moe8555

Digital cards routinely go on sale on various sites (gcgalore.com is a good resource for staying in the know).

And when they're not, you can always get them for a permanent 4-6% off from apps like Bitmo, so at the very least it should be discounted by that much. But then we can factor in 3X on CSR or Amex Green on a full-fledged Uber charge vs. the 1-2X earn on the Bitmo charge & 4-6% savings, but that's a whole different rabbit hole to go down.

jags86

You can get 12.5% off Uber cards all the time when you purchase via the Slide app, TopCashBack portal, with an Altitude Reserve and Apple Pay.

richarddd

"Plus, earn 10x points on eligible purchases on your new Card at restaurants worldwide and when you Shop Small in the U.S., on up to $25,000 in combined purchases, during your first 6 months of Card Membership."

WasKnown

I’m just saying that his philosophy makes sense:

“I recommend looking at each of the annual credits and major perks and asking yourself: if I could pay separately for a subscription to this thing, how much would I pay? The answer should never be face value: you would never pay $240 in advance to get $240 in entertainment credits spread out $20 per month, would you? I hope not. You’d only pay in advance if you could get a substantial discount.“

No one would buy a coupon book of $700 credits for $700. It doesn’t make sense to value them at face.

You can buy discounted Uber gift cards everywhere as a few other people here have pointed out. There’s also an Amazon promotion right now offering a 15% discount on up to $10,000 using EATS as the promo code.

Also, no idea where you’re getting that he discounted the Uber eats credit because he doesn’t use it very much. Literally the first sentence in his Uber eats section lol:

”I use Uber and Uber Eats often enough that I’ll probably use the full $200 in credit each year”

He is discounting the credits due to the prepayment. Paying for something upfront in the market has concrete economic value.

Ie Uber selling gift cards at a discount or Disney+ giving 2 months free if you buy the subscription in advance

Airline credit thing: is was a post on the rumors lol. I think that’s pretty clear from the article?

mster

Be careful with the new offers. Schwab / Morgan Stanley cards no longer appear to be considered separate products for AmEx bonus eligibility.

"Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of the Platinum Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility."

MojoGuru

Some people are convincing themselves that they would. In fact, I think Credit One should offer all the same credits on a "Coupon Card+" for $650, and see how many takers there are.

WasKnown

Lol, it’s insane how people value these credits at face. Amex and Chase are so good at marketing to consumers…

sethMCOflyer

Wow, I didn’t expect these offers to be so limited.

I’d value the hotel credit at $140 since I’ll use it but it’s tough to say whether I’d normally book through their hotel programs.

Entertainment credits / equinox / Clear - I’d pay $50 for this on it’s own, I don’t pay for any of this currently so it doesn’t seem like much of a value. Incredibly disappointing that the entertainment credit is limited to a couple subscriptions, this would have way more value if it was open to Spotify and Apple subscriptions.

Uber - $160 - I do use the full amount every month.
Saks - $80 - I do use it and don’t have to go out of my way
Airline Incidentals - $100 - Enormous pain to use

I feel like I’m to the point of paying $400 /year for lounge access for me and my wife.

blitzen

Had a hard time justifying the old fee - the only new benefit that I would partially use is for the NYT > card will be a non renewal when the year is over

Adelphos

I know you shouldn't value them at face value technically, but all of Amex' recent credits (Saks, Uber, Equinox, Entertainment) offset spending I was doing pre-credit anyway, so for me, they pretty much are full value. The credits I never valued at face are stuff like the airline credit (the new hotel credit also fits into this)

For me, you have a $695 fee card, which is offset by Equinox/Uber/Saks/NYT credits, Centurion access (I don't count Delta or Priority Pass access because I get that from different cards), Hilton Gold, 5x airfare and FHR, and the full suite of AMEX consumer protections. For me the card seems well worth it.

krazykanuck

This is pretty underwhelming to me. Equinox, if I still was living in NYC and had my membership, that's one thing but it's useless to me now. The $240 entertainment credit is a bust, and the $200 hotel/FHR credit is still not worth much as those hotels are generally more than I spend on cash stays anyway. The only new benefit I can see myself actually using is CLEAR and even that I wouldn't pay retail for, which is $109 for me. At least my MS Plat renews in December, so I guess I have a while before I start paying for these.

Points Scrounger

Starting with the biggest minus: Equinox - couldn't add a more useless "benefit" I'm afraid.


​​​​I'm a heavy audiobook guy, so the Entertainment Credit means that I can shift some spending I was going to do there to a couple of books a month at Audible to Amex Plat.

I actually use the airline credit for some tickets, EMS seats, baggage fees, etc with Jet Blue.

I have been spending (I believe) $99 for Clear as a DL card holder. So, a decent offset on the higher fee.

I understand that FHR does​​​ come with Elite benefits (stay credit), at least in some cases?

They could've done away with Saks​​​ for me, but I do use it as it's there.

mountain flyer

These benefits are not anything that I would normally pay for, except perhaps the hotel credit in a normal year. Really disappointing.

lsquare

I don't get it. I can't use it on Marriott or Hyatt properties?

krazykanuck

In most cases, no. THC and FHR are a limited subset of hotels. That's probably why Amex did it this way, as opposed to it being a $200 Amex Travel credit that could be used on any air/hotel.

Just as an example, I searched for a trip I'm taking to Denver next month. The 2 days I searched, The Hotel Collection had 0 results, and FHR had 4, the least expensive being $239/nt (which is cheaper than I expected, but its a Hilton).