Business spending can be one of the fastest ways to build a meaningful travel-points balance. Advertising, software, stock, professional fees, travel and other legitimate business costs can add up far more quickly than ordinary household spending.
In the UK, however, the options are quite different. Some business cards earn flexible points, some earn Avios directly, some offer cashback that can be converted into airline miles, and a small number add genuinely useful travel benefits such as airport lounge access, hotel status or fee-free foreign spending.
This guide compares the main UK options I think are worth understanding: American Express Business Gold, American Express Business Platinum, the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card, Capital on Tap Free and Pro, Revolut Business with Titan, and Virgin Money business accounts.
The aim is not to find one card that everybody should have. It is to work out which product fits each type of business spend – and whether using two complementary cards makes more sense than forcing everything onto one.
Business travel rewards at a glance
| Product | Annual/monthly cost | Core earning | Foreign spend | Standout travel benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Business Gold | £0 first year, then £195/year | 1 Membership Rewards point/£; 2/£ on eligible Amex Travel bookings | 2.99% non-sterling fee | Flexible points + up to £200 Amex Travel credits after spend thresholds |
| Amex Business Platinum | £650/year | 1 Membership Rewards point/£; 2/£ on eligible Amex Travel bookings | 2.99% non-sterling fee | Airport lounges, hotel status, travel insurance, Fine Hotels + Resorts and travel credits |
| BA Amex Accelerating Business | £250/year | 1.5 Avios/£ until 6 Oct 2026; 1.25 Avios/£ from 7 Oct 2026 | 2.99% non-sterling fee | 10,000 bonus Avios per £20,000 spend, up to 3 times per calendar year |
| Capital on Tap Free | £0 | 1 point/£; 1% cashback or 0.8 Avios/Virgin Points per point | No FX fee | Visa acceptance + flexible cashback/travel conversions |
| Capital on Tap Pro | £299/year | 1 point/£ normally; 1.25 points/£ with Daily Repay or eligible preloaded spend | No FX fee | 1:1 Avios/Virgin conversion, lounge access and Radisson VIP |
| Revolut Business + Titan | Titan £65/month + VAT per person, plus Business plan | 1 RevPoint/£ on eligible Titan spend, up to 10,000/month per member | Depends on Revolut Business plan and allowances | Unlimited lounges, Fast Track, eSIM data, business travel cover and airline-mile redemptions |
| Virgin Money M Account for Business | £0 monthly account fee | 0.25% debit-card cashback | Business tariff FX charges can apply | Simple cashback from a business bank account rather than a separate rewards card |
American Express Business Gold
American Express Business Gold is the straightforward route into Membership Rewards for a UK limited company or LLP.
The card currently has no annual fee in the first year and costs £195 a year thereafter. Eligible spending earns:
- 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 on normal eligible purchases; and
- 2 Membership Rewards points per £1 on eligible prepaid flights, hotels, car hire and experiences booked through American Express Travel Online.
Membership Rewards are useful because they remain flexible until you need them. Current partners include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Marriott Bonvoy, so business spending does not have to be committed immediately to one airline or hotel programme.
Gold also has spend-based travel credits. Under the current terms, £40,000 of qualifying card spend in a Cardmembership year generates a £100 American Express Travel credit, and this can be earned twice – at £40,000 and £80,000 – for up to £200.
The card also includes The Hotel Collection benefits on qualifying two-night stays booked through Amex Travel, along with travel inconvenience and travel accident cover under the policy terms.
The main weakness: overseas spend
American Express currently charges a 2.99% non-sterling transaction fee on Business Gold foreign-currency purchases.
That is important. One Membership Rewards point per £1 can be useful, but a 2.99% FX fee can easily cost more than the points earned are worth. Business Gold can therefore be an excellent UK-spend card while another product handles overseas purchases.
Related: How I use Membership Rewards in my own points strategy.
American Express Business Platinum
Business Platinum has the same core Membership Rewards earning rate as Gold – 1 point per £1 of eligible general spending and 2 points per £1 on eligible American Express Travel bookings – but the £650 annual fee pays for a much larger travel-benefits package.
Current benefits include:
- complimentary access to more than 1,550 airport lounges through the Global Lounge Collection;
- worldwide travel insurance subject to the policy conditions;
- Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits including daily breakfast for two, a US$100 property credit, guaranteed 4pm checkout and room upgrades when available;
- The Hotel Collection benefits on qualifying stays;
- hotel loyalty benefits including Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, with additional partner benefits from Radisson, Meliá and others;
- car-rental benefits with partners including Hertz and Avis;
- a £200 annual American Express Travel credit; and
- under the current spend offer, a further £200 travel credit after £60,000 of qualifying spend, which can be earned twice for up to £400 more.
