Juanefny

As a millennial, one of the things that bug me is that the "invitation only" events are not well advertised as I mention on a different thread. Why do I have to find out about the free Coachella event through the points Guy? Same thing with the Hamilton buyout night, which I found out about here. And no, I don't want to pay $3,000 a ticket to go wine tasting. The first and only event that I found interesting was the $750 Hamilton VIP event they are having in la this fall. None of the other events appeal to me.

drwilliams

It can be a tough decision to take amex or not. In my business (restaurants) amex customers average charges are twice the average for visa or mastercard.

Would they still come and use another card? Definitely some would, the question is how many would not.

STS-134

Probably more people would go out of the way to use their Amex at restaurants (and hence, make a point of going to restaurants that take Amex cards) if Amex had a better reward structure for spending at restaurants. For me, restaurant spend does not go on my Amex anyway so I couldn't care less.

5x MR points/$ on restaurants on the Plat card might just be enough to get me to put the CSR away though...especially because I already have over 300k UR points that I am not sure what to do with at the moment. And giving us benefits that we can actually use, like $200 travel credit good for ANY travel expense throughout the year and a $100-200 Uber credit that is also valid for UberEats (and explicitly says so in the terms) that is valid anytime during the calendar year would probably get a lot more Millennials to sign up for the card. The fewer hoops I have to jump through to use my benefits, and the more spend bonuses I have, the more likely the card is to come out of my wallet frequently.

Explorer789

5X dining would easily making it my top card since I eat out a lot. But it is not sustainable from a profitability standpoint. They would have to cap it up to a certain spend amount and then maybe reduce it to 2-3X unrestricted. Even then, it would be a big improvement.

mingw

can hardly imagine this is a fantastic. you pay $1k in fees for those two cards, just to get the 5x return on airline tickets? you maybe travel a lot but AMEX certainly can't survive just with travellers like you.

I do travel quite a bit, but after points/miles redemption, chase/citi airline credits, the amount left to be charge by AMEX just too far from $10k to make the annual fees worthy.

STS-134

I dunno, when I look at what a MR point is worth, and what a UR point is worth, and consider that Chase gives 3xUR points on all travel and dining with no cap, it must somehow be sustainable, unless Chase is using the extra UR point/$ on the CSR as a loss leader (I highly doubt this though). If they can do uncapped 5x for airfare, why not for dining?

drwilliams

But that makes no difference to my point regarding accepting amex. Amex customers spend more money per visit than either visa or mastercard customers.

I am sure there are a multitude of reasons why they do, but the fact that they do is a big reason to accept amex.

STS-134

But unless I use the Amex at restaurants, there's no point in trying to woo me in by accepting it. I'd just use the CSR and I won't really care if the restaurant takes it, nor will I go out of my way to eat at restaurants that do take it. So until Amex does something that gets me using my Plat at restaurants, it's really irrelevant whether a restaurant takes it. Doing so won't change their chances of getting me in their door as a customer.

mingw

they might want to wait and see whether they can regain their customers with small improvements. they are making a huge deal with the Uber offer, let's see how well it goes and whether they will add dining (I would guess 2-3x no 5x)... hopefully they won't do a "fine restaurant" only

Explorer789

Chase was referring to the 100k bonuses as being the loss leader. In the long run, it is sustainable especially since Chase is using CSR as a lure to sell their credit cards and banking products to try to sell to high income customers. So far it has worked, since even I now have a Chase checking account.

Amex doesn't have that same level of diversified banking portfolio. Uncapped 5X airlines was nothing more than a marketing ploy imo. How many of platholders travel enough to be able to utilize it? A very small number of business travelers probably really happy about it. On top of that, CSR has trip delay protection, making it the better card to use for flights.

drwilliams

I am not trying to woo people in by accepting amex who do not use amex. I am trying to woo people in who do.

If you use visa, I take that to woo you in.

If you do not use amex then there is no cost to me, as the cost of taking amex only comes into play when someone uses amex.

And for me it makes sense, as they spend more, that is all my point is.

STS-134

It really only makes sense if the fact that you take Amex causes people to spend more at your restaurant, or causes them to spend money there at all, that they would not otherwise have spent on a Visa or Mastercard. If the vast majority of those folks would have come in and spent the same amount on a Visa or Mastercard, then taking Amex could actually be costing you money. Amex could be playing on a common fallacy and they really need to go a lot farther to prove that taking Amex causes people to spend more if they want to make that claim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correl...mply_causation

Troopers

I think your expectations/comparison are/is unrealistic.

Do you expect a lounge independent of airline and class with a nominal annual fee (Centurion) to be comparable to a lounge access attached to a premium ticket (QR lounge)?


We don't know if the CSR is sustainable. The CSP is the better card for the avg person.

drwilliams

Agreed. But I do not need amex to try to sell me on how much amex customers spend per visit vs. visa or mastercard. I have that information.

Whether the same customers would come in and spend the same amount of money is the great unknown.

adambadam

But, 3x is what the competition is at. Yeah 5x is better, but why not at least align to the competition? That is the piece where I start to lose whatever strategy Amex is going for.