The Amex Platinum Card costs $1,450 per year but comes packed with benefits that could outweigh that annual fee. So that’s why in today’s video, I want to share 13 of the best tips and then 5 secret tips to help you maximize the value you get from the Amex Platinum Card. So, let’s get straight into the first one, potentially reducing the annual fee of $1,450.
That is going to ask what a retention offer is. It works after you’ve had the card for at least one year. You’re up for renewal in terms of paying for that annual fee again; what you can do is then reach out to Amex’s customer service team and ask them if there are any retention offers available because you’re thinking about closing down your card, where they’ll ask you a few questions of where you value from the card currently, and then even point out a few extra ways where you can extract additional value.
But just explain to them the reason as to why you’re looking to close your card, and most likely, they’ll offer you some sort of statement credit or bonus Amex reward points if you choose to stay with them for another year.
It costs more money to acquire new customers than to retain their existing customers. So it’s always in their interest to incentivize you to stay around. Just be mindful that this isn’t always guaranteed to work.
However, there’s no harm in asking. The worst that can happen is that they just say no offers are available.
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Amex Platinum Cards Tips
Get the Highest Signup Bonus
Often, I just see people signing up for the first signup offer they receive without doing more research, which can result in you leaving thousands of bonus Amex reward points on the table. So here’s what you do. If you go onto Amex’s website, you might see a variety of different offers based on a variety of different factors.
While making this video, I found signup offers for the Amex Platinum card for 150,000 Amex reward points after spending $5,000 in the first three months, which is a pretty standard offer that American Express currently has. However, after doing a little more digging and research, I found an exclusive signup offer for 225,000 Amex reward points while only having to spend $5,000 in the first three months. So right there, just by doing a little bit more research and a little bit more digging, I was able to get a signup offer that would give me an additional 75,000 Amex reward points.
So, the rule here is to be patient and not sign up for the first offer. Be patient and see what other offers are out there. Go through Reddit, OzBargain, or YouTube videos to see what other people have received in terms of signup offers, and then once you’ve found the highest available offer, go out there and try to find that particular offer. This could be through searching for them online, going through referral links, or getting referred by friends or family.
Annual Travel Credits
The third tip will be the $450 travel credit you can use every year, which also comes with an extra secret tip. So, each year, you’ll receive $450 travel credit for flights, hotels, and car hire whenever you book through the American Express Platinum Service or the Amex Travel Portal. The secret tip is that you can get additional benefits on top of your travel credit if you book a hotel stay with Amex’s Fine Hotels and Resorts program.
This program is essentially a collection of hotels curated for the highest standards of luxury. With each booking, you’ll receive a suite of benefits that could total up to $800 worth of value, which includes things like early check-in, late check-out, complimentary breakfast, and even $100 worth of credit that you can use at the hotel to use for experiences such as spa and massages. You can easily identify these hotels when you’re booking because they’ll be highlighted in gray, telling you they’re part of the Fine Hotel and Resorts program.
Annual Global Dining Credit
The fourth tip will be to use the $400 global dining credit because everyone dines out at restaurants, so just make sure you’re enrolled in that benefit, and you’ll receive $400 worth of value every year.
And don’t worry about being unable to find a restaurant to dine at because globally, across 20 countries, there are over 1,400 curated restaurants where you can redeem that credit. The selection of restaurants is geared towards fine dining, so it’s perfect for that next special occasion with your loved ones.
Use Your Amazon Prime Credit
Tip number five is to redeem your Amazon Prime subscription worth up to $84. This was a new benefit rolled out by American Express earlier in the year. All you’ll need to do is enroll in the program and then pay for a monthly or annual subscription using your American Express Platinum Card.
An annual subscription costs $79, while a monthly subscription costs $999. So, ideally, you’ll just sign up for an annual subscription because this is where you’re going to maximize the value.
Complimentary Accor Plus Membership
Tip number six will receive your complimentary Accor Plus membership valued at $399. And this one also comes with a secret tip, so stick around for that one.
Now, unless you stay at hotels many nights a year, often it’s going to be very hard to climb status ladders with hotel programs. But with the Accor Plus membership, you’re essentially buying a form of status plus a wide range of additional perks. While this membership grants you a wide range of benefits, the most noticeable one is the Stay Plus benefit.
The Stay Plus benefit is a complimentary free night in a standard room in participating hotel locations across the Asia Pacific. This can be redeemed at Accor Plus’ budget hotels like Ibis, as well as upscale Pullman and Sofitel hotels. It’s a no-brainer to use this benefit when staying at one of the higher-end hotels.
However, it should be noted that not all hotel chains participate in this benefit. You can unlock additional benefits, such as 10% off the public rate and 50% off Red Hot Room Sales. Red Hot Room Sales are essentially sales on certain hotels over certain periods where the rooms are 50% off.
Access to the American Express Global Lounge
Now, the next secret tip often overlooked with the Accor Plus membership is the dining benefit that comes with it. This can be used at over 1400 restaurant hotels across the Asia Pacific, where you’ll receive a discount on your total bill depending on the number of diners. The sweet spot is when you’re dining for two, and you get 50% off your total bill, and you don’t have to stay at the hotel to gain this benefit.
