The Amex Platinum card polarizes opinions in the miles and points space. There are people who love it and then there are people who absolutely despise how complex and expensive the card has now become. You’ll barely find fence sitters when you bring the topic up during a conversation. By most estimates, Amex will announce changes on the 18th of this month. While, we’ve already seen some leaks and rumors, what should we realistically expect from the refresh. Let’s have a look.
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Amex Platinum Card Refresh
Before we speculate, let’s have a look at what Amex has announced. Amex put out a press release right around the refresh of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which spelled out the announcement about the upcoming refresh to both consumer and business versions of their coveted Platinum Card. For the purpose of this post, we’ll be focusing on the consumer version.
If you carefully parse through the announcement, you’ll see that Amex drops a lot of hints and some of the rumors and leaks are precisely on point.
Travel Dining and Lifestyle
“More than forty years ago, we introduced the Platinum Card, and we continue to offer Platinum Cards with global servicing, unique benefits and experiences that our Card Members love,” said Howard Grosfield, Group President, U.S. Consumer Services. “Platinum Card benefits and services resonate across generations, particularly with Millennial and Gen Z who accounted for 35% of total U.S. Consumer spending last quarter. We’re going to take these Cards to a new level, not only in what they offer in travel, dining and lifestyle benefits, but also in how they look and feel, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”
This part clearly shows that Amex is going to continue branding the card as a travel and lifestyle card as opposed to a purely premium travel credit card (which I’d rather prefer any day!). However, if you look at the focus on travel, dining and lifestyle it’s no surprise that we’re seeing rumors about the Lululemon and Resy credits. The card seemingly will be primarily aimed at an urban Gen Z and Millennial segment.
Lounge Network Focus
With more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market*, American Express offers access to over 1,550 lounges in more than 500 airports around the world and is opening three new Centurion Lounges globally in the next year — Newark, New Jersey; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Tokyo, Japan — bringing the total number of Centurion Lounges to 32.
It’s clear that Amex is looking to expand their network of lounges. However, for many domestic travelers, the issue about overcrowded Centurion lounges stateside is a sticking point that will need to be fixed if Amex wants to tout this as a key benefit going forward.
Dining/Resy
American Express continues to invest in its dining and curated hotel programs. Resy serves as a powerful network within American Express providing access to reservations in more than 30 countries at over 20,000 restaurants worldwide, and the recent acquisition of Tock will add 7,000 restaurants, wineries and venues to the platform
While the Resy credit rumor is already there, I’d love to see some sort of a multiplier for dining related spend. However, given that the Amex Gold Card already offers more on the dining front, I’m skeptical whether Amex will try to make similar changes to the Platinum card as well
Events /Festivals
In addition, American Express offers access to unique experiences across the U.S. and around the globe, from motor sports and tennis to music festivals and sporting events, all with the powerful backing of award-winning global servicing and digital capabilities. American Express partners with leading brands on the Platinum Card and plans to announce more as part of the Card refresh.
This makes we wonder if Amex will introduce something similar to what Chase Sapphire Reserve did recently with their refresh. The new Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a credit for Stubhub purchases up to $300. I won’t be surprised if Amex comes up with something similar, may be with Ticketmaster? American Express does have an existing relationship with Ticketmaster.
The Pundit’s Mantra
Given the leaks and rumors so far, I won’t be surprised if Amex gets rid of Uber and Saks credits. I don’t think Amex will ‘de-couponify’ the card at all. It’s just that I’m hoping that the ‘coupons’ are category focused as opposed to brand focused. A global ride share credit as opposed to Uber cash every month would be of much better value. A Ticketmaster credit could also be on the cards (no pun intended :))
We should know all the details in a couple of weeks. My annual fee on the card won’t be charged until January, so I do plan to hold on, adopting a wait and see approach.
What’s your strategy with the impending refresh looming large? What do you expect, given all the hints that Amex has dropped so far? Tell us in the comments section.
