I’ve had the enterprise model of the American Specific Centurion Card — generally often called the “Amex Black Card” — since February 2016, and whereas it comes with a hefty price ticket, the record of advantages is spectacular. It consists of tangible perks like complimentary Hilton Diamond and Delta Platinum Medallion standing, however the intangibles are what actually units the cardboard aside. I get unimaginable worth from Ray, my private Centurion concierge, who can seemingly transfer mountains (or not less than assist get me out of Bali after they erupt) to snag unique excursions, live performance tickets and hard-to-get restaurant reservations.
Backside line: the Centurion playing cards should not about factors (although there are some advantages which assist me maximize my Amex factors), however its all about service and experiences and figuring out Amex has your again if something goes improper. If you’re within the card, it’s invitation solely, although you might strive spending lots on The Platinum Card® from American Specific or the Enterprise Platinum® Card from American Specific — after which reaching out to Amex to precise your curiosity.
In the present day, American Specific is asserting a bunch of recent advantages on the cardboard whereas eradicating just a few, and whereas it will end in an elevated annual membership charge beginning April 1, 2020, the brand new perks provide some terrific extra worth — they usually all take impact as of at this time. Let me take you thru the enhancements.
In This Put up
Saks Fifth Avenue credit
Particulars: Centurion cardmembers will rise up to $250 in quarterly assertion credit and revel in unique entry
Worth: $1,000 per 12 months
My take: This new perk is a magnified model of the one provided on The Platinum Card® from American Specific, however somewhat than $50 each six months, cardmembers will get $250 in computerized assertion credit each quarter for swiping their Centurion Card at Saks places. That is as much as $1,000 in credit per 12 months, although you will need to use them every quarter to get the total worth. Since all it’s worthwhile to do is store to get pleasure from this perk, I’ll peg this at face worth.
Be aware that along with the assertion credit, Saks shops will open for Centurion cardmembers exterior of regular enterprise hours, permitting entry to companies like early-morning makeovers or late-night non-public buying.
Equinox membership
I’m thrilled for the brand new Equinox membership. (Photograph courtesy of Equinox by way of Fb)
Particulars: Cardmembers will get a complimentary Equinox Vacation spot Entry Membership
Worth: $2,000 per 12 months
My take: A Vacation spot Entry membership consists of entry to all of Equinox’s 105 health golf equipment across the U.S., Canada and the U.Okay., together with places within the following cities/areas:
Boston
Chicago
Connecticut
South Florida
Michigan
New Jersey
New York (together with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Lengthy Island and Westchester County)
Northern California (together with San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto)
Southern California (together with Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and the Valley)
Texas (together with Austin, Houston and the Dallas space)
Washington, D.C.
London
Toronto
Vancouver
It is a dear perk, because it’ll usually set you again a $500 initiation charge plus $300 per 30 days — a recurring, annual value of $three,600. For these of you who reside in an space like New York Metropolis with a number of golf equipment (or who often journey to locations with golf equipment), you might simply get the total face worth of this membership. Nevertheless, the geographic unfold is restricted, so some cardholders could not have the ability to make the most of the total vary of golf equipment. Consequently, I’ll worth this perk at an extra $2,000 value of advantages per 12 months.
Airport Meet & Greet
Particulars: Cardmembers will now get pleasure from expanded airport meet and greet companies
Worth: $600
My take: From a journey perspective, there are few issues worse than a horrible airport expertise, whether or not it’s security, customs, baggage declare or the rest. Centurion cardmembers have lengthy had entry to VIP arrival companies at choose worldwide airports on first- and business-class tickets bought by way of Amex, however this has now been expanded in two methods. First, now you can make the most of an analogous service on departure in addition to arrival. Second, entry is now included on award tickets while you use your Centurion card for the taxes and costs. Generally, you’ll be met planeside by a rep to escort you thru customs and assist with baggage — for gratis to you.
