2015 Amex Centurion Benefits

[Ben6]

Received invite today...

Welcome to Amex Purgatory! May I ask if you're going to take it up? I am leaning towards accepting based on my comments about the extra bonus points I will receive by using it but I am not 100% yet.

 

[Foreigner]

Welcome to Amex Purgatory! May I ask if you're going to take it up? I am leaning towards accepting based on my comments about the extra bonus points I will receive by using it but I am not 100% yet.

I muse about the invite, my third...

- I see there's a CAP of 750k points - may apply to platinum too but I'm unsure.

- Initial fee is of no concern to me. Is this applied, always?

- Ongoing annual fee. Wish this was waived for year 1.

- 0.5 points per $ spend for ATO. Now, if this were to be 1 per $ I wouldn't think twice.

 

[Ben6]

I muse about the invite, my third...

- I see there's a CAP of 750k points - may apply to platinum too but I'm unsure.

- Initial fee is of no concern to me. Is this applied, always?

- Ongoing annual fee. Wish this was waived for year 1.

- 0.5 points per $ spend for ATO. Now, if this were to be 1 per $ I wouldn't think twice.

That cap of 750k points is for the bonus points (flights, restaurants, etc), there is no cap on total points. The cap for bonus points on Plat is 300k. It's that difference that has me leaning towards getting the card as I would pick up the extra bonus points without changing my spending patterns, so 450k points for $3,800 plus a few nice side benefits including an upgraded insurance plan, etc. I had looked at the benefits previously and didn't see the point in changing from Plat as most of the benefits are the same or similar but I think it's worth it just on the point difference for me.

My understanding is that the joining fee is waived regularly and I would not entertain paying that with a $5,000 annual fee. Waiving the joining fee rather than the 1st annual is more realistic I think.

If the ATO spend attracted 1:1 I'd be a very happy boy as well. I'd be flying RTW in F just for fun every few months!!!

 

[Foreigner]

That cap of 750k points is for the bonus points (flights, restaurants, etc), there is no cap on total points. The cap for bonus points on Plat is 300k. It's that difference that has me leaning towards getting the card as I would pick up the extra bonus points without changing my spending patterns, so 450k points for $3,800 plus a few nice side benefits including an upgraded insurance plan, etc. I had looked at the benefits previously and didn't see the point in changing from Plat as most of the benefits are the same or similar but I think it's worth it just on the point difference for me.

My understanding is that the joining fee is waived regularly and I would not entertain paying that with a $5,000 annual fee. Waiving the joining fee rather than the 1st annual is more realistic I think.

If the ATO spend attracted 1:1 I'd be a very happy boy as well. I'd be flying RTW in F just for fun every few months!!!

The offer on hand has waiver of joining fee.

 

[Cynicor]

The offer on hand has waiver of joining fee.

It would take a reasonable spend on the bonus categories to hit the higher cap, so is hard to justify the cent on bonus points alone.

You need a minimum $225000 travel/foreign spend of $150000 dining spend OVER the plat charge cap to get there(and any combo in between of course). To hit the caps on the plat you need to spend $150000 on travel or $100000 on dining in the first place.

Of course there are other advantages but I suggest that if your foreign and travel spend is that high, then you should get the Citi Prestige. That leaves mainly dining as the way to get the bonus points.

 

[Ben6]

It would take a reasonable spend on the bonus categories to hit the higher cap, so is hard to justify the cent on bonus points alone.

You need a minimum $225000 travel/foreign spend of $150000 dining spend OVER the plat charge cap to get there(and any combo in between of course). To hit the caps on the plat you need to spend $150000 on travel or $100000 on dining in the first place.

Of course there are other advantages but I suggest that if your foreign and travel spend is that high, then you should get the Citi Prestige. That leaves mainly dining as the way to get the bonus points.

Yes, my spend on those categories is that high. I am not familiar with the Citi Prestige but I stick with Amex currently because I have built up a 6 figure credit limit on the card through regular use and always paying off in full, I'm not sure I could get that high a limit on a bank CC and even if I could, it would count as personal credit liability while the charge card is not technically credit. We use the card as a virtual additional business overdraft that attracts no interest and doesn't even count as a liability. There may be other ways to get this done but I'm not sure I have the energy to pursue them.

 

[exp1k]

This is my understanding of how bonus points work, but I might be wrong of course:

Worst case: Let's say you spend $2M/year, your first 750k you spend on things that don't give bonus points, and your next 1,25M you spend on restaurants. Then you hit the points cap without having earned any bonus points and you will get $2M points in total.

Best case: Let's say you spend your first 250k on restaurants and your next 1.75M on whatever, then you get 3*250k + 1.75M = 2.5M points in total. After earning 750k points/year you wont get bonus points anymore.
The best case calculation for the platinum card would be that you spend your first 100k on restaurants and your remaining 1.9M on whatever. Then you get 3*100k+1.9M = 2.2M points in total.

So the difference between the 300k cap on Platinum and the 750k cap on Centurion is at most 300k points, and depends on your proportion of spend on restaurants/travel once you have reached 300k points up until you reach 750k points.

