bumfluff

Im wondering, since the new gold will have room upgrades as a benefit, would it be possible to upgrade to a room w/lounge access?

Im thinking about mainly properties in Asia, where lounge access is drinks and breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Would be a shame to lose that

Aero137

This same conversation is happening over in the Marriott forums as well. see: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29652782-post313.html

MaxVO

There are 2 different versions getting pitched to Marriott and SPG loyalists. It's possibly intentional on Marriott's part. I'm getting an impression from comments on this forum that the 2 camps don't like each other or being in the same program.

Stgermainparis

Currently SPG Gold matched to Marriott Gold via Amex Plat (and also have club lounge access at Sheratons via SPG Amex Biz). If I lose lounge access, and that's where this is headed, I will not be keeping my Plat card. I've been happy to pay the $550 plus $175 for AUs so that we all got Marriott lounge access, but w/out that benefit we just don't get enough value out of the card. I'd rather pay $29 per visit to the DL SC w/ my DL Amex than fork out $725/year for the Plat that gets me basically nothing at the Marriott chain nor travel insurance nor car rental primary insurance and duplicates PP as do all the premium cards. I use uber maybe 3x/year. I just don't see the value. I'll be moving all my spending over to CSR and Hyatt, where I at least get 4 club passes per year.

Edit: just watched TPG video where Flueck very specifically says SPG matched to Marriott Gold will NOT get Marriott plat in August. Will remain gold. TPG pressed him and answer remained the same. This seems to contract Flueck's comment moments before where he says basically "if you have Marriott Gold today, you'll be Marriott Platinum in Aug. We don't want to take any of your benefits away for the year." So which is it?

scubadu

Actually, I'm pretty confident that you know "which" it is, you just don't like the answer.

Regards

cplush

ah, thanks!

RumPatrol

I fly Delta so much that the $550 (less when offset by the other benefits) makes the Amex Platinum worth it for the SC access alone, but I have to agree that $550 starts to look pretty steep if it indeed remains gold and gold becomes this devalued. I prefer SPG/Marriott properties and I don't even really utilize free breakfasts all that much but the late check-out and lounge access is huge for me.

I doubt I'd give up my Platinum, but at the very least when my AF comes up in a few months I'll probably have a retention offer conversation and frame it around this devaluation for sure.

acarney

I'll probably be in the same boat, but maybe more towards ditching the card. I feel like the only thing it really has going for it is the Amex/Delta lounge access and the Uber perk (oh WOW! *rolls eyes*). One of those lounge perks already has strings attached to it. The recent high end Hilton card has what, $250 airline credit ($50 more then the Amex Plat), $250 Hilton credit at resorts (which at least as of now applies to actual room rate), AND a free weekend night (Fri/Sat/Sun at almost all Hiltons). Even on a "normal" little trip, think going to Universal Studios, that weekend free night would be worth at least $175+. So that's an easy $425 value (the travel credit + free night) and an option for another $250 that might be a little harder to use if you don't normally visit Hilton resorts. On top of that you get Hilton diamond, which includes the late check out (not knee capped at 2pm or some crap), breakfast at all Hilton portfolio hotels, executive lounge access, and 48 hr room guarantee (among other perks), AND the card earns a strong amount of Hilton points (whatever you care to think those are worth). AND it's $100 cheaper then the unbranded Amex Plat! Are MR points and lounge access/uber perks really worth an extra $100 and being kicked down to Marriott gold? I really really think Amex needs to do something to stand out from the pack again, especially if they demand the highest annual fee of the standard "high end cards". (Yes yes I know they earn 5x on airfare, but that doesn't seem to be amazing compared to 3x with the CSR or something, and might balance out when you think about the 1x earning on the Amex for hotels when booked direct... I couldn't earn 5x on my almost $2,000 Disneyland Resort hotel stay last year in California... what a shame...)

Side note, can you still access the Amex lounge for a $50 fee as long as you hold another Amex card, or Amex Gold, or did they do away with that? Because then the Hilton card is even more attractive if you just travel a handful of times a year since the $100 less fee at least gets you into the lounge twice before you're at the same cost as the Amex....

tutkija80

This is probably not realistic, but I would prefer to see them jettison the Marriott benefit entirely and double down on Hilton, extending Diamond status to AMP holders.

