American Express Membership Rewards - Platinum vs. Centurion, your advice on a specific situation please?

Greetings All,

I know that the Centurion card has been discussed ad nauseam and I have read most of those posts... Nevertheless, I would really appreciate your advice/comments on my specific situation because it involves a specifcally short period of time.

I currently am a Platinum Card holder and have recently considered cancelling it because I pretty much never travel and for $375 / year and no travelling it seems like a bit of a waste (besides, my card of choice is my UAL card as I need those miles most). Naturally, as I consider cancelling the Platinum Card, I have finally decided to treat myself to a nice vacation in Europe.

So far I intend to use the two for one business class ticket deal (AMEX) and will be travelling in high end hotels in (1) Venice, (2) Rome, (3) Positano or Florence, and maybe (4) Amsterdam or Prague. Trip will be approximately 17 days plus or minus.

Here is my dilema... My father has a Centurion card and has no additional card holders. Will it be worth it to obtain the secondary card from my Dad's account and use that for my travels? Consider the following: I need to go through the difficult process of explaining it to my Dad and reimburse him when I get back. I need to pay the $1,500.00 fee to get the second card. I would cancel the card the following year thus only using the card's benefits for this single trip.

So, for the troubles and costs associated with obtaining the Centurion Card, how much of a benefit over my Platinum Card would the Centurion be for a single trip to the destinations listed? Would I receive enough upgrades and special services from my hotels and cars, etc. to make this worth my while?

Please let me know your thoughts and thanks in advance.

J.

Since you'll be traveling on b-class, only the hotel benefits may be worth the trouble. Starwood Platinum status is the most rewarding in my experience, as Starwood hotels in Europe will often upgrade you to nice suites. Most boutique Starwoods in Europe don't have an executive lounge, but the few which do have lounges will give you access to the Club lounge as well. Hilton Gold status will often give you access to sold out properties at full (rack rate) price, so if you need to get into a couple of those it may be worth the trouble as well. Otherwise, the access to the Club lounge and the upgrade (rarely to a suite) can be purchased for a lot less than $1500. There are some additional benefits with Ritz Carlton and other high-end hotels in Europe, but IMHO those wouldn't be worth $1500 for a single trip.

Happy holidays !

An additional USD 1500 for a 17 day trip ?
Instead of hoping for upgrades at hotels, use the USD 1500 and book the room or suite you were hoping for in the first place.

Also make sure to check if two discounted biz class tickets might be cheaper than the Amex 2 for 1 offer. I have found that buying two discoiunted biz tickets are usually much cheaper than the 2-4-1 prices. (exceptions always possible). Also, often the second free of charge ticket is not eligable for mileage collection, depending on airline.

I agree with Rambuster. The $1500 fee for the 17day trip will NOT be worth it. Plus Hilton and Starwood are not high end hotels.

Rack rate access to sold out Hilton props is a Diamond, not a Gold benefit. So Gold won't get you that.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Aren't places like the Excelsior, the Grand, etc. in Italy considered high end? I believe they are Starwood (St. Regis) hotels, but I just started to think about this last night so I haven't started looking yet. My difficulty comes from considering that if you take the $1500 divided by the 17 days, that is $88 per day available for hotel upgrades. Depending on my actual chances for upgrade with the Centurion, I doubt I will ever find a room upgradeable to a suite for $88 per day.

What do you guys think?

Depending on my actual chances for upgrade with the Centurion, I doubt I will ever find a room upgradeable to a suite for $88 per day.

True. But Centurion-based upgrades (through CTS or SPG) are anything but guaranteed.

As a Cebturion you can book FHR rates (Fine Hotels & Resorts) and also special Centurion rates at some hotels, which will give you either upgrades if available upon check-in or upgrades at time of booking.

However, let's not kid ourselves: You are paying for the upgrade through the rate itself, although sometimes there are good deals to be made.

With regards to Hilton Gold and Starwood Plat, I believe they are only available to the main cardholder and not to any additional card holders - at least this is what it's like in Europe.

US based Centurion all the additional card holders get all the benfits ie airline middle level status and all the hotel membership and even the Priority Pass.

However, let's not kid ourselves: You are paying for the upgrade through the rate itself, although sometimes there are good deals to be made.
Some of the Centurion deals are good enough that 'you are paying for the upgrade through the rate itself' is definitely not true. Especially the Mandarin Oriental rates, which are often the same or less than the published 'Internet Special' rates but with upgrade at time of booking and free breakfast/late checkout.

i have been told that for centurion, amex even though gives out the card with not much difficulty as they wnat to earn the huge yearly fee, they have on occasion denied Plat members to get centurion cards as they dun feel its worth it. I have a fren who pays mostly govt rates on his travels and he says he's on the wiating list which practically means amex is not considering giving him a centurion card as yet...

so if you are able to get a centurion card, it is worth it, not just for the purpose of keeping up appearances but also for the beanies of shopping, the concierge and travels. Centurion card holders have been known to get what they want with amex threatening to cancel their relationship with merchants such as Hyatt if they deny centurion card members best room available in the property and so on...

