Today officially marks the launch of the updated Platinum Card from American Express which also includes a new limited time increased welcome bonus of up to 100,000 points.. The card now includes a $200 annual dining credit along with additional annual value credits while seeing a decrease in points earning for dining. With all these changes there is also an increase to the annual fee to $799 from the previous $699.
The up to 100,000 bonus points offer:
The new welcome bonus offer on the card is awarded as follows:
- New Platinum® Cardmembers, earn 70,000 Welcome Bonus points after you charge $10,000 in net purchases to your Card in your first 3 months of Cardmembership
- Plus, earn 30,000 points when you make a purchase between 14 and 17 months of Cardmembership
New Benefits
Annual Dining Credit
Basic Platinum Cardmembers now have access to a $200 CAD Annual Dining Credit. Enrolled Cardmembers will be eligible to receive a statement credit of $200 CAD following a single transaction of $200 CAD or more (including taxes and gratuity) at one of the eligible restaurants listed on our website at go.amex/diningcreditrestaurants at the time of the transaction. Credit is available only once per redemption period. Participating restaurants are subject to change. Spend must be in one transaction. A one-time enrolment is required for the $200 Annual Dining Credit through Amex Offers and Cardmembers will automatically be enrolled for future redemption periods and do not need to re-enroll. Each calendar year is a separate redemption period. In 2023, however, the redemption period will be from September 26, 2023 until December 31, 2023.
At the time of posting this on September 26 there are 171 restaurants listed as participating for the annual dining credit.Here just a few of the locations:
Annual Value Credits
Platinum Cardmembers can earn up to $200 or more in additional value with participating partners like Disney+, Holt Renfrew and Lululemon, among others. These will show up in the Amex Offers platform like the current offers but they are and/or will be unique to the Platinum Card. These are/will be available to all Platinum cardmembers and won’t be targeted like many of the general Amex Offers. Amex told me they will “always be committing to at least $200 of value from Member Extras that everyone on the Card will get – it may just be that the merchants change from year to year.”
Existing Benefits
Everything else on the card remains the same as before. The annual travel credit, hotel elite status, NEXUS credit, airport lounge access, International Airline Program, and redeeming options have not changed.
Learn more about these benefits in our review of The Platinum Card
Dining Earn Rate Decreased
The Platinum card sees its accelerated earn rate of 3 points per dollar spent on dining drop down to 2 points per dollar as of today. The other earn rates of 2 points per dollar on travel and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases remain the same.
Increased Annual Fee
As of today (Sep 26) the annual fee on the primary card is $799 which is up $100 from the previous fee of $699
Additional (supplementary) card fees increase to $250 for Platinum versions. The additional Gold card option will see the fee drop from $50 to $0 for the first two cards and any cards after that will be $50 annually.
Wrapping it up
The changes to the Platinum Card from American Express are officially here. The primary differences are the addition of the annual dining credit, the drop in points earning on dining and the increased annual fee. With all that being said for $799 you can still get a lot of value with this card especially if you make use of the new dining credit.
Click here to learn more about and to apply for The Platinum Card from American Express
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