American Express Membership Rewards - BENEFITS / DRAWBACKs of BUSINESS CENTURION vs: PERSONAL CENT

Having read of yet another lucrative promotion, this time 3x MRewards for CENTURION cardholders (which I believe will turn out to be only for PERSONAL CENT cardholders), I called AMEX and spoke at length, and though they are, of course, coy, about targeted promotions in general, still I think they all-but admitted this type promotion is almost exclusively going to be for PERSONAL CENT and not BUSINESS CENT.

The promo in question: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/968670-targeted-3x-mr-centurion-promo.html

Ditto for the intermittant promotions such as free $500 gift cards for high-end shopping. CSR I spoke with tells me "why would a business CENT cardholder want to shop at high-end consumer stores". That is a virtual direct quote from an AMEX CENTURION CSR.

Disingenious, huh ?

Turns out the "OPEN" discounts are supposed to be the "big exclusive benefit" for BUSINESS CENT cardholders that differentiates the two (PERSONAL vs: BUSINESS CENTURION cardholders), since OPEN discounts are not available for PERSONAL CENT cardholders.

Leads me to ask: Do other BUSINESS CENT cardholders ever get these targeted 2x or 3x membership rewards promotions ? Or is my assumption (and what the AMEX CSR all-but admitted to) correct that these are only for PERSONAL ?

I checked on the possibility of "converting" my BUSINESS to a PERSONAL CENT, and learned it can be done if one still qualifies as if first-time applying, which I do. Because I have already paid the $2500 annual fee, the fee is waived when converting to this personal CENT.

Intersting delimna - my company DOES take advantage of the OPEN discount w/ FedEx and we max uut that $1000 savings. So I do see some value from the OPEN standing discounts and am informed I would lose these if I converted my account to PERSONAL CENT.

Thoughts ?

Reading through the forum a bit you'd notice that almost all the Centurion promos are for personal cards, not biz cards. The Wynn promo was just released for the Biz card but other than that there really haven't been any over the past couple years.

...my company DOES take advantage of the OPEN discount w/ FedEx and we max out that $1000 savings. So I do see some value from the OPEN standing discounts and am informed I would lose these if I converted my account to PERSONAL CENT.

Are the Centurion OPEN discounts any different than those offered with all OPEN cards, including cards with no annual fee?

https://www152.americanexpress.com/opensavings/opensavings.do?intlink=ocmhp_osavingsbp

If not, the solution seems straightforward. Convert Centurion to personal and use another business card for the transactions which qualify for the discounts. Likewise, if you max out the FedEx discount open an additional account because the terms say Maximum annual savings is $1,000 per Card account

Having read of yet another lucrative promotion, this time 3x MRewards for CENTURION cardholders (which I believe will turn out to be only for PERSONAL CENT cardholders), I called AMEX and spoke at length, and though they are, of course, coy, about targeted promotions in general, still I think they all-but admitted this type promotion is almost exclusively going to be for PERSONAL CENT and not BUSINESS CENT.

The promo in question: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/968670-targeted-3x-mr-centurion-promo.html

Ditto for the intermittant promotions such as free $500 gift cards for high-end shopping. CSR I spoke with tells me "why would a business CENT cardholder want to shop at high-end consumer stores". That is a virtual direct quote from an AMEX CENTURION CSR.

Disingenious, huh ?

Turns out the "OPEN" discounts are supposed to be the "big exclusive benefit" for BUSINESS CENT cardholders that differentiates the two (PERSONAL vs: BUSINESS CENTURION cardholders), since OPEN discounts are not available for PERSONAL CENT cardholders.

Leads me to ask: Do other BUSINESS CENT cardholders ever get these targeted 2x or 3x membership rewards promotions ? Or is my assumption (and what the AMEX CSR all-but admitted to) correct that these are only for PERSONAL ?

I checked on the possibility of "converting" my BUSINESS to a PERSONAL CENT, and learned it can be done if one still qualifies as if first-time applying, which I do. Because I have already paid the $2500 annual fee, the fee is waived when converting to this personal CENT.

Intersting delimna - my company DOES take advantage of the OPEN discount w/ FedEx and we max uut that $1000 savings. So I do see some value from the OPEN standing discounts and am informed I would lose these if I converted my account to PERSONAL CENT.

Thoughts ?

Why not open a parallel business card, and leave it green or gold.

Then, you will have OPEN benefits on that new account. The OPEN benefits are all the same, if you are green, gold, platinum or centurion.

Once you get the new (lower) OPEN card, transfer your Business Centurion to a Personal Centurion.

I closed my own Business Centurion last year, and just kept the Personal one. No benefits to having an OPEN centurion product, rather than a simple green one.

The only benefit that I can think of is the Regus perk. Centurion Business cardholders receive free half-day private offices at any of the Regus locations.

With the business card it is probably an easier write off then the personal card.

For getting a business card from amex with open I highly suggest the plum card.

The only benefit of the personal over the business is if you get lucky and get a gift or get a targeted promo (seems like you have to live in LA or NYC to get these). Right now I wish I had a biz card for the free two nights at the Wynn ;)

The only benefit that I can think of is the Regus perk. Centurion Business cardholders receive free half-day private offices at any of the Regus locations.

You get the Regus perk with the Personal Centurion also. You don't need to keep a business platinum for that - you can downgrade it to green, and then convert the Biz Cent to Pers Cent (like I said earlier).

