A great business credit card for travel can make a huge difference when flying or staying at hotels.
Several cards offer nice perks like airport lounge access, hotel elite status, travel protections, and extra points for travel.
Below are our recommended cards for your next business trip.
Best for Airport Lounge Access: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review)
Best for Flexible Rewards: American Express® Business Gold Card (review)
Best for Simple Rewards: Capital One Spark Miles for Business (review)
1. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Best for Airport Lounge Access
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) is an outstanding choice for business owners who want airport lounge access including the American Express Global Lounge Collection, Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs, Escape Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, and more.
The Business Platinum card also offers several statement credits to offset the $695 annual fee:
- $200 Airline Fee: Annual airline fee credit of up to $200 on charges by the airline you select per calendar year.
- $400 Dell: Annual statement credit on all U.S. Dell purchases, up to $200 semiannually.
- $120 Wireless Phone Services: Annual statement credits for purchases made directly with any U.S. wireless telephone provider, up to $10 per month.
- $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Breeze through security with CLEAR® Plus at 45+ airports nationwide and get up to $189 back per year on your membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Business Platinum Card.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck: Statement credits for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) every four years (4.5 years for PreCheck).
You can also earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com, and 1.5x points on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year
The American Express Business Platinum comes with automatic Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold so that you can enjoy perks like room upgrades, late check-out, and a points bonus.
Additionally, the points you earn can be transferred to several Amex transfer partners such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, and Marriott Bonvoy. This potentially increases the value of your points depending on how you redeem them.
2. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Best Budget Option
- bonus_miles_full
- 3X Points on Travel, Shipping, Advertising (Social Media and Search Engines), Internet, Cable, and Phone on the First $150,000 Each Account Year
- 25% Additional Points Value in Travel Redemption
- Primary Rental Car Insurance
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance
- Cell Phone Protection
- Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- $95 Annual Fee
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) is an excellent choice for business owners looking for a card that offers valuable rewards and benefits.
With this card, you’ll earn:
- 3 points per $1 spent on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable, phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines (up to $150,000 in combined purchases per account anniversary year).
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases, with no limit on the number of points you can earn.
Beyond the rewards, the Ink Business Preferred provides valuable benefits, including:
- Primary rental car insurance (when renting for business purposes).
- Cell phone protection (up to $600 per claim against theft or damage, with a maximum of three claims per year and a $100 deductible per claim).
- Purchase and extended warranty protection.
3. American Express® Business Gold Card
Best for Flexible Rewards
- bonus_miles_full
- 4X Points on Purchases in Your Top 2 Business Categories (up to $150,000 in Combined Purchases Per Calendar Year)
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- $295 Annual Fee (Rates and Fees)
The American Express® Business Gold Card (review) is a good fit for business owners who want to earn much-coveted Membership Rewards points from business spending.
For a $295 annual fee, this card earns 4x points on up to $150,000 in combined purchases per year in your top two spending categories, with options including eligible airfare, U.S. advertising, U.S. shipping, U.S. cloud, software, and hardware, U.S. gas, and U.S. dining purchases.
You can also receive 25% points back after you use points for all or part of an eligible flight booked with Amex Travel, up to 250,000 points back per calendar year.
4. United℠ Business Card
Best for United Frequent Flyers
card_name
- bonus_miles_full
- 2X Miles for United Airlines, Dining, Gas Stations, Office Supply Stores, Local Transit, and Commuting
- 2 United Club One-Time Passes Per Year
- $100 United Travel Credit
- Free First Checked Bag and Priority Boarding
- Primary Rental Car Insurance
- Trip Delay and Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance
The United℠ Business Card offers nice perks on United Airlines, including:
- Two United Club lounge passes annually;
- Priority boarding for you and your companions;
- Free first checked bag for you and one companion on the same reservation;
- 25% back on in-flight purchases in the form of statement credits;
- $100 Annual Travel Credit if you make at least seven United flight travel-related purchases, each totaling at least $100;
- Anniversary bonus of 5,000 miles;
- Premier upgrades on award tickets;
- Expanded award availability; and
- Ability to earn Premier Qualifying Points for United elite status with spending.
5. The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
Best for Earning Hilton Points & Elite Status
- bonus_miles_full
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status
- 12X Points at Hilton Properties
- 6X Points at U.S. Gas Stations and U.S. Restaurants
- 10 Complimentary Priority Pass Lounge Visits
- $95 Annual Fee (rates & fees)
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) offers complimentary Gold status with the chance to upgrade to Diamond status upon hitting the $40,000 spending threshold.
For a low annual fee of $95, this business card earns 12x Hilton Honors points at Hilton properties and 6x points in several categories:
- U.S. restaurants
- U.S. gas stations
- U.S. shipping purchases
- Wireless phone services with U.S. service providers
- Flights booked directly with airlines or with amextravel.com
- Car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies
The Hilton Honors Business card also offers a free night reward after spending $15,000 and a second free night reward after spending $45,000 per year.
Plus, you receive 10 free Priority Pass visits to airport lounges worldwide.
6. Capital One Spark Miles for Business
Best for Simple Rewards
- bonus_miles_full
- Unlimited 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2x Miles On Every Purchase
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- $0 Intro Annual Fee for the First Year, $95 Thereafter
- Free employee cards which also earn unlimited 2X miles from their purchases
The Capital One Spark Miles for Business is one of the top travel rewards credit cards for small business owners.
The card earns unlimited 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. It also earns unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all purchases, which can be transferred to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners.
The Spark Miles also offers a statement credit for your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application (up to $100) and no foreign transaction fees.
7. Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
Best for Commuting
- bonus_miles_full
- 4X Points on Southwest Airlines
- 2X Points in Ridesharing, Transit, Social Media and Search Engine Advertising, Internet, Cable, & Phone
- 9,000 Bonus Points for Each Cardmember Anniversary
- 4 Upgraded Boardings Per Year
- 365 InFlight WiFi Credits Each year
- $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- $199 Annual Fee
The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (review) is Southwest’s top-tier business credit card earning 4x points on Southwest purchases, 3x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners, and 2x points on online advertising, internet, cable, phone, ridesharing, and local transit.
For a $199 annual fee, you also get four upgraded boardings annually, 9,000 bonus points every cardmember anniversary, $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four years, and up to 365 in-flight Wi-Fi credits.
The Southwest Performance Business card also comes with lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, secondary rental car insurance, purchase protection, and an extended warranty.
7. Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
Best for First-class Delta Companion Tickets
- bonus_miles_full
- 3x SkyMiles on Delta Air Lines
- Airport Lounge Access
- Priority Boarding and Free First Checked Bag
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- $550 Annual Fee and No Foreign Transaction Fees (Rates & Fees)
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (review) earns 3x SkyMiles on Delta Air Lines and offers airport lounge access to the Delta Sky Club*, American Express Centurion Lounges, and Escape Lounges.
The Delta Reserve Business has a $550 annual fee, which is offset by the airport lounge access and other perks such as an annual companion certificate, Non-Medallion Upgrades, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, free first checked bag, priority boarding, and 20% statement credit for food and drinks.
* Effective 2/1/25, Reserve Card Members will receive 10 Visits per year to the Delta Sky Club; to earn an unlimited number of Visits each year starting on 2/1/25, the total eligible purchases on the Card must equal $75,000 or more between 1/1/24 and 12/31/24, and each calendar year thereafter.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, please click here.