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New Credit Card Offers
American Express Business Credit Cards
- Earn 200,000 Membership Rewards points with the Business Platinum Card
- Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards and enjoy a 0% intro APR on the Business Gold Card
Chase Sapphire Cards
- Earn 125,000 bonus points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
- Earn 200,000 bonus points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card for Business
Co-Branded Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards
- Earn 185,000 bonus points with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card
- Earn 155,000 bonus points with the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card
- Earn 125,000 bonus points with the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card
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like many other Amex platinum card holders, the proposed annual fees increase seem to be pushing long loyal card members to seek alternative.
I’ll definitely be thinking about cancelling my card in the near future..
I have the Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum. I just tried to book a hotel for an upcoming trip. Amex wanted 140k points. Chase wanted 70k points. Chase wouldn’t allow me to book certain room types saying they were “unavailable” despite that they were available on every other travel site. Same hotel, Same dates. Very disappointing. I’m trying to figure out which card to keep. But either one, I will downgrade. None of the “new” benefits offered by Chase or Amex are usable for me. Based on this article, none of the new benefits are meaningful. And the value of Amex points are definitely not worth the expense.
Curious to know, when you said 70k via Chase, was that a hotel which was part of Chase’s ‘Edit’ collection?
No. It was not a part of either Amex or Chase “special collections.” I also found it irritating how difficult it was to find the hotel on both Amex and Chase websites. I used Trip Advisor and Booking.com to search for hotels as they are much easier to search. When I located the hotel I wanted, I had to spend an unreasonable amount of time to find the same hotel on both the Amex and Chase sites. It seems (but I’m guessing) that they intentionally “derate” their searches to force purchases of their “preferred” hotels. I also found that Chase is a much better “deal” with both hotels and flights when using points. When the Fee increases kick in, I’ll evaluate the better options for travel perks on the lower priority cards. (Amex gold/Chase Reserve)
That’s interesting. Yes, I’ve seen that with Chase as well. Sometimes when I’m looking for a property, I may see it on Amex but not on Chase. It’s all got to do with how much inventory they have or can release on certain dates.
I get the card for free as an active duty member. So far it has been okay. I don’t see why people would pay 600+ for a card that potentially will charge you 30% interest. I’ve never paid 1 cent in interest on this card just for that reason. I pay it completely before any interest hits. I’ll probably just dump credit card completely as the perks don’t really make that much sense. Overall though I’ve gotten more money out of AMEX than they’ve gotten from me so I’ll take it as a win.
That’s great!
Cutting up our cards! Flew Delta first class to New Jersey and tried to access the the Sky Lounge as we have done previously….was told that that benefit had been removed. Also, access to the lounge with first class tickets now only applies to international travel!
If you have the Amex Platinum or Delta Reserve, it doesn’t matter, otherwise you must be Platinum Status to get access lounge with a domestic First Class ticket.
I expect to drop the Amex in favor of the Sapphire. Such of Amex’s arrogance.
Yea I’ve been thinking of dropping this card too. The new projected annual fee is totally out of line and not worth it! They really need to think twice about this as they are going to lose a lot of loyal long standing customers
I’ve been a long-time holder of an AMEX platinum, back to when the fee was only $395. I’ve kept it over the years despite the increases because I was still getting my money’s worth, but I don’t know if I can keep justifying it after another increase. One of my main features I’ve always liked are the Centurion Lounges, but these days, good luck getting in one. It’s 50/50 now. Earlier this year I also signed up for the Capital One Venture card which has an annual fee that’s less than half of the AMEX and while you don’t get all the perks, I get a quite a few of the ones that matter to me the most. I may end up finally cancelling AMEX this year and sticking with the Venture.
Agreed. Each person needs to evaluate their individual circumstances. For all, points aren’t nearly as valuable as they weee back in 2005.
It’s awful nothing spectacular or extraordinary for an expensive card like this with the impending increase.Time to shop around for more value.
The changes to the Amex Platinum Card could definitely shake things up for cardholders. I’m curious to see how the new benefits stack up against the cost. Looking forward to seeing how these adjustments impact overall value!
They better not make if too GenZ since the generation that can afford the larger annual fees are not that generation.
Based on their marketing material, the prime demo seems to be Urban Gen Z
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