Mar 2, 2017, 8:48 am
Last edit by: Centurion
American Express press release is HERE.
American Express product site is HERE.
Price change dates for new and existing accounts:
Unpublicized change to Priority Pass benefit:
Terms of the Uber benefit:
*If you do not see a $15 credit appear and you receive a message your card may be the registered payment to another Uber account and you must delete your card from all Uber accounts and reenter your card on the Uber account your want the credit benefit.
Metal card availability:
American Express product site is HERE.
Price change dates for new and existing accounts:
When is the fee increasing for Platinum Card Membership?
Beginning on March 30th, 2017, the new annual fee for Platinum Card will be $550. For Existing Platinum Card Members, the annual fee will take effect on their annual renewal date on or after September 1st, 2017.
Beginning on March 30th, 2017, the new annual fee for Platinum Card will be $550. For Existing Platinum Card Members, the annual fee will take effect on their annual renewal date on or after September 1st, 2017.
Unpublicized change to Priority Pass benefit:
At any visit to a Priority Pass Select lounge, you may bring in two guests for no charge.
Only Basic Card Members on a Platinum Card account are eligible for Uber VIP and monthly ride Credits. To receive this benefit, you must have downloaded the Uber App version 3.219 or later for iOS or version 3.126 or later for Android and your eligible Platinum Card must be a method of payment in your Uber account. If you are assigned a new Card number, you must update your method of payment in your Uber account. Cards added to your Uber account through a third party such as Apple Pay or PayPal will not be eligible. A Platinum Card account may receive this benefit on one Uber account. If the same Card is added to multiple Uber accounts, only the first Uber account to which the Card is added will receive the benefit. Uber VIP is available in select cities and is governed by Uber’s terms and conditions. To redeem monthly ride Credits, you must select to use the Credit in your Uber app prior to completing the Uber ride. The discount will not apply to previous Uber rides. New and existing Uber users are eligible. Uber will apply discount at the point of sale. There is no limit to the number of rides you may apply the Credit to each month, up to a total of $15 in Credits per month. Each year in December, you may apply up to $35 in Credit. The discounted cost of a ride will be displayed on your post-ride email receipt. If you are eligible to receive additional Membership Rewards points on your ride, points will be awarded on the balance of the cost of the trip after Credits are applied. Credit may be applied to all Uber car types and cannot be applied to other Uber services. Credit may only be applied to rides within the United States. Monthly ride Credit expires at 11:59 PM local time on the last day of each month. Unused Credit will not carry over to the following month. Credit will be applied for the month in which the ride is completed. If ride is eligible for another promotion that you have added to your Uber account, the promotion will be applied before the Credit. Certain Uber-branded credits may be applied to your ride balance prior to this Credit.
Metal card availability:
How can Platinum Card Members get the new metal Card?
The new metal Card will be issued to Platinum Card Members 60 days prior to their Card expiration date or can be requested beginning on March 30th, 2017 by calling the number on the back of the Card or requesting a replacement card after you sign in to www.americanexpress.com and click on replace lost damaged card.
The new metal Card will be issued to Platinum Card Members 60 days prior to their Card expiration date or can be requested beginning on March 30th, 2017 by calling the number on the back of the Card or requesting a replacement card after you sign in to www.americanexpress.com and click on replace lost damaged card.
USA: New (2017) personal Platinum benefits; Higher annual fee ($550)
Mar 19, 2017, 2:28 pm
#391
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 50
I'm personally very relieved in the direction that AmEx has gone with the Platinum Card.
Compared to the Chase and Citi offerings, AmEx provides a differentiated and more compelling set of travel benefits for US customers. It's lounge access is far better with the Sky Club and Centurion Lounges & the Hilton and SPG benefits just make life a touch easier.
I'm able to make the uber and airline credit work, so I only need to 20 round trips and buy one cup of drip coffee prior to boarding to make the effective cost of the Platinum card to work. Add anything else and it's a great deal if you fly Delta or through a few other hubs and travel a fair amount.
I view Chase and Citi as having solid travel rewards offerings, which compete with the PRG. If anything, I could see them increasing AmEx increasing the accelerator on the PRG in the future depending on what the long term viability of the Chase and Citi offerings.
What I'd love is a $550 card with no credits that includes the best of Platinum, PRG, and Everyday Preferred just for convenience of having one card and statement, but clearly AmEx wants to continue distinguishing between benefits and rewards cards.
Based on the January earnings call, the phrase sustainability was used often to speak of product offering and customer usage and there was a touch of schadenfreude when the Chase Reserve was mentioned. I feel AmEx is pretty confident where they are.
Compared to the Chase and Citi offerings, AmEx provides a differentiated and more compelling set of travel benefits for US customers. It's lounge access is far better with the Sky Club and Centurion Lounges & the Hilton and SPG benefits just make life a touch easier.
