flyr16

Blooomberg has an interesting story on AmEx and the increased competition it faces for big spenders. Now, if this competition results in expanded benefits, all to the better.


"AmEx Is Losing Its Millionaires: As American Express courts ordinary spenders, rivals poach its wealthiest clients."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...vals-take-bite

jft3

They had a good run, but it's almost like they're stuck in an austerity-type mindset while the rest of the banks are spending more to get more. I don't remember seeing any memorable perks from AMEX as of late, everything seems to be cuts.

cotr

I think the CSP started the trend to move high spenders/travelers away from Amex. I made the switch to the CSP as my primary card almost three years ago and use my Amex for electronics purchases primarily.

Dieuwer

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ame...me_latest_news

Looks like it is not just the big spenders they are losing.
I am not surprised given the high business and card holders fees AMEX charges.

mia

Competition is good for us. I anticipate that American Express, Chase, Citi and (perhaps) Bank of America will all offer more over the next 18 months, and we will benefit. However, time and again other banks have taken a run at American Express' Platinum and Centurion demographic. They have failed because they do not have the scale to offer the same breadth and depth of benefits, nor the budget to subsidize the cards while building a cardholder base.

This time could be different, but I don't see compelling evidence yet. Chase did nothing to promote their Palladium card during the period when American Express Platinum was most vulnerable, and now the window is closing. The Ritz Carlton Card has decent benefits, but a weak rewards program.

Today, I think Citi Prestige is the most compelling alternative to American Express Platinum, but the author of this article ignored it, suggesting that Citi needs to do more to make potential customers aware of the refreshed product. I think that Citi's track record of tinkering with ThankYou Rewards every two years is a liability that will prove difficult to overcome, and they really need to add a domestic USA airline transfer partner because the casual traveler does not understand airline alliances or partner redemptions.


American Express introduced a free card which allows transfers to airline and hotel partners. Chase and Citi have not matched this.

American Express is building its own network of airport lounges. I do not see Chase or Citi or Bank of America doing anything similar.

American Express is offering free Boingo and (some) free GoGo internet access. Chase, Citi, Bank of America, anyone?

All major issuers are pulling back on automatic annual bonuses. American Express removed the annual threshold bonus from Preferred Rewards Gold. Chase removed the 7% annual bonus from Sapphire Preferred. Citi reduced the annual bonus on Prestige. The difference is that American Express is giving 25,000 point retention bonuses to offset the loss of a 15,000 point threshold bonus. I don't see Chase or Citi doing anything this generous.

Centurion

I see a lot of black citibank executive cards lately even when I am not flying.

mia

No question Citi has done a good job building and maintaining the AAdvantage card franchise. Prestige is better value that the Executive card, which is just a "me too" match for United Club and Delta Reserve. If would use Prestige for benefits and the Starwood Preferred Guest card to earn AA miles.

some dude

Anecdotal sure, but most big spenders that I know have moved on from Amex to Chase Sapphire or Palladium.

I used to put ~99% of my spend on Amex, but now more and more is going towards Citi AA (Mostly as a diversification strategy to get points into OneWorld since I do not like BA's program for my needs, so Amex has no good transfer partner for me on that path).

As far as what Amex has added:
What about what Amex has removed/lost in the last 18 months alone?
USAir/AA Lounges
Delta lounges for guests
Decreased value of transfers to HHonors
Many transfer partners have devalued
(Centurion) Delta status has become "comped" rather than "earned", and lost perks.
(Centurion) USAir status GONE (I used this much more than Delta status in the last year, particularly with the AA merger).
Celebrity Cruises is no longer a CTS/PTS cruise partner (I didn't see this mentioned previously on the forum, but I recently discovered this while booking a cruise)

I'm sure there are others I am not remembering/aware of.

At this point there are only a few benefits left to Centurion over Platinum that I get any value from at all. Hertz platinum is pretty good, and HH Diamond is a nice perk (though I actually spent enough at HH last year to earn the status on base points). I haven't flown Delta in a year.

Even those benefits though ... HH Diamond -- I haven't received a single suite upgrade in an entire year where I actually earned HH Diamond for the next year -- the free breakfast is kinda nice, but "meh". Nothing like what I used to experience from Hyatt Diamond as a Centurion benefit.

For what they added? Boingo? Worthless. I have free tethering on both my T-Mobile (iPhone) and Verizon (iPad) accounts. There is also free wifi in many places.

Amex lounges? Okay, they are very nice -- but also already very crowded and in very few airports. With my Citi AA card, I have access to the full network of AA lounges worldwide, which has a lounge at almost every airport I might travel to. For Amex lounges, I have to intentionally travel to/from/connect in DFW, LAS or LGA. I will admit, it is now better to connect at DFW for the amex lounge than to connect at IAH for the united lounge -- but it's very lame to have to make that choice. In order to be a serious benefit, Amex needs to have lounges at a minimum of: DFW, LAS, LGA ... ORD, MIA, FLL, SEA, EWR, JFK, LAX, SFO, PHX, HNL. I know some of these are already in the works, but not all, and the existing locations already need to be expanded and add showers.

I am honestly rooting for Amex to win here, but it seems like they have just lost all drive to compete any more than the minimum, while at the same time the travel industry sees Amex as an unnecessary partner. It used to be that there was no question that the Platinum and Centurion were the clear kings, and it's just not true anymore.

Okay, a free card that has transfer benefits -- great. So is amex's goal really that Centurion customers downgrade to Platinum, and Platinum to a free card?

The last thing Amex needs is fanbois who will not criticize them.

Centurion

Dear Amex-Why can you not listen to customers on the ground? I feel as if the decision making executives are isolated way up in the sky in an office tower in New York.

mia

Agreed, but criticism needs to be accurate. The claim that American Express has not added any valuable perks recently is false. No one will use every benefit (e,g, I have not been to a Centurion lounge), but I think it's clear the company is spending serious money to restore the value of the Platinum Card. I do not see that they are doing much to increase the incremental value of Centurion.

I do not see the purpose of criticizing American Express because their transfer partners have devalued their rewards programs. Have Bank of America, Chase or Citi done anything to offset these devaluations?

James Fleming

I agree. I recently got the CSP and love it - easy points structure, primary coverage on rentals. Chase could really do a bit more to make the benefits easier to access - I only discovered https://chaselhrpurchase.orxenterprise.com/ by accident last week and would have used it to book into the Westin Venice and get free breakfast / $100 credit if I'd known earlier!

Amex Plat these days is just for FHR, Costco (until 2016 it seems!) and the occasional lounge trip / premium dining reservation and $200 inAA gift cards. The customer service is always a great selling point, but I love that the CSP gets me straight to a human with no phone tree.

There's no real incentive to spend on the Plat, I wonder if the annual fee is enough to offset the transaction fees that now go to Chase.

Dieuwer

What BofA devaluations...?

edcli

For spending love the Everyday Preferred card. I can't think of a better card to accruing rewards for big spenders.

Racking up 1.5X pts plus the occasional transfer bonus. Almost makes up for SkyPesos as a transfer partner.

I have other cards but AMEX is getting majority of my charges.

Dieuwer

Rack up 5x with Chase Freedom.

NYCRuss

That's not unlimited though. The EDP, provided you make 30+ transactions per month, is unlimited 1.5x.