GUWonder

I am certain that within the past 3-4 years, some of the new Centurion card holders whom I know got the invitation while spending $1M-2M per year on Amex cards. I am not sure if they got included/invited because of just the spending amount or because of other affiliations, but I know they weren’t spending more than $2M per year and are Centurion card holders now when they weren’t a few years back.

bigbellymonkey

Is that personal or business.

LondonElite

Yes, certainly better than the German one, which is a bit garish with its huge font. Wonder why this is different from country to country?

Jay66

I wonder the same, and I honestly wish I could hear the rational behind the German Design, it just looks misprinted and off and is the only country world wide with this look.

GNALUZU

$5k per card, for both primary and authorized users.

anthem

You will not be reimbursed for saks gift card purchases, so this will not work.

GUWonder

Saks gift card purchases at the physical stores are reimbursed by Amex. I have seen the Saks Amex credits (given to Plat accounts) post to accounts for such gift card purchases this quarter. At some point this loophole may be shut down, but it still works as of now. Will there be a change by January? Let’s see.

Jay66

The new Cardmember Agreement is up.

AU Cards remain at 2500 USD. Initiation fee up to 10k though

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...centurion.html

GUWonder

AU Cent cards capped at 2 at $2500 for each one of those; and first three AU Plats (on Centurion account) for $175 (total), with each additional AU Plats at $175 beyond the first 3 AU Plats.

So for existing Centurions: $10,175 a year in card member fee would mean 3 Cent cards + 3 Plat cards on one account.

th14

Customer service yesterday told me $5000 for AU. So they were clearly wrong. So now I’m questioning if AU gets Saks.

Might need to give this a couple of days to see how it shakes out.

phant0m

That makes it a lot easier to stomach. With initiation and 3 card members would equal out to $6,667 each.

GUWonder

That does make it easier to stomach indeed. And the increased joining fee also may have some think it’s best not to discontinue only to face a huge fee to try to come back into the Centurion fold.

I suspect that the Cent AUs won’t get a $1000 Saks credit on top of the main Cent card’s $1000 Saks credit. I suspect Cent AUs will get the Equinox thing as it’s probably way less costly in the aggregate than the Saks credit would be. But l would love to be wrong on this.

bubu-SNA

I to still have the "you will be grandfathered @ $1,000" letter and it stings to again get whacked with a 100% AF increase. I saw this coming with every other AMEX card being "redone" recently however I expected the AF bump to go to $3,500; $5,000 is ludicrous.

I've been a centurion card holder for 20 years but have not charged over $10,000 annually on the card in nearly a decade and have only kept it around for the fringe benefits. The return on everyday spend is a suckers bet. Where I find my value is the "no bs" extended warranty benefit, especially on high end electronics which easily justified the $2,500 AF, at $5,000 that's a harder ROI.

My thoughts on the new benefits,

• Jet Suite @ LAX - Worthless to 99% of centurion card holders. LAX offers VIP services for a whole lot less should one desire to use them. The major alliance lounges also have private VIP rooms should one truly not want to mingle with the peasantry; not to mention the centurion lounge coming soon. The target audience that would drop this kind of $ for VIP airport experience tends to fly private. I live in So Cal and could care less about the benefit. If they offer a complimentary annual visit I'd probably have more positive feelings.
• Spectrum gym membership - I could care less unless I lived within a few miles of the location. There is one 10 miles away from my home, I'm not driving 20 miles round trip to exercise in a "gold gilded" hamster wheel.
• Trip cancellation & interruption - As worthless as most of the paid insurance sold when buying common carrier airfare, etc. The exclusion list is staggering, you could fly a A380 through the loopholes to wiggle out of paying out a claim. What caught my eye is they don't cover your tour provider or common carrier becoming insolvent, even when you are in the middle of the trip. The "undeclared or declared act of war" is another reason to deny any claim around a violent event of some sort disrupting your travel. If they do provide you coverage on stranding, its in economy even if you held a high 4 figure low 5 figure C/Y ticket.
• Sak's $1,000 credit - Can you get any more cheap and insulting by breaking it up into quarterly credits? The "marketing" gift cards Centurion sends out are $500 to $1,000!
• FHR benefits - Pretty worthless. Published rates which include the bulk of the FHR benefits are usually 20%-30% lower. Looking at Aman next summer I can get a full board for the entire family /w included premium activities for $250 less per night! Ritz Carlton, similar experience. It's a wash if there is a targeted promotion of a 3rd/4th night free; MAYBE.
• Clear for up to 4 people - Meh, ok I guess? How about making it TSA/Global Entry or Clear? Clear angers me on principle; its tantamount to a state/county partnering with a "quasi-governmental" entity/business and putting in tolls on existing (already paid for) transportation infrastructure.

I guess renewal at $5,000 will come down to how the "fringe" card benefits perform after this rework in 2020. I will keep the card through March of 2021 as my renewal is in March and make the hard call in 2021 for 2021+. If gifts start showing up again (not talking about the marketing gift cards) and there is a benefit bump on Delta to Diamond or Bonvoy to Platinum/Titanium (something substantial in a major program, even if its a foreign carrier) the card will retain its value despite the AF bump. More "WOW" offers? Bump the point earning to 2x on everyday spend maybe on the first $1,000,000 maybe? The AF being tax deductible on the business centurion cards also makes the AF more palatable.

In the grand scheme of things I wish they'd left the card alone and not F'd with it. I was happy to pay $2,500 for my Delta Platinum status, 50% point refund on airfare through points, and the occasional useful marketing gift card or wow offer.

-snabubu

nyc2cal

As the original poster of the thread, I still have not gotten the e-mail about the fee increase! I can only hope this means I'm exempt :-)

I spoke with CS and they are adamant that: (1) the authorized user fee is $5,000 (notwithstanding the new agreement), but as of April 1, and (2) the Equinox credit can only be used by the cardholder (or authorized user). I don't use Equinox, but my girlfriend does, so my hope that I would be able to use this credit has been dashed.

phant0m

How much do you value the concierge service or do you rarely use if ever?