Amex Platinum survey

[Maples]

can2 wrote:

Maples wrote:

I’d rather have my electric bills paid for each month because I work remote and leave the house once a week.

Leave the house once a week?
Don’t do that to yourself!

Haha, will be going out more often to get some gym gains.

Anyways, I wonder if the other cards are going to change. I doubt the BAPP is the only one changing from the UK, and the Amex guy said they’re changing 40 globally…

[memesweeper]

Am I the only person who had a Pret sub and never drank the coffee? (well, maybe the filter first thing in the morning if desperate). The expresso (and derivatives) is appalling, but the tea and matcha are absolutely fine!

[CJD]

BBbetter wrote:

JDB wrote:

It’s interesting that the idea of a Prêt subscription is being mentioned at all, not only because it suggests Amex is bereft of ideas but it would show Prêt to be a bit desperate if they are selling subscriptions at a discount when Club Prêt is failing at £30/month. They seem to have lost a lot of subscriptions after clamping down on the abuse of the daily five free drinks!

Their coffee is terrible. That said, I am addicted to Costa and worried as they add too much caffeine.

Btw, Amex did mention Starbucks as the example.

A Costa drinker is not in any position to criticise the coffee offering of any other chain.

[can2]

Haven’t you been reading this thread?
There is a 1% chance that the Plat will give you a gym discount and 1 per mille chance that it will be useful.
Renew your membership and just wait!

Maples wrote:

can2 wrote:

Maples wrote:

I’d rather have my electric bills paid for each month because I work remote and leave the house once a week.

Leave the house once a week?
Don’t do that to yourself!

Haha, will be going out more often to get some gym gains.

Anyways, I wonder if the other cards are going to change. I doubt the BAPP is the only one changing from the UK, and the Amex guy said they’re changing 40 globally…

[JDB]

For all the talk of coffee subscriptions etc. it’s pretty extraordinary that a company like Amex, with all its resources, can’t tell someone applying for a Platinum card in the UK today what benefits they will receive in the last five months of their annual subscription. In many organisations, such a lack of planning and failure to communicate with customers would lead to dismissal.

[Caps44]

JDB wrote:

For all the talk of coffee subscriptions etc. it’s pretty extraordinary that a company like Amex, with all its resources, can’t tell someone applying for a Platinum card in the UK today what benefits they will receive in the last five months of their annual subscription. In many organisations, such a lack of planning and failure to communicate with customers would lead to dismissal.

Very odd they haven’t said anything, I’m guessing end of June at the latest.

[Lady London]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

“Suggested alternative benefits were laughable. Credit towards coffee subscriptions…gym subscriptions…cook at home subscriptions…posh cookware…mind wellbeing apps”

Dreadful I agree. If they do go down this route, Chase would clean up with a UK version of Sapphire.

So remind me again… Is this what Amex thinks people will continue paying £700 a year for ?

I don’t suppose they asked if we’d like the annual travel credit $$$ US cardholders get? Might be a bit more use than Priority Pass? Especially if we could…actually…erm, use the travel credit to pay lounge entrance fees….Then we might actually be able to get into a UK airport lounge when needed, perhaps?

I don’t suppose there was by any chance a question about your use of Priority Pass and whether you value it too?

[TGLoyalty]

Subscription/credit at some crappy chain coffee shop! I can’t believe people still go to Costa / Starbucks in city/town centres when there are so many amazing independents with great coffee.

Uber credit might actually work quite well for the major city dwellers in the UK

Dining credits are great but feel if someone got off their arse they could do so much better to attract restaurants outside London, quite a few still don’t take AMEX and they could do more to explain why that’s a mistake.

Harrods or Selfridges ilo HN would be far more useful.

Amex travel credit? Introduce additional points on travel/hospitality and FX transactions. Again Amex should be thinking bigger use this as a way to sell to the hospitality industry as a “we will bring in more high net worth customers” so take our cards (opens up the door for all AMEX rather than just Plat so rather than being single laser focused on single metrics it broadens Amex appeal and fees.

[BBbetter]

Lady London wrote:

I don’t suppose they asked if we’d like the annual travel credit $$$ US cardholders get? Might be a bit more use than Priority Pass? Especially if we could…actually…erm, use the travel credit to pay lounge entrance fees….Then we might actually be able to get into a UK airport lounge when needed, perhaps?

I don’t suppose there was by any chance a question about your use of Priority Pass and whether you value it too?

The first part was asking users to rank the existing benefits. Unfortunately some might have misunderstood the intention and ranked the lounge benefit last because they cannot use it.

The second part was ranking the options for future benefits and it’s all heading towards coupon book territory.

[BBbetter]

TGLoyalty wrote:

Introduce additional points on travel/hospitality and FX transactions.

