Effective June 1, 2015, American Express is enhancing its Premier Rewards Gold Card, adding more value with 2x Membership Rewards points for purchases at U.S. restaurants, a $100 airline fee credit for incidental charges such as baggage fees, and a personalized travel service. Card Members will also no longer pay foreign transaction fees when spending abroad.

In addition to the added benefits mentioned above, Premier Rewards Gold Card Members will continue to receive:

3x Membership Rewards points on flights purchased directly from airlines2x Membership Rewards points for purchases at U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarketsAccess to The Hotel Collection, a roster of more than 350 of our Card Members’ favorite properties around the world; Card Members are eligible for a $75 hotel amenities credit and a room upgrade if available

“We’re making one of our most popular cards even better..This latest investment for our Premier Rewards Gold Card Members is designed to deepen our relationship by providing more value in the areas they spend most -- from everyday spending on things like gas and groceries, to dining and larger travel purchases,” said Lisa Durocher, SVP, Consumer Charge Cards & Benefits at American Express.

The newly added benefits can help Card Members accumulate points faster, and they can use those points easily for a wide variety of rewards that fit a diverse range of interests. There are a number of flexible and convenient ways to use points with the Membership Rewards program, featuring more than 20 airline and hotel point transfer partners, as well as the ability to redeem points at point of sale with Amazon, Uber, NYC taxis and McDonalds.

The new annual fee for the Premier Rewards Gold Card will be $195 effective June 1, 2015. The current annual fee is $175. Card Members can add up to 5 Additional Cards to a Premier Rewards Gold Card account at no additional cost.

2x Bonus on Dining
Starting June 1, 2015, you’ll earn 2X Membership Rewards points at restaurants, which is a nice added benefit and clearly a play to compete better with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which offers 2x points on all travel and dining.

Playing Catch-up With Foreign Transaction Fees
Starting June 1, 2015 the card will no longer levy foreign transaction fees, which is a good announcement, but Amex is clearly playing catch-up since most other comparable travel credit cards, like Sapphire Preferred, Citi Thank You Premier and Barclaycard Arrival Plus already waive these fees.

$100 Airline Benefit
The card will also come with a $100 Airline Fee Credit each calendar year, which I assume will be similar to the $200 Airline Fee Credit currently offered by the Platinum Card from American Express. I’ve maximized that benefit every year because Amex actually rebates a wide variety of airline charges in my experience (and that of many TPG readers).

Increased Fee and On The Heels of Other Bad News
The annual fee is being increased from $175 to $195, which is an interesting move if they’re really trying to compete with Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee) and Citi Thank You Premier, which recently dropped the annual fee from $125 to $95. Clearly they need to cover the cost of the $100 travel credit, but I’m surprised they’re increasing the fee since Citi Thank You Premier which just changed up its bonus categories is lowering the annual fee from $125 to $95 starting on 4/19/15.

Another hit to the card came last year when Amex announced last year that the15,000 Membership Rewards spending bonus for hitting $30,000 in spend was going away in 2015. Amex claims this benefit was removed due to a lack of use, since the majority of cardholders did not meet the annual spending threshold to receive the bonus points. As someone who did hit that bonus every year, it was definitely a blow and I have used the PRG much less in 2015- especially since I have the new Aviator Silver card from BarclayCard which gives me 3 American Airlines miles per dollar spent on AA/US airfare. The PRG used to have the edge with the 15k bonus at $30,000 in spend, though now with other lucrative options my airline spend has mostly gone elsewhere.