2 Months With A Black Card, What I Learned

Excellent post, admin. VERY informative and concurs with what many other Centurion cardholders have been saying, especially in regards to the concierge service compared to the Platinum card’s. Keep us posted! :o)

What were the reactions when using it in the big cities like NYC?

For Vegas, book through the Amex travel service. Tons of perks that way with a black card.

For hotel status, don’t use your black card. Get a Hilton Surpass card and charge $40k a year on it. You’ll get Diamond status pretty quickly, which is better than SPG Gold. Since Centurion offers no SPG Platinum or Hilton Diamond, you’re better off just getting the Hilton Surpass card and doing $40k in spend on it. Plus the $40k in spend will translate to AT LEAST 120,000 Hilton points for you, a much better conversion than the Centurions Rewards will offer you.

Concierge for Centurion is nearly the same as with Platinum, they just try a bit harder. Really, they don’t do more than you could do yourself. If you really are wealthy, hire a personal assistant.

Book your trips in advance and get to the airport early. Call ahead for the upgrades. Do everything you can if you want that 1st class ticket. Especially on international flights, where the benefit really pays off.

Just some quick advice for next time

Ethan

I work in Finance, and travel weekly on business, make my own travel plans, and relish perks. My yearly T&E spend is about $100k, so I don’t qualify for the black card, but these are my observations anyway…

On the hotel side, I have Platinum status with Starwood, which gives my access to special point earning promotions, upgrades and partner perks that are invaluable. In the past 3 months, for example, I’ve been given a total of 2 years free membership to Clear (www.flyclear.com), a program that allows you to bypass all TSA lines, and cruise through airport security ($400 value for 2 years). Additionally, I signed up for the SPG card through American Express and earned 25,000 points after a $15,000 spend, plus I get double Starwood points for all expenses incurred at Starwood hotels (25,000 points gets you about 2 free nights (without blackout) at a Westin or W (among others), with a value anywhere from $700 - $1,000 total. This doesn’t even take into consideration the points you’re showered with, as a Platinum member - it’s truly amazing. And, if you’re inconvenienced whatsoever at a hotel, they throw you a few thousand points as an “I’m sorry.” My colleague actually got 50,000 points ’cause his room wasn’t cleaned properly. In addition, I’m ALWAYS upgraded to a suite (space permitting), and I have my own dedicated Starwood concierge to help with anything.

Lastly, it’s much better to exchange airline miles with Starwood, as opposed to AMEX membership rewards, ’cause Starwood gives you a 25% bonus for every 20,000 miles transferred to most airlines (25k for 20k), enough for a domestic round-trip ticket.

On the airline side, I’ve found American’s AAdvantage to be the best. If you don’t have either Gold or Platinum status (I have Platinum) with the airline - get it. And with their “Challenge” program, it’s easy. Fly either 5,000 or 10,000 qualifying miles within a 3-month period, and you’ll have Gold or Platinum status, respectively, for the duration of the year (it costs $80 to take the Gold challenge or $150 for Platinum, but you can take the Platinum if you’ve originally signed-up for Gold, by paying an extra $100 - so it costs you a total of $180 to attain Platinum, if you care to pay it safe). The three things I’ve found most valuable with status is 1) a special security line (if Clear isn’t offered); 2) priority seats in economy; 3) priority wait-list status (very important if meetings are rescheduled and you want to get on earlier flights); and 4) first class upgrades at $30 per each 500-mile segment, regardless of fare class purchased.

On the car rental side, I have President’s Club status with Avis, which 1) gives me an automatic 2 class upgrade; 2) drop-off at the terminal in the car I rented (so I don’t have to take my luggage out when I return the rental; and most importantly; 3) GUARANTEED car availability, which if you live in Manhattan, as I do, you know that cars sell out very quickly on holidays and summer weekends.

I still have an AMEX Gold card, but am only keeping it until I use up my Membership rewards points (wish I could transfer them all to Starwood, but I’d lose 2/3 of them, ’cause of the 1:3 transfer ratio). I’ve thought about upgrading to a Platinum card, but honestly, since they’ve scrapped the domestic companion program, the only perk I’d find useful is airport lounge access - not an issue, since my company picks up that expense for me.

