What Is The Amex Concierge
The Amex Platinum Concierge is definitely an under-rated benefit of the Platinum Card. It’s totally free for as long as you have the card, and is there to offer you 24/7 assistance with a whole host of things.
Need a table for four at a fully-booked place in Paris or New York? No problem. Looking for the perfect gift for a friend visiting from out of town? Easy.
I mainly use the Platinum Concierge to help me build travel itineraries when I’m visiting a new city, and they’ve done a remarkable job. After a minute or two on the phone getting to know my preferences , they send back a document of 30+ pages outlining restaurants and bars to check out, cultural attractions, events taking place when I’m there, and a lot more. It takes them 24-48 hours to compile it all, which is extremely quick.
You can request help using email as well, though I find just calling them up is faster and easier.
$980 Paying With Amex Points At Amazon And Other Retailers
It’s not the greatest option, but you can link your Amex Membership Rewards account to your Amazon account and then use your points to pay for purchases at checkout. That nets you a mere 0.7 cents per point, which would turn the 140,000 bonus points you earn from signing up and hitting your spending targets into $980 worth of Amazon swag.
Other retailers that allow payment with Amex points at checkout include Best Buy, Walmart, PayPal, and Dell also at the same rate of 0.7 cents per point.
Take Advantage Of The Elite Status
One of the best perks of American Express Platinum Card is its elite status perks. Youll first have to enroll in each program and then enroll on Amexs benefits page. As Amex Platinum cardmember, you get elite status in the following programs:
- Hilton Honors
- Airspace
- Escape Lounges
This benefit requires enrollment, so make sure to enroll as soon as you get your card in the mail.
In addition to a quiet space to spend a few minutes before your flight or a long layover, the lounges offer food and drinks and sometimes even showers! Who wouldnt want to relax in a lounge instead of waiting with hundreds of people at the gate? And youll save a bundle on food and drink airport food is notoriously overpriced.
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Someone Whos An Optimizer
Premium cards often charge high annual fees, so theyre usually not worth it unless you know how to maximize the value.
We use several Amex Platinum Card® benefits so often it makes sense for us to keep the card despite its high annual fee, says Holly Johnson, travel journalist and co-founder at Club Thrifty.
The more you know about your card benefits, the more value you can get out of them.
Platinum Card Travel And Other Insurances
The Platinum Card comes with a number of complimentary insurances and is one of the main benefits of holding the card. The coverage provided by American Express for Platinum Card Members, and now up to 4 of their Additional Platinum Card Members.
The insurances, once activated, include:
- Travel insurance, including for points redemption bookings from using points earned by your Platinum Card
- Travel Inconvenience Cover up to $700 on hotel accommodations, meals, and/or clothing
- Personal Baggage, Money, and Documents Cover up to a maximum of $30,000 per 365-day period including $5,000 for any single item/pair/set of valuables, $1,000 for money or mobile phone, and $3,000 for any single laptop
- Up to $125,000 of loss damage waiver insurance for rental cars
- Up to $500 to repair a broken smartphone screen
- Purchase protection
- Roadside assistance insurance
- Home Assistance cover up to two times per year
Disclaimer:; Point Hacks Australia Pty Ltd. provides general information only. You should assess whether the information is appropriate for you having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs and consider obtaining independent professional advice before making an investment decision. If information relates to a specific financial product you should obtain a copy of the PDS for that product and consider that statement before making a decision on whether to acquire the product.
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Take A Trip To The Middle East
Air Canada’s Aeroplan program also has a good redemption value from the U.S. to the Middle East and North Africa region. From the U.S., you can redeem a round-trip ticket for 80,000 miles in economy class, 165,000 miles in business class and 230,000 miles in first class. The countries that qualify for this redemption option are as follows:
- Algeria
Booking Hotels With Membership Rewards
We recommend you avoid using your Membership Rewards to pay for hotels on the American Express travel portal. For a variety of locations and price ranges that we tested, the redemption value of hotel nights was significantly lower than 1 cent per point. For example, booking the Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. will net a value of 0.7 cent per point. It’s best to redeem rewards for no less than 1 cent per point when possible.
