Thinking about this, I'm very dissapointed of course, but I think this more reflects indignation than a loss of anything that was truely life changing. My experience has been in Europe or Asia that in main cities the Starwood property is not one to go out of the way to stay in. I would definitely make an effort to stay Starwood in the US or Australia, but I think since having SPG Plat (i.e. since being a Centurion holder) I have only made about 10 stays, mostly because the bulk of my hotel stays are business and there is always somewhere preferable to a Starwood (and its hard to justify to colleagues who are travelling with me to stay at a shabby Sheraton on the off chance of an upgrade). In the right property though, being Platinum is magic when it works, but I think in most of the stays I've had the difference has been negligible

But I'm highly indignant because this was a flagship benefit, and if Amex Centurion UK cannot hang on to this benefit what does that say about the so called Elite card. SPG Gold is pointless, I will no longer make any effort to stay at a Starwood unless its genuinely the best choice trading off value and quality etc. Notwithstanding the above, I have historically made some effort to stay Starwood because of Platinum.

This is of course a business decision for Starwood and Amex who ultimately have to put shareholders needs ahead of even Centurion card holders. I can't believe Amex didn't fight tooth and nail for this, but Starwood have clearly determined that its worth the loss of business (and there will be plenty - most Centurions will make much less effort to stay Starwood I'm sure). And how many of us are really going to churn our black cards because of this?

The trouble with the black Amex is that such an urban myth buzz has built up around the bloody thing that Amex can now allow service levels and benefits to slowly erode, and have plenty of other people in the wings to fill the places of members who do churn. Take, for example the Centurion website, launched with great fanfair last year and seemingly never subsequently updated. I still get lots of OOOhs and AAAhs from friends and colleagues, and this shows the triumph of style over substance here.As I've said before, I'd rather pay more fees, keep the thing exclusive and keep service and benefits intact. But its up to Amex to determine whats in the best interest of their own shareholders, and whether this current trend becomes a miscalculation on their part remains to be seen I guess.