I already bought two audiobooks at 20$ because I was out of credits

Also rebooked two FHR bookings I did in June for the same rates

I�d say the changes are great

I'm glad the changes worked out for you. As a casual audible user (only 1 credit per month) that enjoys many FHR hotels, I also appreciate these changes. I was not planning on keeping the Plat before the changes but now I will.

Not sure what you mean by rebook the FHR stays but FYI there are datapoints on Reddit for people rebooking pre July 1 FHR stays and getting the credit clawed back: https://old.reddit.com/r/CreditCards...ack_200_hotel/

HFT = high frequency trader
SWE = software engineer
VHCOL = very high cost of living
PE = professional engineer
HF = high frequency
MD = medical doctor

IB = ?

Sorry lol. It's very hard for me to jump between travel and finance forums and keep track of acronyms usage. Really bad habit.

SWE = software engineer
VHCOL = very high cost of living (area)
PE = private equity (firm)
HF = hedge fund
MD = managing director
IB = investment bank
HFT = high frequency trading (firm)

This should be the FT slogan!

Agree. Last year I held both the Vanilla and CS Platinum cards and it worked out well. Honestly it was pretty easy to make use of double Uber/Saks/Airline credits because they're not necessarily duplicative of one another.

I would say that, unless you were already doing a lot of luxury travel, two FHR credits are duplicative. FHR is "forced spend" for me. I wouldn't normally book at FHR because it seems like you have to be lucky to catch rates in the <$500/night range. If I can stay at another decent non-FHR property for <$250/night, then under normal circumstances that's where I am going. FHR properties are very nice and all of the perks are nice enough that I am not bent out of shape about it, but it is not money that I would have otherwise spent.

Two entertainment credits are also pretty tough to justify. I make good use of Audible with my commute and actually pay for the 2 credit subscription tier. Maybe I could make a second audible account but I don't think I consume books fast enough to consider that plan. While I appreciate the NYT, I can get the news from any number of other free sources. I am a long ways off from retired so I don't need access to the crosswords that badly... Sirius would have been nice 20 years ago but between Audible and Pandora/Spotify I have got music/listening covered. It is unfortunately archaic. Peacock is currently a bit of a joke but I am ok with their free tier for accessing what little I need from it.

Like you, I have cancelled one of my Platinum cards and maybe that was part of their motive? I suspect that folks with multiple Platinums are the sort who will be min/maxing to get every dime of value out of the cards and not necessarily the kind of customer that Amex wants to retain (at least not at "full strength"). Just some food for thought.

It pretty accurately describes 98% of the discussion here.
Did you do much better than breaking even on the second card? Uber/Saks/Airline basically cover the annual fee. I don't see how these changes affect that it's always been difficult to justify a second Platinum Card, that's not new with these changes. The FHR credit at least basically can cover the increase by itself if you can use it, everything else is gravy. You could gift family members Peacock subscriptions, that might be nice. If you actually pay for NYT access after the promotional first year it's easier to get value ($17/month after the first year).

The one case where you might need the second card is if you need more than four cards for your immediate family, then you might as well add the second full account I believe.

On the FHR credit, I do like to go to Vegas and it is possible to get good value from it there if you can travel on less busy days (even less busy weekends), I've stayed at the Four Seasons there for under $300/night a few times and the W-A once for under $250 (and as a Hilton Diamond you get a ton of credits there between FHR and Diamond).

I completely broke even with two cards. Uber credits were easily utilized (fiancee and I are "busy professionals" so any time we can grab take-out it is preferred to cooking). Saks credits are also easily utilized as we can always find something neat that we need in their Home Goods section. Airline Fee credit was looking like a loss last year but it was a no-brainer dumping it into UA's TravelBank when that opened up in December-ish timeframe. I actually probably made money on the two cards with how generous Offers were in the past year, but I recognize 2020 is hardly the norm.

I hadn't considered gifting the Entertainment Credit... I know at least someone in my extended family could make great use out of Audible.