There’s so much they can do like that, allow topup of travel insurance to cover existing illness, expand PP to restaurants and fast track etc.

But looks like they are negotiating with brands that are desperate. Like starbucks or Pret who can contribute most towards the discounts.

[Andrew J]

Agree that Harrods or Selfridges would provide much flexibility as HN has quite a limited range. But a Pret subscription – surely not – cups of hot milk with a hint of coffee isn’t worth paying £600 odd a year for.

[Lady London]

I’m wondering if the fact they mentioned a Starbucks credit means that the survey is making American assumptions and like their advertising images, apparently not allowed to be customised for the UK market by the local UK Amex team?

In the US people seem to think Starbucks is coffee (plus a meeting place) whereas in the UK and Europe a lot of us don’t regard Starbucks as coffee.

[dannyc]

I also remember the survey offering a “credit towards tier status in a lodging program of your choice” ….so perhaps night credits towards hotel status.

The survey also wanted to know whether we’d prefer access to a small number of “exclusive lounges at big airports with a better offering” or access to far more lounges at a larger range of airports that are less exclusive…

Sounds like they want to cut costs while upping the fee.

[Caps44]

Harvey Nichols and the UK dining credit are great, it’s basically £250.
So fee is reduced to £400.
Next year we would be able to use the foreign dining credit, so fee effectively £250.

If the HN and dining credits are stopped them likely have to cancel.

[Andrew J]

Agreed, the travel insurance and the PP is not worth the annual fee, if there are no other credits. And the Amex offers are always worse on the Platinum card than the other cards, so no incentive there either.

[BBbetter]

Lady London wrote:

I’m wondering if the fact they mentioned a Starbucks credit means that the survey is making American assumptions and like their advertising images, apparently not allowed to be customised for the UK market by the local UK Amex team?

In the US people seem to think Starbucks is coffee (plus a meeting place) whereas in the UK and Europe a lot of us don’t regard Starbucks as coffee.

They did include Gousto in the ‘ingredients delivery’, so they know the UK brands.

[BBbetter]

dannyc wrote:

I also remember the survey offering a “credit towards tier status in a lodging program of your choice” ….so perhaps night credits towards hotel status.

The survey also wanted to know whether we’d prefer access to a small number of “exclusive lounges at big airports with a better offering” or access to far more lounges at a larger range of airports that are less exclusive…

Sounds like they want to cut costs while upping the fee.

It’s interesting they called it ‘lodging program’ instead of ‘hotel program’. Could be some discount on Marriott Homes & Villas? MHV seems to have offers perpetually.

[Lady London]

..”lodging” program would be commonish American usage I think.
for UK word we’d use “accommodation” or something like “hotels and other places to stay” I think for similar.

[executiveclubber]

Lodging program = Airbnb?

[Lady London]

not just. Lodging in US speak seems to include hotels and not as a side option in the meaning. I think the President might even call the Willard IC in Washington a lodging.

[kpinc]

can2 wrote:

It is understandable why Amex cuts off benefits from the US Plat. Its fee is like 1% of average annual income in the US, before tax.

Can you say the same about the UK Plat?

£360 worth of additional benefits sounds tad unrealistic to me.

(accidentally pressed the report button there)
But Pret is not even that good. Their sandwiches are somewhat okay, but their coffee is a big no for me.

[can2]

Lady London wrote:

not just. Lodging in US speak seems to include hotels and not as a side option in the meaning. I think the President might even call the Willard IC in Washington a lodging.

Sure but it is a bit old school in the US. Even Amex US doesn’t call it that way. We may be reading too much into it.

[can2]

https://youtu.be/u3b2hMexiGA?feature=shared

Explains why Amex Plat is targeting genZ and designing the products for them.

[Lady London]

Exactly as we worked out on the Metty thread.
Throw out someone whose spend statistically might not increase or who they view might statistically have a lower number of years of spend ahead.

If statistically you look like the above then their algorithms don’t work for your 30 years’ loyalty and always paid the bill on time to count for much.

Obviously as Jim Cramer fell over himself to (really) quickly say, then moved rapidly back again to Gen Z and Millenials, there are some factors like being a multigazillionaire or from a US ‘Mayflower’ family or similar,or perhaps being some types of finance industry or legal professional that might garner some points but longstanding cardholders who are not these and are not GenZ or Millenial age anymore may currently find themselves booted by Amex at any time.

And until I see Amex’s advertising feature Asian, especially Indian subcontinent, heritage individuals in their UK advertising then they really have no understanding of where the growth they’re wanting is within the UK market.

[can2]

Every single time when I watch a video of a C-suite person of that calibre, I understand how succesfull he is with his enumeration and stock options, yet I cannot help but realise how off he is from understanding the world, trends and society.