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A 150,000 AMEX Business Platinum offer is available with no restriction for those who have previously had the card (usually AMEX signup bonuses are once per lifetime). The offer requires $15,000 minimum spend during the first three months to earn the bonus, and keep in mind the $595 annual fee. That said, at a 2 cents per point valuation, 150,000 Membership Rewards points are worth $3000, so in the first year, that's worth over $2400 after the annual fee, even without taking into account any other card benefits. Here are the offer terms:
- Earn 150,000 bonus Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on the card within the first 3 months of account opening
- Apply by 9/15/21
- Earn 5X points per dollar on airlines/hotels booked directly on the AMEX Travel Web site (unfortunately, unlike the AMEX Platinum, there's no 5X for flights booked directly with airlines. Also, for luxury hotels, it's better to reserve through hotel preferred partner programs, such as Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hyatt Privé, etc.)
- Earn 1.5X points per dollar on qualifying spend of $5000 billed in a single transaction
- Earn 1 point per dollar on all other spend
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- Lounge access: AMEX Centurion lounges, Delta SkyClub lounges, Priority Pass Select membership
- Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold elite status
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every 4 years
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee of $595 is not waived the first year
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Best Uses of AMEX Membership Rewards Points
To get the best value out of AMEX Membership Rewards points, avoid using “Pay with Points” or using Membership Rewards points to pay for Amazon purchases or for gift cards, since you'd only get ~1 cent per point, which is terrible value. Hotel points are also not great value. The highest value uses, if you fly business class or first class, is to transfer to a frequent flyer program, such as ANA Mileage Club, Singapore KrisFlyer, British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, or Emirates Skywards to book awards such as ANA The Suite First Class, Emirates First Class, Singapore Business Class, and more. While it's also possible to transfer to other programs, such as Delta SkyMiles and JetBlue TrueBlue, Delta has expensive awards, while JetBlue's program is revenue based, so it's much harder to get outsized value from those programs.
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