As rumored, American Express refreshed their consumer Platinum and Business Platinum cards today. The headline is the annual fee increase from $695 to $895, and they’ve also added many new credits as well. All of the new benefits are already live for existing users as well.
Personal Platinum Details
- $600 hotel credit ($300 from Jan-June and $300 from Jul-Dec) – this is an increase from the current $200 benefit, (FHR any stay; THC min. 2-night stay), more discussion in this dedicated post
- $400 Resy credit ($100 per quarter) – this is a new benefit, we discussed this in a prior post
- $300 Lululemon credit ($75 each quarter) – this is a new benefit, we discussed this in a prior post
- $300 Entertainment credits – the Entertainment credit is being increased from $20 to $25 each month, and also expands what works to include the following: Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Paramount+, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV. More discussion here.
- $120 Uber One credit – this is a new benefit
- $200 Uber Cash – same as before
- $200 Oura Ring credit – this is a new benefit. Oura does require a paid subscription, see more analysis in this dedicated post.
- $200 airline incidental credit – same as before
- $155 Walmart+ membership credit ($12.99 each month) – same as before
- $100 Saks credit ($50 Jan-Jun, $50 Jul-Dec) – same as before
- $300 Equinox credit and $300 SoulCycle credit – same as before
- $209 CLEAR membership credit – same as before
- $85/$120 TSApre/GlobalEntry credits (once every 4-4.5 years) – same as before
Other Details
- 5x points on all direct flight bookings and also on flight and prepaid hotel bookings via Amex Travel; 1x points on other purchases – same as before
- Global Lounge Collection – same as before
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- 10 Delta SkyClub loungevisits
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- Leaders Club Sterling status for Leading Hotels of the World
- Marriott gold status – same as before
- Hilton gold status – same as before
- Car Rental status with Avis, Hertz, National
- Annual Fee: $895 – this is an increase from $695, we discussed this in a prior post
- Additional Card Fee: $195 – same as before
- No annual fee for companion Platinum cards – same as before
- No foreign transaction fees
- Card design is a mirror finish – Choose the mirror or classic design options when applying, more discussion in this post
Business Platinum Details
- $600 hotel credit ($300 from Jan-June and $300 from Jul-Dec) – new benefit for this card (FHR any stay; THC min. 2-night stay), more discussion in this dedicated post
- $200 Hilton credit ($50 per quarter) – same as before, more discussion here
- $120 wireless phone service credit ($10 each month) – same as before
- $200 airline incidental credit – same as before
- $1,150 in Dell credits: $150 in statement credits on U.S. Purchases; also, $1,000 statement credit after you spend $5,000 or more on those purchases per calendar year – same as before.
- $360 Indeed credit ($90 each quarter) – same as before
- $209 CLEAR membership credit – same as before
- $85/$120 TSApre/GlobalEntry credits (once every 4-5 years) – same as before
- $250 Adobe credit when you spend $600+ or more on Adobe purchases
- $100 The Hotel Collection credit when you book 2 nights or more via Amex Travel – same as before
- Additional credits when you spend $250,000+ on qualifying purchases in a calendar year (these are new benefits):
- $2,400 American Express One AP credit
- $1,200 Amex Travel Online flight statement credit
Other Details
- Points earnings:
- 5x points on flights prepaid hotels bookings via Amex Travel
- 2x points on select business purchases: US purchases of Construction material and hardware suppliers, Electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, Shipping providers (all 2x earn is limited to $2M in spend per year)
- 2x points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more – this is an increase from the old 1.5x rate on such purchases (all 2x earn is limited to $2M in spend per year)
- 1x points on other purchases
- Leaders Club Sterling status for Leading Hotels of the World
- Marriott gold status – same as before
- Hilton gold status – same as before
- Car Rental status with Avis, Hertz, National
- Global Lounge Collection – same as before
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- 10 Delta SkyClub loungevisits
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- Annual Fee: $895 – this is an increase from $695, we discussed this in a prior post
- Employee Platinum Card Fee: $400 – increased from $350
- Employee Expense Card Fee $0 – same as before
- Card design is a mirror finish – Choose the mirror or classic design options when applying, more discussion in this post
- No foreign transaction fees
- Card no longer earns 35% rebate on all first and business class bookings. Your selected airline earns the 35% rebate on economy, business, and first class bookings. More discussion in this post.
Signup Bonus
The welcome offer is increased on the business version, but not on the consumer version:
- Personal Platinum: Get up to 175,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. If approved you’ll find out your offer amount and then choose whether to accept the offer.
- Business Platinum: Get 200,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
Our Verdict
There’s a lot to digest here with all of the new benefits and changes. An extra $200 on the annual fee ($695 –> $895) is the biggest headline. The enhanced $300 Entertainment credit on the personal card seems to be the thing people are finding most interesting. The $600 hotel credit, $400 Resy credit, and $300 Lululemon credit are also headliners. The new 2x earning rate on the Business Platinum card for purchases $5,000+ is a nice addition as well.
It’s surprising to me that they added so many credits to the personal card, but not much to the business card. I can see the $400 Resy credit, for example, being a simple addition to the business card too.
All of these benefits are live for existing Platinum and Business Platinum cardholders as well. From what I’ve heard, the $300 hotel credit does refresh/reset fully even for those who already used $200 semi-annual credit. Those who did not use the $200 credit will get now $300 (but not $500), from what I’m hearing.
Reminder that the third quarter of 2025 is ending soon, and some of these credits renew each quarter (Resy, Lululemon, Hilton).
As always, remember that some of these Platinum and Business Platinum benefits require enrollment before use.
Should You Signup For The Card?
Obviously each person will value these credits differently, and there are certainly some people who will find the credits outweighing the huge annual fee. For most people it should make sense to signup and keep for the first year as the signup bonus should be enough to offset the annual fee. That said, if you don’t value the credits, the signup bonuses honestly aren’t even that amazing given the annual fee and the high spend requirements.
A lot of us are in pop-up jail and won’t be able to get the signup bonus on the card. Those who value the credits highly might still find it worthwhile to get the card without a bonus or to upgrade a different Amex charge card to the Platinum.
Remember, during the first year you always end up double-dipping on many of the credits since they run on calendar year or half-year or quarter schedules. So you end up getting more during the first year of membership which helps the math.
Chase versus Amex Revamp Analysis
Many are trying to analyze the Amex Platinum revamp versus the Chase Sapphire Reserve revamp. Most consider the Platinum enhancement superior, particularly on the personal Platinum card.
As always, this all depends on spend patterns. For example, a reseller who anyway buys stuff at Dell will look at the $1,150 Dell credits as straight-up cash and it makes the card an absolute no-brainer. The rest of us will shrug our shoulders and look at the Dell credit as worth near-zero.
Many are looking at the new $300 Entertainment credit as good as cash since they anyway pay for YouTube TV. Someone who uses Apple Music and Apple TV and does not use YouTube TV might find a lot of value in the Sapphire Reserve benefit and not so much Amex Platinum Entertainment benefit.
Related Posts:
- [Targeted] American Express Business Platinum 250,000-300,000 Points Signup Bonus
- Existing American Express Business Platinum & Consumer Platinum Annual Fee Renewals To Increase After December 2025 – January 2026
- American Express Charles Schwab Platinum 125,000 Point Bonus
- AmEx Platinum Cardholders: Use $75 Lululemon and $100 Resy Credit Before September 30th