MaxVO

That's a great idea! I see nothing good for Amex coming out of this Marriott relationship.

acarney

I agree that I wouldn't really mind Amex ditching Marriott if they truly can't get anything better then the "new gold" which isn't that great compared to what we were used to this last year or so...

I would like Hyatt to be brought into the mix but really the perks aren't that great unless they bump you into the top tier, and I doubt that would be the case. The lounge access and full 4pm late checkout is what seems the most useful to me and what I would like to see from a $550 card. I doubt Amex would bump up to Hilton diamond since they already offer a cobranded card that offers that... They would need to add something else perk wise if they ditched Marriott and just kept Hilton the same, even if they expanded the Uber benefit to just be $200 in "car service" credits (rental, private card, car sharing, Uber/Lyft etc) but I suspect they're getting a sweetheart deal from Uber on that perk.

Maybe I need to investigate in booking more hotel stays using the Amex travel portal to gain the perks, though I'm not sure if any/many "normal" (think ~$200 to $250/night) Marriott level properties are part of that program. I don't really want to be dropping $400+ a night to get perks like that :P

MR and airport lounge... what are you going to do Amex, I don't see a lot of "wow" coming from your card...

worldwidedreamer

Color me an optimist, but what if Priority Pass started working at Marriott lounges? It seems like the definition of "lounge" has grown recently as restaurants have been added to the program. Would be an interesting plot twist.

acarney

I suspect we would get a lot of "Closed to PP based on capacity" and "No valid 7am to 10am" or something like that... PP hasn't been that useful to me with airports, I can't imagine how bad it would be at a hotel that has a fairly good customer base getting access already via booked rooms...

RumPatrol

That's a really good point. With this, the Amex Platinum's only real audience is Delta flyers, which is me and is the main reason I got the card in the first place, but it is becoming less and less interesting.

The unbranded Platinum is essentially a net $350 AF card for me after the airline credit, which is the only credit I use. I don't use Uber stateside and it doesn't apply internationally so the Uber credit goes to waste, I may have used Uber Eats and gotten credit for it once. I already have global entry and won't need to re-up for a while so that credit goes to waste, though I may use it for my wife this year. That's hardly a unique benefit though. That $350 net AF was still worth it between SkyClub access, Hilton and SPG (thus Marriott) Gold and I use Priority Pass and Centurion lounges enough that it is probably worth it there too. The upgrades, hotel lounge access and airport lounge access I used on my last Asia trek might have covered the $350 all by itself.

Now, with SPG/Marriott Gold being effectively useless, $350 starts looking less interesting. Especially so now that the SC at my home airport (FLL) is under renovation. I still probably use SkyClubs, Centurion Lounges and PP lounges enough to cover the $350 but reduced hotel benefits is making me question it. Those are what really put it over the top for me and made it an easy, no questions asked decision.

I'd really love to see them make some sort of change elsewhere to cover the loss. Perhaps raise the $200 airline credit to $250 and/or make it easier to use (ie CSR).

Now there is a fantastic idea. The Marriott/Amex relationship is meaningless at this point. If the Amex Platinum got you Diamond for Hilton, I'd shift nearly all of my SPG/Marriott stays to Hilton and have no problem spending a $550 AF. Were it not for the Delta related benefits of the Platinum, I'd shift to the Hilton Aspire card in an instant for all the reasons @acarney listed above.

acarney

Do you know if you can still buy daily access to a centurion lounge as long as you hold an Amex card? I'm seeing references from travel blogs about that, including co-branded Amex cards, but on the official web site I don't see that mentioned anywhere. It might be an option if you can buy into centurion lounge on a as needed basis and maybe buy a SkyClub membership (~$495, might be able to use the Hilton's $250 airline credit to offset that?) If that's possible then the Amex Aspire could get you Diamond, a bunch of Hilton points (if you care or not), $250 discount/credits for Hilton resorts, and a free weekend night and Delta SkyClub access for $695/year. If you're able to use the resort credit and average $200/night on your free night then your out of pocket cost for the card and Delta SkyClub would be ~$245/year.

Also, am I reading this right? Would that be 14X Hilton points by using your card to book a room AND 20 points/$1 by being Diamond? 34 points/$1 on room rate total if you booked direct via Hilton and used the Aspire? Would a $250 room really earn you 8500 points (before any Hilton limited time promos?)