So, for $45 a year for the Starwood Amex (and I have it free for the first year), I have a pretty damn good situation.

The Black Card would be nice - assuming I could qualify at some point, but even if I did have it, I’d still use the Starwood AMEX, and break out the Black card if there was a harem of hotties around (to impress) where I thought hooking up with them was a possibility

Enjoy, though - I read all your posts - just wish you posted more often.

Regards,

Eric

I am currently an Amex platinum card member. My father has had an american express account since 1969 so we are one of their oldest members. I finally convinced my dad that we should upgrade all of our cards to centurion. He typically uses several different cards but for the past month we have used our amex almost exlusively. After paying the April payment, I went to our account on Americanexpress.com and clicked recent payments. I added up the twelve payments from April 2008-April 2009 and got a total of 264k. I called the number on my amex platinum card and asked to speak to a representative about upgrading to the centurion card. I was transferred, gave the woman my information and was informed that I had not met the minimum spending requirement of 250k. I am looking at my computer while on the phone with her and I told her there must be a mistake. She then told me that because of the way they calculate it I was only at 246k because last april’s payment had already expired. It was April 28th when I called. I was furious and hung up. However I wish I had asked exactly how they calculate it so I would no what I had to do in order to get to 250k.

Does anyone know the exact calculation metric? I assumed they just went off the 12 most recent payments but according to the centurion rep that is not the case.

I will try again at the end of May, hopefully with a better result.

good reasons not to get one of those. the attention thing can get annoying and bring unwanted (read dangerous) attention.

does anyone have experience using this outside the US and if there are any differences or added benefits there?

I called amex back yesterday after spending roughly 10k so far this month, the woman was very nice, and told me she would be happy to re-calculate my spending total. It came out to 254k and she said my card will be here in 3-5 days. Finally.

Congrats John, sounds well-deserved! keep us informed w/ your Centurion card experiences in the future. :o)

Just got a $500 voucher for Barneys.

No minimum purchase.

Nice to see these promotions returning for 2009…

My Centurion Card arrived yesterday. The box is just as impressive as expected. It includes a book which I now refer to as the “black book” detailing all of the benefits of the card. It’s about 100 pages long. The benefits are far more extensive than I had previously read about online. A quick call to my centurion representative had me set up with everything I had heard about and more. Elite status is just a form away. While the card fee is pretty steep, I assure you it is worthwhile. I have already been set up with a personal concierge, she is incredibly helpful, and I can contact her directly both by email and phone. A+ so far Amex, I’ll keep you guys posted as the features start to roll in.

Cheers

The attention you get is cool at the beginning, but when you have people 9/10 times asking you about the card and wasting your time about how you got it, what you do and why the card is so heavy it gets annoying. I honestly havent been impressed w/ the card, for the price I paid I should have Platinum status at Starwood and AMEX should stop cutting the benefits, pretty soon the card is going to be a Titanium Platinum Card. But whatever, if it continues not to give me any benefits i’ll just cancel it. BTW it was nice meeting you in SF.

MJ

Good posts all around.

I am heading to the Borgata in AC on Saturday, any recommendations on entertainment or clubs to go to. And please, no suggestions from the folks that I have jammed on this site to go to the top of the hotel and jump. Thanks
JOHNNIE—————————-Wouldn`t blame you though!!!

Obviously you don’t know the tricks to get the first class upgrades

u get SPG gold with SPG amex spend at $30k/yr. - it used to be plat with Cent, now it just sux.

I had platium status for a year with Starwood and I was not impressed. The upgrades were very uneven and usually the hotel would forget my welcome amenity or my free water, which they’re supposed to provide every time. Not a big deal, but most of the time I didn’t feel like I had any extra status. Maybe part of this was because we would usually stay in the W hotels. They do run alot of good programs for extra points and the free hotel rooms seem to add up much faster than with Marriott, not sure about Hilton though. I think if you stay in the other Starwood properties sometimes the upgrades are better?

