<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DJ_Iceman:
There have been many threads here about this topic. My specific question (for Centurion cardholders or those who have been offered an invitation and turned it down) is this: does charging with Amex's "partners" help? For example, I could by an $800 purse at Gucci or Escada. Given that Escada offers special deals to Amex cardholders, I purchase it there. Does that $800 look somehow better to the Centurion-blessing gods? The same applies to airlines, restaurants, even buying tickets to "Gold-only events" and things like that. The $150K annual spend criterion does not seem to be absolute, so can I help my chances by patronizing those vendors who have a special relationship with Amex?</font>
I don't think anyone's been able to post definitive information on this. Presumably, charges less than $150K that indicate a certain lifestyle (such as travel or perhaps expensive retail) might actually give a better picture than someone that just spends $150K on who knows what.
One thing to consider is that the $150K limit seems to be very straight-forward: if you meet it, have good credit, and have had an Amex card for a year, then you get it (but may have to ask if all of the spend wasn't on a Platinum charge card).
As for the other "unpublished" ways, I'm not sure that you could get accurate information that you could rely on.