How to Use the Resy Dining Credits on Your American Express Card

American Express has spent the last few years turning its best travel cards into coupon books – piling on statement credits for everything from hotels to fitness to dining, then raising annual fees to match. The Resy dining credits are one of the buzziest examples, now baked into multiple Amex cards, including a credit worth up to $400 a year on the *amex platinum*, doled out in chunks of up to $100 each quarter.

The knock on these credits has always been simple: They're only worth something if you can actually find a Resy restaurant. That's about to change. Amex is folding rival reservation platform Tock into Resy this year, pushing the network past 25,000 venues and finally making these credits usable well beyond New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

But the part that hasn't changed is the catch: These are use-it-or-lose-it credits. If you carry the Platinum or the *amex gold*, you've got money sitting on the table right now that expires at the end of the month (June 30) – with a fresh allotment that resets the very next day.

Here's how the Resy credits work across every Amex card that offers them, and how to squeeze out every dollar before the clock runs out.

What is Resy?

Let's back up and cover the basics, because plenty of Amex cardholders likely had the same reaction when these credits showed up on their statements: “What's Resy?”

Resy is a restaurant reservation platform you can use through its website or app – think OpenTable, but Amex-owned. American Express acquired Resy back in 2019 and has spent the years since wiring it deeper into its cards and benefits. These dining credits are the clearest example yet, first cropping up on the Delta cards and now on both the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold.

Restaurants partner with Resy to run their reservations, and historically, Resy has skewed toward sit-down and upscale spots in bigger metro areas. That's long been the central knock on these credits – a great perk, assuming you can find somewhere to spend it.

That's exactly what's changing. Amex is absorbing rival reservation platform Tock into Resy, a move that pushes the combined network past 25,000 venues, according to American Express – and, just as important, extends it into more midsize cities where Resy restaurants used to be thin on the ground.

Two caveats still apply. The network leans toward restaurants in and around cities, so don't count on your neighborhood diner being on it. And only U.S. restaurants qualify for the credit – so you can't put it to work on an international trip.

How to Use the Resy Credits

To use any of these credits, you’ll need to spend money directly at a U.S. restaurant that partners with Resy. You do not need to book the reservation through the Resy app, nor do you need to pay through Resy. Just spend money at any U.S. Resy partner restaurant, and American Express should recognize the charge and issue a statement credit when you make a purchase at one of these restaurants. The statement credit will depend on which Amex card you have.

Here's a look at what each card gets:

• *amex platinum*: You get up to $400 annually in statement credits. You'll get up to $100 to use each quarter on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants. 
• *amex gold card*: You get up to $50 semi-annually (January to June and July to December) in statement credits on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants.
• *delta reserve card*: You get up to $20 per month in statement credits on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants.
• *delta skymiles platinum card*: You get up to $10 per month in statement credits on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants.
• *delta reserve business*: You get up to $20 per month in statement credits on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants.
• *Delta SkyMiles Platinum Biz*: You get up to $10 per month in statement credits on eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants.

Keep reading to see how to put your new credit to use.

Enroll for the Benefit in Your Amex Account

First and most importantly, you must log in to your American Express account and enroll in this benefit before putting it to use. Critically, you won't receive any credits until you complete this step.

It's a hoop American Express makes you jump through by design, betting that many cardholders will forget and lose out on these credits. Don't be one of those people – that's exactly what the bank wants.

You can enroll in the benefit by clicking the “Rewards & Benefits” tab in your account. Once you are there, click the “Benefits” tab. Scroll down until you find this new Resy credit, and click “Enroll.”

It's a simple but essential step to take advantage of these statement credits. You just need to do it once – not every time you go to use the benefit. 

How to Find Restaurants Where You Can Use the Credit

Once you've enrolled to activate this new credit, you can head to Resy's website or the mobile app to find participating restaurants.

Both the website and mobile app are location-based, so you can quickly see partner restaurants in your area. Since I'm located in the Minneapolis – St. Paul area, I can quickly see all of the eligible restaurants near me.

Again, you don't actually have to pay or make a reservation directly through Resy. Just dine at one of the partner restaurants, pay with your eligible Amex card, and the credit should kick in automatically.

If you're ever in doubt about whether or not the restaurant is eligible, search for it on Resy's website or mobile app. You should see a line like this confirming your Resy credit will work there. 

If you are in a large metropolitan area, you should have plenty of options available. At the top of Resy's website, you can see a list of popular cities in the U.S. and abroad. But remember: These Resy credits can only be used at U.S. restaurants.

You can search for a city to see what options are available. Fair warning: If you live in a smaller city, you either won't have any Resy partner restaurants available or the selection will be minimal, making these credits much harder to use.

So long as you enrolled in the benefit through your Amex account, you dine at an eligible Resy restaurant, and you pay the bill with either your eligible Amex card, you should receive the credit within a few days of making the transaction.

American Express officially says that the statement credits could take six to eight weeks to post to your account, but most data points suggest the credit will kick in within a few business days. That's been our experience using the credit as well. It officially posted a few days after making the purchase at a Resy restaurant.

Can You Buy Resy Restaurant Gift Cards Instead?

As these credits have spread to more cards in Amex's lineup, we had a question: Could you just buy a gift card at a partner restaurant to use the credit instead? 

No question, that would make the monthly credit on the Delta cards infinitely more useful – and even the Amex Gold Card's credit, too. Rather than dining out at a Resy restaurant, you could buy a gift card and then use it all at once later on. We decided to try it out at Dario, a newer Italian restaurant in Minneapolis, and a Resy partner.

Dario sells gift cards on its website, so we went ahead and bought one for $10 to test this out, hoping it would trigger the new $10 credit on a Delta Platinum card. Sure enough, a few days later, the statement credit posted as we hoped.

We're reasonably sure that this would also work for in-person gift card purchases at Resy partner restaurants. While the benefit terms state that non-dining purchases such as merchandise or gift cards may not be eligible for the new credit, that would require the restaurant to process those transactions differently than a regular dining purchase – and that's typically not the case. So long as it isn't a third-party selling you the gift card, you should be good to go.

Fair warning: This may vary from restaurant to restaurant, particularly at locations that don't sell physical gift cards. But it's always worth a shot!

Thankfully, there's a new website that can help you make sure these credits don't go to waste. It's called UseYourCredits, and it's quickly become a go-to resource for identifying restaurants where you can use your Resy credits, including those that will trigger credits from gift card purchases … even online. 

Read More: A Handy Tool for Putting Your Premium Card Dining Credits to Use

Bottom Line

Among the many new benefits American Express has introduced as part of its product “refreshes” is a statement credit to be used at Resy restaurants in the U.S. Delta Platinum and Reserve cardholders get up to $10 or $20 a month, respectively, to put toward Resy restaurants, while Amex Gold Cardholders get up to $50 semi-annually. Finally, if you hold the bank's flagship American Express Platinum Card, you'll get up to a $100 Resy credit every quarter ($400 annually). 

Like many other Amex credits, these Resy restaurant credits are use-them-or-lose-them perks that don't roll over from month to month. It's up to you to head to a participating U.S. restaurant to put them to use.

Just be sure to enroll in this benefit before you do. After that, you're all set.