The American Express Business Gold card changed a lot over the last year. Its 4x categories have been revamped, new annual business credits added and the annual fee increased by $80. The combination of the heftier annual fee and the new credits definitely makes this an interesting value proposition…good for many, unappealing for some.
Amex Business Gold Current Welcome Offer
| Card Offer |
|---|
200K points ⓘ Friend-Referral 200K points after $15K spend in 3 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)$375 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: None. This is the best we've ever seen. |
Amex Business Gold Review
Similar to the Business Platinum card, the Business Gold has seen a bunch of “no lifetime language” offers over the last couple of years, so there are a lot of us out there who now have more than one. The card doesn’t have the plethora of elite perks that the Business Platinum card has, but it does have a lower annual fee and much better earning categories. Additionally, those that find themselves in “pop-up” prison with Amex consumer cards often find clear sailing on the business side, specifically with the Business Platinum and Business Gold cards. The revamped 4x categories will be a positive for some folks and a negative for others. That said, the business credits and normally sizeable welcome offer makes this card a good choice for almost anyone for the first year.
- Annual Fee: $375
- Authorized User Annual Fee: $95 for the first five cards, then $95 for each additional card.
- Foreign Transaction Fee: None
- What points are worth: The Amex Business Gold earns Membership Rewards points. Our current Reasonable Redemption Values pegs them at 1.55 cents each.
- Best Use for Points: Membership Rewards can be transferred to travel partners at a 1:1 ratio and this will almost always yield the most value. There’s three hotel partners (Choice, Hilton, Marriott), but the transfer ratio makes them unappealing most of the time. On the other hand, airline partners are excellent and include Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, ANA Mileage Club and Avianca LifeMiles.
- Earning Categories:
- 4X – Combined spend in top two categories each billing cycle (capped at $150K spend per calendar year, then 1x):
- Electronic goods retailers or software and cloud system providers in the U.S.
- U.S. purchases at restaurants
- Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways.
- 3x on eligible purchases through AmexTravel.com
- 1x – everywhere else
- 4X – Combined spend in top two categories each billing cycle (capped at $150K spend per calendar year, then 1x):
- Credits:
- $240 Flexible Business Credit ($20/month)
- U.S. purchases at FedEx, Grubhub, and Office Supply Stores
- Up to $155 Walmart+ Membership ($12.95/month + taxes)
- $240 Flexible Business Credit ($20/month)
- Additional Perks:
- Hotel Collection: Book minimum two night stays at hotels through Amex Hotel Collection and get a $100 property credit.
- Travel Protections:
- Auto Rental Coverage: Secondary auto rental CDW (collision damage waiver). Provides reimbursement for theft and collision damage for rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement: Covers delays of more than 6 hours or that require an overnight stay. Up to $300 per trip.
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement: Up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage ($10,000 aggregate maximum limit for all covered Persons per covered Trip).
- Purchase Protections:
- Cell Phone Insurance: $800/claim and a $50 deductible/claim (2 claims max/year).
- Extended Warranty: One additional year, on eligible warranties of five years or less (US warranties only, max $10,000/claim, $50,000/account/year).
- Damage and Theft Protection: 90 days against damage or theft (up to $1,000 per claim and $50,000 per year).
- Who’s this card for? Anyone that’s looking for a heathy stash of Membership Rewards as a welcome offer and/or who can maximize the 4x categories and annual credits.
- Is the Amex Business Gold a keeper? The Business Gold could almost pay for itself if you can use the Walmart+ and annual business credits. Having office supply stores included in those credits makes it fairly easy to use, as you can just buy a $20 3rd party gift card every month. Over the last couple of years, the Business Gold has also been among the easier cards within the Membership Rewards portfolio to get repeatedly, so many folks might prefer to try to open another card and get an additional welcome offer versus keeping the one that they have. That said, for those not into churning cards and who can take advantage of the 4x categories and credits, there’s certainly a case for keeping it, even with the high annual fee.
