The Amex Trifecta: How to Maximize Your Membership Rewards

All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by 10xTravel.

The credit card market is saturated with travel rewards cards offering all sorts of lucrative benefits, from strong bonus spending categories to luxury travel perks. Yet, there is no single card that encompasses all the benefits you could hope for. Instead, it often becomes necessary to hold multiple credit cards for different situations.

The Amex Trifecta describes the holding of three specific Amex cards simultaneously, to achieve the perfect combination of rewards rates and perks.

Let’s take a look at exactly how the Amex Trifecta works and whether it’s suited to your card strategy.

What Is the Amex Trifecta?

The Amex Trifecta involves holding the following three cards from American Express:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express
• American Express® Gold Card
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Keep in mind that if you want to maximize each card’s welcome offer (which you should), you need to pay attention to the order in which you apply for these cards.

Namely, you’ll be ineligible for earning the Amex Gold Card’s welcome offer if you’ve already received The Platinum Card’s welcome offer.

Therefore, you should begin by applying for either the Amex Gold Card or The Blue Business Plus Card, followed by the Platinum Card. That way, you’ll be able to earn all three welcome bonuses, maximizing the value of your spending and rewards earning potential.

Let’s check out what role each card plays in the Amex Trifecta.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

The Platinum Card from American Express offers strong rewards rates on travel purchases through American Express Travel^® in addition to a slew of luxury travel perks and statement credits, for an annual fee of $695 (see rates and fees).

You’ll earn the following:

• 5X points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through American Express Travel^® on up to $500,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• 5X points on prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel^®

In addition to these lucrative earning rates, you’ll enjoy the following cardholder perks and statement credits:

• Up to $200 in statement credits annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel^® (a minimum stay of two nights is required for The Hotel Collection)
• Up to $200 in statement credits annually toward incidental fees with one qualifying airline
• Up to $200 in Uber Cash credits annually with Uber Eats and rides in the United States, issued in monthly $15 credits, with a bonus of $20 in December*
• $199 annual statement credit toward CLEAR® Plus membership
• The card comes with a statement credit to help with the cost of GE/TSA Precheck
• A $100 statement credit toward eligible charges with every booking of two nights or more through AmexTravel.com with The Hotel Collection (eligible charges vary by property)
• Up to $240 in statement credits annually, issued in $20 monthly credits, for eligible purchases with Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock and The Wall Street Journal
• Up to $155 in statement credits annually, issued in monthly $12.95 credits, toward a Walmart+ membership
• Up to $100 in statement credits annually, issued in biannual $50 credits, toward eligible purchases with Saks Fifth Avenue or saks.com
• Complimentary access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection
• Complimentary benefits when booking Fine Hotels + Resorts through American Express Travel^®
• Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status
• Complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold Status
• Complimentary Avis Preferred®, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® and National Car Rental® Emerald Club status

The Amex Platinum is far from cheap. However, it’s a heavyweight when it comes to luxury travel perks and is one of the key pillars of the Amex Trifecta. And through frequent perk maximization, offsetting its annual fee is a breeze.

* To receive this benefit, you must have downloaded the latest version of the Uber App, and your eligible Amex Platinum Card must be a method of payment on your Uber account. The Amex Benefit may only be used in the United States.

American Express® Gold Card

The American Express Gold Card offers unparalleled rewards when it comes to earning a return on dining and grocery shopping purchases, for an annual fee of $325 (see rates and fees).

You’ll benefit from the following bonus spending categories as an Amex Gold cardholder:

• 4X points at restaurants on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• 4X points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per year (1X points thereafter)
• 3X points on flights purchased directly with airlines or via American Express Travel^®
• 1X points on all other purchases

In addition to its robust bonus spending categories, the Amex Gold Card offers the following cardholder perks:

• Dining statement credit of up to $120 per year, issued in monthly $10 increments, for purchases at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com and Five Guys
• Dunkin’ statement credit of up to $84 per year, issued in monthly $7 increments
• Resy statement credit of up to $100 per year, issued in semi-annual $50 increments
• $100 experience credit when you book a minimum stay of two nights or more with The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel^®
• Up to $120 in Uber Cash credits per year, issued in monthly $10 increments, for Uber Rides and Eats in the United States when you select an American Express Card for your transaction. 

