Amex Business Platinum Benefits
Perhaps no card benefit is more maligned than the Amex Business Platinum’s Dell credit. For what it’s worth, I’ve made four to five orders over the past couple months without any issues. (Finding enough worthy products is a challenge for some cardholders, though.) At any rate, the Dell credit has only been confirmed through the first half of this year. It’s possible new benefits will be introduced to replace it, if Amex hasn’t given us clues already. Today, I’m having fun considering what could possibly happen with Amex Business Platinum benefits.
More Hilton Credit
Rolled out at the end of 2024, many hobbyists have been furiously busy with this $50 quarterly credit already. We consumed these credits late last year with Hilton gift card purchases across multiple Business Platinums. Unsurprisingly, the Hilton gift card site ran out of stock, then quit accepting orders. We’re still awaiting a resolution.
Bigger picture, this is a quite useful benefit for Business Platinum cardholders who are also Hilton loyalists. But there’s a substantial group of cardholders who are not that. Hello, breakage! Regardless, Amex can advertise yet another benefit to justify the card’s $695 annual fee.
Amex could up the $200 annual amount to $400, which they could reasonably argue would completely replace the Dell credit. Meanwhile, any breakage they see from the lower $200 level would probably be compounded.
Marriott Credit
As Amex issues cobranded cards from both Hilton and Marriott, I can’t help but think the latter wants in on the action, too. The current $200 Hilton credit on the Business Platinum incentivizes more spend with the chain. Marriott could take some attention and dollars back by working out a deal to offer a similar benefit with the Business Platinum. I’m no expert, and there could be plenty of reasons why Amex couldn’t or wouldn’t do such a thing. But as a firmly-mid-tier Bonvoy member, I’d find such a credit quite useful. Mark this one under “wishful thinking” more than “of course it’s going to happen.”
Dell, Indefinitely
Perhaps we’re all too quick to think the Dell credit is actually ending. Indeed, many jumped the gun thinking that the Dell credit would terminate at last year’s end, but it got extended another six months. Perhaps Amex is taking a page from Chase’s book with Pay Yourself Back and only extending the benefit a few months at a time. Indeed, banks can benefit from flexible policies and continue negotiating with benefit providers.
With these shorter extensions, perhaps we want to think something’s up with the Dell credit. But maybe there isn’t. Messaging may have changed from Amex, but that doesn’t necessarily mean reality has or will.
Something Else
This is a currently-unsatisfying-but-possibly-most-exciting option. Maybe Amex is working on benefits with entirely new partners, some parties we may not be considering. Indeed, Amex has been tremendously creative in how they offer buckets of bonus points, and that same trait can carry over to how they develop card benefits. Whether big or small, I’m confident we’ll be seeing some changes I’m not even considering right now. But there’s one thing I’m fairly sure about, more than anything else in this article.
The Surest Thing
I’m most confident Amex will make future credit card benefits even more of a chore to consume. No matter what new benefits come our way, I bet it’ll take more time and effort to fully use them. And the perks will probably be tougher to maximize at scale than in the past. My educated guess is the Business Platinum benefits will be flattened out even more across the year, where most will be monthly versions. The years of double- and triple-dipping more significant benefit amounts will disappear. This has started with other cards already, and I believe it will continue.
Amex Business Platinum Benefits – Conclusion
These are where I think the Amex Business Platinum benefits could be headed, maybe tinged with a bit of desire – especially with the Marriott credit. I’d be surprised if I’m accurate on even one of the first three, but I think that a combination of the last two are more likely – tougher credits with new partners. But through it all, I’m confident Amex will give hobbyists plenty of reasons to pick up more Business Platinums unrelated to benefits.
Where do you think Amex Business Platinum benefits are heading? Why?
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What do you buy at Dell? I have only had the card since Sept, made one purchase, and already out of ideas what to buy. Most things are over priced. Don’t have many 3rd party products left.
In the last year or so I’ve gotten Nintendo Switches, laptop computers, and Epson printers (Le Gasp!) for work. I think Travel On Points and Frequent Miler are among the bloggers who may have published items in the past.
Resy. Can’t help but consider that it is in play.
Unfortunately I suspect that the guesses in your conclusion are correct. From a consumer standpoint that would make the cards more worthwhile to get for the signup bonus and much less worthwhile to keep due to lower value. Accordingly there should be less cards out there because people don’t want to fork out large sums for mediocre-at-best cards when the annual fee comes around and more people would cancel. Amex would be shooting themselves in the foot by doing this but you could argue that they’ve already been doing it and are seemingly happy with the results so full steam ahead with further devaluations.
I’ve been an American Express customer for quite a while and I’ve traditionally viewed them as a quality company that charges you for that quality. Over the past few years my view has drifted somewhat toward seeing Amex less as a partner and more as a company trying to take advantage of you.