Their are so many small inaccuracies in the original blog and in the comments section… I will attempt to correct, for everyone’s sake.

1. “It draws attention to you fast. I knew it would, but I don’t think i realized the magnitude that it would. Having used it everyday for 2 months, hundreds of transactions, I think maybe a total of 5 people have NOT said something to me about it. I almost don’t like using, in fact some places I have started not to use it. I get comments anywhere from “ohh this is that black amex, man it’s heavy” to “is it true you have to have $5 Million dollars to get one?”. I don’t mind people asking about it, but sometimes, especially at a bar, people tend to cross the line asking way too personal questions, barely any of which I answer.”

A lot of truth to that; however, I never get asked about financial details.

2. “You can’t really book Hotels through a service like Hotwire and expect to get upgrades/benefits. For example, I recently stayed at the Wynn in Vegas, which is great and I love it there. However, I wasn’t allowed the Centurion benefits of late checkout, $40/day breakfast credits, or free lunches because my friend booked the rooms through Hotwire. In fact, after losing a small fortune, they decided to comp our rooms, then said they couldn’t because we booked through hotwire. Lesson learned, book through Amex or the Hotel directly.”

While true about hotwire (and priceline.com), this is slightly misleading. A hotel can, obviously, give whatever comp perks they want to. Sometimes, using a centurion, pulling up in a Bugatti, being famous, can lead a hotel to just give you a perk. Happened to me at a boutique hotel unrelated to any franchise/reward programs and happened to me at a Renaissance Marriott in Austin, TX last weekend (I am not a member of Marriott Rewards). However, one will find a hotel much more unwilling to grant a comp perk when his reservation states it was purchased through priceline or hotwire as those are generally (name your own price) specially negotiated rates (no reward points given, etc.) However, an expedia rate, hotels.com rate, and many others are still allowed rewards program credit and tend to still receive comp perks by a hotel when using a centurion. This is not to be confused with the Fine Hotel and Resort program of centurion which gives special benefits DEPENDENT on each member hotel and can be given at either/both check-in or booking. Just using AMEX travel service through a centurion travel advisor does not mean the FHR benefits are given to you; it depends on the hotel. Special deals with Ritz Carlton, Orient Express, and Mandarin Oriental also exist with Centurion (and not necessarily FHR).

3. “Centurion gets you first class airfare upgrades on most major airlines like Virgin, Delta, US Air, Continental, Northwest…..For my trip to Vegas/San Fran I was unable to get an upgrade on any of the 5 flights I was on either because I was late or it was a coach only plane. Lesson learned, stop showing up 25 minutes before departure and expect an upgrade.”

Centurion does not give complimentary upgrades on MOST major airlines - The entire list is Virgin, Delta, US Airways, Continental, and Northwest. Add American Airlines to that list when listing airline lounges (with respective airline ticket for same day travel). A great thing Centurion gives someone is membership to Priority Pass - which is several hundred $ annually and allows just the cardholder to enter numerous lounges around the world not dependent on what airline one is flying that day (The platinum card and centurion card give a member and two people or total family members flying with member a complimentary pass into a lounge of only those aforementioned airlines and only if all have a ticket for travel with that airline that day) - this can be great if you are in an airport with only a Lufthansa lounge and you are flying American Airlines.

A major innacuracy here is how the aforementioned airlines dole out their upgrades to their elite members. IF TRAVELLING ALONE ON A RESERVATION, you should ALMOST never need to care about check-in time or arrival at the airport with the levels of elite Centurion enrolls a member. Upgrades can be and generally are process (3?) days before flight and sometimes day of. WHEN TRAVELLING WITH A COMPANION ON A RESERVATION, ARRIVAL TIME AT TICKETDESK MATTERS.