You can just rock up to the breakfast buffet or book a fancy night with your partner and reap the benefit whenever you want.
Tip number seven is one of the biggest benefits: access to American Express’s global lounge collection. This is a collection of over 1400 airport lounges around the globe, including Priority Pass lounges and the famous Amex Centurion lounge.
Now, there are some requirements for accessing each one of these lounges. For example, with Priority Pass, you have to enroll in the benefits page and get a separate Priority Pass card that you can access. Then, for the American Express Centurion lounge, you have to present your American Express Platinum card along with the boarding pass that departs within the next three hours to gain access.
Two things to note about these American Express lounges are that they can get pretty crowded, and there’s a line to get in, depending on the time of the day you’re trying to gain access. Secondly, you can no longer bring a guest for free into this Centurion lounge, as American Express has made some changes to combat overcrowding. So, as of right now, it’ll cost you $50 to bring an additional guest into the Centurion Lounge, and if you want to bring a child aged between 2 and 17, it’ll cost you an additional $35.
However, there is a hidden way to get around this, which brings me to tip number eight: adding an authorized user. American Express allows you to add a $0 annual fee American Express Platinum card for up to four additional card members, giving that user the same access as the primary cardholder to American Express’s global lounge collection. So, by adding your partner as an additional cardholder, you can access the American Express Centurion lounge without paying any additional fees.
Now, the next secret tip with adding an authorized user is that they also get access to the Australian premium subscription, which gives you news coverage from around the world from any device and includes access to the Wall Street Journal. If you would like to stay up to date with current affairs, then this subscription is definitely something you should take advantage of. The premium subscription is worth $15 per week or $780 per year for each person who signs up.
Now, tip number nine is all about the complimentary insurance you receive with the Amex Platinum card, but there are also a few secret tips with these insurances. Now, with the Amex Platinum card, you can be sure that you can shop confidently because a wide variety of insurances will cover you if anything were to go wrong. Buyer’s advantage cover will extend the warranty on purchases that you make.
The card purchase cover protects you if you ever break anything. Refund coverage if a store refuses to refund your items, as well as fraud protection insurance. On top of this, whenever you travel, American Express Platinum provides you with complimentary domestic and international travel insurance for yourself, your partner, and your dependents as long as you purchase the airfare with your Amex Platinum card.
Now, the first secret tip is that Amex Platinum card members are covered by roadside assistance. This means that if you currently have roadside assistance with companies like RACV, you might be able to do away with that cover and just use the cover provided on your Amex Platinum card. Insurance on the card will pay up to $200 per vehicle for accidental damage or breakdowns.
You can also receive on-the-spot roadside assistance and be towed to the nearest repairer. The second tip is that by having your Amex Platinum card, home assistance is one of the included insurance benefits. Card members can receive 24-hour referrals to service providers such as plumbers, electricians, and locksmiths.
So if you’ve ever had an emergency in the middle of the night, such as a burst water pipe, or perhaps your air conditioning broke down on a hot day, getting an emergency trade person out to your place to fix the problem could be very costly with that call-out fee. But with home assistance insurance, they’ll cover the call-out fee and organize everything for you twice a year. The cardholder will still pay for any costs associated with labor and spare parts.
However, not having to pay for that call-out fee alone could save you as much as $250 each time. Tip number 10 is that you can receive up to $300 US dollars in free cruise credit. American Express themselves doesn’t widely advertise this benefit.
However, suppose you are planning on going on a cruise anytime soon. Booking via the Platinum Travel Service website using your American Express Platinum Card might be best. When you book through the Platinum Travel Service, you’ll receive up to $300 US dollars in travel credit that can be used towards your cruise. This is yet another fast way to claw back some value from that annual fee you’ll have to pay each year.
Tip number 11 is getting hotel elite statuses. With the American Express Platinum Card, you’ll be fast-tracked to higher tiers of several hotel loyalty programs. This is done without fulfilling the usual qualifying criteria, such as staying multiple nights a year.
You’ll be eligible for gold status at the Hilton, gold elite status at the Marriott, and premium status at Radisson Rewards. With these high statuses, you’ll receive additional perks and benefits whenever you stay with any of these hotels. Benefits will include complimentary room upgrades if they’re available, early check-in, late check-out, and additional benefits on top of this as well.
All of these will make your next hotel experience that much better. Tip number 12 is to activate and use Amex offers on the Platinum Card. Each month, American Express will release new offers that reward you type,cally with cash back when you shop with select retailers.
I recommend you check out these offers each and every month because these offers alone have saved me at least $100 each year. And the last tip will be to redeem your Amex points for travel. For all of the points you earn on this card, from the sign-up bonus to just spending on the card normally, you want to save them and then transfer them to a partner airline to redeem for travel.
American Express provides plenty of different options for redeeming your American Express reward points, from redeeming them for gift cards, paying purchases off with them, and even booking travel through American Express’s own travel portal. But honestly, these are all traps that devalue those hard-earned points. For example, if we used 100,000 American Express reward points to pay off purchases on our card, we would only receive $500 worth of benefits, equivalent to 0.05 cents per point.
But by transferring them to a partner airline, you can get up to twice as much or even four times as much value for those same American Express reward points.