That means the headline travel-credit opportunity can reach up to £600, although the separate credits have their own terms and spending requirements.
The underlying question is therefore not whether Platinum earns more points on ordinary spend than Gold – it does not. It is whether the lounges, insurance, hotel benefits, travel credits and other statement-credit benefits justify the additional annual fee.
Business Platinum and hotel status
This is one area where Platinum can be particularly useful for a frequent traveller. Complimentary hotel status can provide upgrades, breakfast and additional points before you have completed the normal number of hotel nights.
My hotel elite status guide explains how the Amex-provided Hilton, Marriott and Radisson statuses compare with other shortcuts.
For the full Business Platinum breakdown – including Membership Rewards, travel credits, hotel status, lounges, FHR, insurance, employee cards and the referral/application link – see my Amex Business Platinum UK guide.
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card
If the objective is specifically to build an Avios balance rather than keep points flexible, the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card is very different from Business Gold and Platinum.
The annual fee is currently £250.
As of September 2026, the card earns 1.5 Avios per eligible £1, but this changes on 7 October 2026 to 1.25 Avios per £1.
The card also awards 10,000 bonus Avios for every £20,000 of qualifying card spend, up to three times per calendar year.
That creates an interesting effective earn rate after the 7 October change:
| Calendar-year spend | Base Avios at 1.25/£ | Spend bonuses | Total Avios | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 1.75 Avios/£ |
| £40,000 | 50,000 | 20,000 | 70,000 | 1.75 Avios/£ |
| £60,000 | 75,000 | 30,000 | 105,000 | 1.75 Avios/£ |
The bonus matters. Looking only at the future 1.25 Avios headline rate understates the return for businesses that naturally spend in £20,000 increments.
Important October 2026 changes
Until 6 October 2026 the card also earns double On Business points on qualifying British Airways spend. From 7 October 2026, On Business earning ends.
From the same date, the card gains up to £200 of statement credits per calendar year on qualifying bookings through Avios Hotels or Avios Car Hire.
This is a major enough change that older reviews of the card can quickly become misleading.
Like Amex Business Gold and Platinum, foreign-currency spending carries a 2.99% non-sterling transaction fee, so I would separate the question of “best Avios-earning business card” from “best business card to physically use abroad”.
For examples of how I value and use Avios, see How Much Is an Avios Worth? and my flight redemption examples.
Capital on Tap Free
Capital on Tap is interesting because the free card is already a serious rewards product.
There is no annual card fee, and eligible spending earns 1 Capital on Tap point per £1. Those points can be used as 1% cashback or converted into travel currencies.
Current conversion options include:
- 10 Capital on Tap points = 8 Avios on the Free plan;
- 10 points = 8 Virgin Points on the Free plan; and
- 1 point = 3 Radisson Rewards points.
The card also has no foreign-exchange fee, which gives it a major advantage over the Amex business cards when a supplier or hotel charges in another currency.
Because it is a Visa, it also solves a completely separate problem: places that simply do not accept American Express. That can include smaller suppliers, restaurants, independent hotels and other merchants. Even if the transaction is in pounds and there is no FX issue at all, Capital on Tap can therefore be the practical fallback that keeps the business spend earning rewards rather than moving onto a non-rewards debit card.
In practice, that makes a simple two-card setup quite compelling: use Amex where its points or benefits make sense, and use Capital on Tap where Amex is not accepted or where the 2.99% Amex FX fee would wipe out the value of the points earned.
Capital on Tap Pro
Pro costs £299 per year and layers a much stronger travel package onto the same underlying card.
Current benefits include:
- 10,000 bonus points after £5,000 spend in the first three months;
- 1:1 transfers to Avios through British Airways or Qatar Airways;
- 1:1 transfers to Virgin Points;
- the same 1:3 conversion to Radisson Rewards;
- 1.25 points per £1 on eligible preloaded card spending;
- 1.25 points per £1 on ordinary eligible spend when using Daily Repay, provided the full card balance is cleared each day;
- unlimited airport lounge access for the main cardholder plus two guest passes per year;
- Radisson Rewards VIP status;
- no foreign-exchange fees; and
- a premium metal card and enhanced support.
How the 25% Daily Repay boost works
Capital on Tap Pro has another useful feature that is easy to miss. If you select Daily Repay through Smart Repay and your full card balance is cleared each day, the earn rate increases from 1 point per £1 to 1.25 points per £1 – a 25% boost.
