For more than a decade, *amex platinum* has been billed as the premium travel card – an absolute must for travelers who want lounge access and other perks. But after last week’s massive update, the Platinum is clearly no longer centered on travel.
With a new $895 annual fee (see rates & fees) and a dizzyingly long list of perks for everything from hotels to fitness to restaurants that Amex claims add up to $3,500 a year, the Platinum has become something else entirely: a membership club. Honestly, it's closer to a country club with a few travel perks … complete with higher dues and a status symbol in the form of a new, mirrored card design to get you in the door.
Yes, Amex can point to big numbers to justify the price. And there are plenty of Americans who can make it work, travelers or not.
But the real story isn’t about whether you’ll use every perk or maximize every dollar of that so-called value. It's about how American Express has cemented its Platinum Card as the top dog of travel cards … while deliberately shifting away from travel.
Learn more about *amex platinum*.
The Long March to Membership
With an annual fee now scratching $900 a year, this latest update may feel dramatic. In reality, it's nothing new.
Amex started rethinking and reshaping the Platinum Card back in 2021, when it raised the annual fee from $550 to $695 and added lifestyle perks like up to $240 of digital entertainment credits, a credit of up to $300 toward Equinox Gyms and more. Not long after, Amex CEO Steve Squeri made it clear higher annual fees were inevitable so long as Amex could keep layering on benefits.
“It’ll go as high as the value allows us to go,” he said.
In hindsight, Amex has been conditioning cardmembers for years to accept this credit-heavy model. From Uber to streaming services to Saks shopping credits this “coupon book” approach has become a growing part of Amex’s DNA for the better part of the decade.
With the fee now at $895 and more lifestyle benefits piled on, Amex is simply doubling down on that strategy: turn the Platinum Card into a lifestyle membership … that happens to include travel benefits.
Among other factors, that might be a core reason why the response to the new Platinum Card has been almost overwhelmingly positive while the (slightly cheaper) new Chase Sapphire Reserve card has landed with a bit of a thud. American Express has simply been at it for longer, and its customers have bought in.
So instead of competing on earning and redeeming points, Amex is again betting big on access and perks: Centurion Lounge access, up to $600 in hotel credits, up to $300 to spend at Lululemon, up to $400 in Resy restaurant credits, Walmart+, Uber credits coupled with an Uber One membership, and much more.
In practice, the Platinum isn’t designed to be an everyday spending card; now more than ever, it’s clear that it has turned into a membership pass. And it's not just us saying that – American Express itself acknowledged as much in the big product launch last week (emphasis ours).
“There is really nothing like Platinum Membership — we offer more value than ever, and with the scale of our lounge, dining and hotel programs, we make it easy for our Card Members to access this value, Howard Grosfield, the group president of U.S. consumer services at American Express, said in a statement.
The Value Pitch & Why It Works (for Amex)
Amex now touts that the Platinum offers more than $3,500 in annual value across all its perks. Few cardholders will ever get close to that number – but that’s not really the point.
Even capturing a slice of that value can make the annual fee feel worth paying, especially when paired with lounge access, hotel perks, and other benefits that cardholders are already familiar with. But there’s another layer: Amex doesn't pay for many of these perks at all.
The partners they work with – like Uber, Lululemon, Oura, Saks, and many more – cover much or even all of the cost of these perks. That allows Amex to market more benefits and tout flashy “value” figures – and, of course, raise annual fees – without actually paying out of pocket for them. That expense is actually shouldered by companies eager to get in front of Amex’s affluent customer base.
“This is a way for us to create value for the card member and have a big part, if not all, of the value being funded by the partner,” the bank's Chief Financial Officer, Christophe Le Caillec, said during an investor conference earlier this month.
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One of the biggest criticisms of Platinum over the years is that it doesn’t reward everyday spending well. Even after this latest refresh, Amex is keeping the status quo.
You’ll still get 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines and 5x per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and flights booked through Amex Travel. But beyond that, you'll earn just 1x points per dollar spent on everything else.
That puts the Platinum far behind many other premium travel cards when it comes to rewarding both everyday spending and travel purchases. Why? Because Amex doesn't need to change it.