When I first signed up for the platinum card and got ~100k or so bonus points then these bonus points also counted towards the cap and I reached the cap quite fast. I think they are doing it this way now to prevent people from stacking up gigantic amounts of bonus points through buying pudding etc.

 

[Ben6]

Thank you exp1k, you are completely correct as it turns out. I reread the conditions and that does change my calculations. Back to the drawing board to work out whether it's worth it to me.

 

[ftm]

Got an invite recently too... so they must be doing a fresh round. The joining fee was waived in the invitation letter, so just the annual fee.

I didn't think that the accompanying brochure on the benefits didn't do a very good job of selling it - was mainly focused on the RM and what amazing things they can do for you. Some of the hotel benefits were mentioned, along with VA/DL/PP Lounge Access, EK Gold, but a lot of the others mentioned in this thread weren't there.

 

[Baghoarder]

I'm also tossing up the value of an offer (knocked it back twice before) - but my joining fee wasn't waived in the letter..... For me, it's just a question of whether the quantifiable annual value of the benefits exceeds the annual fee. The combined value of hotel upgrades plus the bonus points probably gets me over the line. After that, I see it as a free concierge service.

My experience with Platinum over the years has been that the concierge does not have the ability to "make it happen", even with fairly straightforward short notice restaurant reservations. Can anyone comment on the value of the Centurion RM service?

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I don't remember how long I have been a member now, but I think it would have to be 5 or 6+ years, I had a great RM named Paul to start with, he moved internally within the company and for the last 2-2.5 years I have had someone else, and TBH I couldn't tell you their name as I think I have spoken to them once in that time.. I would politely say my RM is a disappointment to the program

 

[token01]

It honestly comes down to which agent you get. I have had shockers to amazing ones, there is especially some good eggs over in the London and Brighton offices. I have stuck with a couple of champs who take care of all my travel.

RM wise, I Do not deal with them unless its account issue. simple.

 

[Baghoarder]

It honestly comes down to which agent you get. I have had shockers to amazing ones, there is especially some good eggs over in the London and Brighton offices. I have stuck with a couple of champs who take care of all my travel.

RM wise, I Do not deal with them unless its account issue. simple.

Just so I'm clear, you use agents in the travel section for travel and your RM for very little else? My impression was that one of the main benefits of Centurion was the personal single point of contact via the RM (but perhaps I'm just too ready to believe the hype! ) it's that sort of relationship that might be of value to me. I'd also expect a consistency of training and performance at this level. It shouldn't matter who you get on the other end of the phone.

 

[coolpetcat]

The offer on hand has waiver of joining fee.

Hi mate,

I just received the invitation as well. do you mind to share how did you get the joining fee waived?

Cheers,

 

[Foreigner]

Hi mate,

I just received the invitation as well. do you mind to share how did you get the joining fee waived?

Cheers,

Well i didn't solicit the invite. The letter had the offer.

 

[vantage03]

I have a great RM now after a couple of shockers. I had to put my foot down and get them to assign someone good.
Still though, if you're into your travel enough to be on these forums, more than likely you're very capable of finding what you want then using a travel agent (or RM) to book it for you.
RMs are your single point of call during AEST business hours, and they do book your travel.
If you're buying premium cabin fares ex-Australia then they definitely have buying power and can often get fares significantly cheaper than you can get online.
Similar with savings and upgrades on hotel rooms, the card pays for itself if you travel overseas a couple of times a year.

 

[exp1k]

Some nice offers in the new Centurion newsletter!

US$500 credit at Shangri La hotels

And finally I can book FHR rates online, I cannot believe it.

 

[marki]

Some nice offers in the new Centurion newsletter!

US$500 credit at Shangri La hotels

And finally I can book FHR rates online, I cannot believe it.

FHR rates?? Please Explain .....retro Pauline Hanson

 

[Mr_Fitz]

For a while the Cent. travel portal did not show the FHR benefits on the hotel search results page. They have since fixed in the last month or so.

The Shang $500 credit will be well spent, when I go to the Chinese F1 in April

Benefit with 'Langtons Wine' is double the Plat... Although may have expired now.

My RM is good for account enquiries - and is my first point of call for travel and concierge services... I usually tell my RM what I need - she delegates travel requirements to the AMEX travel team and personally looks after my lifestyle requests.

All in all, quite happy with my RM... After hours concierge seems to go to a 'usual' call centre (no 'stand in' Cent. RM's after hours) however I have found the American call centre staff always nice to speak with anyway.

Cent. travel can be a bit hit and miss - they can come up with some great options, but it pays to do your homework before you confirm any bookings they have recommended.

 

[sparoz]

Cent travel has always been miss for me - always a disappointment. However, there were happy for me to access the HK Cent team last year which means significant savings on tickets if you are happy to fly via Hong Kong.

My RM has been good to follow up with general Amex issues, and was able to by pass the gatekeepers on number of occasions when things aren't right.

Concierge again is a hit and miss, but definitely there are some good ones out there if you know who they are. However, the good ones seem to have been getting busier and busier.