The service is offered at 32 airports all over the world (AUH, ATH, BKK, BCN, CPT, DEL, DPS, DXB, FRA, GVA, IST, CGK, JNB, KUL, LCY, LGW, LHR, STN, MAD, MAN, MEL, MXP, BOM, MUC, NCE, CDG, FCO, ICN, SYD, TLV, VIE, ZRH), although it’s exceedingly onerous to peg a real worth from this enhancement, because it might save only a minute or two or might make the distinction between making as a substitute of lacking a flight. It’s additionally obtainable at only a few dozen airports. Consequently, I’ll use a conservative worth of $100 per round-trip ticket and assume one relevant itinerary each different month — although this may very well be way more worthwhile to some cardholders.
CLEAR membership
You’ll now have entry to a CLEAR membership — together with three relations. (Photograph by Summer time Hull / The Factors Man)
Particulars: Cardmembers will obtain an annual assertion credit score for CLEAR membership, together with as much as three relations
Worth: $259
My take: CLEAR presents a terrific solution to pace via security, utilizing biometric authentication to confirm your determine earlier than depositing you on the entrance of the screening line. It’s presently in operation at 30 airports and 21 different venues within the U.S., and the traditional worth for membership is $179. Nevertheless, any Delta SkyMiles Platinum Medallion member should purchase a membership for $109 — and that standing is routinely included for cardholders. It could then value an extra $50 (per individual) so as to add three relations, so the precise worth of this profit is $259.
Now you can get $100 off a CLEAR membership yearly with the newly revamped American Specific® Inexperienced Card, so it is a supercharged model of that profit. I really like CLEAR and I’ll undoubtedly use this profit to save cash on my renewals yearly.
Personal Suite
Particulars: Cardmembers will get a complimentary annual membership to The Personal Suite
Worth: Nominal
My take: The Personal Suite offers any traveler the chance to really feel like a real celeb upon departure (or arrival) at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport. The conventional price ticket for a membership? A cool $four,500. So getting a membership without spending a dime sounds nice, proper? Besides that for each one-way flight the place you employ the service, you’ll have to fork over one other $2,700 — $three,000. It is a low cost of as much as $1,000 off the charges charged to non-members, however given the hefty worth tags and the truth that it’s restricted to a single airport, I don’t view this perk as carrying any tangible worth.
New service and occasion entry
I’m trying ahead to extra cardmember-exclusive occasions — like this one with acclaimed chef Massimo Bottura.
Along with these new advantages, Amex can also be enhancing among the less-concrete perks on the cardboard. Considered one of these entails the customized service provided to cardmembers. I get a ton of worth from my private Centurion concierge, however after all he has to sleep generally! So since he’s not accessible in any respect hours of the day and evening, American Specific is now increasing this devoted staff of consultants to supply 24/7, individualized assist. Meaning when Ray isn’t obtainable to assist, one other highly-trained particular person will have the ability to step in.
As well as, the issuer has additionally dedicated to increasing the slate of bespoke, unique occasions obtainable to cardmembers. There are a selection of those within the pipeline over the following few months, and whereas I can’t share specifics, these invite-only occasions look to be an unimaginable solution to acknowledge the significance that Centurion cardholders place on tradition and experiences. These are (fairly actually) priceless.
I received invited to an upcoming occasion which must be fairly epic, and I’ll be sharing full particulars on Instagram.
Further updates
The cardboard can also be seeing the addition of recent journey protections which are similar to these being added to the Amex Platinum and a number of other different premium playing cards as of January 1, 2020. I’ll be coated for as much as $500 in cheap bills for coated delays of six or extra hours, and if I have to cancel or interrupt a visit, the cardboard will cowl as much as $10,000. These two perks apply to tickets booked on or after Jan. 1.
Sadly, there are three perks that may now not be provided on the cardboard as of January 1, 2020:
$200 airline charge credit score
Boingo Most well-liked Plan
GoGo Most well-liked Plan
This final one is most notable to me, although as extra airways seek for different inflight web suppliers — and a few decide to offering it without spending a dime — it will hopefully grow to be much less of a loss as time goes on.
