Visconti

Yeah, I'm with you guys on this one. While I both understand and appreciate that it's paramount to appeal to the newer generations--Y & Z--this new kind of marketing just doesn't do it for me. I just find it all really goofy, and not in a good way. I wear a watch and sure as heck not going to walk around with a bracelet on my right waiving it around to pay for stuff. Good grief, these days, someone's gonna video this and I'd never live it down.

stimpy

Looks like we got a 2022 $2000 travel credit deal now. Although I haven't fully digested the T's and C's, it appears to be roughly the same as last year. Which would be nice.

BeantownFlyer

I just got the same e-mail and was trying to figure out if it was an error, or another $2,000.

T&C say applies to cards that renewed April, 2020- March, 2021, which was the same eligibility dates for the credit we had to use by 12/31/21.

The credit - instead of having to be used by 12/31/21 has to be used by 6/30/22.

And to add to the confusion they loaded the e-mail up with FHR deals that have to be used by 3/31/22.

willliamjia

Is this for business or personal version?

BeantownFlyer

Personal

BeantownFlyer

Was afraid it was to good to be true!

”Thank you for reaching out regarding questions on the $2000 Travel Credit for Centurion Members. My apologies for any confusion from the email. The purpose of this email is to advise Members that an additional 6 month extension has been applied to the original travel credit if they had not yet used any of their credits. At this time there are no new travel credits being added to any Centurion Accounts. We are in the process of providing this feedback to our digital outreach team and appreciate you and several other Centurion Members bringing it to our attention”

RichardMannion

Yes it was beyond confusing, and guessed it was too good to be true when I clicked on the link and it took me to the normal Centurion landing page with no mention of the credit. Did feel like amateur hour, it couldn't have been that hard to mail just the customers that had credit left to spend. The short window for some of the FHR offers was equally bizarre,

HKG_Flyer1

I've been trying to get someone on the line at Centurion customer service all day without luck after Amex travel screwed up and erroneously charged me over $5,000 for a hotel reservation to be paid at the hotel.

Every time I call, I get a recording stating that wait times exceed 6 minutes and to call back later. I don't know how much longer I can rationalize keeping the Centurion card. This program appears to be devolving into a dumpster fire.

Also just noticed that the confirmed in advance upgrade benefit at select Centurion FHR hotels appears to have been quietly eliminated sometime in the last few months.

Steve M

Do you have the option of just holding on for an agent? Maybe it would happen after 7 minutes.

nyc2cal

I looked at the website and the language about the Mandarin Oriental, Ritz et al. having this benefit is gone, but it does say what I quote below. Is this better, in that it's not restricted to selected hotels only? I wonder what I'm missing, since I find it all too likely the benefit was eroded (which would take enormous chutzpah given what is going on right now with the service).

With each Centurion Fine Hotels + Resorts® booking, receive:

• Room upgrade at time of reservation, if available1
• With a minimum two-night stay, receive an additional Centurion benefit of a US$100 or US$200 food & beverage or spa credit

HKG_Flyer1

Yes, but the recording sounds like it was made in one continuous sentence... not one where the spoken word estimating the precise wait time is spliced in. In other words, it just seems like a standardized recording.

I'm going to try to reach them again today and see if I can get through.

HKG_Flyer1

Interesting, I'm going to poke around today and look for this language. I used to use the confirmed upgrade quite a bit to book various interesting rooms by calling the Amex Centurion travel rep and reviewing which rooms upgrade to which rooms, and using that to guide my choices. Now, every time I try that, I get shut down pretty quickly and told that nothing is guaranteed- just hope for the best at check-in (which never happens, and I don't usually feel like haggling with front desk staff while traveling).

HKG_Flyer1

So... I finally managed to get through to a live human being at American Express Centurion on the 2nd day of trying after waiting on hold for 18 minutes. Once I got through to a live, exhausted-sounded human being, who robotically read through a script thanking me for my years of membership, he informed me that he needed to transfer me to the travel department, which makes sense. I was then on hold for a bit longer, before someone picked up on a low-quality connection speaking in heavily accented English-- although he is clearly fluent, the language proficiency is poor enough (especially in combination with the low quality audio connection) that I feel the need to speak more slowly than usual, enunciate my words clearly, avoid slang, etc. Oddly, I had to give my ENTIRE card # (rather than just the last few digits), etc. he then offered to assist and said he would "call me back" and that I shouldn't actually hang up. My suspicion (which proved correct) is that what he really meant was that he was placing me on hold. We are now 32 minutes into the call and he just came on the line to tell me he was going to call the travel vendor to ask some questions (unclear what he was doing when he had me on hold initially).

Really feeling like I'm getting my money's worth on the $5,000 annual fee!

After 45 minutes total call time, I finally received the explanation that the hotel I booked had charged me a two night deposit, even though he confirmed that the policy is not disclosed on the Amex travel website. He said he could understand why I was concerned about the lack of disclosure and said he would "raise it with his higher ups."
,
Curious as to whether this is a permanent downgrade in the level of Amex Centurion customer service. If so, this may be the tipping point that finally causes me to cancel after the elimination of so many benefits over the last 15-20 years.

JohnnyP

I have so many white hairs from dealing with Amex Travel, I just don’t bother any more. If my RM could manage the travel I booked on Amex Travel online, that would solve it. Worst story was trying to use a $100 credit (from prior cancellation). I easily spent 3-4 hours on the phone with the overseas Amex Travel call center sorting through what should have been the simplest thing in the world. It was infuriating. Never again.

BeantownFlyer

I refuse to deal with what they call Amex Travel now. I have been booking FHR stays and AA tickets when there is a negotiated corporate rate online. When I called to change a flight I booked online and they said I had to speak to “web travel support” I forced the centurion agent to stay on the line for what ended up taking 45 minutes to make a simple flight change. I figured they should feel the pain I knew was coming too. It’s just awful - and I used to have such a spectacular agent.