American Express have announced a number of new benefits for their personal Platinum cards (as predicted). The benefits will go into effect on March 30th, 2017 and are as follows:
- Annual Fee will be increased to $550
- Existing cardholders that have their annual fee due before August 31st, 2017 will get billed $450 for this year
- Existing cardholders that have their annual fee due on or after September 1st, 2017 will be billed $550
- Up to $200 in annual Uber credits for rides within the U.S. and VIP status where available
- Card Members will receive $15 in Uber credit per month, with an additional $20 bonus in December, when they add their American Express Platinum Card as a payment method to the Uber app
- 5x Membership Rewards points for hotel bookings booked on amextravel.com (
Fine Hotels & Resorts will also receive this 5xFine Hotels & Resorts will not receive this 5x) - Complimentary additional gold cards for no annual fee (previously you paid $45 for up to 5 cards)
- Expansion of the global lounge collection, cardholders will now have access to over 1,000 lounges in over 120 countries
- Access to a new Global Dining Collection
- Expansion of their By Invitation Only program for special events.
- New metal card & design (see below)
Our Verdict
Biggest benefit I see is the Uber addition, to me that is worth $200 (well slightly less as you can get Uber at a discount, but still probably around $180). If you can’t maximize this benefit though the annual fee has been increased by $100 but there isn’t a lot of extra value to be had.
I don’t see much use in the hotel booking benefit as it needs to be done through amextravel.com and you can usually get better discounts by using other third party providers (e.g Hotels.com) and you won’t earn loyalty points/stay credits. If you could earn 5x points on purchases directly made at hotels then that would be a game changer.
I think the expansion of the global lounge collection isn’t that clear, I think they are really referring to the additional lounges being added by themselves and Priority Pass. Your move, Chase (also Citi, are you even in this fight anymore?).
