American Express have sent out invites to a new app called ‘AskAmEx’. AskAmEx is designed to help users find & book: dining, travel & entertainment. This is part of a pilot program that will run through May 31st, 2017. Currently it’s only available for iPhone users (that have been invited).
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Thanks to reader Mickey D, we have some more information & screenshots regarding the new app.
Our Verdict
Update: You don’t earn category bonuses when using the app, you’re also not eligible for any American Express offers or fine hotel and resorts benefits. Largely makes it useless in my mind.
It’s nice to be able to use a concierge service without having to call in, some people will prefer to use an app vs an e-mail and others won’t (that’s more of a personal preference). I like the fact that the app works in real time and you can just wait for the push notification to come through.
The partnership with Mezi is interesting but not surprising, given that American Express Ventures was part of their $9 Mill series A round of funding. Basically it’s a combination of artificial intelligence and human assistants. Have you been invited to this pilot program? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
I wrote a little bit about it on my blog… The biggest knock against it for me is that any travel booked with the app is ineligible for category bonuses, 2x membership rewards points for booking on Amex travel, Amex offers, hotel collection, or FHR.
That’s a bit of a downside to be honest.
Turns out I may have been wrong… Someone commented on my post saying they did get all the benefits. The FAQ about it on Mezi’s site suggests otherwise, which is where I got my info. https://mezi.com/amex/faqs
Interesting & confusing. My guess is that it doesn’t count as booking through amextravel for 2x but any other category bonuses will work like normal.
omfg. i didnt even know that. thats terrible…
YMMV here based on personal preference, but i dont think this will go too far. Concierge app concept is always a potential game changer in our current “lazy butler app” ecosystem culture, but countless implementations have always made the concept lack any real traction.
Although I am interested to see where Facebook takes it with their virtual assistant app. Not to mention Mark Zuckerberg created Jarvis for his home as a project, so if they cant do it right, Amex wont either.