Amex Business Gold Card Review 2023

The Amex Business Gold Card offers a handful of **purchase and travel protections, including:

With this card, you can get a 25% points rebate when you use the Pay with Points feature to book certain types of flights through the Amex Travel site. Airfare that qualifies for the 25% points rebate includes all flights with your selected airline and any first- or business-class flight. The airlines you can choose as your selected airline are:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue
• Spirit Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines

You can select your airline when you open an account and you can change this selection each January. This rebate is limited to up to 250,000 points back per calendar year.

Card members receive elite-like perks with Amex’s The Hotel Collection program. Eligible bookings qualify for:

• Room upgrades at check-in (when available)
• Experience credit of up to $100

To be eligible for these benefits, you have to book through Amex Travel and the stay must be for two or more nights.

Earning

The Amex Business Gold Card earns 4X Membership Rewards points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases you make in the two select categories where you spend the most each month (then 1X points). The categories are:

• Airfare purchased directly from airlines
• U.S. shipping purchases
• U.S. dining purchases (including takeout and delivery)
• U.S. gas station purchases
• U.S. advertising purchases in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers (compute hardware, software and cloud services)

  Terms apply

Other purchases earn Amex points at the following rates:

• 2X points on travel purchased through Amex Travel
• 1X points on all other purchases

Redeeming

You can redeem American Express Membership Rewards points for statement credits, travel (booked through Amex Travel), shopping, seat upgrades, gift cards and more. These redemptions generally have a value of one cent per point or less. If you want to maximize the value of Amex points, then you’ll want to transfer them to Amex’s partner travel loyalty programs.

You can transfer Amex points to the following airlines and hotels:

• Aeroplan (Air Canada)
• Avianca
• Delta
• Etihad
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Aer Lingus
• AeroMexico
• Flying Blue (Air France & KLM)
• ANA
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Choice Hotels
• Emirates
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Hilton
• Iberia
• JetBlue
• Qantas
• Qatar
• Singapore
• Virgin Atlantic

By taking advantage of partner award sweet spots, you can unlock incredible value. For example, you can transfer 88,000 points to ANA and book a round-trip business-class flight from the U.S. to Europe on a Star Alliance airline. If you paid out of pocket for the same ticket it could easily cost $3,000+, which means could get a value of over 3.4 cents per point with that type of transfer.

The Amex Business Gold Card has a *$295 annual fee and you can add up to 99 employee cards for no additional cost. There are *no foreign transaction fees and it has a variable *APR of 19.49%-27.49%. The returned payment fee is *$39 and there is a late payment fee of the greater of $39 or 2.99% of any past due amount.

*See rates and fees.

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is a more affordable alternative to the Amex Business Gold Card. It has a $95 annual fee and earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which have a comparable value to Amex Membership Rewards points.

This card is also exceptionally rewarding for many common business expenses. It earns 3X Chase points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases per calendar year (then 1X points) in these categories:

• Shipping
• Advertising with social media sites and search engines
• Internet, cable and phone services
• Travel

The Ink Business Preferred also has a strong suite of insurance protections, including primary rental car coverage, and cell phone insurance.

Amex Business Gold Card vs. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Anyone who wants a business card that’s loaded with luxury benefits will prefer The Business Platinum Card® from American Express over the Amex Business Gold Card.

The Amex Business Platinum Card isn’t as rewarding for business purchases and it does have a higher $695 annual fee (see rates and fees). But it has a suite of benefits the Amex Business Gold can’t match, including:

• Up to $400 in Dell statement credits every year (up to $200 semi-annually). Enrollment required. 
• Up to $360 in Indeed credit each year, up to $90 per quarter
• Up to $150 for select Adobe prepaid business subscriptions. Enrollment required. 
• Up to $120 in wireless telephone provider credit each year (up to $10 per month). Enrollment required. 
• Up to $189 in CLEAR® membership fee credits each year
• Up to $200 in airline fee credits per calendar year
• Up to $100 Global Entry or up to $85 TSA PreCheck® application fee credit
• Access to 1,400+ airport lounges
• 35% points rebate (up to one million points per calendar year) when you use the Pay with Points feature to book business- or first-class flights or any flights with your selected airline
• **Cell phone insurance
• **Purchase protection
• **Extended warranty
• Marriott and Hilton Gold status

The Amex Business Gold Card has a place for small business owners who can take advantage of the card’s generous spending categories. This card is hard to beat for purchases such as advertising, dining and shipping. But if you won’t be spending a lot in the card’s 4X bonus categories, you’re likely to be disappointed by the card’s other benefits. There are plenty of business cards with better perks and smaller annual fees.

The Amex Business Gold Card is one of the most rewarding cards for business spending. Plus, it earns Amex Membership Rewards points, which are extremely flexible and surprisingly valuable. But if your business doesn’t spend heavily on this card’s bonus categories, there are more affordable options with more robust benefits.

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For rates and fees of the Business Gold Card® from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of The Business Platinum® Card from American Express, click here.

**Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.