American Express Membership Rewards - Platinum Concierge (US)

so exactly just how far does this service go?

will they hook me up with a date?
talk to me when i'm lonely?
write my college papers for me? --help me pass college??
send someone to pick my nose?

i'm being seriouse too lol. I've had the gold card since 2004, and called today in response to an invation to have it upgraded to platinum and i'm really curious about this concierge thing. Will they do pretty much anthing you ask aslong as it's legal??

so exactly just how far does this service go?

will they hook me up with a date?
talk to me when i'm lonely?
write my college papers for me? --help me pass college??
send someone to pick my nose?

i'm being seriouse too lol. I've had the gold card since 2004, and called today in response to an invation to have it upgraded to platinum and i'm really curious about this concierge thing. Will they do pretty much anthing you ask aslong as it's legal??


Here's a business situation that the concierge helped with.

I was in an unfamiliar town, and had an industrial amount of polystrene to get rid of. Called AmEx, and told the guy my issue. Also told him I didn't have time to call people. He called them, and within 15 minutes my phone was ringing form guys who could take my trash.

Same with travel. I was in Gainesville on the eve of some HUGE college football game in Sept. Next night nobody had rooms. Called AmEx Plat. Travel, and they found me rooms. Again, I just told them what I needed and they figured it out.

Ultimately, though, the platinum is about lounge access on NW/CO/etc., and the "slapping down the plat amex" factor.

While they haven't (yet) gotten me a date, the Platinum concierge in Australia did tell a joke at a party for me a couple of weeks ago.

I was at a company Christmas party and, as a recent hire, needed to stand up and tell a joke. I couldn't think of a good one, and have a reputation for calling AMEX for things, so as the joke, I put my cell phone on speakerphone, called AMEX, and told the concierge I'm at a party and needed to tell a joke. She asked me to hold a moment, returned, and told everyone a joke. Granted it was a lousy joke, but I was surprised (and pleased) by how willing she was to go along.

Here in Australia, I've also had the concierge find me a Santa suit and have it delivered to my hotel the next day (not an easy task the week before Christmas), book tables at a bunch of restaurants at the last minute, and find a doctor open late for an ill colleague of mine.

I've also had good experiences in the U.S., from the mundane (making a quick call and asking the concierge to arrange flowers from my preferred florist and make several restaurant reservations for my grandmother's birthday), to the more exotic, including having a birthday cake delivered for a friend in San Diego, and with a tighter budget than their normal vendor allowed, getting tickets to the World War II memorial dedication in Washington, and finding a hotel at the last minute (and at 6 a.m.) in Eilat, Israel, and giving me walking directions from where I was to the hotel over the phone as I walked there.

My biggest use of the concierge is definitely the restaurant reservations. I've walked into a non-Platinum dining restaurant (the Clay Pit in Austin, TX) and been told there was a 90 minute wait. I put my name in, called AMEX, and they arranged a table for me in 15 minutes, to the chagrin of a professor who noticed me bypass him. I've had similar experiences at other restaurants, including Blue Fin in NY. They're particularly good at Amex Platinum Dining and hot plates restaurants, even well after the 10 a.m. cutoff (I tend to call as I'm walking to the restaurant).

While I definitely make use of the lounges and Avis preferred select status (and Starwood Gold before reaching Platinum), I'd say the best use of the card for me is the concierge, along with the Premium Global Assist (who's gotten me cash delivered to a post office in Israel at 6 p.m. within 30 minutes of me call, all without even the customary cash advance fees).

-m