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Survey received this afternoon, asking for opinions on existing benefits and potential new offerings.
It made for depressing reading.
Those selected are asked how important the free supplementary Plat card is, and whether they still want their supplementary cardholder to have lounge access. It also asked about retaining guests for lounge access and retaining travel insurance, as well as the other current benefits (Dining Credits, Harvey Nichols etc).
Suggested alternative benefits were laughable. Credit towards coffee subscriptions…gym subscriptions…cook at home subscriptions…posh cookware…mind wellbeing apps
I’m not sure Amex has a clue what their customer wants.
Same survey for me, very underwhelming.
It was depressing, I agree.
It started with the question if I’ll be holding the card in the next 12months.
Then I knew what was coming.“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.
Chase would clean up with a UK version of Sapphire.
With a 0.3% fee cap, doubt it.
Here we go again, our monthly comparison of the US and UK credit card products…
Especially after the survey, I’m getting more and more convincing that the Plat will turn into a “gamey” coupon book which will be used to introduce a new clientele to all sorts of businesses — from subscription products to dining etc
One thing I’m sure is that they won’t give us something we really would need: fast track or subscription to something you’d truly use.
Like many of us here, I don’t fly Y often but I might as well pay for the lounges for those flights and keep my money.
It is like they are not even trying to sell it anymore.
“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.
If Amex threw in a Pret subscription (£360 per year) it would be game changer for them, at least in the London and South East market.
Worth noting that US Platinum supps do not get Centurion Lounge access (UK cards do, plus guests) so there is precedent here.
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.
“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.
If Amex threw in a Pret subscription (£360 per year) it would be game changer for them, at least in the London and South East market.
Their coffee is terrible, Rob!
Worth noting that US Platinum supps do not get Centurion Lounge access (UK cards do, plus guests) so there is precedent here.
But isn’t that due to overcrowding rather than actual cost to them?
For the first time yesterday, I saw there was a designated area for Centurion holders in the Amex lounge LHR T3.
For the first time yesterday, I saw there was a designated area for Centurion holders in the Amex lounge LHR T3.
Ah yeah, this has always existed – hardly a benefit as the offering is the exact same!
Their coffee is terrible, Rob![/quote]
queuing for mediocre coffee before queueing to be rejected from a mediocre airport lounge… the platinum life! 🙂
For the first time yesterday, I saw there was a designated area for Centurion holders in the Amex lounge LHR T3.
Ah yeah, this has always existed – hardly a benefit as the offering is the exact same!
I didn’t see it before there.
I thought it was yet another “side effect” of over-platinumisation.
“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.
Hopefully someone from the Chase product development team is reading this thread 🙂
“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.
Hopefully someone from the Chase product development team is reading this thread 🙂
They are still trying to understand interchange fee cap. After all US, UK and EU are all the same market.
“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.
Hopefully someone from the Chase product development team is reading this thread 🙂
Given the long time they have taken for implementing CASS and open banking, I doubt a loss leader in credits cards is at the top of their agenda.
I wonder if they’ll do monthly/quarterly credits from next year onwards. £50 travel credit each quarter? £10-15 Dining credits each month?
No chance.
They could offer credits towards train ticket purchases… £100 credit a year towards LNER or Avanti or GWR for example. I bet they could even negotiate a deal to get credit at less than cost…
Would be far too sensible though
In my opinion Pret would be a terrible idea. I like the dining options and surely this is a market Amex Plat is aiming for. I’ve been on a few Amex dining events, the last one in November at Orelle Birmingham was fully attended even tho it was only announced 3 weeks before the event (It was also great value). When the spring events were announced I don’t think you had a single event North of Watford.
In my opinion Pret would be a terrible idea
Free low-class coffee from a cardboard cup is hardly Platinum-grade aspirational. I’d prefer a monthly voucher for a Gregg’s corn beef pasty and a sachet of HP sauce – if you must get down and dirty, do it properly.
I’d rather have my electric bills paid for each month because I work remote and leave the house once a week.
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!
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!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.
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