Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

American Express is bringing back its cardmember lounge at Wimbledon

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The American Express cardmember lounge is returning for the 2024 tournament which starts on Monday.

There will also be a new ‘Amex Pavilion’ on the Hill.

If you are wondering what it’s like, here are some photos from 2022 taken by reader Alex. Hopefully it will be sunnier this year!

Visit the American Express Wimbledon Cardmember Lounge

The American Express lounge is located between Court 3 and Court 12.

Any American Express cardholder can enter the lounge, irrespective of the country where their card was issued. It opens at 10.30am and closes at 7pm, with last entry at 6.30pm.

Each cardholder can take up to two guests into the lounge.

If nothing has changed since last year, the lounge will not have any toilets. You have to leave the lounge and rejoin the queue to get back in, which is clearly not ideal.

You get a great view over the outside courts (rain permitting):

Here is a PR shot for 2024:

American Express Lounge Wimbledon

…. and an actual interior shot from 2022:

Whilst the lounge has a bar and serves snacks, these are not free.

New for 2024 – the Amex Pavilion

New for 2024, the Amex Pavilion – situated on the Hill – offers you the opportunity to try an array of interactive games and enjoy a bar on the lower level.

Amex cardmembers will have exclusive access to the second floor viewing platform. This offers the best views of the large screen on the Hill.

The Amex Pavilion is open from 10am to 9pm or 30 minutes after the last ball if earlier.

Here is a PR image:

Amex Pavilion Wimbledon

The Amex Fan Experience returns

The American Express Fan Experience is back this year in the Southern Village. It includes:

  • massage chairs
  • TopSpin Gaming Area
  • the return of the “Find Andy’ challenge, a kind of “Where’s Wally?” event
  • a postcard station

It is open from 10am to 9pm in Week 1 and 10am to 7pm in Week 2.

An exclusive £20 cashback offer

There’s a special cashback offer for purchases on site.  If you spend £140 or more in the grounds during the tournament on your card you’ll get £20 back.  You can only get the cashback once per card.

Registration is required. You should see this offer in the Amex app or on your online statement page.

Amex complimentary radios return

Once again, you can pick up a complimentary radio headset from American Express mobile kiosks around the grounds, as well as in the Queue, the Cardmember Lounge and the Fan Experience.

These offer three channels of commentary.

Radios can be recycled at the exit gates when you leave.

Conclusion

Amex is clearly continuing to build up its presence at Wimbledon, and there is a good mix of activities this year.

There is a lot more going on than we’ve covered here, including a takeover at Wimbledon and Southfield stations and on public transport along the route. Amex is also sponsoring three screens in Hammersmith, Spitalfields and Piccadilly where Wimbledon will be televised.

The lounge never quite delivers. It’s a shame that food and drink is not free, but then it would only encourage more people to visit and to stay longer so it may end up being self defeating. I would have been tempted to offer fast track entry to Platinum cardholders, or at least a free drink voucher – some cardholders are more valuable than others at the end of the day.

That said, if it is crowded in the grounds – which it usually is – then, as long as nothing has changed this year, the lounge is a decent spot to get out of the sun / rain and watch the play on the outside courts from the balcony.


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

10,000 Avios (to 26th September) for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (45)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • LittleNick says:

    I could do with help getting tickets in the first place to go, never lucky enough in the ballot, take it Amex don’t have any options open to the public to get tickets apart from the ticketmaster resale above? Is that every day at 10am?

    • Rob says:

      Not sure what you’re after. People queue overnight for 12 hours to get the dregs of what is available yet Amex makes a handful of returns available for cardholders like you who are fastest on the button. Is that not enough? You can also buy a pair of Centre Court debentures for £4,000+ depending on the day.

      There are plenty of No1 Court tickets given to travel agents to package with a hotel – cost is usually around £499. These are good value for those who don’t want to go via, or failed via, the ballot but obviously it’s too short notice now for those.

      The other option is to buy a cheap grounds ticket and then, from 3pm, go to the resale kiosk by Court 18 and buy a resale main court ticket after someone on a corporate jolly has gone home for the day. These are £10 (£15 Centre Court) and usually for prime seats. Obviously you take a gamble that play will go on fairly late. Wimbledon encourages this because it keeps the stands full which looks better on TV.

      • LittleNick says:

        This is great, thank you both for the full comprehensive responses outlining the other options. I had no idea about the No 1 tickets packaged up to travel agents, will bear this in mind for next year.
        And will keep an eye out for Amex tickets and on the link above. Thanks both

    • RV says:

      If you entered the ballot then you can buy resale tickets from here: https://ticketsale.wimbledon.com/

      Mornings around 10am and evenings normally there are some tickets available. I bought central court tickets for 4th round from here earlier this week.

      Needs a bit of patience refreshing and all. Also note that it only shows the option to buy on the account that you used to join the ballot.

      Alternatively: packages or join the que as Rob already said…

      • kai says:

        Exactly, quite easy to grab a ticket or two on this resale site so can’t complain.

    • Ken says:

      The ground pass (£30) in the first week is the best value ticket in sport.
      Gets you access to courts 3-18
      Not going to see Murray or Djokovic but you may see the next star.

      If you join a regular club in the north they will get an allocation of tickets and you can normally buy a pair through them depending on demand.

      Because of TV demands, play on centre goes on way later than it used to , so fair chance of getting a re-sale ticket for centre or court 1 for some early evening tennis.

  • Mayfair Mike says:

    That amwx lounge looks like a white elephant…struggling to see why you would want to go in.
    Corporate tents only way to go tbh

  • Bernard says:

    How about Amex getting their 5hit together with airport lounges/priority pass instead of these gimmicks?

    • Rob says:

      Be careful what you wish for, because the only feasible options are dropping guesting or dropping PP altogether.

      Platinum MAY see an annual credit towards pre-booking fees, possibly replacing the HN credit.

  • J N says:

    I saw on another forum that Amex is possibly advertising an increased welcome bonus for the Platinum card at Wimbledon – any news on this at all?

    • Rob says:

      Who knows what will happen after the Bonvoy offer closes on Tuesday?

  • Iain says:

    Went on Saturday. The Amex pavilion was pretty underwhelming. Had to queue to get on the roof. Once up there, there not actually anything there – just a view of he big screen (and they didn’t show the football !!!!)

  • Irrelevant says:

    No perks for platinum card holders. You pay >£500 per year and end up queuing for an hour or so to get into the “lounge”/pavilion and play for stale food just like any other card holder. The complimentary top up phone batteries they offered in the first year are long gone.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.