4. “The Centurion Concierge is very friendly and helpful, but so far the service is no different than the Platinum concierge I used to have. I have used the concierge service for 2 things so far, neither of the tasks were they able to do, but it wasn’t necessarily their fault. I tried to use them to get into Club XS in Vegas at the Wynn, for me and 3 other guys. The host at XS told American Express, who told me, I couldn’t get in/skip line unless I brought at least 3 girls with me or got bottle service. ”

Very disputable. Concierge is actually through a company called “Circles” and AMEX is, by far, their largest client. Centurion concierges are supposed to be their best and, in fact, their is rumor that a higher level of concierge exists for VIP’s within Centurion. I am sure that some centurion concierge’s can or may provide analogous service to Platinum level concierge but if one takes the time to select a concierge that he prefers, this benefit becomes, in my value system, the best perk given to a centurion member. A dedicated/personal concierge is so much different than a random concierge that platinum gives you. My concierge has really learned my whims (ok, she tries), preferences, and can anticipate things and choices I might want. IF ONE CHOOSES TO RELY UPON AND UTILIZE A PERSONAL/DEDICATED CONCIERGE, this service can become such a great benefit. Also, sad news for some, but many of the “better concierges” do not see new centurion customers and spend their time only with their current clients.

Regarding the night club, as many know, this is definitely case-by-case depending on who and what appearance shows up at the door on what night and what club and what door guy and what manager and ……. Most importantly, different concierges, on top of their clout representing Centurion, have connections in different cities and different establishments and should be able to pull all types of things. Again, I repeat, case-by-case. Therefore, I recommend a thorough (what an understatement) interview process of different concierges and trying different ones out until you find one like mine whom I’d give up a family member for. (not really. Right?)

5. “I can’t use the credit card at most gas pumps. Generally speaking, the card is supposed to fit in any card reader, but I can;t seem to make it work at Gas pumps and I don’t want to force it through.”

Absolutely untrue insinuation as this leads readers to think they will not be able to use a centurion titanium at most gas pumps since the writer states that he cannot. I travel numerous times a month, domestically and quite a bit internationally, and have never, not once, had an issue using my centurion at any gas station. Just slide it in.

6. “What were the reactions when using it in the big cities like NYC?”

Noticed a lot more often than small towns. IN MY EXPERIENCE, I find small towns in a business that employs or markets younger people is where the card is noticed the MOST. Thank ‘Luda’ for that.

7. ” Book your trips in advance and get to the airport early. Call ahead for the upgrades. Do everything you can if you want that 1st class ticket. Especially on international flights, where the benefit really pays off.”

I will pass on debating when to book a trip for best chance of upgrade; however, “especially on international flights, where the benefit really pays off” - Outside of Central America and northern South America (where BusinessFirst enabled jets are used), Continental only gives complimentary upgrades for domestic flights, Delta, US Air, and VIRGIN AMERICA all follow the same in that they do not upgrade someone for free (on the books, at least) to Europe, to most parts of South America, to Asia, Africa, or Oceania. “Ethan” is mistaken, here.

8. I will not take the space here to dispute some dubious claims about “best” frequent flier program and other ways to live without Centurion. Just have it.

9. ” Does anyone know the exact calculation metric? I assumed they just went off the 12 most recent payments but according to the centurion rep that is not the case.”

Centurion uses exactly what you thought; 12 most recent payments.

10. “does anyone have experience using this outside the US and if there are any differences or added benefits there?”

Use it outside the US often and always surprised (for some reason) how much more often AMEX is accepted abroad. Sometimes some great treatment (At Ciragan kempinski palace in Istanbul, manager comped bill 50% for no reason other than my payment by centurion). Centurions that are issued in other countries have different levels of status and different requirements to join (p.s. I had HEARD U.K. centurion, which is not titanium, either, is only 150,000$ to join. Have not confirmed.)

11. “Just got a $500 voucher for Barneys. No minimum purchase.”

No credit card that I know of gives random gifts (1000$ shopping trip, no minimum purchase, to a vendor, free cybershot cameras) for absolutely no reason besides keeping customers happy.

WJ

Sorry to post this question here but I cannot find an email address. I’ve got a villa in Thailand which you can see at the url provided. It’s very cool. I’d like to rent it while I’m in Europe and though it would do well going on the concierge travel list. With a build cost of over $4m it’s top shelf. Any ideas who I would contact about that.

Cheers
Marcus