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Within a few weeks, we should know all the details about a major, iconic card’s much-publicized refresh. (Two of them, actually.)
Many of us are eager to find out exactly how the The Platinum Card® from American Express will change. Some purported changes already leaked. Others are assumed based on Amex’s history. And we have some wild speculation because that’s always fun.
(Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.)What’s Leaked and Assumed
With every major premium card refresh I’ve ever seen, the annual fees climbed.
The Amex Platinum’s annual fee is currently $695 (Rates & Fees). That’s not exactly pocket change for many of us. I expect the annual fee to jump to $895. Maybe $950. I don’t think we’ll see $995 but who knows? However, $895 is the current favorite and appears to be all but confirmed.
Oh, and there may be a mirror finish option available (as per DoC). So, you can look at yourself each time you pull out your Platinum Card. Lovely.
A couple of weeks ago, Amex apparently published some of the Platinum Card’s soon-to-be updated terms and conditions. The card’s Fine Hotels + Resorts statement credit would go from $200 each calendar year to $600 ($300 from January through June, then $300 from July through December).
Most FHR properties are luxury hotels and resorts (you might deduce that from the program’s name) with price tags to match. But every now and then, a couple of great deals pop up. I usually have decent luck in Las Vegas. You can easily score at least $160 worth of benefits during an FHR stay, so this change is potentially worth over $900. If you use it.
But $460 ($300 statement credit + $100 resort credit + $60 breakfast credit) for a one-night stay at a property running $700 could make a nice experience for some people.
Right now, the statement credits apply after you make the purchase — not when you stay. So, you could purchase two separate stays but consecutive nights — and still get the credits. For example, book one stay on June 25 and then another on July 1.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though.
Amex and Resy have been cozy for quite a while. Resy credits — which don’t require too much hoop-jumping to enjoy — have been part of Platinum Card welcome bonuses in the past. They’re featured perks of the American Express® Gold Card and several Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards.
As per someone familiar with the advertising campaign, I hear that Resy credit will be part of the refreshed Platinum Card. I really like how it’s a semi-annual $50 perk on the Amex Gold. The monthly installments on Delta Amexes are kind of annoying (by design, I think). I hope the Platinum Card’s Resy credit is something closer to the Amex Gold’s model.
What Might Get Chopped?
There are a couple of statement credits a bunch of people whine about. All. The. Time.
The first is the $100 Saks Fifth Avenue feature: Earn up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card.
I can’t find anything I like at Saks! and It’s too expensive! Cry, cry, cry. It’s not the most useful statement credit in the world. I admit that. But as someone who wears clothes, I use the credit to buy t-shirts and underwear. (Sorry to put that image in your head.) I’ve used it for cologne I would’ve purchased anyway. I won’t be surprised if that gets cut.
The second is the $155 Walmart+ Statement Credit: Earn back the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) plus applicable local sales tax with a statement credit after you pay for Walmart+ each month with your card.
What’s people’s beef with that? It’s Walmart and not classy enough to be associated with the Platinum Card! People with Platinum Cards don’t shop at Walmart!
The horror.
That is patently false. I know plenty of fellow Amex Platinum members who, like me, shop at Walmart — and love the Walmart+ benefit. I hope that doesn’t get eliminated. But maybe the Amex C-suiters have heard too much about how Platinum Card members don’t want to be looked down upon by being associated with Walmart.
And there’s the $300 SoulCycle credit. Please tell me in the Comments section below if you’ve ever used it. I have yet to meet someone who has.
What Else?
Unless I’m checking into a Centurion Lounge, using my card for an Amex Offer, taking advantage of a statement card purchase, or buying the paid portion of a Delta Amex Companion Certificate, my Platinum Card doesn’t leave my wallet.
Why?
Its’s earnings are so underwhelming.
