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Old May 31, 2013, 3:32 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: mia
For discussion of retention bonuses on Starwood Amex cards, see Annual fee retention bonus for Starwood Amex card.

Retention's department:
(800) 452-3945

Everyday Preferred
10/13/15
2.5K points not to cancel, and 5k points for 1K spend within three months, Total 7.5K points, or in the alternate, a $75 statement credit or gift card.
1/15/16 - 16k spend - first renewal - offered $50, no MR offer - accepted
3/14/16 - 98k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.
11/18/16 -50k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.

Platinum OPEN/Business
6/11/15 - 8.5k spend - 2nd renewal - offered $100 or 10k MR - deferred on offer (see post #314)
8/18/2015 - 90k spend - 2nd renewal - first two times I called, no offer. Final time I asked explicitly to cancel, was offered $350 statement credit.
12/18/2015 - 10k spend, first renewal. Offered 10k MR, cancelled.
1/6/2016 - 10K spend, about 8 weeks after account opening - offered $50 credit or 7.5K MRs, took MRs.
4/29/2016 - 15k spend, 3 months after opening. No offer other than downgrade to BGR.
6/16/2016 - 15k spend to get signup bonus (in Jan 2016). Minimal spend after. Took a lot of nudging - including explicit request to cancel card -- but was offered 10k MR to keep open. No spend requirement.
9/29/2016 - offered $100, didn't catch whether there was a spend requirement, i canceled as I have a personal Platinum card and the go-go passes weren't worth having two.

Business Gold Rewards
10/10/15 - Offered 10K MR. declined and closed
12/26/15 - Offered 10K MR or $100 Credit, counter offered $150 or 15K MR. They offered me 15K MR..accepted.
1/26/16 - Offered 15k MR, counter offered $150 and 15k MR, offered either but not both. Accepted 15k MR. $20k annual spend. Opened account 1/2015.
2/2/16 Offered 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. $40k annual spend. Opened account 3/2015.
2/4/16 Offered 15K MR. Accepted 15K. About a $15K annual spend.
3/5/16 Offered 15K MR or $100 credit. Took the 15K MR. Minimal spend.
5/23/16 Offered $50, then $100, then 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. Also let me change the 3x category in the middle of the year.
6/9/16 7500 MR offer, even pushed for 10k or 15k. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/11/16 7500 MR offer, about 30k spend. AF due in two weeks. Took it.
6/20/16 No offer. ~$10k spend. Wanted to close the card anyway so did it.
9/30/16 Offered $50 statement credit. (<$5K spend) That was all. Didn't take it and cancelled card
10/04/16 Offered $50 statement credit or 7,500 points or pay the annual fee of $175 with 17,000 points instead of 25000 points. (<$9K spend) Didn't take it any of them and cancelled card

Personal Platinum
1/11/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months. $22K spend in 2015.
1/17/16 - 5K points immediately, 10K points for 2K spend within two months. $560 spend in 2015.
1/26/16 - $200 "loyalty credit" without requirements. $18k spend in 2015 (~50k total Amex spend in 2015). Cardholder for 3 years.
1/27/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points.
1/29/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points. Cardholder 3 years; $17k spend last year.
2/3/16 - 5K points now and 10K points after $2K spend in 60 days. Rep had to "dig deep" into my account to find this "unique and very special" offer (Yeah, right). Accepted.
3/31/16 - Only offer was $100 statement credit. $15k spend last year.
04/19/16 - $200 statement credit for being loyal to amex (cardholder for 2 years $65k spend).
4/29/16 Initial offer $200. HUCA 5k MR immediately, 15k MR after 3k spend in 60 days.
8/12/16 - 40K MR immediately. Card holder for 7 year, $55K spend in 2015 (Post #1015)
8/19/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months or 200$ statement credit. Card holder only for 1 year but amex customer for 8 years
8/19/16 - called before AF hit, offered $200 credit, accepted, not a ton of spend after hitting minimum spend for signup bonus, Amex customer since 2013 with 3 other cards but generally don't spend that much on Amex (maybe $10k/year)
8/25/16 - $200 Statement credit or 20k points for 3k spend within 3 months. Amex for 6 years, plat for 1 year. 40k spend across all amex.
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit, $20k spent on this last year
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit. ~$14K spend this year.
9/10/16 - 25k MR (no spend req). $11k in spend last yr. Tough sell from AX.
9/12/16 - 15k points after $2k spend in 3 months. ~$7k in spend
9/21/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~5k spend
9/29/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$20k in spend during past year
10/6/16 - 40k points, no spend req. ~$35k in spend during past year
10/7/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$22k T12 spend
10/8/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$10k spend during past year
10/17/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$5k spend during past year. took the points.
10/29/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$11k spend during past year. took the points.
11/14/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$15k spend during past year. took the points.
11/19/16 40k points or $400, no spend req. ~$45k spend during past year.