Further membership charge
Sadly, these added perks come at a value — the annual charge on the Centurion card is growing from $2,500 a 12 months to $5,000 per 12 months, whereas the initiation charge is leaping from $7,500 to $10,000. Nevertheless, these greater annual charges don’t take impact till April 1, 2020. In case your renewal is earlier than that date (like me), you’ll have one other 12 months on the present fee of $2,500.
Be aware that the charge for including extra consumer playing cards can also be growing from $2,500 to $5,000. Nevertheless, American Specific has confirmed that extra cardholders can even get pleasure from these new perks individually from the first member — together with their very own set of Saks credit, Equinox membership and CLEAR assertion credit score.
Regardless of the elevated annual charge, my estimates peg the bottom worth of those added perks at $three,859, so cardholders ought to come out forward general. If you happen to’re a extra frequent consumer of the airport meet and greet companies, can really maximize the Equinox membership, or already deliberate to e-book The Personal Suite at LAX over the approaching 12 months, you could get much more worth. And with the extra “smooth” advantages — like enhanced customized service and expanded entry to unique occasions — the cardboard is extra worthwhile than ever.
Why I’m preserving my Centurion card
Many current enhancements to journey rewards playing cards have resulted in added level bonuses, however the Centurion card is doubling down on perks, service and experiences. I’ve to say that I’ve been an especially glad cardmember for years, and regardless that the Centurion card will now value $5,000 per 12 months, I can simply justify it for the next causes:
Factors
Once I say factors, I don’t meet incomes factors. I even have the Amex Platinum and the American Specific® Gold Card, which supply higher incomes charges on many classes of purchases. However the Centurion card is a terrific possibility for redeeming factors. One little-known reality of the cardboard is that it nonetheless has a 50% rebate on all Pay with Factors reservations, which means my Amex factors are value 2 cents apiece when redeemed towards airline tickets.
That is nice for me, as I used to be just lately capable of e-book a round-trip, first-class ticket on British Airways to South Africa for roughly $7,000, and it solely value me 350,000 American Specific Membership Rewards factors. It additionally earned me a ton of miles, since airline tickets booked via Amex Journey are handled as regular income tickets. If, alternatively, I had transferred these Amex factors to Delta to e-book a standard award ticket on the identical route, it might’ve set me again twice as many factors for a less-luxurious business-class product, and I wouldn’t have earned any miles or elite credit on the flight.
When award availability isn’t there (or forces you right into a less-than-ideal routing) and it’s worthwhile to e-book flights on a particular date or time, it’s nice to be assured of getting 2 cents per level in worth. We e-book tons of our assessment journey utilizing this perk, so having that flexibility is large.
Relationship supervisor
My private Centurion concierge, Ray, is solely superb — one of many prime relationship managers at American Specific. He is aware of everybody and helps me with every kind of requests, from reserving a safari to serving to with journey points. He actually seems like a full-time member of my workers, and now, this customized service is much more worthwhile.
One situation I used to have is that the weekend and evening workers with the concierge desk provided wildly completely different ranges of service. The brand new construction of this perk now offers a devoted staff of people who know the purchasers and may choose up the place Ray leaves off way more seamlessly, so I’m very enthusiastic about that.
Though this card is growing to $5,000 a 12 months, some weeks we use Ray for hours to assist e-book journey, get us into eating places or assist with something we actually want, so successfully getting an amazingly-talented worker at this worth is (alone) definitely worth the worth of admission.
The brand new perks
I’ll simply use the brand new assertion credit at Saks Fifth Avenue. (Photograph by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Pictures/LightRocket by way of Getty Pictures)
I’m very impressed with the brand new advantages that at the moment are part of my Centurion card. I was an Equinox member years in the past, and I’ve been which means to get again into it. As a Centurion cardmember, I now get an all-access move to each considered one of these phenomenal golf equipment — together with the superb new places just like the one in Hudson Yards. I’m significantly excited by the outside pool at that membership, a uncommon however much-appreciated luxurious in New York Metropolis.