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Wyndham Rewards & Caesars Rewards Status Match
Wyndham Rewards is another hotel chain loyalty program that offers an Elite Status Match. Match from your best status above to get WR status for stays at Ramada’s Days Inn’s etc. Wyndham’s status match lasts for only 90 days so I wouldn’t apply for it until two weeks before you have a planned stay at one of their hotels. If you complete 7 qualifying nights within those 90 days of having you status matched you will get that elite status until December 31 of the following year. Hilton, Marriott or Radisson Gold should get you Wyndham Rewards Diamond according to Statusmatcher.com.Learn more about the Wyndham Rewards status match here
Here are the benefits of the levels you could be matched to:
As you can see you can also get elite status with Caesars Rewards if you have Platinum or Diamond status with Wyndham Rewards, so there you go one more status to add under your belt. Learn more about the Caesars Rewards status match here.
Flexibility Of Membership Rewards Points
Flexible redemption options for your Membership Rewards points result in rewards that you can actually use. Here are some examples:
- Redeem rewards at any time;for any;amount per transaction
- Transfer rewards to the loyalty programs of Amex travel partners
- Transfer rewards between business and personal Membership Rewards accounts
- Use a combination of points and cash for travel purchases
- Have the option to redeem points for cash, gift cards, and more
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Salary Needed For Amex Platinum Credit Card
There are no published salary requirements in order to qualify for The Platinum Card® from American Express. But, the more you earn, the better. If you make near $100,000 a year and have good credit, you should have no issue getting approved. But, applicants with annual incomes as low as $40,000 have also been approved if they have a low debt-to-income ratio and pay their other credit cards in full every month.
Having a lower income means you will most likely get a lower credit limit. But, it still means you get the Platinum Card and can enjoy all the benefits. You just might have to make other purchases on your secondary cards to keep your monthly balance below 30% of your Platinum Cards credit limit.
This will help maximize your credit score.
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Enterprise Plus Status Match
Rental car company Enterprise also has status match program for the Hertz Five Star status you get from the Platinum Card. They will give you Enterprise Gold level status as the match. Enterprise Gold gives you 15% bonus points and two free car upgrades per year; Learn more about the Enterprise Plus status match here!
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Do You Qualify For The Bonus On These Cards
Fundamentally, it is fairly easy to qualify for the bonus on Business Gold and Business Platinum and personal Platinum .;
It is harder to qualify for the bonus on personal Preferred Rewards Gold or the American Express Rewards Credit Card .
You can still apply and be accepted for these cards even if you dont qualify for the bonus. You will still receive all of the other card benefits.
How Do The Hilton Honors And Marriott Bonvoy Gold Statuses Work
Once youre a Platinum Card from American Express cardholder, you can request enrollment with Marriott Bonvoy and the Hilton Honors program. You can maintain your gold status as long as youre still an American Express cardmember unless terms and conditions change.
The Hilton Honors program provides its gold members with perks such as complimentary breakfast, room upgrades, late checkout, and the ability to earn elite-tiered bonus points. The Marriott Bonvoy gold status also gives you benefits such as late checkout, free room upgrades, and bonus points earned with every stay.
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Business Class From Us To Dublin Ireland
If you’re planning a trip to Europe in the off-peak season and you want to fly in luxury, consider transferring your Membership Rewards points to AerClub to book a business class award. From the East Coast cities, this will cost you 50,000 Avios. From anywhere else in the U.S., the cost is 62,500 Avios. A one-way international business class ticket on Aer Lingus can cost upward of $4,000 in cash, so an award price of 50,000 to 62,500 Avios is quite a bargain.
Using The Card For Business Expenses
Card Members can also use the card for Business expenditure. American Express offer a unique option to add an additional card . An additional card is a second card thats issued in the Card Members name with a different card number, which makes it administratively ideal for using your primary card for personal transactions, while you keep the additional card to one side for business transactions.
When looking up your statement and transaction history online or in downloaded or paper statements, transactions are itemised by Card Members making it much easier to reconcile.
If you use the card solely for business use the annual fee may be tax-deductible, but check that with your tax advisor to be sure.
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How To Turn 80000 Points Into 104000 Points
The 80,000 welcome bonus points that come with the American Express Platinum are great, but if you know what youre doing, you can actually turn them into 104,000 pretty simply.
How? At least once per year, American Express offers a 30% transfer bonus when you transfer your points to a program like British Airways Avios or Aeroplan. Just by transferring your points strategically, you’ll turn 80,000 Membership Rewards into 104,000 Avios or Aeroplan points.
You just gained another 24,000 pointsworth at least $480 if you use them at a value of 2 cents per point or abovejust for being in the loop.
Here are 3 realistic scenarios of the value you can achieve with the Amex Platinum Card:
| Very Easy | |
| Yes | Yes |
Most of you will find yourselves in columns 2 or 3in the $1,581 $2,621 profit rangesince you can just read our other blog posts;to find tons of flights that get you 2-3 cents per point of value.