Platinum Mercedes Benz
9/30/15 - 5K points immediately, in addition to 15K points for 3K spend within three months. 20K points Total to retain card.

Platinum Ameriprise
7/21/16 Offered $200 or 20k MR. Accepted $200 statement credit to offset the $450 AF for all 4 cards in the account. 35K spent

SPG Personal
12/4/15 - $25 loyalty statement credit
2/3/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit but did allude to a potential bonus when the SPG card goes away; referenced the $200-300 bonus offered to Costco Amex holders being asked to convert to Sams Club Amex products
3/1/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit
6/14/2016 - $25 plus 3,000 SPG points - Had to ask Supv for the addl. 3,000 pts.
7/6/2016 - $25 or 1500 points after $1000 spend. Canceled card. $25k spend last year.
7/15/2016 - $25 loyalty statement credit. HUCA, HUCA, declined, cancelled card. $10K spend last year, less recently.
8/10/2016 - Paltry $25 or 500 points + additional 1000 points after $1000 spend (total of 1500) in 3 months. I have another ~60 days for af to lock in, so will call again in ~30 days. $35k spend last year, but less than $1000 / month this year.
8/16/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $48K spend, took the points.
8/24/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $13K spend YTD, took the points.
8/25/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit, $5K YTD spend. HUACA resulted in the same offer (even with a symethic agent that noted my 15 years of membership).
9/13/16 $95 credit with +- $40K spend. Fast & easy
9/17/16 $25 or 1500 SPG points after $1K spend. Cancelled the card
9/17/16 Called after renewal fee posted. Offered 5,000 SPG points - $40K spent on this card.
9/18/16 $50 or 7k. ~$80k spend.
10/1/16 $25 offer ~$15k spend. Cancelled card.
10/7/16 $50 or 7k. ~$76k T12 spend.
10/27/16 ($7K spend in last 12 months, first renewal) $25 statement credit OR 500 Starpoints + 1,000 Starpoints for $1,000 spend in next 3 months
11/11/16 ($4k spend this year) We respect your decision. Goodbye.
12/16/16 Member since 1995, spent $25k in 12 months, was offered 7k points. Love SPG points so didn't enquire about any of the other credits.

SPG OPEN/Business
8/3/15 - called with intent to cancel, $18k spend last year, offered $100 one-time statement credit - accepted.
8/12/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, offered only $50 one-time statement credit - accepted
12/14/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, AF hit 90 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time statement credit.
1/14/16 - called with intent to cancel or product change to no fee Simply Cash card, $10-12k spend last year, $65 AF hit 30 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time credit to keep card.
8/29/16 - called to cancel & they didn't offer any retention bonus so we canceled it. Only had min. spend last year.
10/1/16 - retention offered 5K SPG pts.
10/19/16 - offered $25 credit. Spend last year ~$15k.

DL Skymiles Platinum OPEN/Business
5/28/15 - called with intent to cancel, card opened 9 months, initial min spend (1.3k) only - offered simply cash open, declined, closed.
03/10/15- the date is date of miles post, do not remember original request date, no offers until reaching the retention department, 15k miles offered with 50k spend
11/4/15 - called to see what retention offer would be $60K spend offered nothing. sm
12/10/15 - Called again to actually cancel, got 25K skymiles. Kept card open. sm
04/26/16 - Called again, 3k bonus as good will to keep open. Will HUCA for 3rd time.
10/23/16 - called to cancel told me they have nothing to offer as I took advantage of the 25K miles last year. Said also they will remove the companion travel cert in my account if I cancel. I have until mid Nov and will call again

Premier Rewards Gold
6/12/15 - 1st renewal. Called 5 days after fee posted stating not happy about losing 15k bonus. Offered 10k MR now and 10k after $3k spend in 60 days. Accepted. $40k spent last year.
11/2/15 - Offered 20K MR. $130K spend in previous year.
1/14/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$8k spend previous year.
1/21/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days or $75 credit + $75 credit if $1k spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/11/16 - Offered 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days or $50 credit + $50 credit if $500 spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/23/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days . ~$33k in spend in my first year
4/12/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$10k spend previous year.
4/22/16 - 1st offer - $50 statement + $50 credit after $500 spend in 60 days. 2nd offer - 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days (took 2nd offer) ~10k spend previous year.
6/9/16 No offers. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/26/16 - Offered $175 or 25k MR. $135k spend.
6/20/2016 Phoned and requested transfer to retention dept. After a brief explanation of benefits, I was offered $50 statement credit and $50 additional statement credit after $500 spend in 60 days. Took the offer.
7/25/2015 1st anniversary, 25k spend. Offered upgrade to platinum with 10k + 50k MR. Lengthy talk with Retention who finally offered only 7.5k MR for $1k spend in 92 days. Very disappointed. Declined. HUCA. 2nd call on the 60th day: offered and took the 50+50 offer.
8/19/2016: Presented with 2 offers: (1) $50 statement credit now and $50 statement credit after spending $500 within 60 days (2) 2,500 MR points now, and 5,000 MR points after spending $1,000 within 90 days.
11/2/2016: $100 credit no spend needed

