New Amex Platinum Perks Announced, Walmart+ & Soul Cycle
Two weeks ago I shared some Amex Platinum rumors with you all. It was shared that American Express would be adding new “perks” to the Amex Platinum card. I like to think of these perks as coupons to the world’s most expensive coupon book. If you can maximize them it can be a great deal but I feel like most of the recent additions have missed the mark. Especially when considering the annual fee just got jacked to the stratosphere. The rumors had predicted new perks for Soul Cycle, Walmart+ and Sixt Car Rental. I had said I didn’t think they would be very useful to me and they were even less useful than I thought they would be. That and there was no addition for Sixt which I thought might be the best chance at value if it was a yearly credit etc.
New Amex Platinum Perks Details
Without further ado here are your new coupons:
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Walmart+:
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U.S. Consumer Platinum Card® Members can now receive a statement credit which covers the full cost of a monthly Walmart+ membership ($12.95/month plus applicable taxes) when they use their card. Walmart+ members receive unlimited free shipping with no order minimum on items shipped by Walmart, free delivery from store (where available), as well as mobile and contactless check-out to make shopping faster.
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Platinum Card Members will receive a $300 statement credit every time they purchase a SoulCycle At-Home Bike up to 15x per calendar year. An Equinox+ membership is required to purchase a SoulCycle at-home bike and access SoulCycle content. Must charge full price of bike in one transaction. Shipping available in the contiguous U.S. only.
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My Thoughts
That Soul Cycle credit is a head scratcher. Who is going to buy 15 $2500 bikes? Throw in the fact that it requires an Equinox membership which is a super expensive gym and what are we adding here? If they gave you a free bike for locking in a yearly Equinox membership etc. at least that would be something. This offers nothing for pretty much everyone out there. I guess if you were opening a Soul Cycle studio or something you will love that. Talk about threading a needle!
The Walmart+ membership will be a welcome addition if you already pay for it. I may sign up for it just because but doubt I will use it much. I guess it could be another option if you are looking to cut your costs on Instacart etc. There may be a few dollars of value per month here for people.
New Amex Platinum Perks – Final Thoughts
These are a large step down from the coupons added a few months ago. At least most people could find some value from those. I don’t think Walmart+ and a useless Soul Cycle credit is going to do anything in terms of people deciding to keep or cancel the American Express Platinum long term. These are probably free to American Express and now they get to tout “more value” in their marketing campaigns. But the reality is it adds essentially $0.
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Pass. Unless Amex adds some value to the platinum card, I’m looking at canceling or downgrading. A post on your thoughts about whether to keep, close, or downgrade would be welcome since I imagine many people are having similar thoughts.
What everyone is missing is that AMEX is shifting the focus of the card from pure travel to lifestyle. And, AMEX is trying to shift to a younger crowd. People who stereotype Platinum Card holders and disparage WalMart are misguided. Cast off your prejudices.
For any given benefit or statement credit, some people will use it and others won’t. Fine. The statement credits actually used by one person will be less than the annual fee. The statement credits used by another person will be more. For me, the statement credits I use are a couple hundred dollars more than the annual fee.
But, really, that’s the wrong way to look at it. If someone is using it for travel, one is absolutely garnering value. Just one five-day FHR stay yields:
– $200 annual hotel credit
– $100 per stay credit
– $75 per day breakfast credit x 5 = $375
equals $675 in statement credits.
All the other statement credits are gravy.
If someone is wringing their hands about whether the card is worth, then they don’t get it. Just cancel the card . . . but quit complaining.
I think that is the fallacy they want you to fall into though. Unless you were already going to spend money at Saks or Uber it isn’t really worth the value that you “get”. Would you have booked that FHR property anyway? If yes then great but if not then it isn’t worth that. Plus the breakfast etc. comes with the booking so shouldn’t be included in the valuation…it has nothing to do with the $200 credit.
They do these credits solely so they can promote “value” while planning on massive breakage.
And, that’s why each person has to assess the card’s utility for one’s own circumstances. For me, I was already going to do certain spending so I can capture value. For the next guy, not. I fall back to if someone truly uses the card, keep it. If they don’t, cancel it.
Very true – everyone needs to crunch the numbers based on their patterns.
Surprised they would want to associate with Walmart. Does not sound very high end – I guess Walmart is going to pay a lot of it since it’s very high margin, would make more sense on the green card.
I totally agree