As well as, I’ll undoubtedly make the most of the brand new $1,000 in cumulative, annual credit at Saks Fifth Avenue — and can be sure you maximize my buy by going via a web based buying portal. Since this perk is offered as quarterly assertion credit (versus reductions), I’ll nonetheless earn bonus factors, miles or cash-back by beginning at a portal website. On the time of writing, I might earn 11% money again by buying at Saks via Rakuten (previously Ebates), or I might take house 6 Avios per greenback spent by clicking via the British Airways shopping center. It is a incredible solution to earn much more on each on-line buy I make — and it’s one thing everybody ought to do.
I did the Personal Suite at LAX as soon as, and whereas it’s solely in Los Angeles proper now, I’m actually hoping they increase to different airports. The corporate’s chief industrial officer just lately informed Yahoo! Finance that they’re in discussions with officers at New York-JFK and have additionally set their websites on different main airports. Though it does carry a excessive value, it’s nonetheless good to have entry to discounted charges — in the event you plan to make use of it.
Lastly, I’m thrilled with the prospect of expanded entry to superb, one-of-a-kind occasions that you might by no means in any other case buy. I’ve been invited to those prior to now — like sitting within the entrance row at a Stevie Marvel live performance in Los Angeles, the most effective live shows of my life. In lots of instances, you not solely get entry to among the most culturally-important singers and occasions — you additionally get an opportunity to fulfill these icons.
Backing of Amex
We cost a big quantity of firm bills to the Centurion card yearly, and all of my Amex factors pool into one Membership Rewards account. Consequently, I can earn 5x factors per greenback spent on airfare booked instantly with the airline on my private Amex Platinum and 4x factors on worldwide eating places on my Amex Gold card, however after I wish to redeem them for two cents apiece, I merely name Ray and he’ll assist redeem the factors which have posted to my one rewards account. Meaning I can maximize my Amex ecosystem by leveraging my bonus incomes charges on different Amex playing cards with the Centurion’s Pay with Factors rebate and get some phenomenal worth on my private day by day spending and our enterprise bills.
Different perks
We’ve coated the array of advantages on the Centurion card earlier than, however there are a lot of that may provide large worth. A few of my favorites embody:
Complimentary Delta Platinum Medallion standing (which we worth at $three,865)
Complimentary Hilton Diamond standing (which we worth at $three,025)
Complimentary Marriott Gold standing (which we worth at $845)
Hertz Platinum — together with valet drop-off service to the terminal at taking part places
Amex High quality Accommodations & Resorts plus the Centurion resort assortment, providing perks at luxurious resort manufacturers like Aman, Mandarin Oriental and Rosewood
Annual, vacation presents (like my Bottega Veneta pockets) — that are sometimes not less than $500 in worth
These perks — together with the brand new ones simply introduced — present a terrific suite of advantages that I’ll fortunately proceed to make use of in 2020 and past.
Backside line
I’ve by no means been a happier member of the American Specific household. Sure, the Centurion card isn’t for everybody, which is why it’s invitation-only. If you happen to’re within the card, you possibly can go to Centurion.com and truly submit a request, or you possibly can name American Specific instantly and inquire about turning into a cardmember. Sadly, there’s no set standards, and Amex doesn’t present official data on precisely what kind of buyer they invite to get this card. My understanding — from conversations with people who’re within the know — is that it’s worthwhile to be a giant spender in sure classes like journey and buying. It additionally isn’t simply an algorithm — Amex will undergo an in depth assessment course of for each individual to ensure they’re a match for the cardboard. The purpose is to maintain it unique, guaranteeing that members will signify the Centurion card and the model nicely.
General, I’ve been extremely pleased with the service I get from American Specific and the unique entry the cardboard offers, and this new set of perks solely reinforces that call. Even with the upper annual charge, this card will certainly preserve a spot in my pockets for years to come back.