DL Skymiles Gold
6/2015 - Have had card since 1991 and have never asked for a retention offer. $30k spend annually except for the last year with $1k spend. Flat out denied hard for any retention. Paid AF b/c my oldest card.
1/2016 - Have had card for ten years+, usually around $10,000/year spend. Never asked for retention bonus before. Given two choices: 1) 1000 miles immediately and 2000 more miles for $1000 spend in 60 days or 2) $75 statement credit. Took the $75.
5/2016 - Had card for 3 years, never asked for a retention. Spend is probably only around $2K/year. Was not offered any miles or credit.
6/15/2016 - 15k offer. Have had card since 1995. <1k spend last year. Took 15k

DL Skymiles Gold Business
9/24 - under $1k spend in last 12 months, no offer. They said they don't have a retention department.
4/18/2016 - Had card for 1 year with 2K spend. Asked for the nature of my small business, what expenses and travel requirements I have for my business. Given two choices: 1) 7,500 miles immediately to offset $95 AF or 2) switch to a generic no fee Amex. Took the 7,500 miles.


Hilton HHonors Surpass
1/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points
4/2016 - Offered $75 statement credit or 10k points. Took the credit.
6/2016 - Offered 500 HH points now and another 1K after spending 1K or $25. Took the $25.
9/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points. Took the credit.
11/2016 - Spend $5k on this card, $55k in last year across all Amex accounts. 1st anniversary, offered $25 statement credit or 1,000 points. Cancelled.
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American Express retention offers [2008 - 2016]

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Old Jan 13, 2015, 12:25 pm
  #1561  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 747
Personal Plat, 1 year anniversary, about 15k spend.

Had got offered $100 first time around last week and was pretty noncommittal in the conversation, however on the HUCA today they mentioned it was processed and would show in the next few weeks.

Was rather frustrated by that and mentioned I was still considering canceling regardless to change to the Citi Exec since AA lounge access is about the only one I frequent (true), they said they couldn't look at point options since the $100 was credited and to call back in a few weeks if I changed my mind to see what they could do.
nrdk is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2015, 3:14 pm
  #1562  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,938
Is there any consensus on when and how to ask for retention bonus? Mine will post at the end of January.

1) Should I wait until it posts? Or ask before?
2) Should I call or online chat?
Stgermainparis is offline  
Old Jan 14, 2015, 12:11 pm
  #1563  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 4
Retention Offer AMEX GOLD Premier Rewards

First post on Flyertalk and wanted it be a contribution (not huge but at least a data point).

Have an AMEX gold premier rewards that came with 50,000 MR points after $3,000 spend that I got December 2013. I completed the spend, gotten the MR points and kept using it all year long (throughout 2014). As expected my annual fee of $179 just hit a week ago. A few minutes ago I called and followed the prompts to cancel the card. A very nice rep picked up the call and let them know that I noticed that the annual fee just hit and I was calling to cancel the card. He asked what I liked about the card, and I mention the bonus categories (almost every charge I make falls within the bonus categories, so it was entirely true) and mentioned that I had a card that offered similar bonus categories but with a much smaller annual fee (also true - Chase Ink). He made me the next offers to choose from:

17,500 MR points to cover the annual fee +7,500 MR points credited to the account

or

25,000 MR point credited to the account

I chose the latter, particularly with the BA transfer bonus at the moment. He gladly processed and reminded me of the other benefits the card offers.

I've had the card for 1 year and have made about $12K in charges (paid in full at the end of every month).

I was glad with the offier.
chmonsan is offline  
Old Jan 14, 2015, 12:15 pm
  #1564  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by Stgermainparis
Is there any consensus on when and how to ask for retention bonus? Mine will post at the end of January.

