Which Amex Platinum Card is Better? The Personal or Business?

by Daniel | Last Updated November 19th, 2022

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When it comes to premium credit cards the American Express Platinum card is the go-to card if you are looking for all-out benefits and value.

Now as you may know there is a Personal Amex Platinum card and a Business Amex Platinum card, and in this article, I’m going to talk about some of the stand-out benefits of each card, and why the Amex Business Platinum card can potentially be quite a bit more valuable than the Personal Amex Platinum Card.

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Learn more about the Platinum Amex card here

https://youtu.be/TmM8ca7af0U

Who are these cards good for?

Now when it comes to who these cards are good for, it’s important to first think about if the benefits that are on offer with each card make sense for you and your situation.

The Amex Platinum personal card is a great card for anyone that spends a fair amount each year on travel related purchases such as flights and hotel stays as this is where it is possible to earn the most points from and where quite a few of the benefits are focused.

Now the Amex Platinum Business card is also a fantastic card that has a lot of travel related benefits, but it will require even more money to be spent on it to realize some of its benefits.
For example, to receive the sign-up bonus with the Business card, you will need to spend 2 and a half times the amount than the Personal card requires. It also must be within half the time period.
So if you don’t have some reasonably large purchases coming up in the next few months, the personal card may well be a better choice. 

Now with the Amex Platinum Business credit card it is clearly most useful for anyone that is running a business, as there are quite a lot of business related benefits on offer that can help you save quite a bit of money.

Annual Fee

So seeing that both of these cards are premium credit cards that come with a lot of valuable benefits and user perks, they also have quite a hefty annual fee of $695, which is not cheap.

But if you take advantage of just some of the benefits that each of these cards offer, it is relatively easy to cover the cost of the annual fee and therefore justify paying such a high price for a credit card.

So one great benefit that I actually just used a couple of weeks ago is the $200 Hotel Credit.
And this can be used simply by booking a qualifying hotel through American Express Travel that falls under either the Fine Hotels & Resorts or The Hotel Collection.
It’s also worth noting that the booking must be a minimum of 2 nights or more to receive the credit.

So I used this credit a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting family in Australia, and I booked a 2 night stay at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra.

And I received the $200 credit about 2 days after I booked the hotel.

The other nice benefit that came with this booking is a $100 credit that could be used at the hotel during my stay, and as I was visiting Australia I actually got a credit of $140 Australian dollars which I was able to use for really nice breakfast for me and 4 friends.

So just this one benefit provided me with $300 in value, which brings the annual fee down to a more reasonable $395.

Another benefit I use quite often is the Uber credit, which provides $15 a month throughout the year with an additional $20 bonus in December for a total of $200.
And this can be used for either Uber rides or Uber eats.
So this brings the annual fee down to $195.
Now two other benefits that I make really good use of each year are the $189 CLEAR credit and the $100 credit for Saks Fifth Avenue.

So just these few benefits cover the cost of the annual fee by $94 which is great! And best of all there a still a ton of other benefits that are offered with this card, which I will cover later in the review.

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So if you make use of the $400 statement credit that can be used for purchases at Dell Technologies and then the $360 credit that can be used for purchases at Indeed, the annual fee will be covered by an additional $65.

And again, just like the Personal Platinum card, there are plenty of other great benefits to be had.

Sign-up Bonus

Now both of these cards offer a pretty generous sign-up bonus that easily covers the cost of the annual fee.
It’s also worth noting that it is often possible to receive an even better sign-up bonus than what Amex first offers you.
And if you want to find out how to receive an elevated sign-up bonus, check out this article here. 

And seeing that it is possible to receive up to 1 cent per point when using them through American Express Travel for flights, this sign-up bonus is worth at least $1,000.

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So based on points being worth 1 cent per point, this sign-up bonus is worth at least $1,200.

Points earning Potential 

Now when it comes to earning points with these cards, there is a fair bit of a difference between where and how you earn points.

