Your guide to American Express Membership Rewards

American Express’ flexible points program, Membership Rewards (MR), has a few cards up its sleeve. Through MR, eligible Amex Cards can accrue flexible points now, to be utilised later – such as by converting them into frequent flyer or hotel loyalty points.

A business owner could turn Membership Rewards points into miles with a different airline for every trip – switching things up to match reward seat availability. Business owners could even earn points on transactions made by employees. Perhaps now, you can spot the potential?

Here’s a look at how the American Express Membership Rewards program shapes up for SMEs.

American Express Membership Rewards for businesses: eligible Cards

Amex currently has three Cards open to new business applicants which are attached to Membership Rewards:

• The American Express Platinum Business Card
• The American Express Business Gold Plus Card

Various fees are payable on each Card, reflecting the benefits included. Here’s an overview with some key highlights.

Product	Annual Fee	Annual Employee Card Fee	Benefit highlights
Amex Platinum Business Card	$1,750	No fee (up to 99 Employee Cards)	·       Unlimited airport lounge access (>1,400 locations) ·       Gratis elite status with Hilton, Marriott and Radisson ·       Accor Plus membership ·       Statement credits at Dell
Amex Business Gold Plus Card	$395	Up to 2 for $0; then $75 per additional Employee Card (up to 99 Employee Cards)	·       Up to $550 back each year at Xero, Dell, Meta and more ·       Hilton Honors Silver status

Let’s say a business owner had an account with nine Employee Cards attached. Annually, that’d cost $1,750 with the Amex Platinum Business Card. On the Business Gold Plus Card, it’d be a $920 in total. That’s the $395 annual account fee (which includes a Card for the business owner), two no-fee Employee Cards, and seven Employee Cards at $75 each ($525).

American Express Membership Rewards for businesses: earning points

There’s no limit to the number of MR points that a business could earn every month or every year. Instead, the number of points earned per dollar spent can vary based on the transaction type – and sometimes, the account’s annual activity.

On the Business Gold Plus Card, businesses could earn up to 3 MR points per $1 spent on the first 200,000 MR points earned per calendar year:

• 3 MR points per $1 spent at Xero, Google Ads, Meta, Amazon Web Services and Dell.
• 2 MR points per $1 spent with AccessLine.
• 5 MR points per $1 spent on everyday transactions, including payments made with pay.com.au.
• 1 MR point per $1 on direct government spend (e.g. payments directly to the ATO, rather than via pay.com.au).

After 200,000 MR points are earned per calendar year, further spending accrues 1 MR point per $1, uncapped.

Using the Platinum Business Card instead offers points as below – also uncapped.

• 25 MR points per $1 spent on eligible purchases, including payments processed via pay.com.au.
• 1 MR point per $1 spent on direct government payments.

Spends on all Employee Cards accrue points into the primary Card Member’s account.

Hot tip: Paying ATO and other government bills through pay.com.au could earn you greater rewards than paying the government directly with an Amex Card, as pay.com.au transactions typically accrue points at a Card’s standard, everyday earn rate – rather than a Card’s reduced government earn rate.

Here’s a look at how businesses with different volumes of annual Card spend could accrue points. We’ve assumed that MR points have been earned on all transactions at each Card’s standard baseline everyday rate (not in bonus categories). We’ve also assumed that any government payments have been processed by pay.com.au.

Product	$100,000 annual spend	$500,000 annual spend	$1 million annual spend	$5 million annual spend
Amex Platinum Business Card	225,000 points	1.125 million points	2.25 million points	11.25 million points
Amex Business Gold Plus Card	150,000 points	566,667 points	1,066,667 points	5,066,667 points

Then comes the fun part – spending those hard-earned points…

American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners

It can take a while to understand the many options. Don’t worry, we’ve already done the digging for you, and have grouped Amex’s transfer partners by region for ease of discovery.

Australia and New Zealand

Transfer program	Conversion rate	500,000 MR points equals	Transfer time
Qantas Frequent Flyer*	2:1	250,000 Qantas Points	Usually immediate
Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer	2:1	250,000 Velocity Points	Usually immediate
Air New Zealand Airpoints	200:$1 (2 points = 1 cent)	$2,500	Up to 36 hours

*Qantas Frequent Flyer transfers are only available from Membership Rewards ‘Ascent Premium’. Of the business Cards discussed in this article, only the Business Platinum Card is eligible.

