ummm no. It’s a mass market card they hand out to anyone with a heartbeat. It’s designed for people who want to flash it and visit the “exclusive lounge.”

maybe in a distant time these were travel cards but now just cash cows for Amex minting $$ on the AFs and the interchange fees.

Yes they increased hotel credits because they have to compete with Chase which offers 4x points on hotel spend. Yes they want people who stay at high end hotels bc they make more on the interchange. the breakage is massive