9 Best Benefits of the Amex Gold Card [2024]

The Amex Gold card is easily one of the best credit cards on the market for earning Amex Membership Rewards points, and is a big hit among foodies and home cooks thanks to its generous rewards at U.S. grocery stores and restaurants.

Let’s take a look at some of the best benefits of the Amex Gold card to help you decide whether it is a good fit for your wallet.

The 9 Best Benefits of the Amex Gold Card

1. Excellent Rewards at Restaurants, Supermarkets, and for Airline Flights

With the Amex Gold card you earn:

• 4x points per $1 spent at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year)
• 4x points per $1 spent at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year)
• 3x points per $1 spent on flights booked directly with the airline, as well as airfare booked through Amex Travel
• 1x point per $1 spent on all other purchases

Given that 2 of the largest expenses for most are groceries and dining out, the Amex Gold card has the ability to help you rack up the points in no time.

2. $120 Annual Uber Cash Credit

Each month you’ll receive a $10 Uber Cash credit redeemable on both Uber rides and Uber Eats orders. If you’re someone who uses Uber or Uber Eats at least once a month, then it’s likely you’ll easily get the full value out of this credit.

3. $120 Annual Dining Credit

You can also benefit from annual dining statement credits of up to $120 (capped at $10 per month) at eligible restaurants. This includes establishments like Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar, and Five Guys  locations.

While some of the eligible merchants are a bit specific and might not fit into your usual dining habits, the addition of GrubHub makes this credit far easier to use for those who order out at least once a month.

4. The Hotel Collection Benefits

While the Amex Gold card doesn’t come with any sort of hotel elite status like its more expensive counterpart, the Amex Platinum card, it does give you benefits when booking a 2-night stay at properties included in The Hotel Collection, including the following perks:

• Upgraded room at check-in, if available
• $100 credit to use at the hotel

Your $100 credit can be used toward food and beverages, spa, resort activities, and other eligible expenses at the hotel. The one things to keep in mind here is that hotel bookings made through Amex Travel usually are not eligible for any hotel elite status benefits you already have.

5. Great Welcome Bonus

The welcome bonus on the Amex Gold card is often 60,000 points, or more, after you meet the minimum spend requirement. Receiving 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards points is very valuable, and can allow you to book a one-way business class flight to Europe, or round-trip in economy.

6. Resy and Dunkin’ Credits

• $100 Resy Credit: Up to $100 in statement credits annually for dining at U.S. Resy restaurants, in the form of a $50 statement credit between January and June, and the second $50 credit between July and December.
• $84 Dunkin’ Credit: Earn up to $7 in monthly credits when you use your Amex Gold card at Dunkin’.

7. Access to Amex Offers

Each month, you’ll receive access to 100+ Amex Offers that give you the opportunity to earn additional Amex Membership Rewards points, or additional cash-back, for shopping with these merchants.

8. Travel and Purchase Protections

The Amex Gold card can help keep you covered when things go wrong, both on the road and at home.

• Rental Car Insurance: Receive up to $50,000 in coverage when you decline the rental company’s insurance and pay for your rental car with your card. Note that this is secondary rental coverage, so it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance.
• Baggage Insurance: if your bag is lost, damaged, or stolen luggage when you purchase your ticket with your Amex Gold card, you can receive coverage of up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and $500 for checked baggage.
• Purchase Protection: if an item purchased with your card is accidentally damaged, stolen, or lost, within the past 90 days, you can receive up to $10,000 in coverage per item, and up to $50,000 in coverage per year.
• Extended Warranty Coverage: receive up to 1 additional year of warranty coverage for eligible purchases that have a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty of 5 years or less.

9. Access to Amex Transfer Partners

The American Express Gold Card offers access to 20+ airline and hotel transfer partners, including valuable loyalty programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Atlantic, and more.

This allows you to convert your Amex Membership Rewards points into miles or points with any of these transfer partners, providing more flexibility and oftentimes significantly higher redemption value for your points.

For instance, an Air France business class ticket to Paris might cost $2,500, equivalent to 250,000 Amex points when booking through the Amex Travel portal at 1 cent per point. However, if you are flexible with when you travel, or can score that same business class tickets through the Air France Flying Blue program for as low as 50,000 miles one-way — saving you a whopping 200,000 points!

Final Thoughts

Put simply, the Amex Gold card is easily one of my favorite cards and continues to have a place in my wallet thanks to its combination of being great at earning points, access to transfer partners, solid perks, card protections, and great statement credits that help offset the annual fee that the card charges.

If you’re interested in adding the Amex Gold card to your wallet, and you want to support my work, you can apply for the card through the links on my best travel credit cards page.

If you’re not sure which travel rewards credit card is right for you, fill out my credit card consultation form. The service is free and designed to pair you with the card that is best suited for you.