All Cent cards (Biz and Pers) give you Virgin Gold - which automatically gets you not only the "regular" Regus perk (that OPEN Cent and Plat does), but also a higher perk, which is 2 free coupons for a private office.

You get the Regus perk with the Personal Centurion also. You don't need to keep a business platinum for that - you can downgrade it to green, and then convert the Biz Cent to Pers Cent (like I said earlier).

All Cent cards (Biz and Pers) give you Virgin Gold - which automatically gets you not only the "regular" Regus perk (that OPEN Cent and Plat does), but also a higher perk, which is 2 free coupons for a private office.

The Centurion Business offers an enhanced version. It gives you unlimited (technically half-day) office visits. It is an agreement directly between AmEx and Regus.

You also get some benefits with Regus with the Platinum Business, as well as with the Personal Centurion (via Virgin Flying Club), but it is not the same.

The Centurion Business offers an enhanced version. It gives you unlimited (technically half-day) office visits. It is an agreement directly between AmEx and Regus.

You also get some benefits with Regus with the Platinum Business, as well as with the Personal Centurion (via Virgin Flying Club), but it is not the same.

I would triple check the info you were given - it may be a misunderstanding as to what you refer to as "office visits".

There are "visits" (which are usage of any Regus Location and their general facilities such as internet, phone/fax/copier, coffee, etc.) and "private offices". All Regus memberships give you "unlimited office visits" but not "private office" usage (which you have to pay for).

In December 2008, I spoke to Regus directly regarding their 50%-off promotion for their "gold" card - which gives you "unlimited visits" to any regus facility but not to use any private offices (which they charge you for).

They told me that "we see you have a Gold Card already, with American Express" so there was no need for me to pay for a duplicate membership. I specifically asked whether there was any difference between:
1. The Gold Card ordered directly from Regus.
2. The Gold Card offered by Amex platinum, OPEN Business, etc.
3. The "Centurion Office Program" which uses Regus.

Regus's head office told me (both on the phone and in emails) that the "Centurion Office Program" is simply a nice name for the Regus Gold card, with "unlimited access to their facilities" but not private offices.

In fact, I was told by them recently (when I received yet another Regus Gold card through Virgin) that the Virgin offer is identical to all of the other co-offered Regus Gold cards, with the added benefit of 2 vouchers for a half-day private office.

Biz Cent, they said, does not allow usage of a private office - unless you want to pay for it on a per-use basis (at a 10% discount), or take out a "Regus Platinum Membership" (399 per month) which gives 10 half-days of private office use per month, etc etc.

I am inclined to migrate to the PERS CENT from my BUSINESS CENT, open a lowly AMEX BUSINESS GOLD (which seem to get tons of double MR promotions), and earn my OPEN benefits via the GOLD card.

The PLUM has no attraction for me as I use, in this order: 2% cash back (Sam's Club Discover - the single-best, hidden treasure card I know of, which has deceptively little following here on FT for reasons I have never determined), then starwood/amex as primary backup, and finally a distant 3rd: membership rewards card (BUSINESS CENT in this case).

This WYNN promotion is intriguing, especially if it turns out to be an exclusively-BUSINESS CENT perk and not a PERSONAL CENT perk as well.

REGUS - has zero value to me.

Thanks for all the contributions and ideas.

This WYNN promotion is intriguing, especially if it turns out to be an exclusively-BUSINESS CENT perk and not a PERSONAL CENT perk as well.


The current one is indeed Biz Cent only, I tried with my personal Cent, no luck... apparently I missed the same deal for the Wynn on personal cent a couple months back :mad:

I would triple check the info you were given - it may be a misunderstanding as to what you refer to as "office visits".

There are "visits" (which are usage of any Regus Location and their general facilities such as internet, phone/fax/copier, coffee, etc.) and "private offices". All Regus memberships give you "unlimited office visits" but not "private office" usage (which you have to pay for).

In December 2008, I spoke to Regus directly regarding their 50%-off promotion for their "gold" card - which gives you "unlimited visits" to any regus facility but not to use any private offices (which they charge you for).

They told me that "we see you have a Gold Card already, with American Express" so there was no need for me to pay for a duplicate membership. I specifically asked whether there was any difference between:
1. The Gold Card ordered directly from Regus.
2. The Gold Card offered by Amex platinum, OPEN Business, etc.
3. The "Centurion Office Program" which uses Regus.

Regus's head office told me (both on the phone and in emails) that the "Centurion Office Program" is simply a nice name for the Regus Gold card, with "unlimited access to their facilities" but not private offices.

In fact, I was told by them recently (when I received yet another Regus Gold card through Virgin) that the Virgin offer is identical to all of the other co-offered Regus Gold cards, with the added benefit of 2 vouchers for a half-day private office.

Biz Cent, they said, does not allow usage of a private office - unless you want to pay for it on a per-use basis (at a 10% discount), or take out a "Regus Platinum Membership" (399 per month) which gives 10 half-days of private office use per month, etc etc.

Hmmm, interesting. Maybe we both need to double check. Perhaps they have changed, but when I spoke directly to a Regus in November, 2008, a manager in Phoenix confirmed that the Business Platinum provides Regus Gold membership, and that Business Centurion includes the additional perk of unlimited half-day office rentals at no charge. The only caveat was that the 1/2 day office usage is based on availability. (He pointed that out to me later when trying to make a case that I should pay for a dedicated office space in the building.)

I made the call after reading about the perk here on Flyertalk: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/870329-personal-business-centurion.html

This information was as-of November, 2008. They may have since changed that. :)