Amex Business Gold Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent 4x categories
- 4x categories can change monthly according to spending amounts
- Annual credits that include Walmart+ and office supply stores can be very useful
- Usually has an excellent welcome offer
- One of the easier Amex cards to get repeatedly
- Good travel and purchase protections
- Terrific airline partners
Cons
- High annual fee ($375)
- Credits are coupon-booky and spread out monthly
- No premium perks like lounge access or elite status
American Express Transfer Partners
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio | Best Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | 1 to 1 | Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| AeroMexico ClubPremier | 1 to 1.6 | AeroMexico is a SkyTeam partner. Club Premier points can be used to book flights on AeroMexico, SkyTeam alliance members (such as Delta or Korean Air), or on select partner airlines. Unfortunately many have reported that awards are extremely difficult to book through AeroMexico so we do not recommend transferring points to this program. If you want to fly AeroMexico, look to transfer points to another SkyTeam partner (such as Air France) and then book AeroMexico with that program. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1 to 1 | Redeem for Star Alliance flights and/or flights with Air Canada partners (such as Etihad). No fuel surcharges; $39 CAD award booking fee; 5,000 points to add stopover on one-way award. See: Air Canada Aeroplan: Everything you need to know. |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | 1 to 1 | Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel. |
| Alaska MileagePlan | 1 to 1 via Hawaiian | Alaska Airlines offers decent oneworld award pricing, excellent short-distant pricing, and uniquely allows free stop-overs one one-way awards. Additionally, Alaska allows free award changes and cancelations (although they do have a small non-refundable partner award booking fee) |
| ANA Mileage Club | 1 to 1 | Redeem for Star Alliance flights. Multiple stopovers allowed. ANA offers many great sweet-spot awards, including flying around the world in business class for as few as 115K miles! See also: ANA - a terrific Membership Rewards gem. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 to 1 | Avianca LifeMiles can be great for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable award prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. They also offer shorthaul awards within the US (for flying United, for example) for as few as 7,500 miles one-way. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details. |
| British Airways Avios | 1 to 1 | While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can often be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights outside the US. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1 to 1 | Cathay Pacific has a decent distance based award chart, but they don't allow stopovers longer than 24 hours. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can be a good option for booking American Airlines flights with a distance based award chart, especially if other OneWorld Alliance miles aren't available. For long distance flights, it is possible to reduce the cost of a premium cabin award by adding on a lower cabin segment. See this post for details. |
| Choice | 1 to 1 | Choice Privileges points seem to be randomly valuable within the US, but dependably valuable internationally in expensive locations such as Scandinavia and Japan. Points can sometimes offer great value when used towards participating Preferred Hotels of the World. |
| Delta SkyMiles | 1 to 1 plus excise tax | Delta no longer charges change or cancellation fees on awards originating in North America. Flash award sales and flights to/from locations other than the U.S. or Canada can offer great value. See: Best uses for Delta miles. |
| Emirates Skywards | 1 to 1 | The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be extremely steep. One workaround is to book select routes such as JFK to Milan or Newark to Athens. See: How to find and book Emirates first class awards. |
| Etihad Guest | 1 to 1 | Etihad offers a distance based award chart for flying Etihad and another for its partners. Points may offer good value for expensive but short-distance flights. |
| Finnair Plus+ | 1 to 1 via BA | Finnair points are now "Avios" and points can be moved to/from other Avios programs. Finnair uses zone based award charts rather than distance based. As a result, Finnair sometimes has better (and sometimes worse) pricing than other Avios programs. |
| Hawaiian Miles | 1 to 1 plus excise tax | Hawaiian Miles can be converted instantly to Alaska Mileage Plan miles. Alaska Airlines offers decent oneworld award pricing, excellent short-distant pricing, and uniquely allows free stop-overs one one-way awards. Additionally, Alaska allows free award changes and cancelations (although they do have a small non-refundable partner award booking fee) |
| Hilton | 1 to 2 | 5th Night Free awards. Best value is usually found with very low end or very high end Hilton hotels. Bonus: award nights are not subject to resort fees. Note that Hilton points often go on sale for half a cent each and so its rare for point transfers to Hilton to be a good value. |
| Iberia Avios | 1 to 1 | On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| JetBlue | 250 to 200 plus excise tax | JetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards. |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 1 to 1 | 5th Night Free awards. Opportunities to get outsized value exist but can be hard to find. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 to 1 | Best use is probably for flights on El Al with no fuel surcharges. Also useful for short AA flights. Qantas offers distance based award charts similar to Cathay Pacific. Both are OneWorld Alliance members. I recommend comparing award prices across both programs before transferring to either. Qantas offers round the world business class awards for only 280,000 points (but with many restrictions) |
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | 1 to 1 | Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1 to 1 | Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines). |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 | Virgin Atlantic offers a few excellent sweet spot awards. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight). |
Related Cards
| Card Offer |
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