1) Should I wait until it posts? Or ask before?
2) Should I call or online chat?
FWIW, I called 1 month prior to my annual fee appearing and the reps were not as opened to offer any retention bonuses. Once me annual fee posted I called (see my post above) and was more successful. I ended up getting 25K MR points as a retention bonus and the rep offered the ability to "pay" for the annual fee with MR points which is only available if you call during the month that the annual fee posts. Obiously going the path of 'paying' the annual fee with MR points yeilds a terrible returns as you can use those same MR points in a much better way.

Good luck!
chmonsan is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2015, 9:14 am
  #1565  
mia
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Moderator action

Discussion continues here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...n-bonuses.html
mia is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2015, 4:20 pm
  #1566  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 13
Amex Platinum Business. Jumped the gun, and called 4 months before annual fee posting. Offered 10k pts took it. Will probably close the card soon so I can churn.

Signed up for 100k for 10k spend, and only spent about $11k on this card.
cacraig is offline  
Old Jan 18, 2015, 1:08 pm
  #1567  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: San Diego
Programs: Delta PLAT, Marriot Plat, IHG Plat, SPG Gold, A couple of other airlines - pee on
Posts: 623
AMEX Personal PLAT
Called today to cancel was offered downgrade. Was told no points are being offered to keep as I was offered 10K points last year. I have $16K spend this year. I have 50K MR points that I will transfer over to AVIOS and then probably cancel the card when the renewal comes up (after I call to see if they have anything better to offer)
kaaria is offline  
Old Jan 19, 2015, 5:18 pm
  #1568  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: CSP
Posts: 26
Cancelled

Called again today two months after annual fee posted (first year, $7K annual spend) - still same story, no retention offer and cancelled right away.
aznac84 is offline  
Old Jan 19, 2015, 6:30 pm
  #1569  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 136
Has anyone gotten retention offer 2 years in a row? I was offered 15k last year. This will be my 3rd year with the Canada Platinum if I decide to keep it... I'm considering a high end Visa as well which gives me the added benefit of 3 weeks Emergency Medical instead of 2 - this makes a big diff.

Instead of bonus points, I suspect they are likely to try to upsell me on the new Amex Aeroplan Select or whatever the name is for their new higher end Aeroplan card with the $800 fee ... and 50,000 aeroplan points. Hmm - I suspect I would lose all my MR points if I switched to an Aeroplan card..so no dice..
DanTravel is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2015, 9:49 am
  #1570  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SoCal
Programs: AA EXP, SPG Lifetime Platinum, MR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 249
SPG Personal
- 09/14 AF due received 7,000pts
- 01/15 called for any offers, received another 7,000pts

Well worthe the $65 AF
kenme1 is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2015, 11:11 am
  #1571  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: New York
Programs: DL PLT, Hilton Diamond, CX MPC Silver
Posts: 265
Platinum Personal Card with about $12 in annual spend.

Offered to pay annual fee using a reduce MR rate (45k), or a one-off loyalty bonus of 15k MR added to my current balance.

Giving some time to think it over, but leaning towards the loyalty credit (which I was hoping to be 20k+ MR). Any suggestions?
travel_mav is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2015, 2:30 pm
  #1572  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA
Posts: 383
Personal platinum, 60K annual spend. Called to yell at them about treating other platinum members better (Amazon Prime, which I didn't get... I only got a 25K signup bonus... etc), all they kept doing was talking about the new Centurion lounges and how they have no control over those other offers bc it's from their marketing department. Offered and accepted 50K miles as long as I keep the card another year.
DoctorORD is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2015, 3:26 pm
  #1573  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 136
Originally Posted by DoctorORD
Personal platinum, 60K annual spend. Called to yell at them about treating other platinum members better (Amazon Prime, which I didn't get... I only got a 25K signup bonus... etc), all they kept doing was talking about the new Centurion lounges and how they have no control over those other offers bc it's from their marketing department. Offered and accepted 50K miles as long as I keep the card another year.
Yelling rarely gets you what you want.... Looks like you scammed 50k points though. The new Centurion lounges do seem pretty sweet....
DanTravel is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2015, 11:48 am
  #1574  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA
Posts: 383
Originally Posted by DanTravel
Yelling rarely gets you what you want.... Looks like you scammed 50k points though. The new Centurion lounges do seem pretty sweet....
I didn't actually yell at them :P It was more like "it seems really unfair that I referred so many people to platinum, told them what a great card it was, they got these great offers, and I got zilch -- since this keeps happening, please cancel my card asap" --> transferred to member services rep --> repeated the same thing --> got my bonus. No "dykwia" talk at all.
DoctorORD is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2015, 12:27 pm
  #1575  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,267
Canceled today. They "offered" to convert to PRG, but nothing else.
lobo411 is offline  


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