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It is then possible to earn 1.5x points for business-related purchases that includes construction suppliers, electronic retailers, and software providers.
Along with this, any purchase that is more than $5,000 will also earn 1.5x points.
Now the 1.5x point earning potential is limited to a total spend of $2 million each year, which is the equivalent of 3 million points. 

Then all other purchases that are made on the card will earn 1 point per dollar spent.

So both cards offer a somewhat similar points earning structure, although the Amex Platinum business card doesn’t have a cap on its 5x points earnings.

Benefits and User Perks

Now when it comes to benefits and user perks, both cards offer a ton of value.
And whilst both cards share some of the same benefits, there are a few distinct differences between the two cards.

Benefits that both cards offer

So let’s start with all of the benefits that both cards share.

And one of my favorite benefits is access to the Global Lounge collection.
Now, this is only going to be useful to you if you travel quite a bit each year and like to take advantage of different airport lounges.

I use this benefit constantly and really enjoy being able to get a decent bite to eat before I fly.
And over the year it really does provide me with a lot of value.  

I also use the Priority Pass Select membership a fair bit as well.

Both cards offer a $100 credit that can be used for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, and this is another benefit that I have taken advantage of and really like.

As I travel outside of the US quite often it is always nice to use Global Entry upon my return.
Basically I can get through immigration really quickly as I get to skip the line on my arrival to the airport. 

Along with this the CLEAR membership is also quite nice to have as it does speed up to process of going through airport security.

Then there is the Cruise Privileges Program which provides up to $300 in shipboard credit for bookings that are 5 nights or more. 

Benefits that are unique to each card

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Just a couple of things to keep in mind is that if you book through American Express Travel, the flight must be either First or Business class.
If you want to use the points for any other class it can only be booked on the qualifying airline that you choose through your Amex account. 

Other benefits that only come with the Platinum Business card are as follows:

• $400 statement credit for Dell Technologies purchases
• $360 Statement credit for use at Indeed
• $150 statement credit for Adobe Creative Solutions
• Then a $120 statement credit that can be used for any wireless telephone service purchases.

And just these benefits alone are worth over $1,000.

Insurance Coverage

Now both card offer the same insurance coverage which is pretty extensive and quite valuable to have.
This includes the following coverage:

• Cell Phone Protection of up to $800, with the ability to make 2 claims per 12-month period.
  Each claim will incur a $50 deductible fee.
  
• Purchase Protection that provides 90 days of coverage on new purchases against damage or theft, this covers up to $10,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per year.  
  
• Return Protection provides 90 days of coverage for items that a merchant wont take back.
  This covers up to $300 per item and a total of $1,000 per year. 
  
• Extended Warranty provides you with 1 extra year of coverage on warranties that are 5 years or less.
  
• The Baggage Insurance Plan covers up to $3,000 for both checked and carry-on luggage.
  
• Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance covers up to $75k in case of an accident, and this is secondary insurance. 
  
• Trip Delay Insurance provides up to$500 per covered trip with the ability to make 2 claims per 12 month period 
  
• And finally, trip cancellation and Interruption Insurance provides coverage of up to $10,000 per covered trip and a total of $20,000 per 12-month period. 

Final Thoughts

So there you have, that covers pretty everything there is to know about both the Personal and Business Platinum cards from American Express.

Now I’ve had the Personal Amex Platinum card for the past 5 years and really like it.

Although I must say that I am really considering getting the Amex Business Platinum card as well.
This is mainly due to the fact that I do travel a lot and would be able to make good use of the 35% Airline Bonus.

And best of all, seeing that I have never had an Amex Business credit card, I should be able to receive the sign-up bonus that is on offer as Amex allows you to earn a sign-up bonus once from their personal range of credit cards and then once from their business range of credit cards.

Now if you’d like to learn how you can book a return first class flight from within the US for less than $100, check out this article here.