Platinum foreign dining credit in Japan

[JosephH]

Has anyone any experience of this? It seems a bit odd, when you select ‘Japan’ on https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/benefits/diningbenefit/ it’s just listing one “restaurant” which is pocket concierge, and clicking the link takes to some kind of general Japan restaurant portal which seems to list far more restaurants than you’d really expect to be included in the offer.

I’ve now asked Amex chat about this twice, without getting a straight answer. (First time they told me I could phone to get the offer added to my card, second time they gave me a different pocket concierge link which showed zero restaurants.)

[aseftel]

I looked at it out of curiosity. It looks like part of the service is that you give your payment details to Pocket Concierge and then there is no bill to worry about at the restaurant – it’s all handled by them. Conceivably therefore it is the case that any transaction with them will trigger it.

https://help.pocket-concierge.jp/hc/en-us/articles/360000052881-How-do-I-complete-my-payment-and-what-do-I-do-when-I-am-leaving-the-restaurant-Pocket-Experience-

[JosephH]

Thanks aseftel – that’s an interesting twist I hadn’t noticed.

If that’s the case then I reckon there’s about 882 restaurants in Japan you can use the offer at – amex claim there’s “over 1400 restaurants” in the offer globally – that would only leave 500 restaurants in total between the other 19 countries! From a quick check there’s over 100 in Canada and a few other countries, so if it’s right then Amex’s 1400 seems like it’d be off be at least a few hundred in our favour. Not that I’m complaining if that’s the case, it’s more surprising!

[meta]

I’ve used Pocket Concierge in Japan before. It’s very straightforward and it includes 800+ restaurants. They take a refundable upfront payment to offer you a booking service for restaurants that you can’t book online. You give credit card details and once they confirm it’s charged.

It’s very good and with this offer you can get into many 1-star Michelin sushi restaurants. This is actually the best offer on the foreign list. Just do it if you can get to Japan. Amex doesn’t know what they signed up for or they do, but figured that while Japan is closed let it stay on the list.

[JosephH]

So as an update, the pocket concierge part worked very well. My card was immediately charged when I made the booking for the two fixed price menus, and then on the night we were able to just leave the restaurant and the costs of drinks was charged by pocket concierge later than night (some restaurants apparently expect you to settle extras like drinks directly with them – which would then not trigger the amex credit, but apparently it should be mentioned on the restaurant page or confirmation email if that’s the case).

The second charge triggered a push notification to the amex iPhone app saying I’d used the ‘Abroad Dining Platinum Benefit’.

However 2 weeks later the credits haven’t actually arrived. I suspect I might end up having to chase via customer support, but I’ll give them another few weeks first.

One interesting point I’d not previously spotted is that Amex acquired Pocket Concierge in 2019, which probably goes a long way towards explaining why they decided to have the offer work in this slightly unusual way in Japan!

[peckishpassport]

I noticed this morning that Pocket Concierge/Japan doesn’t appear on the Amex Dining Collection list anymore.

And I booked two restaurants yesterday in the hope of redeeming the £150 dining abroad credit!

[Gavin454]

peckishpassport wrote:

I noticed this morning that Pocket Concierge/Japan doesn’t appear on the Amex Dining Collection list anymore.

And I booked two restaurants yesterday in the hope of redeeming the £150 dining abroad credit!

That’s a shame! I was looking forward to using it on my trip in January/February.

Hopefully they’ll add some restaurants individually for Japan, because currently there are none.

[KJC]

It’s still on the dining benefit website but because of the weird setup of pre-payment I thought I’d make 100% sure that it works ok triggering the £150 benefit. After chatting to Amex through the app they said “we are currently experiencing a fulfilment issue with the dining inventory in Japan. We currently cannot track the eligible spend at restaurants in this location, so no credits can be issued to CM upon dining”.

Massive shame as me and the partner were hoping to use 2 x £150 credits in Japan soon! I recommended they remove it from the website asap. I would’ve been pretty annoyed if I hadn’t checked with them first and was on the hook for £300.

[meta]

Brighton will apply the credit manually if you call them after transaction posts in full.

[Harrods]

Has this been fixed?

[marcolau]

Harrods wrote:

Has this been fixed?

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

[PeteM]

marcolau wrote:

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

Sorry, I am probably being stupid, but how can you tell if a restaurant on Pocket Concierge works this way, please?

[Stephen]

PeteM wrote:

marcolau wrote:

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

Sorry, I am probably being stupid, but how can you tell if a restaurant on Pocket Concierge works this way, please?

Hey Pete,

Did you have any luck with this?

I’m going to Japan in March so was hoping to use £150 this year and another £150 in 2023.

How quickly do they charge the card?

