There are some big changes coming to the American Express Business Platinum Card, including an increase in the annual fee. These changes will not come into effect until next year, which means that you might want to jump on this card before the new changes coming to effect. We still need to uncover more details about these changes but below is a breakdown of what we currently know.

Edit: Old post erroneously sent out

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Past additions

American Express has been on the quest to make their Business Platinum Card more attractive over the past couple of years. For example, we somewhat recently saw American Express implement the following changes:

• 5X Membership Rewards points on prepaid travel on amextravel.com
• 1.5X Membership Rewards points on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more, up to 1 million additional points per year.
• 35% points back after you use the Pay with Points feature for all or part of an eligible flight, up to 500,000 points back per calendar year.

These were welcomed additions but now American Express is making more additions to the Business Platinum Card.

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New changes

Here are the new changes that you can expect to come into effect in 2019:

• One year of complimentary Platinum Global Access from WeWork, a network of premium workspaces around the world. With Platinum Global Access, enjoy over 300 workspaces in 75+ cities and 20+ countries, valued at $2,700.
  • You’ll receive more information in February 2019 about the offer and how to enroll.
• Up to $200 in statement credits annually for U.S. purchases with Dell on your Business Platinum Card.
  • You’ll receive more information about how to enroll in the new Shop Dell with Business Platinum benefit in February 2019.
• $100 hotel credit on qualifying charges at hundreds of properties in The Hotel Collection (increased from $75) for new reservations made after January 1, 2019 when you book through Amex Travel.

As you can tell, we will have to wait until February 2019 or perhaps sometime before then to find out more details about these benefits. But we can still take a stab at evaluating how valuable these benefits will be.

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WeWork

WeWork is a great benefit for any type of small business owner who might need a workspace to be more productive.

If you are like me and work from home, it can be a little challenging because you might still crave that office environment at times. Sometimes you just need a break from the home office and other times you might have a real need for conference/meeting space.

Well, WeWork Offers you the chance to work in premium workspaces in major cities all around the world. You can view all of the locations here.

These premium workspaces can be quite nice and many of them are located in high-rise towers with great views and provide internet, conference rooms, printers, and soundproof phone booths. They even come with perks like unlimited freshly brewed coffee, water, and even beer on tap.

The thing is there are different types of WeWork memberships. Some only provide you with “hot desks” which are shared workstations and then there are more expensive plans that offer you real office space. Also, some plans provide you with 24/7 access while others do not.

It is not clear exactly what type of membership the American Express Business Platinum Card will offer or how long it will last. It does read like the membership may only last for only one initial year which would still be nice but not nearly as attractive as if it were a recurring membership.

While we don’t know all of the details right now, I will say that if you are a digital nomad or small business owner who needs or desires “real” workspace and perhaps enjoys interacting with others, this could be an extremely appealing benefit.

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$200 Dell credit

The second major benefit to be added as he $200 Dell credit. As a devoted Mac user, I have not spent $200 on Dell since 2006, so for me this is pretty much a worthless benefit. But if you spend $200 a year on Dell computers or Dell equipment (monitors, etc.) then this could be a nice way to knock down that annual fee.

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$595 annual fee

Now for the bad news. The annual fee is going to be increased to $595. This is a pretty huge jump from $450, So if you don’t want to pay the difference you might want to jump on the Business Platinum Card right now.

Although I have affiliate links for the American Express Business Platinum Card that you could use, I would advise that you call in and inquire about a 100,000 point offer after spending $10,000. This is better than the affiliate link that I have to offer so I am not including that link in this article.

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Final word

The large increase in the annual fee is not going to be welcomed by those who have no use for the Dell credit or for the workstations. In fact, that price hike might even be enough for people to cancel their card if they are not getting enough use out of the Centurion Lounges or the 35% rebate.

However, for those people who value the workstation benefit, this card just got a lot more valuable (at least for the first year). And if you apply now and can lock in the $450 annual fee for the first year then this could be an extreme bargain.  As someone who does at times crave the office experience and interaction, I am seriously considering picking up this card for that perk alone, though I’m not sure about the long-term value of the card.