Here’s a post to get you started.
But if you’re ambitious and want to push your points even further, it’s completely possible to surpass what’s listed above with a value of 3 cents per point or more. Just;send us an email and we’ll help you sift through your options to ensure you get a great bang for your buck.
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The Platinum Card From American Express Benefits And Features
If you want to improve your overall travel experience and don’t mind paying extra for it you should get The Platinum Card® from American Express. Taking advantage of all of the card’s features can quickly compensate for most of the $695 annual fee. Below, you’ll find an in-depth look at each of these perks to help you better understand them.
American Express The Platinum Card
If you like prestige, The Platinum Card is for you. This is one of Amexs premium offeringswhich means it comes with a hefty annual fee , but enough perks to make it worth the investment. With an earn rate of triple the points on dining out compared to other cards, and double on travel, youll be racking up rewards every time you order in, fill the gas tank, do the weekly grocery shop and more. The options for redeeming points are varied: Put them toward flights or hotel, with every 1,000 points equalling $10, via the Flexible Points Travel program; using the Fixed Points Travel Programs travel chart to get potentially more value out of them; transfer them to frequent-flyer or hotel-loyalty programs; or even redeem them in the form of gift cards at premium retailers like Holt Renfrew.;
The Platinum Card, as one might expect, comes with some serious benefits. It entitles its holder to American Express Platinum concierge services, a $200 travel credit thats renewed each year andperhaps the holy grail for frequent flyersairport lounge access. Youll be able to take advantage of Amexs highly coveted Centurion lounges as well as more than 1,200 Priority Pass lounges around the world, making layoversand even flight delaysa whole lot more bearable. And the welcome bonus is a good one, too. But, maybe the coolest thing about this card? Its made of metal instead of the usual plastic. This luxe detail, however, may make you want to flash your card more often.
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Enroll In Amex Platinum Hotel Benefits
Dont forget to take advantage of your Amex Platinum hotel benefits. Not only can you enroll in complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status membership, but you can also take advantage of the perks and credits that youll receive when you use American Express Travel to book stays at qualifying hotels and resorts.
When you make a Fine Hotels + Resorts booking through American Express Travel, for example, you can earn an average of $550 in extras, including daily breakfast for two and a $100 experience credit. When you book two nights or more at a property within The Hotel Collection, youll earn a $100 credit for qualifying activities like dining or spa treatments.
Youll also get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card.
What To Do When You Get Your Amex Platinum Card
- Ben Schlappig
The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express are among the most popular premium cards out there. The personal version of the card recently underwent a major refresh, and on top of that both cards are offering excellent bonuses for new cardmembers right now.
The cards have hefty annual fees $695 for the personal version , and $595 for the business version though if you use the cards right, you should get perks that more than offset it.
The main reason I have these cards is because of the great benefits they offer, including lots of credits. If youre a new cardmember it can be tough to navigate all these perks, given the sheer number of them that exist.
In this post I figured Id talk about what you should do as soon as you get the Platinum Card in the;mail. If you already have the card and have taken advantage of all the perks, then by all means skip this post, but its something I get a lot of questions about. Heres what you should be aware of, in no particular order:
In this post:
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How To Use Uber Cash
What Is Uber Cash?
Uber Cash is a payment option that can be used to pay for Uber Eats and Rides in the U.S.
How Does Uber Cash work?
If you add an American Express Rose Gold or Gold Card to your Uber account, $10 in Uber Cash will be deposited into your Uber account every month. Otherwise, you can purchase Uber Cash within the Uber app or redeem Uber Cash through gift cards. You can check your Uber Cash balance by choosing Wallet from the menu in the Uber app. Uber Cash doesnt expire, and orders purchased with Uber Cash cost the same as using any other payment method.
How to Use Uber Cash
Using Uber Cash is fairly straightforward:
If you dont have enough Uber Cash to cover the cost of your purchase, you can cover the remainder with your default payment method.;
Gold Card Benefits and Perks
If youre passionate about getting the most out of the purchases you make to enjoy your lifestyle whether you like to host home-cooked dinners, grab weekly takeout through Uber Eats, or tour top restaurants around the world, Rose Gold lets you earn Membership Rewards points in style. Lets take a look at the features that come with the Cards $250 annual fee.5
Earning points.;On top of the 60,000-point welcome offer, Rose Gold offers a number of ways to earn accelerated Membership Rewards points:
One Card, Two Styles: Rose Gold vs Gold