus, since I’m a Delta Platinum Medallion elite, I can use benefits like Comfort+ seat selection on this flight. Thanks to the Amex Business Platinum card’s 10 annual visits, I can also visit the Delta Sky Club before my flight.

My conference is near the airport, so I looked at hotels that I could book through American Express’ 3 hotel transfer partners: Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, and Marriott Bonvoy. The best points deal I could find was at the Quality Inn DFW Airport North, which was just 8,000 points per night. I’d redeem 16,000 Membership Rewards points for my 2-night stay.

For the flight from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale (FLL), I’d transfer 8,000 Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines and then transfer those miles to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. I’d use those miles to book this American Airlines flight for 7,500 miles and $19 — this same ticket would cost $269 in Main Cabin economy.

The conference I’m attending is in Boca Raton, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. I need to stay for 5 nights, since there’s a daylong gap between the 2 conferences I’m attending. However, with the Fairfield Inn & Suites Boca Raton costing just $107 per night, I’d rather save my points for another redemption.

Then I’d book this JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark (EWR) on JetBlue for $108 with the flight credit included with the Amex Business Platinum card’s current welcome offer.

This 2-stop domestic trip would require just 24,000 Membership Rewards points and $342 of the $500 AmexTravel.com flight credit included with the card’s welcome offer. In turn, I would save roughly $550 between the 2 flights and a hotel stay in Dallas. And I’d still have 126,000 Membership Rewards points and $158 in AmexTravel.com flight credit to use for another trip.

Meeting in London

I also plan to meet with a business partner in London this summer for a 5-night business trip. I’d start this trip in Virgin Atlantic economy, booking this $410 flight from New York (JFK) to London (LHR) through AmexTravel.com. I would use the $158 left of my AmexTravel.com flight credit and cover the remaining $252 out of pocket. Note that this flight is ticketed by Delta Air Lines but operated by Virgin Atlantic.

For hotels, I’d transfer 99,000 Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy and book 5 nights at the Aloft London Excel in East London. This price includes the fifth-night-free benefit offered to Marriott elites, which Amex Business Platinum cardholders are eligible for after enrolling in the card’s complimentary Marriott Gold Elite status. This stay would otherwise cost $1,125 without points.

For the flight home, I’d book this Virgin Atlantic economy ticket from London (LHR) to New York (JFK) for 12,000 points and $289 by transferring Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This ticket would cost $2,124 if I booked it without points, though it may be less if booked as part of a round-trip itinerary.

This trip to London would cost me just 111,000 Membership Rewards points and $541 out of pocket, and I would save $3,407. While these aren’t the best uses of Membership Rewards points — you can often get more value booking business-class airfare — the redemption represents significant savings for a business trip.

I’d still have 15,000 of the 150,000 Membership Rewards points earned from the Amex Business Platinum’s welcome offer left over, plus whatever other points I’d earn by spending my way to earn it. I could use these for an upcoming vacation or other last-minute business travel.

Final Thoughts

The Amex Business Platinum card is an excellent pick for small business owners who want premium travel perks and access to one of the best transferable points programs, Amex Membership Rewards points. Right now, the card is offering one of the best welcome offers we’ve ever seen.

Best of all, you don’t need to mirror this strategy to find amazing value from the — instead, you might use all the points and fly in business class or redeem them all for short domestic flights.

And that’s the beauty of Membership Rewards points. They’re some of the most flexible points currencies out there, and you can use them to best suit your business travel needs.