Is The Centurion Card Worth It?
If you ever consider getting the Centurion card, a question you must ask yourself is “is it worth it”. This is an expensive card to have, between the initiation fee, the annual fee, and the fee for extra cards. I have heard recently that some Centurion cardholders are not happy with their service, or they do not feel the benefits they receive are worth the costs. Not that I will ever get to see this statistic, but I would love to know the number of American Express cardholders that upgrade to Centurion, then cancel it after a year. I bet there is a fair amount, especially people who went from Platinum to Centurion. But that is just personal speculation.
Here are two interesting threads on flyertalk.net where members are discussing their experiences with Centurion service and benefits. In my personal opinion, and I am not a cardholder, is that you are basically getting 2 things by having the card. You get bragging rights, and great travel benefits. I think the only way to get your money’s worth out of the card is if you use the concierge service a lot, and if you travel pretty regularly.
Any current Centurion members have an opinion?
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Comments
I think it’s a total waste. If you spend that much on a credit card, wouldn’t you be better off getting cash back? With the cash back (up to 5% with the AMEX Blue Cash)
I’ve had the card since I was 27 years old (in 2001). At $1000 per year it was worth it, but at $2500 per year it is not. I added up all the airline frequent traveller elite status and other perks and they can be bought for less than $2500. Amex got really greedy when they upped the annual to $2500 and they added the one time $5k initiation fee (which thankfully they did not retroactively make me pay).
That said, I will keep the card because of the snob value of busting it out at pompous nyc nightclubs and restaurants. It really does shut down pompous jerks with their platinums.
I have a centurion card and I think it’s worth it. The travel + hotel benefits more than make up for the hefty annual fee, of course, I travel a lot so it make sense for me.
Great blog, btw!