I'm able to make the uber and airline credit work, so I only need to 20 round trips and buy one cup of drip coffee prior to boarding to make the effective cost of the Platinum card to work. Add anything else and it's a great deal if you fly Delta or through a few other hubs and travel a fair amount.
I view Chase and Citi as having solid travel rewards offerings, which compete with the PRG. If anything, I could see them increasing AmEx increasing the accelerator on the PRG in the future depending on what the long term viability of the Chase and Citi offerings.
What I'd love is a $550 card with no credits that includes the best of Platinum, PRG, and Everyday Preferred just for convenience of having one card and statement, but clearly AmEx wants to continue distinguishing between benefits and rewards cards.
Based on the January earnings call, the phrase sustainability was used often to speak of product offering and customer usage and there was a touch of schadenfreude when the Chase Reserve was mentioned. I feel AmEx is pretty confident where they are.
Mar 19, 2017, 4:04 pm
#392
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: Avis President's Club, Global Entry, Hilton/Marriott Gold. No more DL/AA status.
Posts: 4,422
But as usual, there will be people who benefit. Since I'm not a road warrior and often use Expedia for prepaid bookings (3% on my Costco Visa) I could swap that to 5x on Amex. Of course, I've never used Uber and there are people in here talking about how great that benefit is for them, so YMMV.
Mar 19, 2017, 5:17 pm
#393
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, UA Gold, Marriott LTT, Avis President's Club
Posts: 1,539
See the problem here that most FFs will realize is that you have to book through their prepaid portal, which deprives you hotel rewards points. This sort of already acts as a restriction since Amex knows this benefit is mostly useless for heavy hotel spenders and will be utilized by very few members. Amex wants to reap the benefits of advertising 5x hotels as a benefit even though it is quite poor value in reality.
Most of us are better off going CSR 3x + Hotel points than 5X MR, especially when considering most hotel chains have regular promos like double points or an extra 2k+ points per night.
Most of us are better off going CSR 3x + Hotel points than 5X MR, especially when considering most hotel chains have regular promos like double points or an extra 2k+ points per night.
What really baffles me is amex now offers non compliantary benefits. They offer SPG/Hilton Gold. However, you don't get those benefits on pre-paid bookings.
Mar 19, 2017, 7:42 pm
#394
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
...most FFs will realize is that you have to book through their prepaid portal, which deprives you hotel rewards points. This sort of already acts as a restriction since Amex knows this benefit is mostly useless for heavy hotel spenders and will be utilized by very few members. Amex wants to reap the benefits of advertising 5x hotels as a benefit even though it is quite poor value in reality.
Internet Source for Hotel Booking
Share of Bookings
Brand Website: Website where distribution is operated and managed by the brand (e.g www.marriott.com/).
65.4 %
Merchant Website: (e.g. Expedia/Hotels.com, Travelocity and Orbitz).
19.5 %
Opaque Website: Customers to choose a fare or rate without knowing the brand of the supplier until after the item is purchased (e.g. Priceline).
11.3 %
Retail Website: Third-party distributor where the hotel lists inventory at the same price that it is sold to the consumer and hotel pays distributor agreed upon commission (e.g. HRS, Bookings, Venere in Europe).
3.7 %.
The above of course refers to all Internet bookings. I have no idea how Platinum card holders compare as a subset.
Mar 19, 2017, 9:43 pm
#395
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CHS
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Amabassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,589
I don't quite understand the logic wherein Amex gives complimentary hotel status to cardholders - status that really only comes in handy when you make direct bookings - then gives cardholders a strong incentive to eschew direct bookings in favor of their OTA. Seems like this would anger their hotel partners.
Mar 23, 2017, 12:25 am
#398
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 322
Currently have the standard personal platinum card which comes to its annual fee soon I am trying to decide what to do. If I choose to keep it, would it make sense to simply cancel this one and apply for the MBZ card to earn another bonus, and credits before the new fee hits? If so do I need to first cancel out the current platinum account?
Mar 23, 2017, 1:24 pm
#400
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 322
Thanks. I have seen the same, so I went ahead and applied and was approved. I figured it was worth the risk. I didn't want to close one account and then not get approved for the new one. I'll just close the original one before the annual fee hits.
Mar 24, 2017, 3:00 pm
#401
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 998
If the Amex portal allowed benefits to be applied to all the fares they displayed and matched the hotel prices/promos the same then it would be well worth it to book with them.
Or if they had 1.5 or 2x redemption when points were used for travel then the 5x earn would be worth a nice bit more then CSR. Other wise it's just not that amazing...
(Example: $100 booking earns 500 points that you can redeem for [I believe with Amex Personal Plat it's 1 pt = 1c] $5. CSR earns 300 points but if you redeem them for travel it's at 1.5c so $4.50. Plus you can book direct to the hotel site and any perks/discounts/promos there. Amex value is only ~10% higher then Chase and that's before any double pts promos or discounts)
Mar 25, 2017, 2:25 pm
#403
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 1,039