Amex Platinum now offering Hertz Five Star status

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Over the last couple of years, Avis and Hertz have opened up their loyalty schemes, removing joining fees and eliminating tiers. This means that the main benefits offered by premium credit cards – free entry into a programme that would charge a fee, or putting you in at a higher tier – have been wiped away.

Hertz has now responded by improving the offering for Amex Platinum cardholders. Instead of membership into Gold Plus Rewards (which is now free to all), you will receive Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status.

Five Star status usually requires 10 rentals over the previous 12 months.

Benefits include:

Free additional driver (this could be valuable, and matches the perk that Avis offers to British Airways Executive Club members via avisba.com)

10% bonus Gold Plus Rewards points

You also get the following benefits as an Amex Platinum member, assuming you use the Hertz Amex Plat CDP discount code (although this is not always the cheapest deal):

15% off standard rates

Four-hour grace period when returning the car

One-class upgrade subject to availability

The four-hour grace period is, for me, one of the best benefits of renting from Hertz. You can get the cost of a 2-day rental down to the cost of a 1-day rental if your rental times are, for eg, 12pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday.

You can find full details of this offer here. It appears that Amex Plat members can join from scratch via the link on that page. What is not clear is how you get your existing Gold Plus Rewards membership upgraded – I imagine you would need to call Amex or Hertz. The literature I saw said:

“If you are already enrolled in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, you have automatically been upgraded to Five Star status”

but when I log in, I do not see that. (That said, I have a Mastercard in my profile so that is not necessarily surprising!). I will chase this up before my next rental.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus.

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending: