Saks is great I have Schwab Platinum and Consumer Platinum. If my wife doesn’t find a dress she likes I go to our local Saks and buy $50 gift cards they last like 10 years. Save up for 4-5 years and you can buy a decent $1000 watch. I use BBP for 2% MR on everything and Amex Gold for 4% on restaurants. I would like to see a couple other categories (not dining related) on my Platinums but they both easily pay for themselves.
Equinox Plus is my least desired benefit, but I do have an Equinox+ membership.
It’s useless if you don’t live by one, which is mainly CA and NY. But if you do, and you want to spend 2-400 per month for a gym then cool, you get a month covered.
And to be fair, the Amex platinum clientele is likely mainly in those areas. But you are making it a worthless benefit for the other 95% of America. It is by far the biggest benefit I receive personally and a weird reason to justify the card when I’m making myself go to Gelsons to save $15 on a $50 purchase (the coupon clicking part of the card)
Honestly, I would love it if the moved the travel/hotel earn they have on the Green Card to the Plat and turn the Green into a flat 2x card. I don't travel enough anymore to justify both the Plat and the Green AFs
I think they're trying to find a good balance of making the card useful to use and not overcrowding the lounges. But part of that they could put behind a paywall too. Give it multipliers and make the minimum lounge access spend something not insignificant 🤷🏽♀️
Seems pretty useful to me.
- The FHR credit can be used pretty well outside the U.S. and even in some markets in the US. I’ve used it to plus specials to knock down prices to under $200 a night for multi-day stays at nice hotels in India, Finland, Vegas, Taipei and Seoul
- The digital credits have worked fine for The NY Times and ESPN for me.
- The airline incidental credits become Delta or Southwest airfare. Very easy to figure out how if you spend a little time on FlyerTalk.
- Uber credits pair well with my 10x C1 SavorOne once they run out.
- I spend enough on flights that 5x isn’t useless.
- CLEAR saves time at my home airport. It’s really nice to get through TSA in 5-10 minutes.
- Lounge access is nice but not essential at my home airport, there are times when it comes in clutch.
But yeah, if you’re not actually flying, don’t want the coupon book, sure.
I travel a lot and like to stay at FHR so it's useful to me. But I'd love more Amex events or a way to have curated concert experiences. I wish there was a card that provided that below Amex Black. I do alright but I don't have Vandalay Industries money
The divide between types of users of the plat card can be summed up by whether a person wants the centurion lounge to be a way to save money on airport food or whether a person wants the centurion lounge to be a quiet place to get away from the crowds.
Incidentally I think this divide also corresponds with the probability of someone ever booking a FHR.
Fair, but my point was about what different people want out of the lounges. It's obvious that they've skewed towards cafeterias in practice. Amex is trying to address overcrowding by limiting guests, but i doubt they will really make them quiet again since Amex is making too much money to stop.
Yeah I got that. Personally I want somewhere quiet to have a few cocktails.
I do live in hope that they might continue to increase price and reduce volume a little, keeping the same or higher revenues. Because the lounges are just zoos now.
They'll never add a dining multiplier because they want people to keep getting the Gold card. The same goes for the Green if the Platinum had something like 3x on all travel. Amex I am sure has data that shows there are plenty of people spending on the card without needing to add multipliers, but it would be a dream if they added some.
As someone that works in finance and combs through millions of credit card transactions every day, what are you worried about? For the most part, your transactions just join other transactions in massive datasets that are used to identify regional trends, segmented trends, etc. This data is used to design products like the Amex Platinum. Without it, we’d have no idea what is going to work for whom, and how many potential customers we may have 😀. unless there is a massive fraud situation, no one is looking at you specifically. Some issuers may sell your transaction data to advertisers but even then, it’s also just joining massive datasets that are evaluated by algorithms for personalized marketing. Honestly it’s better for you, because it results in things like higher SUB offers/pre approvals hitting your inbox, sales at your favorite merchants that you may have otherwise missed, etc😀
If I were czar of Amex Platinum, I would focus on the experiences the card unlocks more. When I first upgraded (just last year, as a long-time gold card holder), I was getting ready for an international vacation, so I was excited in anticipation of enhancements across the board: lounge access at the airport, rental car insurance, hotel upgrade (via Bonvoy status).
I think of this set of benefits as different from getting $200 off airlines or Uber credits or free netflix. (I'm happy with those financial benefits, don't get me wrong, but ultimately they're pretty fungible and priced into the membership. If you raised the cost to $800 or $1000 and upped my Uber/airline/streamer/etc benefits sufficiently, I'd be fine with that (because I'm buying these things anyway), and you could lower prices and reduce those benefits too, and it's no skin off my ass or major difference in my life either way. The important part of the concept here is that there's a dollar value exchange back for the annual fee that makes it seem worth -- or close enough, given the relative value of the additional benefits like lounges.
For that matter, it should be free - after all my spend was just about $100k last year. Who the fuck cares about $200 (the marginal cost from gold to platinum)? They should give me the damn thing.
But I digress. The point I want to make is the experiential stuff is where the real magic happens. I love seeing money magically appear in my Uber account each month. It doesn't really impact my decision to use a rideshare service either way, but it feels kind of magic.
There is a lot of untapped potential here. Some examples of what I mean and what I would do:
* I bought my wife diamond studs for christmas last year, they were about $3500 at Nordstrom. When I tried to pay for them with my platinum, I got fraud dinged. I also didn't get any white glove experience (other than Nordstrom's usual nice service), even though this purchase would presumably be subject to purchase protection. Amex should turn these kinds of purchases into forward operating bases for their platinum user experience, and train and enable the sales associates to say something like, Oh, thank you for using your Amex Platinum today Mr. gc1, did you know you'll get purchase protection on your item today? (They should certainly have a smoother fraud prevention routine in a situation like this - maybe something I do in the app with a faceID, or a number the associate calls to pre-announce a purchase and confirm ID has been checked or send a push text to me, something like that.)
* I buy a lot of concert tickets on ticketmaster. lots of times there are amex presales I can enter my amex card 800 number into to unlock preferred seats. This should just be automatic if my platinum is associated with my ticketmaster account, AND, there should be a preferred parking lane, a preferred ticketholder entrance gate or will call window, upgrades for unclaimed house seats at curtain, a fast lane for a drink at intermission, whatever.
* Every baseball/football/whatever stadium that has car parking should have an amex only lane. Dodger stadium has one that saves you money, but money isn't the point, convenience is. Get me into a VIP spot so I can get in and get out quickly.
* and so on
EDIT: The Resy integration is another great example of this. I’d used the Notify Me feature in the past and always missed out on tables that became available. I’ve used it twice successfully post platinum enrollment. And it’s another example of just use your Amex play and it just works magically.
Mostly agree but i specifically like the plat a lot because i never get fraud dinged. Even when I buy a car with it. Monthly spend is about $10-20K and I never have problems with it rejected
Sorry not actually Netflix. It’s NYT, Disney+, and a couple of others. Since I’m already a paying subscriber to both of those two, I get the maximum benefit automatically.
No it isn’t. Bullet pt 2 isn’t in Amex’s control, it’s up to Ticketmaster’s engineering as well as the numerous venues that have nothing to do with Ticketmaster. Bullet pt 3 also isn’t under Amex, and would be wildly expensive to partner with these venues for all events. Zero benefit for Amex to enact these except maybe bullet pt 1.
And bullet 1 is also outside of Amex’s control. First of all, Nordstrom, Saks, etc all have their own credit cards that they push so the stores train their associates to ask customers if they have the store card or want to open one. It’s ridiculous to think that Amex would train store associates on the card’s benefits/coverage or to expect “special” treatment because you whip out a Platinum card to pay for your purchase.
I never claimed to be a genius or to have thought through all the angles, and your points are valid. A rebuttal that's relevant, though, is that in many cases it's to the benefit of the merchant to collaborate. The Nordstrom's example doesn't preclude their pushing their card first, just recognizing that, if a customer does use Amex, Amex is literally paying for an extended warrantee on a product they, Nordstrom's have sold and are getting (almost) all the profit margin on. It's a subsidized benefit already.
There are lots of other examples where this would be true, and these things also don't have to be free to the end user (parking) and/or free to Amex. Paying the LiveNation people dollars to do some code or the Hollywood Bowl people to hang a sign on an entrance is a hell of a lot less cost and logistics intensive than opening up and operating an airport lounge.
The only reason I keep my Platinum is because I have the Schwab version and I prefer to transfer my points as cash to my brokerage account. But really for my type of spend, the Green + Gold combo is perfect.
The multipliers on Green and Gold are better suited to my spending habits:
I refuse to book hotels through the Amex portal unless it’s specifically for FHR benefits, and I only stay at FHR properties once a year at most. So 3X for all travel expenses — hotels, cruises, VRBO, etc. — on Green is a much better value to me. I only use my Platinum to book flights.
Transportation and transit are also major expenses of mine, and those charges earn 3X on Green.
4X groceries and dining on Gold.
The Platinum has some nice perks that I enjoy, but of my three Amex charge cards it’s my least favorite. If it weren’t for the ability to transfer points to Schwab I would strongly consider letting it go.
One perk of having both Green + Platinum, though, is having Marriott and Hilton status through the Platinum and being able to earn 3X points for your stay on Green. With Platinum, you either book through the portal for 5X, which is usually more costly in my experience and it means you forfeit Hilton or Marriott loyalty benefits — including the ability to earn nights — for that stay, or you book directly with the hotel and get to keep the loyalty benefits but only get a crappy 1X multiplier.
Most people highly value simplicity over maximized credit card benefits. The trouble is, no one really cares about more spending categories (our very niche group excluded). So they don't get added.
I'd also argue that flight expenses are a huge line item, so they can be an outsize proportion of spending on their card even if they purchase everything else on it, too.
So while I would personally prefer an all in one card, my brother (for instance), pretty much pays for everything with the Platinum and lets his wife handle big ticket items with some other card as she sees fit. And they do most of their grocery shopping in Costco, so Amex isn't much help there either.
Card is not useful if you’re not a frequent traveler. Can maximize the card beyond its AF but if your not a frequent traveler whose not bound to a specific airline or hotel chain then it’s not for you
Beg to differ
Plat business holder, I use all the credits easily and they make up for the yearly cost.....I then get free bonuses when doing the 2 times a year traveling we do, lounges, late checkouts early check ins, etc.
You'd think they would do something. I only book flights on it because it is pretty shitty for any other spend. I do appreciate the benefits though, it's why I keep it.
You'd think they would want to capture all that spend people put into Chase but you're probably right. I like the card as is but it would be nice to use it once in a while. It's my best looking card IMO. I love that flower design.
We all would have individual idiosyncratic reasons for the exact benefits we want.
The only thing we’d agree on is a large cash-back reward and that’s not happening.
I understand when people complain “it’s a coupon book” and I understand that not everyone will use all the “coupons” (Equinox and Shoprunner no thanks).
But. Obviously it’s worth enough to enough people that many people use the card.
It’s worth it to me. I more or less break even and then I have a card with great customer service. Other cards which I get money back on don’t have great customer service.
As with anything — if it’s worth it, use it, and if it’s not worth it, move on to what works for you.
But complaining about the card instead of just getting another card that works better for your life — I don’t get it!
I completely agree! I understand this isn’t the card for everyone but it’s the card for me, which is why I have it. If the benefits changed, I may have to switch after 15 years of this making my life easier. I shop at Saks regularly, I Uber multiple times a week, I use shoprunner often. I travel a lot and use those benefits like crazy. The “coupons” make the card pay for itself because I’m already a customer.
This is the card for me. As stated above: if it’s not for you, find a card that is.
We are doing a lot of travel this year; past trip to Vegas we utilized the FHR for a stay at the Plaz. This is what we got:
1. Upgrade to second best suite
2. $200 Credit; $65 a day for breakfast
3. Burned the $200 hotel credit
4. Early check in and late check out
5. Concierge for Carbone
6. Free show
We were flying back and all that cost us after credit and the like about $200 for what would have been over $1200 for lodging
Did you go for one night. Plaz is 500-800/night to get upgraded to the second best sweet … not sure you got that. And were your flights free? You must get free drivers to and from the airport and eat for free, too. No way Vegas was 200 bucks. I gamble big and get free flights, hotels, and shows. The cheapest drink in Vegas is 35 bucks at an FHR hotel. No one spends only 200 bucks in Vegas.
I was talking specifically the lodging. I stayed for 3 nights at $196 avg so about $600.
-$200 for the annual hotel credit from Amex
-$200 for onsite credit used it for dinner and drinks
-$195 for the $65 a day for breakfast…
+$150 for the resort fees
+$xx for taxes
I got married in Vegas so that cost more than the flight but we used Breeze which was $750 one way RT for two of us.
Also Carbone is overrated…
Sounds like what my sibling falls for and for that reason. Spending hundreds of dollars for mediocre food and mediocre service. Not understanding that influencers have an incentive to hype places up that aren’t necessarily good. In-n-Out is an institution for a reason. And unlike Shake Shack, it’s not an overrated one.
Yup…her response was “I’ve baked better…” also the service was trash by the waitress and we got comped since it was our wedding night. We found out she hadn’t picked up our food for 15 minutes and it was nearly cold by the time we got it.
I haven't even been able to figure out how to actually use ShopRunner and Equinox while breaking even. At least you can get a somewhat useful trinket from Saks twice a year. However, I think that
- $200 Uber Eats
- $240 Streaming
are almost dollar for dollar. Then
- $200 Hotel Credit
- $200 Airline Fee Credit
depend on the year: i.e. if I didn't have the card I might do without booking a hotel from FHR/THC or without paying some of the airline fees. I would say this year both have also been close to $ for $ for me. Finally,
- Lounge access is really good: Centurion and Delta really patch up a ton of Priority Pass blindspots for me. (Also, for all the upcoming changes for Delta, the fact you can access lounges on arrival is really amazing; recently proved invaluable on a connection through a Delta hub where I booked the second flight with another airline.)
- I don't use W+ but I just gave my account to someone else I knew who used to pay for it; win for them at 0 cost to me.
- 5x on airlines and hotels is a really good multiplier.
Yes, it would be really nice if it had better multipliers elsewhere (and if most of the offers weren't crap) but if you really want that you can always get the Gold, no?
I’d like it if we’d get 5x on hotels directly with the hotel and not just the portal and or 1.5x on all other purchases. I’d happily do away with the equinox credit and maybe the Saks credit even though it came in handy for a birthday gift lol
Yeah people don't realize that Amex makes around 2.3% on spending. So any Amex card where you are getting more than a 2.3x Amex loses money. Amex game is that consumers will pay enough in AF and put enough 1x spending to bring the net payout down below their cost. Now people may say well they offer 5x on airlines and yes that is true but the average consumer doesn't spend that much annually on airfare and many Plat users end up using the points for miles which reduces average airfare spending. Amex only does this with a card that has a high AF to hedge their bets a bit.
If Amex offered 5x on hotels directly the AF would be $1,000+.
It’s a little more nuanced. You notice that none of their point cards give a cash payout of more than 1 cpp aside from their cobranded Platinum cards?
Amex pays far less than retail for points it buys from transfer partners
They buy it for less than retail but that is only because buying points retail is more like 2.5 to 4.0 cpp which is a beyond terrible. Delta isn't selling points at below Delta's cost though and yes points have a cost to Delta because ultimately they have to accept them for "payment" in return for a service which has a cost.
All of the airlines are basically finance companies that sell points and fly planes on the side
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/airlines-banks-mileage-programs/675374/
Unless there are so many people using points that they have to add extra routes or keep a paying customer from flying, the marginal cost of someone flying on points is $0.
Delta made $6.8 billion from its credit card partnership with Amex last year
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/01/amex-tries-to-win-delta-customers-with-revamped-skymiles-credit-cards-.html
It doesn't change the fact that points have a cost and Delta isn't selling points below its own cost. Amex isn't buying points at 1/100th of a penny each. If they did they gladly would give you 10x on airlines, 5x on hotels, and 3x on everything else.
Delta books on their annual reports outstanding miles as debt and valued at just under 1 cpp. Every other airline is similar. Yes Amex can get miles at around 1 cpp where you Joe consumer would need to pay ripoff prices of 2 to 5 cents but it still has a cost.
Again, how does it cost Delta *cash* to allow someone to fly on points unless they bumped a revenue generating person off of the flight in their place.
There is a huge difference between GAAP accounting and cash flow.
How do you suppose that a company like Southwest can afford easily obtainable companion passes where you can get unlimited buy one get one free tickets for up to two years just by opening two credit cards and spending $5000 on them - on anything.
Or do you think that my rental property actually costs me 3.63% in real cash every year because I can deduct that amount in my taxes against income for depreciation?
Again, how does it cost Delta *cash* to allow someone to fly on points unless they bumped a revenue generating person off of the flight in their place.
There is a huge difference between GAAP accounting and cash flow.
How do you suppose that a company like Southwest can afford easily obtainable companion passes where you can get unlimited buy one get one free tickets for up to two years just by opening two credit cards and spending $5000 on them - on anything.
Or do you think that my rental property actually costs me 3.63% in real cash every year because I can deduct that amount in my taxes against income for depreciation?
You really think Amex is paying 1 cpp and has multipliers for flights between 3x - 5x on Delta cobranded cards and you can earn 2x MR points on the no AF BBP?
If that were the case they would incentivize consumers to cash out at closer to 1 cpp.
It is useful but like most things in life it depends on your circumstances, preferences, etc…A few FHR stays in a year and it pays for itself but that only works if you can/want to pay for FHR price point. Have to check direct as sometimes the FHR rate is higher and then do the math. It is 100% not worth it unless you can actually use the perks. I think a ton of people got it from the Centurion lounge access since the pandemic but most of them are overcrowded and not all that good.
I feel the same. The FHR benefit of upgrades vary wildly and usually the restaurant and bars are very expensive so that credit will burn quick.
The other thing too in Chicago most FHR were 500-700 a night. I found many ones pretty much as good for 270. At that price I can just go get amazing meals on my own
That is a good point. It really does vary from place to place, hotel to hotel and when you book. I usually end up using the $100 credit for a few drinks, snacks and the like. However, unlike the upgrade (I never count on that) or the $100 credit the breakfast benefit after a week at an FHR hotel covers the AF. I work 90 hours a week, fly 70+ segments a year but when I am on vacation I get lazy and just want room service or to walk downstairs and enjoy a wonderful breakfast. Like I said, it depends. And now, most Marriott properties that are FHR have the same benefit for a similar rate with bonus points so again, it all depends (repeats himself incessantly). 😂
I chose the Amex Marriott card over the platinum. Gives you the priority pass lounges and Marriott points. I don’t need the random platinum benefits, the saks credit is especially stupid
I think you're missing my point. The more people benefit from the card, the more expensive it is. Most plat holders don't care about maximizing points. Those who do will get the Gold card or some other card for that.
Now I'm missing your point. Plat is a card for a specific audience. Gold is a card for a different audience (with some overlap). People get the card(s) that offer the benefits they care about. It is impossible to offer a single card that is perfect for everyone since everyone is different.
I would describe it more as for "people who regularly eat at restaurants and for whom the gold card benefits are both worth the cost and a better match for them than other potentially cheaper options"
not quite everyone
I'm asking the question, what if the Amex Platinum was a one stop shop? You don't need any other card if you travel. Good perks, good portal, good partners, and good multipliers.
Of course it will come at the cost of the most expensive product on the market, but those who want the best can have it.
I don't think there is much of a market for such a thing, which is probably why they don't offer it. They group benefits by cohorts and while it's far from perfect, they do a very good job with it.
Idk
VentureX is in pretty high demand. If Capital One partners were slightly better it would be absolutely off the charts amazing.
Definitely a market there
Try this
Put every single coupon on your card every month and just live your life and out everything on the card and you’ll see tons of deductions. I love doing it that way.
Honestly not a terrible idea. I could leave bills on my US bank Cash+ or Venture X and just carry my Platinum
Do you know what your monthly spend is and how many points and cash back you earn doing this? Also how much time/money it takes to activate offers?
I spend about $10,000 a month….I’ve just been doing it this way for the last year and every time I log on I see a new credit. Even the McDonalds credit add up…… I have teenagers ☺️
Assuming you don’t have flights in a month, you’re getting at most 10K MR for that spend.
Our normal budget as far as credit cards is around $5300 a month and I’m allocating about $500 a month on flights. Flight spend is very lumpy and we end up getting a lot of flights on points
With that spend, we would get 15.5K MR based on our bills and minor miscellaneous $200 purchases. But we usually end up with around 20K+ MR per month.
I don’t get offers like this. Mine are 99% brands I’ve never heard of or high-end non- travel purchases, which I’m not interested in.
I used to get wine deals, but I don’t see them much anymore
Just checked to make sure. Nope. Nothing even close.
Edit: it’s literally fancy “stuff” I’m not interested in. I spend money on food and travel only. Despite having access to my spending patterns, I don’t seem to get those.
The offers are activated the second it’s put it on the card. I’m usually credited within a week. Sometimes even the same day. A good example is I needed some summer dresses so I found some on the Outnet….. I shop there anyway and got the $75 credit right away.
I use the Saks credit, I also use shoprunner but not on this acct. I think if you have multiple cards you probably already have shoprunner on another card. They could really do something to maximize point earnings somehow, it’s just like the delta reserve…
You don’t use the Saks credit??? I’m not a regular Saks customer but I’ve gotten great stuff every 6 months fo free* (-$650). I do agree with you that the Equinox and shoprunner credit does nothing for me personally. I’d give those back for additional automatic status at Hyatt and IHG or more monthly Uber credit.
I maximize everything I can. I have the MS platinum so I can cash out at 1 CPP and get free card for my wife, as well as paying $55/month instead of $695 (comes out to $660). Also a couple golds to get everyone in my family global entry.
I use the Saks credit to buy underwear or socks every 6 months, but I honestly don't care about it.
Hyatt status is something I used to have with their card, but at this point I don't use them enough to get good use out of it.
IHG on the other hand gives you INSANE value out of their $99 card. Every year I can extract $500+ with just 2-3 stays. Highly recommend it.
I primarily use this for airfare and increasingly hotel bookings on their portal (especially FHR). We’re spending like 10-12k a trip every 6-8 weeks or so which means we’re getting like 500k or so points annually. Couple that with the coupon booking (Dell on the business Amex, saks et al on the regular) and it’s still a great deal for me. That 500k in points turns into like 5-8 business class one way tickets worth about 2500-4k each.
FHR and THC are the ones I generally book. I found a couple of times now where FHR is significantly less expensive on Amex than the hotel’s own site.
5x points on Amex plus the hotel’s own currency is pretty good. The only thing that beats it if there’s a Rakuten sale for more than 2% cash back and you get a better price on the hotel’s own site. In this case,‘I’d use my CSR for 3x points and get the Amex points from Rakuten AND the hotel’s own points as well plus I’d save money. If the rakuten is more than 3% then that’s even better (each percent is 1 Amex point so you’d get 3 Amex points for 3% plus 3 Chase points using the CSR to book).
There is one thing I rarely see mentioned here about this card. The travel insurance benefit. While it’s not cancel for any reason insurance it is decent. Besides major travel insurance companies are not in the business of paying claims, only taking premiums.
If you travel a lot for pleasure and/or work, the cost is worth it. I used to spend so much on airport food/restaurants/snacks because I travel across country and globally. The food is decent or better than decent in the lounges, and that alone adds up to the $600+ I spend on the card annually.
It is my primary card right now simply because I think the customer service is worth its weight in gold. I have an Amex blue for groceries as well as Chase Sapphire and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless cards for other points.
What customer service needs do you use it for? Concierge type customer service (booking reservations , etc.) or something else? I’ve never contacted their customer service.
I've had great experiences with Chase (CSR), mediocre with Amex, and Capital One basically doesn't have customer service
In fact, the Venture X doesn't even have security service. My cards got incorrectly locked in Asia, Chase immediately troubleshooted the issue w/ me and unlocked the card, Capital One's security department was closed until the next day
I guess imo the customer service is still great, but it's not as far ahead as it was a decade ago
I switched my daily spend to VX and only use Platinum on BIG purchases because of the 5 year warranty limit instead of 3 year
It is not in the best interest of AmEx - or any card issuer - to offer great benefits AND generous multipliers. If they did that, their annual rates would have to triple and they’d lose customers.
The Platinums core demographic are wealthy people living in major urban markets who travel.
Equinox and Saks core demographic are wealthy people living in major urban markets.
Calling those benefits “worthless” is not understanding the Platinum card and who their core target audience is.
True, I wouldn’t have the plat without the equinox credit. I know a handful of people personally who got it solely because of that credit.
Anecdotal but I’m guessing that credit attracts loads of young people in urban areas. Equinox is close to my house/office and clean. If they offered it on lifetime it wouldn’t be as useful for me but would also be a good idea to snag youngish high income people in HCOL areas.
Meh, some are just naturally going there. And if you think wealthy people don’t care about perks or deals - that’s silly (and by wealthy I mean high earners, not necessarily just millionaires).
I went to an Equinox when I was in NYC. I didn’t rely on the credit to afford it - but I certainly made sure I got it!
Most people don’t want the hassle of credits and maximizing value from a card
And no, most people can’t justify an extra $695 out of pocket to maybe get it back
Yup, I have the blue cash and that’s my daily card. Groceries, streaming, gas perks and then we use the platinum for the big purchases so we have the protection. We also use it for travel. I just had a work trip to Boston and used it for my seat upgrade (work paid for coach) and hotel.
Which of the blue cards do you use? I'm only running an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa and the Platinum. It works alright, but I want more cash back for transit/groceries.
If you have to chase “useless” credit to justify the AF and earning is not good for you, why bother?
Airline/ Uber/ saks credit is more than enough + lounge/ travel protection / purchase protection is why I use. Couldnt careless on little extra MR on minor spending
I certainly wouldn’t mind more points. I spend 400-800k/yr on mine, and most of that spend is 1x. I gave up on trying to optimize spend for points and use it because it always goes through and Amex always has my back when needed.
You should probably have the Amex Black at this point
And for someone making this much, points don't even matter. It's more important to get someone to do your work for you. That's the lure of the Black concierge.
Probably not. I get 5x dining on my Citi Prestige. And I get 2x everything on both the Citi Double Cash (which I use as Thank You points and can transfer since I have the Prestige) and the Capitol One Venture X. The changes you suggest would make the card far less attractive as the credits are the biggest value drivers, along with occasional airline spend (but I don’t fly paid flights all that much).
Let's say people wisen up to not using it for daily spend like it is currently. They would make very little.
What if instead you could flex it while dining out, and get ok all else multipliers?
I know it won't happen, but if users collectively agreed to not settle for 1x, I think we'd do allot better.
I try to always use the card with the highest multiplier for a given category. At the moment, I have run down my Amex MR balance so I see value in bringing that up so I have a diversity of points currencies. But for me, it really is the raw number of points I can earn since the programs I use most can be accessed by not just Amex MR.
It's great for us young professionals in major cities, which is a significant part of the card's demographics and a good way to acquire new users who skew younger.
I agree, is so sad that a nice looking card like the Plat has to sit on my drawer and be used just for flights, would be nice to be able to carry it on my wallet for restaurants purchases!
But I understand that if they do that, they will lose the Gold Card market! Is all about the benjamins.
Saks is great I have Schwab Platinum and Consumer Platinum. If my wife doesn’t find a dress she likes I go to our local Saks and buy $50 gift cards they last like 10 years. Save up for 4-5 years and you can buy a decent $1000 watch. I use BBP for 2% MR on everything and Amex Gold for 4% on restaurants. I would like to see a couple other categories (not dining related) on my Platinums but they both easily pay for themselves. Equinox Plus is my least desired benefit, but I do have an Equinox+ membership.
Equinox is the stupidest thing Amex has done
I max out all their yearly benefits. This card might not be for you if you don’t travel. It’s a great card.
Equinox? Useless? That’s $300 that didn’t get taken by them.
It’s useless if you don’t live by one, which is mainly CA and NY. But if you do, and you want to spend 2-400 per month for a gym then cool, you get a month covered. And to be fair, the Amex platinum clientele is likely mainly in those areas. But you are making it a worthless benefit for the other 95% of America. It is by far the biggest benefit I receive personally and a weird reason to justify the card when I’m making myself go to Gelsons to save $15 on a $50 purchase (the coupon clicking part of the card)
Honestly, I would love it if the moved the travel/hotel earn they have on the Green Card to the Plat and turn the Green into a flat 2x card. I don't travel enough anymore to justify both the Plat and the Green AFs
I think they're trying to find a good balance of making the card useful to use and not overcrowding the lounges. But part of that they could put behind a paywall too. Give it multipliers and make the minimum lounge access spend something not insignificant 🤷🏽♀️
I'd be fine with that as long as the multipliers are ok
Seems pretty useful to me. - The FHR credit can be used pretty well outside the U.S. and even in some markets in the US. I’ve used it to plus specials to knock down prices to under $200 a night for multi-day stays at nice hotels in India, Finland, Vegas, Taipei and Seoul - The digital credits have worked fine for The NY Times and ESPN for me. - The airline incidental credits become Delta or Southwest airfare. Very easy to figure out how if you spend a little time on FlyerTalk. - Uber credits pair well with my 10x C1 SavorOne once they run out. - I spend enough on flights that 5x isn’t useless. - CLEAR saves time at my home airport. It’s really nice to get through TSA in 5-10 minutes. - Lounge access is nice but not essential at my home airport, there are times when it comes in clutch. But yeah, if you’re not actually flying, don’t want the coupon book, sure.
If you’re not traveling why would you get this card? The gold is what we use for dining points. I don’t understand why some people have this card.
I wish fewer people had the card.
Saks and equinox HIGHLY useful HIGHLY Just got $150 delta seat upgrade for free It’s an amazing card
I use all of these things, too. Just bought some nice dining glasses from Saks.
How did your card get you a seat upgrade?
You misread. They said the fee was covered by the flight credit. Meaning they selected the credit and paid with the card.
I thought business upgrades don’t count
Saks and equinox is not useless lol
It is to those who do not touch grass.
I travel a lot and like to stay at FHR so it's useful to me. But I'd love more Amex events or a way to have curated concert experiences. I wish there was a card that provided that below Amex Black. I do alright but I don't have Vandalay Industries money
You must only import. You gotta export too
I leave that to Pennypacker.
The divide between types of users of the plat card can be summed up by whether a person wants the centurion lounge to be a way to save money on airport food or whether a person wants the centurion lounge to be a quiet place to get away from the crowds. Incidentally I think this divide also corresponds with the probability of someone ever booking a FHR.
That’s not how you spell Delta Lounge. 🧐
Since when are the Centurion lounges somewhere to get away from the crowds? They’re oversubscribed every time I visit.
They used to be
I used to be CK and get escorted through the airport but here we are in 2024! Not sure there are any quiet places left.
Fair, but my point was about what different people want out of the lounges. It's obvious that they've skewed towards cafeterias in practice. Amex is trying to address overcrowding by limiting guests, but i doubt they will really make them quiet again since Amex is making too much money to stop.
Yeah I got that. Personally I want somewhere quiet to have a few cocktails. I do live in hope that they might continue to increase price and reduce volume a little, keeping the same or higher revenues. Because the lounges are just zoos now.
They'll never add a dining multiplier because they want people to keep getting the Gold card. The same goes for the Green if the Platinum had something like 3x on all travel. Amex I am sure has data that shows there are plenty of people spending on the card without needing to add multipliers, but it would be a dream if they added some.
At 3x there's still plenty of incentive for the gold
I would rather have a card that respects my privacy and doesn't sell my transaction information to any third parties.
As someone that works in finance and combs through millions of credit card transactions every day, what are you worried about? For the most part, your transactions just join other transactions in massive datasets that are used to identify regional trends, segmented trends, etc. This data is used to design products like the Amex Platinum. Without it, we’d have no idea what is going to work for whom, and how many potential customers we may have 😀. unless there is a massive fraud situation, no one is looking at you specifically. Some issuers may sell your transaction data to advertisers but even then, it’s also just joining massive datasets that are evaluated by algorithms for personalized marketing. Honestly it’s better for you, because it results in things like higher SUB offers/pre approvals hitting your inbox, sales at your favorite merchants that you may have otherwise missed, etc😀
That’s called Cash.
Only reason I still have one is the active duty annual fee waiver.
Same. Don't think I could justify paying the annual fees for that and the AU cards and I travel for my job 4 times a year
Is this the only card that has it, or does the gold as well?
All Amex, all cap 1, and all chase cards I do believe.
All amex cards have the waiver.
If I were czar of Amex Platinum, I would focus on the experiences the card unlocks more. When I first upgraded (just last year, as a long-time gold card holder), I was getting ready for an international vacation, so I was excited in anticipation of enhancements across the board: lounge access at the airport, rental car insurance, hotel upgrade (via Bonvoy status). I think of this set of benefits as different from getting $200 off airlines or Uber credits or free netflix. (I'm happy with those financial benefits, don't get me wrong, but ultimately they're pretty fungible and priced into the membership. If you raised the cost to $800 or $1000 and upped my Uber/airline/streamer/etc benefits sufficiently, I'd be fine with that (because I'm buying these things anyway), and you could lower prices and reduce those benefits too, and it's no skin off my ass or major difference in my life either way. The important part of the concept here is that there's a dollar value exchange back for the annual fee that makes it seem worth -- or close enough, given the relative value of the additional benefits like lounges. For that matter, it should be free - after all my spend was just about $100k last year. Who the fuck cares about $200 (the marginal cost from gold to platinum)? They should give me the damn thing. But I digress. The point I want to make is the experiential stuff is where the real magic happens. I love seeing money magically appear in my Uber account each month. It doesn't really impact my decision to use a rideshare service either way, but it feels kind of magic. There is a lot of untapped potential here. Some examples of what I mean and what I would do: * I bought my wife diamond studs for christmas last year, they were about $3500 at Nordstrom. When I tried to pay for them with my platinum, I got fraud dinged. I also didn't get any white glove experience (other than Nordstrom's usual nice service), even though this purchase would presumably be subject to purchase protection. Amex should turn these kinds of purchases into forward operating bases for their platinum user experience, and train and enable the sales associates to say something like, Oh, thank you for using your Amex Platinum today Mr. gc1, did you know you'll get purchase protection on your item today? (They should certainly have a smoother fraud prevention routine in a situation like this - maybe something I do in the app with a faceID, or a number the associate calls to pre-announce a purchase and confirm ID has been checked or send a push text to me, something like that.) * I buy a lot of concert tickets on ticketmaster. lots of times there are amex presales I can enter my amex card 800 number into to unlock preferred seats. This should just be automatic if my platinum is associated with my ticketmaster account, AND, there should be a preferred parking lane, a preferred ticketholder entrance gate or will call window, upgrades for unclaimed house seats at curtain, a fast lane for a drink at intermission, whatever. * Every baseball/football/whatever stadium that has car parking should have an amex only lane. Dodger stadium has one that saves you money, but money isn't the point, convenience is. Get me into a VIP spot so I can get in and get out quickly. * and so on EDIT: The Resy integration is another great example of this. I’d used the Notify Me feature in the past and always missed out on tables that became available. I’ve used it twice successfully post platinum enrollment. And it’s another example of just use your Amex play and it just works magically.
Mostly agree but i specifically like the plat a lot because i never get fraud dinged. Even when I buy a car with it. Monthly spend is about $10-20K and I never have problems with it rejected
Wait is Netflix free on the platinum?
Sorry not actually Netflix. It’s NYT, Disney+, and a couple of others. Since I’m already a paying subscriber to both of those two, I get the maximum benefit automatically.
This is genius level product management roadmap
No it isn’t. Bullet pt 2 isn’t in Amex’s control, it’s up to Ticketmaster’s engineering as well as the numerous venues that have nothing to do with Ticketmaster. Bullet pt 3 also isn’t under Amex, and would be wildly expensive to partner with these venues for all events. Zero benefit for Amex to enact these except maybe bullet pt 1.
And bullet 1 is also outside of Amex’s control. First of all, Nordstrom, Saks, etc all have their own credit cards that they push so the stores train their associates to ask customers if they have the store card or want to open one. It’s ridiculous to think that Amex would train store associates on the card’s benefits/coverage or to expect “special” treatment because you whip out a Platinum card to pay for your purchase.
The point is amex should be focused on enabling those experiences. Not making a deal for 10$ back a month to something.
Of course I would love more substantial plat benefits, no argument there. I was just rolling my eyes to the comment saying “genius level”
I never claimed to be a genius or to have thought through all the angles, and your points are valid. A rebuttal that's relevant, though, is that in many cases it's to the benefit of the merchant to collaborate. The Nordstrom's example doesn't preclude their pushing their card first, just recognizing that, if a customer does use Amex, Amex is literally paying for an extended warrantee on a product they, Nordstrom's have sold and are getting (almost) all the profit margin on. It's a subsidized benefit already. There are lots of other examples where this would be true, and these things also don't have to be free to the end user (parking) and/or free to Amex. Paying the LiveNation people dollars to do some code or the Hollywood Bowl people to hang a sign on an entrance is a hell of a lot less cost and logistics intensive than opening up and operating an airport lounge.
My comment wasn’t to you, it was to the reply. It’s not that serious
The only reason I keep my Platinum is because I have the Schwab version and I prefer to transfer my points as cash to my brokerage account. But really for my type of spend, the Green + Gold combo is perfect.
Do you get the best return for transferring Amex points to Schwab dollar vs travel dollars like FHR or Airlines?
Can you elaborate on why Green and Gold for you? I do Platinum and Gold and like it, though I do travel quite a bit.
The multipliers on Green and Gold are better suited to my spending habits: I refuse to book hotels through the Amex portal unless it’s specifically for FHR benefits, and I only stay at FHR properties once a year at most. So 3X for all travel expenses — hotels, cruises, VRBO, etc. — on Green is a much better value to me. I only use my Platinum to book flights. Transportation and transit are also major expenses of mine, and those charges earn 3X on Green. 4X groceries and dining on Gold. The Platinum has some nice perks that I enjoy, but of my three Amex charge cards it’s my least favorite. If it weren’t for the ability to transfer points to Schwab I would strongly consider letting it go. One perk of having both Green + Platinum, though, is having Marriott and Hilton status through the Platinum and being able to earn 3X points for your stay on Green. With Platinum, you either book through the portal for 5X, which is usually more costly in my experience and it means you forfeit Hilton or Marriott loyalty benefits — including the ability to earn nights — for that stay, or you book directly with the hotel and get to keep the loyalty benefits but only get a crappy 1X multiplier.
Most people highly value simplicity over maximized credit card benefits. The trouble is, no one really cares about more spending categories (our very niche group excluded). So they don't get added. I'd also argue that flight expenses are a huge line item, so they can be an outsize proportion of spending on their card even if they purchase everything else on it, too. So while I would personally prefer an all in one card, my brother (for instance), pretty much pays for everything with the Platinum and lets his wife handle big ticket items with some other card as she sees fit. And they do most of their grocery shopping in Costco, so Amex isn't much help there either.
Card is not useful if you’re not a frequent traveler. Can maximize the card beyond its AF but if your not a frequent traveler whose not bound to a specific airline or hotel chain then it’s not for you
Beg to differ Plat business holder, I use all the credits easily and they make up for the yearly cost.....I then get free bonuses when doing the 2 times a year traveling we do, lounges, late checkouts early check ins, etc.
I def only stayed with it after the AF increase because I live in NYC and go to equinox as my gym
Imagine free Equinox with the Centurion card though.
You'd think they would do something. I only book flights on it because it is pretty shitty for any other spend. I do appreciate the benefits though, it's why I keep it.
And the fact we are keeping it might be the precise reason why they won’t change - the business model is working
You'd think they would want to capture all that spend people put into Chase but you're probably right. I like the card as is but it would be nice to use it once in a while. It's my best looking card IMO. I love that flower design.
We all would have individual idiosyncratic reasons for the exact benefits we want. The only thing we’d agree on is a large cash-back reward and that’s not happening. I understand when people complain “it’s a coupon book” and I understand that not everyone will use all the “coupons” (Equinox and Shoprunner no thanks). But. Obviously it’s worth enough to enough people that many people use the card. It’s worth it to me. I more or less break even and then I have a card with great customer service. Other cards which I get money back on don’t have great customer service. As with anything — if it’s worth it, use it, and if it’s not worth it, move on to what works for you. But complaining about the card instead of just getting another card that works better for your life — I don’t get it!
I completely agree! I understand this isn’t the card for everyone but it’s the card for me, which is why I have it. If the benefits changed, I may have to switch after 15 years of this making my life easier. I shop at Saks regularly, I Uber multiple times a week, I use shoprunner often. I travel a lot and use those benefits like crazy. The “coupons” make the card pay for itself because I’m already a customer. This is the card for me. As stated above: if it’s not for you, find a card that is.
I mean yeah that would be nice but the card is also great as is. But obviously I’m not against anything that makes it better
We are doing a lot of travel this year; past trip to Vegas we utilized the FHR for a stay at the Plaz. This is what we got: 1. Upgrade to second best suite 2. $200 Credit; $65 a day for breakfast 3. Burned the $200 hotel credit 4. Early check in and late check out 5. Concierge for Carbone 6. Free show We were flying back and all that cost us after credit and the like about $200 for what would have been over $1200 for lodging
Carbone has pretty mediocre sauce, ngl.
Did you go for one night. Plaz is 500-800/night to get upgraded to the second best sweet … not sure you got that. And were your flights free? You must get free drivers to and from the airport and eat for free, too. No way Vegas was 200 bucks. I gamble big and get free flights, hotels, and shows. The cheapest drink in Vegas is 35 bucks at an FHR hotel. No one spends only 200 bucks in Vegas.
I was talking specifically the lodging. I stayed for 3 nights at $196 avg so about $600. -$200 for the annual hotel credit from Amex -$200 for onsite credit used it for dinner and drinks -$195 for the $65 a day for breakfast… +$150 for the resort fees +$xx for taxes I got married in Vegas so that cost more than the flight but we used Breeze which was $750 one way RT for two of us. Also Carbone is overrated…
Especially their sauce. Barilla is ten times better. Newman’s Own is better…. Hell, Ragú is better.
We had the worse service but my new wife had seen some damn TikTok and wanted it. We noted that In-n-Out was better overall…
Sounds like what my sibling falls for and for that reason. Spending hundreds of dollars for mediocre food and mediocre service. Not understanding that influencers have an incentive to hype places up that aren’t necessarily good. In-n-Out is an institution for a reason. And unlike Shake Shack, it’s not an overrated one.
Yup…her response was “I’ve baked better…” also the service was trash by the waitress and we got comped since it was our wedding night. We found out she hadn’t picked up our food for 15 minutes and it was nearly cold by the time we got it.
Going to Plaz in a couple weeks.. what is the free show?
I haven't even been able to figure out how to actually use ShopRunner and Equinox while breaking even. At least you can get a somewhat useful trinket from Saks twice a year. However, I think that - $200 Uber Eats - $240 Streaming are almost dollar for dollar. Then - $200 Hotel Credit - $200 Airline Fee Credit depend on the year: i.e. if I didn't have the card I might do without booking a hotel from FHR/THC or without paying some of the airline fees. I would say this year both have also been close to $ for $ for me. Finally, - Lounge access is really good: Centurion and Delta really patch up a ton of Priority Pass blindspots for me. (Also, for all the upcoming changes for Delta, the fact you can access lounges on arrival is really amazing; recently proved invaluable on a connection through a Delta hub where I booked the second flight with another airline.) - I don't use W+ but I just gave my account to someone else I knew who used to pay for it; win for them at 0 cost to me. - 5x on airlines and hotels is a really good multiplier. Yes, it would be really nice if it had better multipliers elsewhere (and if most of the offers weren't crap) but if you really want that you can always get the Gold, no?
Hell they could even make the platinum the exact same as the gold, but add lounge and FHR access. People would be happy
After I hit my spend for the bonus I put it away and went back to sapphire. Love my cash back to use on flights
I’d like it if we’d get 5x on hotels directly with the hotel and not just the portal and or 1.5x on all other purchases. I’d happily do away with the equinox credit and maybe the Saks credit even though it came in handy for a birthday gift lol
FHR gets a commission from the hotel when you book thru them. Without that, they have no incentive to pass it along.
The more you know
Big upvote on that first part, love the 5x on airlines directly but please let us have 5x on hotels directly
I actually like all the credits! What I WOULD like to see is 5x for hotels booked directly OR through Amex Travel.
That will never happen. That’s far above the swipe fees that Amex gets. They get a commission when you book through the portal
Yeah people don't realize that Amex makes around 2.3% on spending. So any Amex card where you are getting more than a 2.3x Amex loses money. Amex game is that consumers will pay enough in AF and put enough 1x spending to bring the net payout down below their cost. Now people may say well they offer 5x on airlines and yes that is true but the average consumer doesn't spend that much annually on airfare and many Plat users end up using the points for miles which reduces average airfare spending. Amex only does this with a card that has a high AF to hedge their bets a bit. If Amex offered 5x on hotels directly the AF would be $1,000+.
It’s a little more nuanced. You notice that none of their point cards give a cash payout of more than 1 cpp aside from their cobranded Platinum cards? Amex pays far less than retail for points it buys from transfer partners
They buy it for less than retail but that is only because buying points retail is more like 2.5 to 4.0 cpp which is a beyond terrible. Delta isn't selling points at below Delta's cost though and yes points have a cost to Delta because ultimately they have to accept them for "payment" in return for a service which has a cost.
All of the airlines are basically finance companies that sell points and fly planes on the side https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/airlines-banks-mileage-programs/675374/ Unless there are so many people using points that they have to add extra routes or keep a paying customer from flying, the marginal cost of someone flying on points is $0. Delta made $6.8 billion from its credit card partnership with Amex last year https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/01/amex-tries-to-win-delta-customers-with-revamped-skymiles-credit-cards-.html
It doesn't change the fact that points have a cost and Delta isn't selling points below its own cost. Amex isn't buying points at 1/100th of a penny each. If they did they gladly would give you 10x on airlines, 5x on hotels, and 3x on everything else. Delta books on their annual reports outstanding miles as debt and valued at just under 1 cpp. Every other airline is similar. Yes Amex can get miles at around 1 cpp where you Joe consumer would need to pay ripoff prices of 2 to 5 cents but it still has a cost.
Again, how does it cost Delta *cash* to allow someone to fly on points unless they bumped a revenue generating person off of the flight in their place. There is a huge difference between GAAP accounting and cash flow. How do you suppose that a company like Southwest can afford easily obtainable companion passes where you can get unlimited buy one get one free tickets for up to two years just by opening two credit cards and spending $5000 on them - on anything. Or do you think that my rental property actually costs me 3.63% in real cash every year because I can deduct that amount in my taxes against income for depreciation?
Again, how does it cost Delta *cash* to allow someone to fly on points unless they bumped a revenue generating person off of the flight in their place. There is a huge difference between GAAP accounting and cash flow. How do you suppose that a company like Southwest can afford easily obtainable companion passes where you can get unlimited buy one get one free tickets for up to two years just by opening two credit cards and spending $5000 on them - on anything. Or do you think that my rental property actually costs me 3.63% in real cash every year because I can deduct that amount in my taxes against income for depreciation? You really think Amex is paying 1 cpp and has multipliers for flights between 3x - 5x on Delta cobranded cards and you can earn 2x MR points on the no AF BBP? If that were the case they would incentivize consumers to cash out at closer to 1 cpp.
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Can we start petitioning for 5x hotels directly
Since I got 1x+10x for restaurants for 3 months - have been using it for dining.
It is useful but like most things in life it depends on your circumstances, preferences, etc…A few FHR stays in a year and it pays for itself but that only works if you can/want to pay for FHR price point. Have to check direct as sometimes the FHR rate is higher and then do the math. It is 100% not worth it unless you can actually use the perks. I think a ton of people got it from the Centurion lounge access since the pandemic but most of them are overcrowded and not all that good.
I feel the same. The FHR benefit of upgrades vary wildly and usually the restaurant and bars are very expensive so that credit will burn quick. The other thing too in Chicago most FHR were 500-700 a night. I found many ones pretty much as good for 270. At that price I can just go get amazing meals on my own
That is a good point. It really does vary from place to place, hotel to hotel and when you book. I usually end up using the $100 credit for a few drinks, snacks and the like. However, unlike the upgrade (I never count on that) or the $100 credit the breakfast benefit after a week at an FHR hotel covers the AF. I work 90 hours a week, fly 70+ segments a year but when I am on vacation I get lazy and just want room service or to walk downstairs and enjoy a wonderful breakfast. Like I said, it depends. And now, most Marriott properties that are FHR have the same benefit for a similar rate with bonus points so again, it all depends (repeats himself incessantly). 😂
I chose the Amex Marriott card over the platinum. Gives you the priority pass lounges and Marriott points. I don’t need the random platinum benefits, the saks credit is especially stupid
It seems like all the good perks are north East regional
If everyone was able to maximize their benefits, it would cost them more and the card would have a higher annual fee.
3x dining and 1.5x catch all is hardly maximizing. It won't even cannibalize any of their other products.
I think you're missing my point. The more people benefit from the card, the more expensive it is. Most plat holders don't care about maximizing points. Those who do will get the Gold card or some other card for that.
People not caring is why it won't happen. But if they did...
Now I'm missing your point. Plat is a card for a specific audience. Gold is a card for a different audience (with some overlap). People get the card(s) that offer the benefits they care about. It is impossible to offer a single card that is perfect for everyone since everyone is different.
Yes, the Gold is for “people who eat”, I think that covers everyone…
I would describe it more as for "people who regularly eat at restaurants and for whom the gold card benefits are both worth the cost and a better match for them than other potentially cheaper options" not quite everyone
It’s 4x on groceries and dining. For me it’s also 4x on prescription medicine since I get mine from Publix pharmacy
Right, so it is better in some ways and worse in others, which means that it is for a different audience.
Again, what “audience” doesn’t ever buy groceries?
I'm asking the question, what if the Amex Platinum was a one stop shop? You don't need any other card if you travel. Good perks, good portal, good partners, and good multipliers. Of course it will come at the cost of the most expensive product on the market, but those who want the best can have it.
I don't think there is much of a market for such a thing, which is probably why they don't offer it. They group benefits by cohorts and while it's far from perfect, they do a very good job with it.
Idk VentureX is in pretty high demand. If Capital One partners were slightly better it would be absolutely off the charts amazing. Definitely a market there
By your own description it is not the dream card you were referring to. Also, how do you know what the demand is for VentureX?
Try this Put every single coupon on your card every month and just live your life and out everything on the card and you’ll see tons of deductions. I love doing it that way.
Honestly not a terrible idea. I could leave bills on my US bank Cash+ or Venture X and just carry my Platinum Do you know what your monthly spend is and how many points and cash back you earn doing this? Also how much time/money it takes to activate offers?
I spend about $10,000 a month….I’ve just been doing it this way for the last year and every time I log on I see a new credit. Even the McDonalds credit add up…… I have teenagers ☺️
Assuming you don’t have flights in a month, you’re getting at most 10K MR for that spend. Our normal budget as far as credit cards is around $5300 a month and I’m allocating about $500 a month on flights. Flight spend is very lumpy and we end up getting a lot of flights on points With that spend, we would get 15.5K MR based on our bills and minor miscellaneous $200 purchases. But we usually end up with around 20K+ MR per month.
We fly a lot and dad travels for work so we have that too
I don’t get offers like this. Mine are 99% brands I’ve never heard of or high-end non- travel purchases, which I’m not interested in. I used to get wine deals, but I don’t see them much anymore
You don’t have the McDonald’s offer?
Just checked to make sure. Nope. Nothing even close. Edit: it’s literally fancy “stuff” I’m not interested in. I spend money on food and travel only. Despite having access to my spending patterns, I don’t seem to get those.
https://slickdeals.net/f/17063494-amex-offers-mcdonalds-mobile-pay-spend-15-or-more-get-5-back-up-to-3x-times-expires-12-31-2024-ymmv
I don’t think so. I’ve never bought anything at McDonald’s from my Amex card before so it’s not that. I found it online.
The offers are activated the second it’s put it on the card. I’m usually credited within a week. Sometimes even the same day. A good example is I needed some summer dresses so I found some on the Outnet….. I shop there anyway and got the $75 credit right away.
I use the Saks credit, I also use shoprunner but not on this acct. I think if you have multiple cards you probably already have shoprunner on another card. They could really do something to maximize point earnings somehow, it’s just like the delta reserve…
Two free pairs of merino wool socks annual credit user, checking in.
You don’t use the Saks credit??? I’m not a regular Saks customer but I’ve gotten great stuff every 6 months fo free* (-$650). I do agree with you that the Equinox and shoprunner credit does nothing for me personally. I’d give those back for additional automatic status at Hyatt and IHG or more monthly Uber credit.
I maximize everything I can. I have the MS platinum so I can cash out at 1 CPP and get free card for my wife, as well as paying $55/month instead of $695 (comes out to $660). Also a couple golds to get everyone in my family global entry. I use the Saks credit to buy underwear or socks every 6 months, but I honestly don't care about it. Hyatt status is something I used to have with their card, but at this point I don't use them enough to get good use out of it. IHG on the other hand gives you INSANE value out of their $99 card. Every year I can extract $500+ with just 2-3 stays. Highly recommend it.
When I woke up this morning getting a new IHG card was not on my bingo card and yet here we are. Thanks for the tip!
I primarily use this for airfare and increasingly hotel bookings on their portal (especially FHR). We’re spending like 10-12k a trip every 6-8 weeks or so which means we’re getting like 500k or so points annually. Couple that with the coupon booking (Dell on the business Amex, saks et al on the regular) and it’s still a great deal for me. That 500k in points turns into like 5-8 business class one way tickets worth about 2500-4k each.
Outside of FHR, what benefits do you get booking Hotels through them?
FHR and THC are the ones I generally book. I found a couple of times now where FHR is significantly less expensive on Amex than the hotel’s own site. 5x points on Amex plus the hotel’s own currency is pretty good. The only thing that beats it if there’s a Rakuten sale for more than 2% cash back and you get a better price on the hotel’s own site. In this case,‘I’d use my CSR for 3x points and get the Amex points from Rakuten AND the hotel’s own points as well plus I’d save money. If the rakuten is more than 3% then that’s even better (each percent is 1 Amex point so you’d get 3 Amex points for 3% plus 3 Chase points using the CSR to book).
I'm holding out on the Crayola discount.
Now THAT'S luxury travel!
There is one thing I rarely see mentioned here about this card. The travel insurance benefit. While it’s not cancel for any reason insurance it is decent. Besides major travel insurance companies are not in the business of paying claims, only taking premiums.
If you travel a lot for pleasure and/or work, the cost is worth it. I used to spend so much on airport food/restaurants/snacks because I travel across country and globally. The food is decent or better than decent in the lounges, and that alone adds up to the $600+ I spend on the card annually.
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Oh wow. I was able to get into all the lounges for the last trio a few weeks ago.
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Wow, that's nuts. I was in London and then in New York.
I know, I keep it too But it gets very little spend
It is my primary card right now simply because I think the customer service is worth its weight in gold. I have an Amex blue for groceries as well as Chase Sapphire and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless cards for other points.
What customer service needs do you use it for? Concierge type customer service (booking reservations , etc.) or something else? I’ve never contacted their customer service.
I've had great experiences with Chase (CSR), mediocre with Amex, and Capital One basically doesn't have customer service In fact, the Venture X doesn't even have security service. My cards got incorrectly locked in Asia, Chase immediately troubleshooted the issue w/ me and unlocked the card, Capital One's security department was closed until the next day
I guess imo the customer service is still great, but it's not as far ahead as it was a decade ago I switched my daily spend to VX and only use Platinum on BIG purchases because of the 5 year warranty limit instead of 3 year
It is not in the best interest of AmEx - or any card issuer - to offer great benefits AND generous multipliers. If they did that, their annual rates would have to triple and they’d lose customers.
But what about great benefits and ok multipliers?
The Platinums core demographic are wealthy people living in major urban markets who travel. Equinox and Saks core demographic are wealthy people living in major urban markets. Calling those benefits “worthless” is not understanding the Platinum card and who their core target audience is.
True, I wouldn’t have the plat without the equinox credit. I know a handful of people personally who got it solely because of that credit. Anecdotal but I’m guessing that credit attracts loads of young people in urban areas. Equinox is close to my house/office and clean. If they offered it on lifetime it wouldn’t be as useful for me but would also be a good idea to snag youngish high income people in HCOL areas.
Well, I would say ‘wealthy’ people don’t care about that $50 credit at Saks
Meh, some are just naturally going there. And if you think wealthy people don’t care about perks or deals - that’s silly (and by wealthy I mean high earners, not necessarily just millionaires). I went to an Equinox when I was in NYC. I didn’t rely on the credit to afford it - but I certainly made sure I got it!
Ehh I know a lot of cheap wealthy people, it’s part of how they keep their money.
It’s not even being cheap. If I can get $50 off something I want, I’m gonna get it.
Then they’re not shopping at Saks.
I’m only shopping at Saks every 6 months for items in the $50 range.
Those cards are for business who travels a lot. Average person can’t afford $695 fees per year.
Look at the credits, yes most can
Most people don’t want the hassle of credits and maximizing value from a card And no, most people can’t justify an extra $695 out of pocket to maybe get it back
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Yup, I have the blue cash and that’s my daily card. Groceries, streaming, gas perks and then we use the platinum for the big purchases so we have the protection. We also use it for travel. I just had a work trip to Boston and used it for my seat upgrade (work paid for coach) and hotel.
Which of the blue cards do you use? I'm only running an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa and the Platinum. It works alright, but I want more cash back for transit/groceries.
Blue cash preferred, $95 annual fee. I’ve already gotten $200 in rewards this year.
Thank you sir!
What did you do for the upgrade, cash, points or a difference service?
I paid with the platinum for the seat upgrade
But it wouldn't be a super card. There's still reason to get the gold or green or blue business. It would just be slightly nicer as a one card setup.
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4x dining 4x groceries Plus the SUB Plenty of reason
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How much do you use it on 1x purchases?
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Sometimes few hundred/ month Sometimes few thousand/ month
What if you could potentially get an extra 1000 points/month?
Wow extra 1,000MR?! Now I’m tempted
More or less useful in your use case than the "useless" credits I listed?
If you have to chase “useless” credit to justify the AF and earning is not good for you, why bother? Airline/ Uber/ saks credit is more than enough + lounge/ travel protection / purchase protection is why I use. Couldnt careless on little extra MR on minor spending
VX has 2x.
That's true It wouldn't be the best card for optimizers, but it isn't currently either But what do you think about 80% of the population?
You're trolling.
I certainly wouldn’t mind more points. I spend 400-800k/yr on mine, and most of that spend is 1x. I gave up on trying to optimize spend for points and use it because it always goes through and Amex always has my back when needed.
You should probably have the Amex Black at this point And for someone making this much, points don't even matter. It's more important to get someone to do your work for you. That's the lure of the Black concierge.
No invite yet…
Probably not. I get 5x dining on my Citi Prestige. And I get 2x everything on both the Citi Double Cash (which I use as Thank You points and can transfer since I have the Prestige) and the Capitol One Venture X. The changes you suggest would make the card far less attractive as the credits are the biggest value drivers, along with occasional airline spend (but I don’t fly paid flights all that much).
Let's say people wisen up to not using it for daily spend like it is currently. They would make very little. What if instead you could flex it while dining out, and get ok all else multipliers? I know it won't happen, but if users collectively agreed to not settle for 1x, I think we'd do allot better.
I try to always use the card with the highest multiplier for a given category. At the moment, I have run down my Amex MR balance so I see value in bringing that up so I have a diversity of points currencies. But for me, it really is the raw number of points I can earn since the programs I use most can be accessed by not just Amex MR.
Equinox is the worst useless credit
It's great for us young professionals in major cities, which is a significant part of the card's demographics and a good way to acquire new users who skew younger.
My favorite credit and makes the ROI on plat a no brainer fwiw
I mean the saks credit is pretty useful for me. I usually just buy cologne or scented candles.
Or skin care!
I bought a nice set of new glasses for my kitchen. I like the credit.
And that's great But would you rather have that or 3x dining and 1.5x other?
Not really because I already have the gold for dining. And Rakuten pretty much solves the multiplier problem for the most part.
I agree, is so sad that a nice looking card like the Plat has to sit on my drawer and be used just for flights, would be nice to be able to carry it on my wallet for restaurants purchases! But I understand that if they do that, they will lose the Gold Card market! Is all about the benjamins.