- 5X Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year)
- 5X Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®
- 1X Membership Rewards points on all other eligible purchases
- 8X on Chase Travel hotel and cars
- 8X on flights booked through Chase Travel℠
- 8X on cruises, activities and tours booked through Chase Travel℠
- 4X on flights and hotel purchases made directly with the airlines and hotels, respectively
- 3X on dining
- 1X on general/other travel (i.e., rideshare, taxi, bus, subway, parking, etc)
- 1X on all other eligible purchases
Amex sells this as a travel card, start treating it as such. I don’t need wallmart plus when I travel or all the other coupons. Focus on rewards when I spend on travel expenses such as flights x5, hotels x5, dining x3, car rentals x2… and special perks when you’re traveling and nothing else and it will be great. Get me restaurant reservations that are ungettable
Here’s the thing: nearly all of the people I see and know using their Amex Platinum Cards to pay for everything don’t care about maximizing their points earnings.
They hold the Amex Platinum because It’s the Amex Platinum, duh! It’s THE card to have and be seen using! They like the card because it gets them into a bunch of airline lounges and they like plunking it down to pay for stuff. It’s showing off. They’ll complain about the annual fee hike for a couple of minutes while they enjoy a double Russo-Baltique vodka martini. 😉
People have asked me, “You don’t use your Platinum Card at restaurants and stuff?”
Nope. That’s what my Chase Sapphire Reserve® (For now, then Chase Freedom Flex®) and Amex Gold are for. (Hah, hah, Amex suckered you into getting another card, “gamer”! Not exactly, I get more than my money’s worth each year, thanks.) The CSR and CFF earn 3X on dining worldwide and the Amex Gold earns 4X at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 a year in those purchases.
Given that the Chase Sapphire Reserve® elevated its points earnings, I’m curious to see if the Amex Platinum gets more aggressive in that department.
Another wish list item I hear from others is making the $200 airline incidental credit an overall travel credit — or even just for all airlines. I think that’s one of those statement credits Amex uses for breakage (people not using it), so I kind of doubt that, but maybe we’ll be surprised.
I’d love to see improvements to Centurion Lounges. They aren’t the hottest spot in town anymore. Frankly, Chase Sapphire Lounges run circles around them. The food quality isn’t as great as it once was. They seem short-staffed at times. I’d love to see more Centurion Lounge locations — but that’s easier said than done. There’s only so much available space in airport terminals. Politics (local, state, airport, airlines, credit cards…) also come into play.
Final Approach
We’ll know everything in a few weeks. What do you think we’ll see from the refreshed Amex Platinum Card? What do you want to see? Drop your thoughts below in the Comments section!
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I remember when I first got the Amex Gold card with the 3/2/1x reward. 3x for Airlines, 2x for food and gas, and 1x for everything else. Wish they would bring that back to some degree. Especially the gas purchase part.
anyone seeking points on gas is poor
@mark – Or incredibly wise for those in the know! 😉
OK, I’ll bite. How are they poor?
I like to see what people buy at Saks. They keep removing more of my regulars and even entire brands (e.g. Kiehl’s, 2xist). I almost ordered an expensive sheet set this year, but since they were “only” $299.95 there’d be a $15 shipping charge and I decided against it.
That cheeses me off. For $300, it darn well better include free shipping.
I usually get some sort of glassware. Shot glasses, wine goblets, champagne flutes and some double-walled insulated glasses were what I could find for just at or under the fifty bucks. I only place a valuation of about fifty-percent on this “benefit” because I wouldn’t have bought otherwise.
Never used soulcycle..SO many of the “benefits” are MEH for me.. I really miss DELLpulling so many things that I used to buy!!
Do you think if you use the current 200 fine hotel credit it will refresh and you will be able to use the new 300 as well?
The more I think about it, the more I think Amex will do something like Chase did with CSR and make the new benefits available when existing card members’ annual fees hit. I’d love to be wrong.
I have the AF due in a few days…no retention offer after three tries. If I knew that I’d get to double dip on the hotel $300 it would help my decision to renew.