While I think that the potential for extraordinary value exists in the FHR credit, this hinges almost completely upon snagging a generous upgrade at check in. Having said that, for me, a luxury hotel is not ordinarily where I would spend my money while travelling. If I had a choice between a $200/night Marriot and a $500/night FHR, I am booking at the Marriot and putting that extra $300 towards dinner and drinks somewhere outside of the hotel. I appreciate that there are plenty of folks who book FHR stays before this new benefit, but I am not one of them. Having said that, I am not altogether displeased with the benefit, as it essentially subsidizes one FHR stay per year provided that I can land a reservation at or near the $500 mark. My math there is that $200 FHR credit + $100 Property Credit + $X value of breakfast +$Y value of potential upgrade can be subtracted from the sticker price of whatever stay I have booked. I suppose if I can justify/stomach it for one night then two nights isn't exactly a stretch... but I don't think I am chomping at the bit go back up to two Platinums. I am admittedly a complete newbie to FHR so perhaps in practice I will enjoy this more than expected? Edit: in poking around Vegas at your suggestion I see that there are plenty of decent options under the $200 mark so it seems that this will be market dependent.

Ultimately, so far as two Platinums are concerned, I think I might have a hard time selling my fiancee on ~$1400 in annual fees though! Maybe if she opened up a Platinum herself we could make sense of it to circumvent the 2023 change to the Centurion Lounge Guest Access (but grabbing a MS Platinum and a free AU is the play there if Guest Access is that much of a concern... that's another can of worms). I think I am pretty comfortable moving down to one Platinum for a good long while now. Who knows, one day I just might outlast the "lifetime" language and get another SUB offer to re-open my account? A guy can dream...

Very reasonable. Just a heads up, you can use the Amex hotel credit on Hotel Collection properties too. These are more reasonably priced but require a stay of 2 nights. Also, they only provide an upgrade and property credit (no late check-out, early check-in, breakfast, etc) and are strictly not elite qualifying. In addition to what someone else said about cheap Vegas FHR properties, there are many cheap FHR properties internationally as well.

I would not factor in the $100+ property credits into any AF calculations because you can get the same credits for free through preferred agent programs like Virtuoso, Four Season Preferred Partner, Rosewood Elite, Marriott STARS, Hyatt Prive, etc. Also, make sure the FHR rate is the same as the preferred agent rate (non member BAR). I would never book with FHR at a higher price.

FHR hotels - even outside of Vegas - are not all $500/night, $1000/night, $2000/night or whatever crazy numbers people are throwing out here as part of some "FHR is oppressing the people" argument.

As I said up thread, I booked a Park Hyatt for ~$250 in October through FHR - the same rate Hyatt.com was asking - but FHR came with a fourth night free.

Even if there weren't a fourth night free, the FHR rate would include a $100 credit and breakfast each day, in addition to early check-in/late check out possibilities. You don't need to get an upgrade to a double deluxe presidential emperor suite to make stays at FHR properties a good value.

Yes, not every FHR property is for every person on every day, but there are plenty of good options out there.

But if travel benefits are not right for you, maybe a travel card isn't either. That's fine too.

There are several properties on FHR that are more flexible/give property credit when the preferred agent program does not. I don�t want to litigate every single one but some Hyatt Prive requires two nights and some Marriott Luminous rates do not give credit when FHR does and only requires one night.

Of course YMMV. And there has to be some value for the easier convenience booking through FHR as opposed to a partner program. Once again, YMMV. I like sticking with FHR for those reasons

Definitely YMMV. I think it also depends on how good your agent is and how close of a relationship you have with him/her. IME, having an agent as a live advocate for your stay goes far (and is probably superior to Hyatt Concierge and DEFINITELY superior to Marriott Ambassador service). Virtuoso oftentimes allows you to confirm an upgrade on booking, which is very nice.

For me, the biggest difference is that agent bookings are often cheaper and they are elite qualifying without question. It does not matter if you are staying at a MO, FS, RW, Park Hyatt (where FHR is innately elite qualifying), or anything like that. For Marriott though, it is a big difference. I want to minimize my interactions with CS whenever possible.

I find it a bit odd that Amex tries to portray Platinum as a high end card while, if this thread is at all representative, there's little appetite for hotel rooms costing more than couple of hundred dollars. This is clearly not Luxury Hotels and Travel

1) It has to be one of Amex� most popular cards, so by definition it�s ability to be �high end� is limited
2) This thread is not representative

Are there any public statistics on the number of holders or their average hotel spend?
I don't think of a room that costs more than a couple of hundred a night as all that high end, but I may well be in the minority.
Almost nothing on the internet is representative of genpop, but is there evidence which direction this thread's posters skew?

I think the cost of the room is an arbitrary measure. A couple hundred dollars in NYC is a lot different than Omaha.