Asia

Transfer program	Conversion rate	500,000 MR points equals	Transfer time
Cathay (Asia Miles)	3:1	166,666 Asia Miles	Up to 24 hours
Malaysia Airlines Enrich	3:1	166,666  Enrich Miles	Up to 2 business days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	3:1	166,666 KrisFlyer Miles	Usually immediate

Middle East

Transfer program	Conversion rate	500,000 MR points equals	Transfer time
Emirates Skywards*	4:1	125,000 Skywards Miles	Up to 24 hours
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	3:1	166,666 Avios	Usually immediate

*Skywards only allows one Membership Rewards account to be linked to each Skywards profile for points transfers. As you cannot link both a personal and a business MR account to Skywards, choose wisely.

UK / USA

Transfer program	Conversion rate	500,000 MR points equals	Transfer time
British Airways Club	3:1	166,666 Avios	Usually immediate
HawaiianMiles	2:1	250,000 HawaiianMiles	Usually immediate
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	3:1	166,666  Velocity Points	Usually immediate

 

Hotel programs

Transfer program	Conversion rate	500,000 MR points equals	Transfer time
Hilton Honors	2:1	250,000 Hilton Honors points	Usually immediate
Marriott Bonvoy	3:2	333,333 Marriott Bonvoy points	Usually immediate

 

Curious to learn more? Read this comprehensive Point Hacks guide.

Five great ways to convert Membership Rewards points

With Membership Rewards, savvy business owners are free to hunt for the best-suiting reward seats for every trip. Heading to Europe, for instance? The choices are far wider than the typical Australian programs that everybody else is using for their reward seat hunt. With MR points to spend, Card Members could avail of Cathay, Emirates Skywards, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and more.

But, we know you want some inspiration. Here are five of the many fantastic uses of American Express Membership Rewards points.

• Transfer to Qantas for free Qantas Club membership.
  Earn 350,000 (personal) Qantas Points on the ground each year and you could unlock Qantas Points Club Plus (while still keeping those points). This includes complimentary Qantas Club membership, granting year-round access to eligible lounges. Just note, only the first 125,000 Qantas Points of each points transfer counts towards the Points Club threshold. But there’s no rule against making multiple transfers…
• Fly Qatar Airways Qsuite to Europe for 90,000 Avios.
  Through Qatar Airways Privilege Club, you may be able to snag flights in the airline’s highly awarded Qsuite from Australia to Europe/UK for just 90,000 Avios one-way (converted from 270,000 Membership Rewards points), plus taxes and fees.
• Use British Airways Club to save on Australian domestic travel.
  British Airways Avios can be spent on Qantas flights, and BA’s redemption rates are often much lower than through Qantas’ own Frequent Flyer program. Fly Qantas business class from Melbourne to Perth, or from Sydney to Auckland, for just 22,000 Avios (transfer 66,000 MR points) one-way, plus taxes and fees. By comparison, Qantas Frequent Flyer charges 41,500 Qantas Points for these same flights – akin to 83,000 MR points, for those who can convert them. That’s a big
• Put Cathay to work for Asia and Europe.
  Subject to reward seat availability (as is true of all these flight examples), a flight from Australia to Hong Kong can be possible for 58,000 Asia Miles (174,000 MR points) in business class, one-way. Or, from Australia to Europe one-way for 110,000 Asia Miles (330,000 MR points) in business class – both plus taxes and fees.

Final thoughts on American Express Membership Rewards

Many business owners appreciate the ability to earn uncapped points. When using an Amex Membership Rewards-earning Card to pay for regular business spends, it’s easy for points to stack up quickly. Especially if staff also use Employee Cards to keep the points flowing in.

Membership Rewards also provides a compelling way to double-dip on points when making payments through pay.com.au. When funding a transaction using an eligible American Express Card, MR points can be accrued at a Card’s usual rate. By opting to earn PayRewards Points on top (at an extra fee), business owners can earn two sets of points from the one transaction.

That could help when it’s travel time, because Amex Membership Rewards and PayRewards have distinct advantages. Amex has access to some transfer partners not currently available from PayRewards, such as Emirates Skywards, HawaiianMiles and Hilton Honors. Similarly, PayRewards Points can reach programs not directly available from Membership Rewards in Australia, like Accor Live Limitless, Air Canada Aeroplan, IHG One Rewards and Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles.

But there’s overlap as well. Hunting for KrisFlyer miles? Convert points to KrisFlyer at a 3:1 rate from Membership Rewards, and a 2.5:1 rate from PayRewards. Or, seeking Avios with Qatar Airways Privilege Club? Convert at a 3:1 rate from MR and a 3:1 rate from PayRewards. Whether you focus on a single transfer partner, or play the game and find the best-value fit for each journey, is up to you!

This guide is general in nature and is not provided – or intended to be interpreted – as financial advice. If seeking to apply for a new credit product, a change of credit product, or to determine eligibility for or suitability of a credit product, speak with a qualified financial adviser.

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