SteveT

Good riddance 2020!

The invite saga continues.
2020 Thread

Bm86

Just over $1mil spend this year was my final number. 2x 25 hour jet cards, some watches and lots of other high end shopping and other chartered jets. All travel outside of jets booked through Amex travel. Hopefully they will send an invite soon 🙏🏼

dadig

Happy new year and all the very best of 2021 - do keep us updated!

PilotJoe91

I received an invite this morning for the Business Centurion (USA). I got an email around 11am, said they tried to reach me earlier (I'm thinking they tried calling my office), and I called them around 3pm this afternoon. I called the number they provided initially, started the process, but the agent's computer went down apparently and I got disconnected. Called the Platinum CS number on my card, and they connected me back to Centurion New Accts, confirmed my invite, and proceeded to process it. Took about 40min to go through the benefits, all the legal stuff, all the standard questions, and I was approved. Looking forward to receiving my Centurion card in the next few days. I'll post an update when I receive the card and talk to my rep, and the "team".

comptalk

Seriously wonder why you guys are itching to give away 10k+ to Amex for this card. I refused it when it was offered to me a few years ago due to the obscene initiation fees. I mean, if you have nothing better to do with the money, go for it, but it's such a waste of money. I do find the JPM Reserve worth the money, but I've yet to see how Centurion is worth 10k+ in fees.

seacarl

I just cancelled my Centurion Card. At the time I got it, there was no initiation fee, so I didn't have that sunk cost. But the fee increase from $2500 to $5000, and the fact that many of the benefits are better on the normal Platinum card, it never made sense. I don't want to have to track $250 per quarter to Saks. There is no Equinox where I live and who wants to go into gyms during Covid. Hertz no longer offers Platinum service. DL Platinum is close to useless. I can get Hilton Diamond (if I want it) way cheaper. The Platinum card has some great sign up bonuses, gives you 5x on airfare spend, still has $200 airline fee credit.

Most of the Fine hotel benefits can be had by using Virtuoso agent or Hyatt Prive.

As far as I can tell the only people for whom the Centurion Card makes sense is those who think that they can get $5000 of value from bragging to others that they have the Black card.

cfabar1

I will most likely never be a Centurion cardholder due to my (relatively) limited spending capacity and the fact I do not own a business.

That said, I think there are benefits that make sense for the right user. Clearly they are someone who lives near an Equinox gym. Amex clearly made a conscious decision in the redesign to value urban customers over those who do not live in major metropolitan markets. They must have data suggesting why that was the best way to go.

If you're not near an Equinox, I really don't understand how you get the value back from the card.

newbie88

It seems that Business Centurion seems to offer more invites than the personal one, at least on these threads. Is their a reason why?

DJ_Iceman

Like many things on the upper end of the price spectrum, if one is looking for pure value in a dollars-and-cents way, one's not going to find it. As mentioned previously, of course there is the "snob factor" of having the black card but I honestly feel that's been diminished over time as the card has become less exclusive and as the opportunities to present a physical card for payment continue to shrink. But to me, honestly the #1 benefit since I got the card a few months ago has been the truly incredible customer service. I honestly feel that they care about me and my satisfaction--they've been communicative, proactive, professional, and generous. I've had a couple of little snags setting up some of the benefits (Hertz Platinum has been a real problem), and they are genuinely invested in making it right and making sure I'm well taken care of. It's impossible to put a dollar amount on that, but at least so far it makes me feel the initiation fee and annual fee are worth it.

Visconti

Mostly because it's much easier to generate high revenue spending for a business than it is for an individual. I recall during the mid 2000s - 2010, the business requirement was rumored to be a minimum of about $500k per annum? As you can imagine, for most businesses especially those with inventory & lower margins (think e-commerce, drop shipping, Shopify, et al) could easily generate top line numbers in the millions, which triggered an inordinate amount of business invitations. I'd imagine, Amex likely tinkered the business criteria once they realized the disparity between the personal one.

In addition, business fees are fully deductibe, which immediately renders it a little more financially palatable than personal one; and, combined with the fact that most businesses with this scale of expenditures will likely have an element of OPM involved, even if it's spread between multiple partners. The catcher is that non-fixed value points (rebates) accrued via business dedcuted expenditures have a legal precdent where they may be used for personal purposes without having to report as personal income, unlike cashback or points (rebates) with a clearly defined monetary value. You can imagine the benefit especially considering paying out of pocket for personal travel requires after tax earnings.

mile3

Received Business Centurion (US) invitation via email in late December -- it looked like a phishing email but turned out to be legitimate.

One of the benefits that I haven't seen mentioned much publicly is the Private Suite access at LAX. It allows one complimentary use per year (+ a guest).

mia

Some discussion here: New Centurion "Benefit": The Private Suite at LAX.

seacarl

The number one thing that I want from my credit card is to never have to call them for service at all. I just want things to work. And frankly, I would prefer a messaging or email platform as the initial contact - I can efficiently state my case at a time when it is convenient without having to have a weird prove my ID conversation or listening to a phone tree.

But what really got me is that when I tried to use my Global Entry credit to reimburse my Nexus renewal, Amex refused. Nexus is a US-Canadian program designed for border area residents, which I am, which includes Pre-Check and Global Entry. And it only costs $50 vs. $100 for Global Entry. But no, Amex was legalistic saying that they reimburse GE but not Nexus. I even asked for a supervisor. That was foolish and penny wise on their part. I'm not one who has maximised his benefits but it demonstrated to me that they didn't have common sense nor empower people.

Your mileage may vary. I'm not paying for snob appeal, which as far as I can tell is the only way that the card pencils out as the benefits don't come close to justifying the price increment over the Platinum card.

HawkeyeFlyer

100% for the DYKWIA effect

Statman

That applies to any ostentatious purchase by really wealthy people. This is the same thing as people spending $20k Birkin bags or $10k Rolex watches.

I could say the same thing about middle class people who do 72-84 month leases so they can drive the newest and most decked out F-150.

Why do you care so much about how other people spend their money?