New American Express cashback deals launched – and Shop Small changes?

American Express has launched a new batch of cashback deals, with a couple of new hotel deals among them.

As usual, you may see all, some or none of these offers on your American Express account. You need to look at the ‘Offers’ section on your online statement pages or the Amex app for every card you hold.

Some offers will also be available for supplementary cardholders, as long as the card is registered with Amex. Other offers will only be for the primary cardholder.

This is what we seem to have that are new and relevant to HfP readers:

Gett

The taxi app is offering 15% cashback on all rides until 30th June.

Financial Times

Instead of the old offer which offered a fixed £25 discount, the FT is now offering 25% cashback on a transaction of any size. This is valid on transactions taken out by 20th June.

If you already pay for the FT, you may want to see if there is a way of adjusting your subscription (can you get a pro-rata refund on an annual sub and then take out a new one?) so that a payment is made during this period.

Red Carnation Hotels

You may not have heard of Red Carnation, but it owns a number of smart boutique hotels in expensive parts of London. It also owns Ashford Castle in Ireland (below) which you may have seen on the recent BBC2 series with Giles Coren, but this is NOT taking part in the offer.

You receive £75 cashback on a £350+ spend by 30th September.

Red Carnation Hotels is no longer a Virgin Atlantic points earning partner.

You can take a look at their full portfolio here.

Hand Picked Hotels

I have no experience of this UK chain, but you can get £50 cashback on a £400 stay by 30th June.

There are a lot of other offers out there too. My wife has 58 on her Preferred Rewards Gold card, which is more than double what I have on my Platinum card. Not bad going given that the shops are shut ….

Meanwhile ….. is Shop Small changing?

A reader posted an interesting titbit from Amex Australia in our comments section yesterday.

In Australia, Amex Shop Small is changing into a ‘year round’ event. Instead of getting A$5 cashback on each qualifying A$10 purchase for a short period, cardholders will receive an extra 3 points per A$1 spent for the next year. There is a cap of 40,000 bonus points between now and the end of March 2022.

There is no guarantee that we will see the same in the UK, but this is how the wind is blowing.

If I owned a small shop, I might find this new offer more attractive. Instead of getting ‘once a year’ visits during the Shop Small promo period, a shop may attract new regular customers who know they will get additional rewards on every purchase, every day.

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 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 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:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review