This is separate from preloading. Pro customers also earn 1.25 points per £1 when spending money they have preloaded onto the card. In other words, there are currently two ways for Pro spending to reach the enhanced 1.25-points-per-£1 rate:
- Daily Repay: clear the full balance each day; or
- Preloading: add your own funds to the account before spending them.
If a Daily Repay payment fails or the full balance is not swept, Capital on Tap says the balance must be repaid in full manually that day to retain the boosted rate.
At the Pro 1:1 airline conversion rate, earning 1.25 Capital on Tap points per £1 means that qualifying spend can effectively produce 1.25 Avios or 1.25 Virgin Points per £1. That is an important comparison with Amex because Capital on Tap can combine that enhanced rate with Visa acceptance and no FX fee.
Bill Pay: earning points on bills that normally require a bank transfer
Capital on Tap has another feature that differentiates it from the standard Amex Business Gold and Business Platinum cards: Bill Pay.
Bill Pay lets eligible customers pay suppliers, rent, utilities and even employees by bank transfer using the Capital on Tap credit line. That is useful where the recipient does not accept cards at all. You can upload an invoice or payslip, confirm the bank-transfer details, and make a one-off or recurring payment from the Capital on Tap account.
The important part from a rewards perspective is that Bill Pay can still earn Capital on Tap points.
| Bill Pay option | Fee | Rewards earned | Effective cost before valuing the points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan – rewards option | 2% | 1 point per £1 / 1% cashback equivalent | 1% |
| Free plan – lower-fee option | 1% | No points | 1% |
| Pro – normal rewards option | 2% | 1 point per £1 / 1% cashback equivalent | 1% |
| Pro with Daily Repay or eligible preloaded spend | 2% | 1.25 points per £1 / 1.25% cashback equivalent | 0.75% |
That creates a completely different category of spend from an ordinary business credit-card purchase. A supplier may only accept BACS, but Bill Pay can potentially turn that invoice into rewards-earning spend.
For example, a £10,000 supplier invoice paid using the 2% Bill Pay option would carry a £200 fee. On Capital on Tap Pro with the enhanced 1.25% earning rate, it would generate 12,500 points. If those were transferred 1:1 to Avios or Virgin Points, the effective cost before assigning a value to the miles would be £75, or 0.75% of the invoice.
Whether that is worthwhile depends on the value you expect to get from the points and whether the extra cash-flow flexibility is useful. I would not pay a fee simply to manufacture points unless the numbers work.
Bill Pay can also preserve the interest-free credit period when the statement balance is paid in full by the due date, subject to the Capital on Tap agreement. Transactions can be scheduled and they can sync alongside ordinary card spend into supported accounting software.
Why this is different from Amex
American Express does offer various corporate supplier-payment products, but the standard UK Business Gold and Business Platinum cards do not offer an equivalent self-service feature that lets a small-business cardholder enter a supplier’s bank details, fund the payment from the card credit line and earn Membership Rewards on that bank-transfer payment.
Amex also has a service called Pay with Bank Transfer, but that moves money directly from a bank account rather than charging the Amex Business Card, so it is not the same as Capital on Tap Bill Pay and does not turn the payment into Membership Rewards-earning card spend.
This can therefore be a meaningful Capital on Tap advantage for businesses with large amounts of genuine expenditure that cannot normally be put onto a card.
Bill Pay is currently being offered as a beta / limited-availability feature, so access may not yet be available to every Capital on Tap customer.
Radisson VIP is particularly unusual because it is the programme’s top tier and includes benefits such as free breakfast for two and room upgrades subject to availability.
I cover that status route in more detail in my hotel elite status guide.
For the detailed product breakdown – including Free vs Pro, Daily Repay, Bill Pay, transfer partners, no-FX spending and the referral/application link – see my Capital on Tap Business Credit Card guide.
Transfer partners: Amex has a much wider choice
This is one of the biggest differences between American Express Membership Rewards and Capital on Tap.
Amex Business Gold and Business Platinum use Membership Rewards, which currently has a much broader UK transfer-partner network. Capital on Tap has fewer airline and hotel options, although its strongest partners – Avios, Virgin Points and Radisson Rewards – are useful ones.
American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners
| Partner | Current UK transfer rate |
|---|---|
| British Airways Club | 1 Membership Rewards point = 1 Avios |
| Cathay | 1 = 1 Asia Mile |
| Delta SkyMiles | 1 = 1 SkyMile |
| Emirates Skywards | 2 = 1 Skywards Mile |
| Flying Blue | 1 = 1 Flying Blue mile |
| Iberia Club | 1 = 1 Avios |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 = 1 Qantas Point |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1 = 1 Avios |
| SAS EuroBonus | 1 = 1 EuroBonus point |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | 3 = 2 KrisFlyer miles |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 = 1 Virgin Point |
| ALL – Accor Live Limitless | 3 = 1 ALL Reward point |
| Hilton Honors | 1 = 2 Hilton Honors points |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 2 = 3 Marriott Bonvoy points |
| Radisson Rewards | 1 = 3 Radisson Rewards points |
| Club Eurostar | 1,500 = 100 Club Eurostar points |
| Nectar | 1 = 1 Nectar point |
That breadth is a major strength of Membership Rewards. You can leave points with Amex until you know whether the next redemption needs Avios, Virgin Points, Flying Blue miles, Hilton points, Marriott points or something else.
Capital on Tap transfer partners
| Partner | Free plan | Pro plan |
|---|---|---|
| British Airways Club | 10 Capital on Tap points = 8 Avios | 1 point = 1 Avios |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 10 = 8 Avios | 1 = 1 Avios |
| Virgin Red / Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 10 = 8 Virgin Points | 1 = 1 Virgin Point |
| Radisson Rewards | 1 = 3 Radisson Rewards points | 1 = 3 Radisson Rewards points |
Capital on Tap also offers cashback, gift cards and Go Coins, but if the goal is specifically airline or hotel loyalty currencies, the choice is much narrower than Amex.
That creates a useful trade-off. Amex wins on transfer flexibility. Capital on Tap can win on Visa acceptance, no FX fee, and – on Pro with Daily Repay or preloaded spend – an enhanced 1.25-points-per-£1 earn rate.
What about the other products in this guide?
- BA Amex Accelerating Business: this is not a flexible-points card. It earns Avios directly rather than Membership Rewards, so there is no menu of transfer partners at card level.
- Revolut Business Titan: Business RevPoints must first be moved to an eligible personal Revolut account. Revolut currently lists airline partners including Flying Blue, British Airways, Iberia, AerClub, Vueling Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Finnair Plus, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and TAP Miles&Go. Exact availability and ratios should be checked in the app.
- Virgin Money business accounts: these earn cashback rather than a transferable travel-points currency, so there is no airline or hotel transfer-partner list.
Revolut Business with Titan
Revolut Business takes a different approach. The standard Business account itself is primarily a banking, payments and expense-management platform. Travel rewards are concentrated in the optional Titan package.
Revolut Business plans currently start from £10 per month, while Titan costs an additional £65 per month plus VAT for each enrolled team member.
An active Titan member receives:
- 1 RevPoint per £1 of eligible Titan-card spending;
- up to 10,000 RevPoints per month per enrolled member;
- unlimited airport lounge access;
- airport security Fast Track at supported UK airports;
- 10GB of global mobile data each month in 100+ countries;
- business travel insurance; and
- a package of business and lifestyle subscriptions.
Business RevPoints can be pooled to the business owner if configured that way. To redeem them, the points must currently be moved into an eligible Revolut Personal account, where they can then be used for airline miles, Stays, Experiences and other RevPoints rewards.
This is therefore not a simple £65-a-month air-miles card. It is a much broader premium business-travel bundle. The value depends on whether you would genuinely use the lounges, data, Fast Track, insurance and subscriptions alongside the points.
For a personal Revolut travel card with a very different hotel angle, see my IHG One Rewards x Revolut guide.
Virgin Money business accounts: cashback rather than travel points
There are surprisingly few UK business bank accounts that earn meaningful airline or hotel points directly.
Virgin Money is worth mentioning because its debit cards at least provide automatic cashback:
- M Account for Business: £0 monthly account fee and 0.25% cashback on eligible debit-card spending, with no annual cashback cap.
- Business Current Account: 0.35% cashback, capped at £500 per calendar year per debit card.
There are also Mastercard Business Savings offers at selected merchants, including travel-related businesses.
This is cash rather than Avios or hotel points, but that is not necessarily a disadvantage. Cash is completely flexible and can simply be used towards travel.
The weakness for international spending is that Virgin Money’s published business tariff can charge 2.75% on debit-card purchases outside the UK/EEA, with further conditions depending on location and currency. That makes it a very different proposition from Capital on Tap’s no-FX-fee card.