If you can afford it, by all means go for it... Its a unique opportunity and one as a american you should appreciate.

Some of the Centurion deals are good enough that 'you are paying for the upgrade through the rate itself' is definitely not true. Especially the Mandarin Oriental rates, which are often the same or less than the published 'Internet Special' rates but with upgrade at time of booking and free breakfast/late checkout.


OK, agreed. The MO benefits are very good indeed. Especially with the "one night free" deals at all MO hotels (MO NY @ Columbus Circle excluded for 2006?).

Back to the OP: I would still say that USD 1500 is not worth it for a 17 day trip, especially if he wanted to cancel the Platinum card for cost reasons.

He can book FHR rates (incl. upgrades) with his Platinum card ! ^

Some thoughts:
You may want to check if the rate for the card would be prorated (as you only need to have the card for a few months - this may help with keeping the Platinum card also).

You would get ~100% bonus miles on the flights with the status.

For the hotels, you may or may not get upgraded with status. FHR rates could be much higher than cheaper rates (although not always). Car rental upgrades are not always beneficial.

If you want the card for more than one year I would do it (which is not what you want).

[QUOTE=trekkie]... Centurion card holders have been known to get what they want with amex threatening to cancel their relationship with merchants such as Hyatt if they deny centurion card members best room available in the property and so on...QUOTE]

Amex has NOT canceled their relationship with Hyatt. While Hyatt Diamond status is no longer a benefit of the Centurion card, do you really think that hurt Hyatt???

As I'm typing this the Hyatt thread is jumping with posts about the Amex $50 gift card promotion. Looks like their relationship is alive and well to me. :rolleyes:

As a final update, I went ahead and got the cent card. Just in time for SPG plat for this year... ;-)

Will cancel the card at the end of the year unless they renew/replace SPG plat but that seems unlikely.

One of my stays on the trip will be at a Inter-Conntinental... Maybe priority pass will be worth something too...

By the way, I spent the weekend last week at the St. Regis Monarch Beach and was upgraded to a very large, end/water facing room. Was very nice. :-)

J.

To be sure there is no misunderstanding, Priority Pass is an airport lounge program. Priority Club is the Intercontinental Hotel Group frequent guest program, but it provides minimal benefits at Intercontinental brand hotels because there is another program, Ambassador, to provide amenties at those properties. Priority Club status is more useful at Crowne Plaza.

dennis

i
One of my stays on the trip will be at a Inter-Continental... Maybe priority pass will be worth something too...

My mistake. I have both priority pass and priority club. Shoudl I upgrade interconntinental to Ambassador? Do I just call them to do so?

My mistake. I have both priority pass and priority club. Shoudl I upgrade interconntinental to Ambassador? Do I just call them to do so?
I don't think they will do that.

I meant should I buy Ambassador to go with my Platinum. I know Royal Ambassador is another story...

Say, anyone got any referal coupons for Royal Ambassador they want to part with? hehehehe.

Not sure if this is so, but you might be able to downgrade Centurion to Platinum after the trip and get pro-rata refund of $1,500 dollar fee.

Not sure if this is so, but you might be able to downgrade Centurion to Platinum after the trip and get pro-rata refund of $1,500 dollar fee.

Verrrrrrrrrrrrry good thought!
Rita

Thats what I was thinking of doing, but I wonder if that will make me lose my SPG Plat which is currently good for another 12 months. If it caused me to do that, I would keep the card and hope to get some more use out of that benefit.

On that subject, I called Amex to complain over the loss of the SPG perk and the lady told me she had a ton of calls complaining about this. You never know, maybe they will grandfather people who had this feature and cut it for all future card holders. I can hope anyway. On the off chance that happens, I will hold the card for the year.

Thats what I was thinking of doing, but I wonder if that will make me lose my SPG Plat which is currently good for another 12 months. If it caused me to do that, I would keep the card and hope to get some more use out of that benefit.

A second card costs $1,500 or $125 per month. A platinum card costs $33 per month. If it is worth $92 per month for Starwood Platinum to you, definately keep the card. Just figure how many nights you will stay and get a per night cost for keeping the card before you decide.

For me the Starwood benefit is a major one. Taken with the airline status it justifies the price. Without it, I may go Platinum.