Thanks, Stephen

[PeteM]

Not yet, just landed in Tokyo today. Haven’t properly looked at it as off to Okinawa now, but any further pointers from those in the know would be appreciated 🙂

[Harrods]

Stephen wrote:

PeteM wrote:

marcolau wrote:

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

Sorry, I am probably being stupid, but how can you tell if a restaurant on Pocket Concierge works this way, please?

Hey Pete,

Did you have any luck with this?

I’m going to Japan in March so was hoping to use £150 this year and another £150 in 2023.

How quickly do they charge the card?

Thanks, Stephen

Had the same idea – pre booked a resto for Feb in Tokyo via PC, payment is immediate and have been credited…

[Stephen]

Harrods wrote:

Stephen wrote:

PeteM wrote:

marcolau wrote:

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

Sorry, I am probably being stupid, but how can you tell if a restaurant on Pocket Concierge works this way, please?

Hey Pete,

Did you have any luck with this?

I’m going to Japan in March so was hoping to use £150 this year and another £150 in 2023.

How quickly do they charge the card?

Thanks, Stephen

Had the same idea – pre booked a resto for Feb in Tokyo via PC, payment is immediate and have been credited…

Perfect, thank you!

How do you know if the restaurant takes payment immediately or at a later date?

[Harrods]

Stephen wrote:

Harrods wrote:

Stephen wrote:

PeteM wrote:

marcolau wrote:

Yes, it’s fixed now, but the credit only applies to pre-paid bookings via Pocket Concierge.

The offering was suspended briefly earlier as it appears that there were problems at Pocket Concierge, with some restaurants don’t do pre-paid bookings whilst some do, causing confusion and issues on whether the charges were eligible for the credits.

Sorry, I am probably being stupid, but how can you tell if a restaurant on Pocket Concierge works this way, please?

Hey Pete,

Did you have any luck with this?

I’m going to Japan in March so was hoping to use £150 this year and another £150 in 2023.

How quickly do they charge the card?

Thanks, Stephen

Had the same idea – pre booked a resto for Feb in Tokyo via PC, payment is immediate and have been credited…

Perfect, thank you!

How do you know if the restaurant takes payment immediately or at a later date?

the whole premise of pocket concierge is to pay in advance im sure…

[RO8926]

Has anyone been successful recently? I’m visiting Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima) in June and would like to use the dining credit.

Also, does anyone have restaurant recommendations?

[Stephen]

RO8926 wrote:

Has anyone been successful recently? I’m visiting Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima) in June and would like to use the dining credit.

Also, does anyone have restaurant recommendations?

Just got back from Japan (such a great place to visit). We used four different Platinum cards (and as you pay when you book, managed to trigger credit for 2022 and 2023) so managed to get around £1,200 worth of credit

I’d really recommend the following two restaurants

RAMA – Tokyo
https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/245067

Restaurant Hiramatsu Kodaiji – Kyoto (booked lunch menu)
https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244380

Couple of tips to share, if you want to book for 3 people but it only let’s you book for 1 or 2, you can make two bookings (even if different times) and message on the app for them to link the booking and make it at the same time/table. Also, if no availability, you can email the restaurant and we found they are usually happy to add some availability

Hope this helps!

[RO8926]

Thank you, Stephen. We’ll check them out.

[cercwc76]

Am I right that the dining credit is based on calendar year rather than card anniversary.

Stephen,
Presumed your went to 8 different restaurants to use the 4 cards’ credit, by early booking in 2002 and then 2003 to trigger the credit during your trip. Otherwise would be happy to hear about the tactics. TIA

[Stephen]

cercwc76 wrote:

Am I right that the dining credit is based on calendar year rather than card anniversary.

Stephen,
Presumed your went to 8 different restaurants to use the 4 cards’ credit, by early booking in 2002 and then 2003 to trigger the credit during your trip. Otherwise would be happy to hear about the tactics. TIA

Yep, calendar year. We picked restaurants that cost around £75/person, and as there was 3 of us, it was a bit more tricky than just being 2. Booked end of 2022 and then early 2023. If you wanted you to, you could book 1 person/meal per card (so could go upto £150 meal per person), they are pretty flexible with joining up the bookings after

[peckishpassport]

RO8926 wrote:

Has anyone been successful recently? I’m visiting Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima) in June and would like to use the dining credit.

Also, does anyone have restaurant recommendations?

Sushi Iwa Ginza was incredible for an Omakase lunch. Lunch, in some cases, is significantly cheaper at Omakase restaurants in Tokyo compared to dinner so you can probably squeeze 2/3 lunches with the £150 credit.

[RO8926]

Thank you for the tips. I didn’t want to subject any other guest to our 2 year old. We have found a place in Kyoto which looks less high end.

[RO8926]

We visited Steak Otsuka (https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/245047?seat_date_eq=2023-06-21) this week. We ate outstanding Wagyu Beef. The PC payment was tracked on Amex Platinum, and we are now just waiting for the payment to sort itself out.