MilesBuzz! - Small-Midsize Business Owners: What CC??

Any small or midsize business owners out there? What credit cards have you issed for your employers that earn them points/miles? I'm looking for something low cost (free is good!) that allows them to accrue points/miles to their own accounts.

I'm disappointed that UA's business credit card allows accrual only to a primary account. While that would certainly be nice for me, I'm not sure it would be great for morale. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif But that's another issue.

So. Any recommendations?

I have heard some friends use Starwood AMEX because of the options to put points in many places and a few other friends do have DL amex but that is also another story.
hope this helps. I might go with Starwood amex if I were in your shoes, IMHO.

American Express Corporage Gold, something like $70/year.

Lots of the usual travel benefits (rental car insurance, etc), the usually excellent AmEx service, and linked to my Membership Rewards account. You can have a MR account per-card, though, I believe.

[This message has been edited by dbaker (edited 11-12-2002).]

For what you're looking for, the only choice is AmEx membership rewards. Unless your staff already have a MR account, you or they will have to pay the annual fee plus card fees unless you get the AmEx Blue.

When it's properly explained that there should be some relationship between risk & reward we've found virtually all of our staff were quite understanding. Since I as one of the principals of our firm am the "primary card holder" and therefore 100% liable for the entire account, it seems completely fair that the points should acrue to me. All of our staff members of course receive their respective airline & hotels points for the flights & rooms they actually use while spending the company's money.

We've found the AmEx Starwood SPG card to be the best value. Free for the first year, $30 per year there after, up to 99 additional cards with no annual fee, itemized statements reflecting the spending on each card.

Any problem with the employees using their personal cards and you reimbursing them? Everyone could pick their favorite program and you wouldn't have the liability issue clanson refers to.

If you want employees to get the miles/points, then I would agree they should just use their own cards and get reimbursed. And to be honest, I have heard 99 war stories for every 1 good reason to have corporate cards.

Two other reasons I would NOT opt for corporate cards/miles. They are now encourage to spend MORE of your money to get more miles, vs making smart choices. On the other hand, for those employees that do not spend much, they rack up miles that may be of little value. For example, someone spending 2k per year with no flying. Those miles are basically worthless as they will never get to the value of a free ticket. Airlines win, you lose.

The company I work for uses Diners, but does not pick up the fee for the rewards program. Everyone gets the benefits of a corporate card and if an individual wants to accrue points they may pay for the program. Seems to make sense from a business/benefits perspective, though I wish someone else paid the rewards program fee.

We've been very fortunate and cannot really tell a single war story from the 12 years we've been using a designated corporate card. We're a small company of 18 with only 15 cards in use and we scrutinize each account carefully every month. Just like kids, some employees will only push the envelope if they think it will fly.

The problems I've seen with personal cards and corporate re-imbursement is that many times it causes stress at home for the employee due to maxed out limits and the employee's need for very timely re-imbursements. Invariably, when you need am employee to make a rush trip and purchase a last minute airline ticket, a New York (expensive) hotel, or a car rental, his/her personal credit card will be maxed out. This usually happens after business hours or on the weekend.

If an employee is going to unwisely spend money to get points/miles it really doesn't make a difference whether he/she submits a receipt for re-imbursement or if our accountant methodicaly reviews our AmEx bill. Either way, that employee has his/her hand in my pocket and I'm not going to like it.

AMEX has a new card out this year called AMEX Rewards Gold. Mem fee is a little steep ~$150/year. Up to 5 free cards add. cards. Good thing is Double miles on flight purchases first 6 mo. then 1.5 miles/$1 thereafter. Alot of other 1.5 miles /$1 spent deals too. My first 6 mo. I had $6k in airlines, so had an extra 12K miles to play with. Good thing about Membership Rewards is you can get other items. Some are overpriced, some are a really good deal.

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abev107, I can't find that card on the American Express website. Where did you get that info?