RedElmo

GUWonder

amanuensis

I did, and the rep knew nothing about it.

amanuensis

But the benefit is being cut from Ascend, also.

I guess I should explain more fully why got the Ascend in the first place, and then why I went back to the basic card. I got the basic card many years ago, around 1998. I was getting married and I wanted the Hilton points to help with the honeymoon hotel costs. I kept the card afterwards because it had no fee and Silver Elite provided some benefits.

About 14 years ago, I started working for a corporation. At first, they asked me to charge business travel to a personal card, for which I was reimbursed monthly. I used the Amex for that since I did not routinely use the card for anything else. Obviously, most of my hotel stays were Hilton, so that I could get lots of points for personal stays.

Then about 10 years ago, I was given a corporate credit card and was told to use it from then on. So my use of the Hilton credit card declined to basically nothing, again. But I kept it for the Silver benefits, such as fifth night free on points stays. I still stayed mostly at Hilton for business travel and thanks to other sources of Hilton points, such as Hilton bonus promotions and online opinion surveys, I still got a lot of points for personal stays.

But then my employer told everyone to use Concur for booking, and Concur strongly encourages us to book with IHG. If booking elsewhere, I have to explain why.

Last year, I started thinking about our upcoming twentieth anniversary of marriage. I wanted to get a lot of Hilton points fast. Upgrading to Ascend was the obvious way to do that. At that point in time, PriorityPass was not a factor in the decision -- I would have done the upgrade regardless. I don't drink alcohol and anyway, there are no PP lounges at SLC. So lounge access while traveling is not a major life goal for me.

So I got the card, got the points, and then I realized that PP had the restaurants. So that, along with Hilton Gold, was a sufficient reason to keep the card. But without the restaurants, Hilton Gold and the extra bonus points are not enough for me to justify the $95 fee. Especially since I basically only stay at Hiltons for personal stays.

hawata

never used the benefit nor the Priority Pass....

marconess

I'll be gutted if this leaves the UK Plat Amex. I'm not a churner but the lounges and restaurants are a nice bonus to have when travelling.
Interestingly on the Amex App the restaurants are still listed as available.

Mark

mia

Correct. This change is reported effective in August, 2019.

notquiteaff

Happy

While the posters on this thread overwhelmingly blame the cardholders abuse of this benefit, little do they know, the restaurants themselves are to be blamed as well...

Just came across the comment section of Gary Leff's write up on whether Chase / Citi would follow suit.

See how the waitress at Caper encouraged customers to use their PP benefits to the max... presumably this helps to add to the restaurant's profit as well as her tips... so the restaurants also game the system just as much or even worse than some of the cardmembers.

dhuey

mia

Any type of co-payment would dramatically reduce abuse. Change from a $28 credit to (example) a 50% discount, capped at $28, and many people will order what they need, rather than based on cost.

choff5507

Ive been keeping track of this thread, while I have several AMEX's (Business Blue & Gold) and definitely have a stash of MR points I never did get the Plat, Ive seen several changes that even further make it less than a good decision and in addition lets consider the following:

1. No bonus on intl spend
2. AMEX acceptance no where what Visa/MC is
3. Benefits which are designed to not be used. Like the ridiculous Uber credit given monthly and the fact it can't be used internationally.
4. Very limited bonus category

I personally don't see the Plat card as a "premium" CC. Im not sure how they have successfully marketed this as a premium card, I guess it shows the marketing power but the fact that AMEX acceptance sucks in MOST places combined with the non-bonus ability outside the US makes no sense that this is an international premium CC.

I use my CSR for all my bonus spend here and when I am outside the US and I just got an Alliant CB card for any non-bonus personal spend as I am already running a surplus of points and don't want blindly collect points.

Finally, in regards to the PP lounges.....I have definitely used them but honestly they are lackluster generally speaking. More often than not they are crowded and only useful largely outside the US. Im personally hoping that Chase comes out with a truly premium card, something that requires Private Client etc and adds some benefits etc.

mia

How are you harmed if a card offers a benefit that you happen to be unable to use?

choff5507

It's not a question of being harmed. Lets be honest, AMEX knows exactly what they are doing which is why they made so many conditions apply to the usage, if they truly wanted to offer it as a benefit they would just let people use the Uber credit but they don't, they piecemeal it out and don't let you use it internationally. I mean you don't think this is by accident do you? And if you figure arguably that the people who have a Platinum are more likely to travel internationally than say users of other AMEX cards it makes even less sense that the benefit can't be used internationally. On the other hand, the CSR travel credit is easily used.

As I stated I have 2 AMEXs and I use them all the time but I see no value in the platinum and the issues Ive brought up about it have also been brought up on here many times.

STS-134

You think I enjoy jumping through so many hoops to use my benefits?
- UberEats order, once a month
- Buying airline gift cards to use the airline credit because I can't use it to buy tickets
- Saks Fifth Avenue visit to buy a GC every 6 months

I mean, I eventually DO recover $500 worth of value out of this card, which means I effectively pay $50 for Hilton and Marriott Gold status. But using the benefits is annoying as hell.