Which business rewards product suits which job?
| If your priority is… | Products worth comparing | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible airline and hotel points | Amex Business Gold / Platinum | Membership Rewards can stay flexible until you choose a transfer partner |
| Building Avios directly | BA Amex Accelerating Business | Direct Avios earning plus 10,000-Avios bonuses at each £20,000 spend threshold |
| No-fee business rewards | Capital on Tap Free | No annual fee, 1% cashback and airline/hotel conversion options |
| Overseas card spend or merchants that do not accept Amex | Capital on Tap Free / Pro | Visa acceptance plus no FX fee while still earning rewards |
| Supplier invoices that only accept bank transfer | Capital on Tap Bill Pay | Can pay by bank transfer from the credit line and choose to earn rewards, subject to Bill Pay fees and availability |
| Airport lounges + hotel status | Amex Business Platinum / Capital on Tap Pro | Both package travel benefits with business spending, but in very different ways |
| Radisson VIP | Capital on Tap Pro | VIP status included without completing Radisson’s normal stay requirement |
| Premium business banking + travel bundle | Revolut Business + Titan | RevPoints, lounges, Fast Track, data, insurance and expense management |
| Simple debit-card cashback from the bank account | Virgin Money M Account for Business | No monthly account fee and automatic cashback |
Why a two-card business strategy can make more sense
Business reward cards do not need to be mutually exclusive.
A very practical setup can be:
- American Express Business Gold or Platinum for UK suppliers that accept Amex, Amex Offers, Membership Rewards and any premium travel benefits; plus
- Capital on Tap as the Visa fallback where American Express is not accepted, and for foreign-currency spending where the Amex 2.99% fee would otherwise apply.
The exact version depends on spend and benefits. A business with modest travel needs might pair the first-year-free Amex Business Gold with Capital on Tap Free. A frequent traveller who genuinely uses lounges and hotel status might instead compare Business Platinum with Capital on Tap Pro.
Likewise, a business focused almost entirely on Avios may prefer the BA Accelerating Business Card – especially if annual spend naturally hits the £20,000 bonus thresholds.
Do not ignore acceptance and FX fees
Rewards can be wiped out by transaction costs.
Amex Business Gold, Business Platinum and the BA Accelerating Business Card currently charge a 2.99% non-sterling fee. Capital on Tap currently charges no FX fee.
That means a £5,000-equivalent overseas purchase could incur roughly £149.50 in Amex non-sterling fees before considering the points earned.
The correct card for a foreign invoice or overseas hotel bill may therefore be completely different from the card you use for a UK advertising or software payment.
Eligibility differs significantly
Do not assume that every product is open to every type of business.
American Express currently states that Business Gold and Business Platinum applications are for UK limited companies and LLPs meeting its eligibility criteria. The BA Accelerating Business Card is available more broadly to eligible sole traders and small businesses.
Capital on Tap requires an eligible UK private limited company or LLP, with the applicant generally an active director or qualifying shareholder.
Virgin Money’s M Account for Business is designed for sole traders, startups, partnerships and small businesses with turnover below its published limit.
Eligibility, credit decisions and guarantees are separate from whether the rewards package itself looks attractive.
What I use
My own business-spending setup includes American Express Business Platinum and Capital on Tap.
The logic is that the two products solve different problems. Membership Rewards are flexible and the Platinum travel package can have significant value, while Capital on Tap provides broader Visa acceptance, no FX fee and another route into Avios, Virgin Points and Radisson Rewards.
I have also used transfer bonuses rather than automatically converting flexible points at the standard rate. For example, I used a 30% Capital on Tap to Qatar Airways Avios bonus in 2026 and have previously used an Amex Membership Rewards to Virgin Points bonus.
See How I Use Points Transfer Bonuses for why I prefer to keep flexible currencies unconverted until there is a reason to move them.
A sensible way to choose
Before applying for any business rewards product, I would work through five questions:
- How much eligible card spend does the business genuinely have?
- How much of that spend is accepted by American Express?
- How much is in foreign currency?
- Do you want flexible points, Avios directly, hotel rewards or simple cash?
- Would you genuinely pay for the lounges, hotel status, insurance or other benefits if they were not bundled into the card?
The annual fee should then be compared with benefits you will realistically use, not the maximum theoretical value advertised by the provider.
Related guides
- How I Earn My Points and Loyalty Benefits
- How I Use Points Transfer Bonuses
- Is Amex Platinum Worth It?
- How Much Is an Avios Worth?
- Hotel Elite Status Shortcuts
- IHG Revolut Card UK Guide
- Travel Tools I Use and Recommend
Official product information
- American Express Business Gold
- American Express Business Platinum
- BA Amex Accelerating Business
- Capital on Tap Business Credit Card
- Revolut Business Titan
- Virgin Money business current accounts
Business-card fees, earning rates, travel benefits, eligibility and tax treatment can change. This guide was checked against the providers’ published UK information in September 2026. Credit should only be used where repayments remain affordable; interest costs can overwhelm the value of any points or travel rewards.
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