Originally Posted by
synzero
There is no other "program" as you put it that replaces all of the AmEx Platinum benefits. Each one has its own value and use and if you want to get premium experiences you really need to cobble together your own "program" from multiple sources. There's a ton of content on FlyerTalk about all this.
For example: for domestic lounge access there's nothing comparable to the Platinum card. No other company offers SkyClub, Centurion, Escape, Plaza Premium, AND Priority Pass access for a single very low price. The membership fee alone for all these would be far more than the annual fee of this card even if you didn't use any of the credits at all.
Every credit card travel website sucks - not technically, but in terms of customer service, pricing, availability, etc. So yes, amextravel.com is by far the least technically competent (in terms of performance etc), but they all are sites I would never book anything through when I can avoid it. CapitalOne uses Hopper under the hood, a company that systematically engages in horror story practices to fool people out of money. Chase uses CxLoyalty for this, a company that used to have a decent rep for customer service but I've read many awful stories in recent months about their customer service as well. If having your flight plans messed up and ruining your vacations doesn't matter to you, then sure, those other two cards' websites are at least not horribly slow and badly designed and implemented, but I personally steer clear of using them just as much as I steer clear of amextravel.
Now that AmEx has given up on outsourcing the concierge (for now, as least so it seems), the concierge remains the best of all the cards. That doesn't mean they can do miracles, but I've gotten superb restaurant recommendations for trips that have really added memorable experiences to my trip. They've managed to pull off restaurant reservations at booked up restaurants for me (doesn't always work but even once is a lot better than nothing). I've heard they can be good for getting tickets to some popular shows (Hamilton). I've tried the Chase concierge (Visa Infinite) and the experience was terrible. I would have done much better just searching Yelp and using OpenTable. Also except for FHR you can't get elite status credit booking any hotel with one of these services. So they are no good for hotels (no status credit) and no good for airlines (they mess up bookings).
Chase and CapitalOne only provide Priority Pass. That's it. Chase has a "Luxury Hotels of the World" program which is basically the same as FHR. I don't use it for reasons I will explain below. Hyatt has Privé which is similar but also they charge a lot more so it ends up not really being that good a deal either usually.
AmEx Platinum aldo has the best set of airline transfer partners in my opinion. If you want luxury plane flight travel AmEx is the best/easiest way to get there. However Chase isn't bad, if you put in the work, and it has some decent economy class redemptions.
Where Chase shines is one word: Hyatt. They have by far the best overall customer service and the best value for points in the game, for hotels. So I also have a Sapphire Preferred and a World of Hyatt card and other UR earning cards. It's a terrific program for great hotel travel experiences and getting Globalist status gives you lots of free upgrades and perks with an overall value far better than FHR or similar programs. IHG has also upped their game lately so I have an IHG Premier card as well. But Chase doesn't have good perks in other areas, their lounges are just Priority Pass, etc. Their concierge sucks. And so on.
In the end, unless you want to join Velocity Black or something the best your going to get is to use each card for what it provides and patch together services.
interesting. thank you so much for taking the time to write all that. very educational and informative.
didn't know all that stuff about chase, hyatt, etc.
doltish of me not to point out in the first place what i'm using the platinum card for, travel-wise, and how often;
i'm definitely not interested in being in every program, holding multiple cards, paying for every last subscription service, then utilizing each for their strong points. that seems exhaustive, and i don't travel quite as much as it seems many on this forum do. but many several trips per year, both business and pleasure.
i don't care as much about airline luxury/percs on flights themselves (i'm a sleeper).
airport lounges were awesome when PP covered more of them, even as i don't tend to spend tons of time in airports.
similarly, don't use concierge much. the odd hotel res. think i've done that twice. i work in the ent industry so tickets not an issue.
but hotel/resort percs are important. am definitely a spender when it comes to lodging.
have grown accustomed (along with my kids and wife, unfortunately) to lux accommodations, and typically not large properties owned by huge corps. we do joints like one&only, maybourne, MO, montage, auberge, como, etc. still trying to hit my first aman at 55. once in awhile we'll hit a waldorf or st regis or something associated with a larger ownership, but not that often.
so i'm not committed to any one or two brand/marque or collection of hotels. ergo, the benefits for certain larger chains/corporations like bonvoy/hyatt/hilton, wouldn't be at all important to me.
i didn't come here looking to crap on premium credit cards generally, or even amex platinum specifically.
ok, i meant to ridicule the amex website a bit). you say all the booking websites for premium credit cards are awful, and i'll take your word for it there. i've never used expedia proper, but compared to amex travel, something like kayak feels like it was designed by spaceX.
something else i should have done before my original post was study exactly what my card membership currently gets me. i know what it
used to get me, but it seems not anymore.
clearly i need to better educate myself as to what skylounge and the rest of those names you mentioned are - as far as i was aware, holding a platinum card gained me access to the lounges covered by priority pass, period. (centurion lounges too, but like the PP accessible lounges, they never seem to be in the airport i'm at).
ditto exactly what "centurion status" means and the different levels in attaining it - noticed long ago i've been well over halfway to gaining it the past many years, sometimes 3/4's. (i know you have to be 'invited' to hold a black card, but centurian status itself - and the different echelons of reaching it - apparently gains you possible flight cabin upgrades and other benefits).
i didn't even know there was a travel agent service (that charges extra?) i'm entitled to call for hotel/flight booking beyond the number on the back of the card.
so i will go do a deep dive and find out what all these things are and mean. i mean, i've held a business platinum card for eons, i should know anyway.
but before i go i
did want to point out, synzero, that i wasn't asking solely about credit cards and their attendant travel percs.
yes, my current go-to option is amex platinum. i probably wouldn't ditch that because i'm a longtime holder and, as you say, the card provides benefits well beyond travel/entertainment.
yes, this is a subforum about amex/tlc/fhr.
and yes, i have found 'tons of content' on various travel cards and travel services here on FT. what i haven't found is a recent thread that makes direct comparisons between and conjecture about some large number of them, though. and i suppose that's what i was hoping to generate here. (if such threads exist, and as i said at the top of my 1st post, i'd welcome and encourage moving these posts. maybe it belongs in "luxury hotels and travel" . i considered putting it there to begin with.).
you say "no one offers the exact same benefits as amex plat". this may very well be true of credit cards; again i'll take your word for it. but there are, in fact, several subscription services and membership clubs that offer
very similar benefits. i've mentioned some of them - andrew harper, trip velocity, virtuoso, gallavanters, etc. they are legion these days. a quick glance at virtuoso's setup, for example shows their typical list of hotel benefits to be almost identical to fhr/plat. (minus the 5 X amex points of course). same autoupgrade on arrival when avail. same 100-300 resort amenity. same early/late check. very similar. some offer things that fhr never does - airport transfer, for one. some offer flight/lounge percs, others don't. (again, a plus, but not super crucial for me)
now, they're not all priced the same of course, but most seem within the same galaxy as cost of platinum. (few if any offer membership echelon that approach cost of a black card tho). but i'm wondering if any plat customers on FT have experience with travel 'programs' such as these. maybe with easier customer service, and a convenient website, even?