There’s still a chance that the $300 won’t be part of the refresh. Nothing is set in stone until the official announcement.
You might want to double check with Amex but last I heard, you could get an annual fee refund if you canceled within 30 days of paying it. So, if the announcement is made on or about September 17 or 18 — which seems to be very likely — you’re still within that 30 day period if you don’t like what you see.
“…nearly all of the people I see and know using their Amex Platinum Cards to pay for everything don’t care about maximizing their points earnings. They hold the Amex Platinum because It’s the Amex Platinum, duh! It’s THE card to have and be seen using!”
Wow, who are these people who give a crap what people think of the card they use?
I live in Los Angeles and work in the entertainment industry — trust me.
hi, I spend on the AMEX platinum to get the reward points for transfers to business class european flights. Is this not a good strategy? Is some other card better for this? Cant qualify for any of the business cards.
I love the Amex Gold.
Out of curiosity, why can’t you get business cards?
I use and love the soulcycle credit and the saks credit.
The bike had a significant discount a couple of years ago yo around $1000, and the extensive library of classes and live classes are used often by me. What is wrong with what is an almost free gym membership conveniently usable daily in your home? I really hope that credit stays. Although, if you don’t have the bike I can see why many don’t find it to be useful.
I use the Saks credit too. The Saks brand is a nice quality and when discounted at end of season I have found some of my favorite shirts for trips for only $30 or so including the new shipping charge.
I use the Saks credit for things I’d normally buy and I don’t really care about the shipping. I just use it to use it. I ALWAYS use the airline credit and the Hotel credits. ALWAYS. What a great deal those are, especially if you use points to pay too. I use the Walmart credit because it comes with Paramount+ and people forget that. And who knows what I buy from Walmart when I just have it shipped anyhow? I also use the heck out of the lounge privileges and I max the digital credits as well, and I don’t have to buy phone insurance because I auto-bill my phone to the card. So all of that together is worth WAY more than I pay. Do I use it every day? Yes I tend to use it at restaurants and other places frequently (I have a Blue Plus everyday card that gives 5% on groceries so I use that for those). So even at 1k for the card? It still will pay for itself for me, especially if they add Resy credits too.
We use the SoulCycle credit for the annual online membership paired with our stationary bike. I drop into Saks to buy a $50 gc (which triggers the credit) in 1H and then buy a gift in Dec, essentially getting $100 off. Resy/rideshare sux. I already have 4 cards with Resy/restaurant credit and 4 with rideshare. Yes, waitier, pls put $10 on this card, $10 on this one, $20 on this one, $25 on this one and the rest on this one; I included post-it stickers in case you forget. Thx. I hate the whole monthly credit route direction this is all going but it wouldn’t be so bad if the credits were biannually rather than monthly. We’ll see.
Would be happy with a 2X multiplier like the CapOne Venture X, loose the specific airline, Soul Cycle and Equinox Credits and offer a useful $600.00 universal travel credit like the CSR and better Hotel and Hertz Rental Car Status.
I just cancelled my AMEX Platinum card after 41 years as a card holder. Why? I became incensed at the process required to file a claim to replace my damaged cell phone. First of all you get a 3 page insurance form to fill out, and then you have to go find a repair shop to get an estimate on how much to repair. I knew it was beyond repair and immediately bought a new phone because I needed to. This was about the same time of the July 2025 2nd Quarter Earnings Call where Amex Chairman/CEO Stephen J. Squeri admitted that some benefits were purposely difficult to attain. My jaw dropped. Well I relayed all this to a Customer Rep upon calling in to express my displeasure. The line went silent for a few moments and then no apology, just we hate to see you go. I didn’t even bother to comment how the Centurion Clubs have become useless to me with overcrowding and having to get on a wait list, and you can’t use more than 3 hours before your next flight (CLT is the worse).Truth be told I still have my Gold Card until I explore my options. Thank you Amex but I’m over it.