All those credits with different expiration timelines – from monthly Uber rides and digital entertainment credits to quarterly dining spending at Resy restaurants – are designed to keep the Platinum front and center. By building perks that require regular engagement, Amex ensures more cardholders will keep reaching for their Platinum cards anyway.
For many cardholders, pulling it out of their wallet is less about maximizing rewards and more about what it represents: membership in an exclusive club. And that's precisely what Amex wants.
Selling Membership, Not Travel
Amex isn’t just repositioning Platinum as a membership – it’s building an entire ecosystem around that idea.
Over the last decade, the bank has acquired Resy and Tock, two of the country’s largest restaurant reservation platforms, so that it can steer cardholders toward Amex-owned channels. Same goes for hotels within its Fine Hotels & Resorts® program.
While you don’t have to book through Resy to use the Platinum Card's new quarterly dining credits, you do have to spend at restaurants that run on its reservation system. In other words, Amex is nudging cardholders deeper into its own network. And that goes beyond the Platinum Card.
After a major refresh early last year, they're also on some of the co-branded Delta SkyMiles® American Express cards. Same goes for the *amex gold*, which was overhauled last summer.
And Amex has more leverage than any of its competitors. With the biggest network of proprietary airport lounges, the Fine Hotels & Resorts® program, and its ownership of Resy, among other things, Amex can push consumers harder into its ecosystem than its competitors, who have a fraction of that infrastructure in place.
Case in point: American Express touts more than 3,000 properties available through its Fine Hotels and Resorts and The Hotel Collection portfolios. As of publication, Chase's new “The Edit” portfolio numbers well under 500.
It’s a smart strategy – especially with the customers Amex is targeting. At that recent investor conference, Le Caillec noted that the cost of serving Millennial customers is 40% lower than that of Baby Boomers.
Younger cardholders are cheaper to keep, easier to handle with online tools, and more receptive to lifestyle perks that feel like subscriptions. In other words: They’re the perfect audience for Amex’s membership model.
Where Other Premium Cards Are Headed
Amex may be leading the charge with the Platinum, but the rest of the credit card market is joining.
Chase is the clearest example. Its recently refreshed Sapphire Reserve now comes with a $795 annual fee – its first increase in more than five years – and a long list of new perks. Chase clearly borrowed directly from Amex's playbook by touting more than $2,700 in annual value – much of it in the form of hotel, dining, and even concert ticket credits – turning the Reserve from a straightforward travel card into more of a membership product.
Citi has also jumped back in with the recent launch of its new Strata Elite Card, aimed squarely at affluent travelers. With a big $595 annual fee, premium lounge access, and the kinds of use-it-or-lose-it credits that have become the industry standard, Citi is clearly embracing the same model pioneered by Amex.
That leaves Capital One’s Venture X as arguably the outlier. With a $395 annual fee – half the cost of the Sapphire Reserve and close to a third of the Amex Platinum – it keeps things simple: lounge access, a $300 annual travel credit, and 2x miles on every purchase.
At a time when Amex, Citi, and Chase are layering on dozens of lifestyle perks, the Venture X feels far more like a bona fide travel credit card … at least for now.
Why it Matters
For travelers, this shift means the value of a premium card depends less on how often you travel – or how much you spend on flights – and more on whether you can realistically use the growing list of perks.
If you live in a city with a Centurion Lounge at the airport, Resy restaurants, Equinox gyms, frequently shop at Lululemon, and subscribe to YouTube TV, the Platinum Card might feel like an unbeatable deal. But if you don’t, many of those “benefits” might go unused … while you’re still on the hook for an $895 annual fee.
It also changes the way these cards fit into your wallet. Where you once compared cards by welcome offer bonuses, earning rates, and travel credits, the real question now is whether you want to buy into that membership model.
These cards are no longer built for everyone. They’re designed to attract younger, wealthy, urban cardholders who don’t mind juggling multiple credits and subscriptions. And frankly, holding more than one of them hardly makes sense in 2025.
Before you sign up for (or renew) a premium card, you need to ask yourself whether you’ll actually use the perks … or better yet, which premium card fits best into your life.
Bottom Line
With its $895 annual fee and a growing list of lifestyle perks, the refreshed Platinum Card is less a travel card than a country club membership. Amex may tout $3,500 in annual value, but what it’s really selling is access, status, and belonging.
