Gasolin

I may be wrong, but I thought Chase thought the cost of operating such a card was a bit too high? I don't think Chase will react.
But then, they may not need to. Chase already has the JMP Reserve card for the uber elite clientele.

jerseytom

Ultimately isn't that what it's always about?

captaindomon

This. There is a huge difference between $550/year and $5000/yr. Even more so, with one AU there is a huger difference between $725/yr and $10,000/yr. And for qualifying, it basically seems impossible to get the Centurion if you're not routing north of seven figures through your Amex yearly, which limits Centurion to owners of businesses that can route everything through their Amex, and people making eight figures or so a year.

There is just a huge gulf there that they can fill.

LondonElite

In order to do that, they need to be careful not to erode/cannibalise their existing portfolio. I'm imagining their strategy team reading this thread!

LondonElite

I wouldn't put Centurion on that much of a pedestal. I know about a dozen cardholders in the US and UK who lead very upper middle-class lives, but are by no definition 'wealthy'. Two struggle to pay their mortgage each month and have done so for years. It's an imperfect algorithm for what is a mass-market product.

Super Mario

The more I think about it, I think this card will be more of a Centurion-lite. American Express seems to be more in the business of high annual fees for "benefits" these days. Premium American Express cards are a huge status symbol and many wealthy people love to show it off. Some of the super-wealthy who have the Centurion won't care much about its AF increase. For the few who cancel that, the increase likely more than pays for lost business. However, a newer subset of premium Centurion users is almost an entirely new revenue stream. Subscription revenue is all the rage these days with corporations. This is just more of that.

LondonElite

Agreed. And these are the people they can move up to Centurion in the years to come. At least that's probably the thinking.

Gasolin

They probably got it a long time ago no? I don't think I could ever get an invite (not that I would be interested to pay $10K for 2 cards) with the kind of revenue I have, and when I look at the requirements in spending for the personal card.

MSPeconomist

I have no interest in a Gold (I never saw the point of a Gold card and went from Green to Plat beck when Plat was invitation only) and Plat combination, but some relation between Plat and DL Reserve could be of interest.

I could see paying more for CenturionLite if it included better PTS service (my own good relationship travel agent after many years of this no longer being permitted) and Centurion type benefits on FHR bookings. A couple passes to Centurion lounge inner sanctums would be nice. Full PP (with limits on restaurant/bar visits) might also be on my wish list. Needless to say, I would want MR points (or DL MQMs), lounge access (Centurion, PP, and additional ones like Escape), improved PTS, IAP, FHR, and at least Plat card quality (not outsourced like the Reserve card) customer service.

Gig103

I wouldn't be surprised if they read Flyertalk; heck the hotel chains have social media managers that are official members! I just have a hard time understanding what the "in between" could be; to me it's a combination of perks and annual fees. Combining cards also could reduce Amex' liability depending on how their algorithms assess Spending Ability. But I also realize it's possible that shareholders care more about enrollment numbers (X Gold + X Plat > Y Rhodium) than total annual fees collected even if it's the same.

LondonElite

One has had it for a while, but neither can afford to put more than about $10,000 a month on it, including expenses. For them it is a pure prestige wallet-candy thing.

gregsfortytwo

One thing that would probably fly is adding Hilton Diamond status to it. Unfortunately even the Centurion only gets Marriott Gold, and getting past that is the upgrade I’d really want.

And though I doubt it’s the route Amex would take, I too would love to combine my Plat and Gold into one card. Though in my case I go through Schwab for a substantial discount so they’d also need a co-brand, which I’m not optimistic about...but maybe? :/

GUWonder

I take what Amex has been doing as of late to the Platinum and now Centurion cards as being a way for Amex to signal to Chase what Chase needs to do to achieve a relatively peaceful duopoly for the two to share and share more profitably: reduce benefits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve and/or hike up the CSR's fee substantially; and also prepare potentially for a new premium card somewhere in between the Platinum and Centurion cards that doesn't out-do Amex because otherwise it could be a costly disruption for Chase and less of a winner for both Amex and Chase.

That Amex has so many of its former employees working for Chase in the UR-earning card area and makes a point of very publicly mentioning that is definitely one way to possibly send a message in a bottle from land to land.

GUWonder

I know a few who got the Centurion card within the past 3-5 years and who are definitely making substantially less than the average middle age physician or lawyer in my family. Some of those relatively-recent new Centurion cardholders have rather much wealthier relatives than they are but that is not how they qualified for a Centurion card. Most of them seemed to get the Centurion card by running up expenses that were or could be seen to be business, networking or other business development-related expenses in rather high-profile fields involving the kind of celebrities that get TV coverage of some sort or another or managing money for such people. These Centurions aren't the kind of people that can afford to buy even the cheapest of the Koenigsegg hypercars, but they are the kind of people who would perhaps get a test drive of such a car or be able to find someone who would be in the market for such a hypercar.

AAdmiral

Someone above mentioned the JP Morgan Reserve Card which I also have and its’s basically just the Private Banks version of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It’s not a Centurion Card rival.

I’m wondering if AMEX has further benefits for the Centurion but might wait until April 2020 to launch them when they simultaneously launch the Centurion-Lite Card. I wish AMEX would use the airline and hotel model in the future regarding their card products like I mentioned in the other thread. This makes life a lot easier and don’t have to carry 3-4 different AMEX cards to take advantage of the benefits.

Amex Green - benefits
Amex Gold - all Green benefits plus additional Gold benefits
Amex Platinum - all Gold benefits plus additional Platinum benefits
Amex Centurion Lite - all Platinum benefits plus additional Centurion Lite benefits
Amex Centurion - all Centurion Lite benefits plus additional Centurion benefits