The Amex Gold Card was designed with food-lovers in mind, offering a lucrative return on your spending. It’s the card you’ll pull out everyday to cover restaurant and supermarket spending.

It also has more than $500 worth of statement credit perks to take advantage of, making it more than possible to offset its annual fee.

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express is there to help when no other card can.

It offers 2X points per dollar spent on all purchases on up to $50,000 in spending per calendar year (1X points thereafter). That means whatever the situation, you can pull out the Blue Business Plus card confidently and know you’re receiving double points on your spending.

This makes it the perfect card for covering purchases that fall outside of the bonus spending categories of the Amex Gold Card and Amex Platinum, making it the last piece of the Amex Trifecta puzzle.

On top of that, the card has a $0 annual fee (see rates and fees) making it easy to keep in your wallet.

Just keep in mind that it charges foreign transaction fees, so you’ll want to keep this one for usage in the U.S. exclusively.

The Combined Benefits vs. Costs

Equipped with all three cards, your bonus spending categories effectively become the following:

• 5X points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through American Express Travel^® on up to $500,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• 5X points on prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel^®
• 4X at restaurants up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• 4X points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per year (1X points thereafter)
• 2X points on all other purchases up to $50,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter)

That’s a powerhouse of point multipliers. When it comes to travel, you can whip out your Amex Platinum Card. For typical everyday grocery and dining purchases, your Amex Gold will have your back. And for all other purchases, your Blue Business Plus will ensure you earn double points on every dollar spent.

On top of this, you’ll have more than $2,000 worth of cardholder perks and statement credits to take advantage of every year across all three cards. Likewise, the combined welcome offers could easily net you anywhere between 200,000 and 300,000 Membership Rewards points.

Just ensure you leave yourself enough time between card applications and spending threshold windows to earn each welcome offer comfortably and without the pressure of overspending.

If you’re having trouble meeting the minimum spend, check out our guide on how to hit that minimum spending threshold with ease.

Offsetting the Amex Trifecta’s combined annual fees of $1,020 should be a walk in the park, as long as you maximize each card’s perks and use them for regular spending.

Here’s an example to illustrate the Amex Trifecta’s earning potential.

The average American household spends $5,703 on food at home and $3,639 on food away from home, according to a 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics study. Charged to the Amex Gold, this spending would earn you 37,372 points per year.

Similarly, a 2023 study by Forbes indicated that almost half of its participants budgeted $4,000 or more for travel costs throughout the year. Charged to the Amex Platinum through American Express Travel^®, that would earn you another 20,000 points.

That works out to at least 57,373 points, which have a minimum value of $573.73 if redeemed through American Express Travel^®. However, you could easily get double this value by transferring your points to any of Amex’s 20+ hotel and airline partners.

Not to mention, you’d earn thousands of extra points on miscellaneous spending charged to your Blue Business Plus credit card. For instance, BLS reported that the average American household spent $12,295 on transportation and $5,850 on healthcare. If that was all charged to your Blue Business Plus card, you’d earn a whopping 36,290 points.

Of course, these figures can be different based on your personal spending habits and circumstances. However, they nevertheless demonstrate the earning potential of the Amex Trifecta.

Amex Trifecta Lite Version

If you’re on board with the concept but just can’t stomach the annual fees, not to worry—there’s another Amex Trifecta combination you can consider.

You can swap out the Amex Platinum and its $695 annual fee (see rates and fees) for the American Express® Green Card. It charges an annual fee of $150 and—while it doesn’t offer flashy travel rewards—it offers solid earnings on travel-related purchases:

• 3X points on travel purchases
• 3X points on transit purchases
• 3X points on dining worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.

By pursuing the Amex Trifecta Lite version, you’d drop your annual fee burden to $475 per year. That said, you’d also give up the $1,500 worth of cardholder perks and statement credits exclusive to the Amex Platinum Card, so just ensure that you’re actually saving the money you think you are.

Final Thoughts

Spoiler alert: The perfect card doesn’t exist. Instead, the best card strategy involves holding multiple cards for multiple spending situations.

The Amex Trifecta is one strategy for going about combining the best of three cards, covering you for most spending situations while not skimping on luxury perks.

Whether you go for the traditional Amex Trifecta or the Lite version, you’ll benefit from their synergy—as long as you remember which card to use when.