Centurion Invitation for 007 World Premiere
Several European Centurion members have reported receiving invitations to the world premier for the upcoming James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The premier is being held in London and the details of the event are:
Date : 10/29
Starting : 5:30 PM doors open. Movie starts at 8:00 PM
Afterparty : From 10:30 till late, location: top secret
Location : Odeon Leicester Square in London
Dresscode : Black Tie
Cost: €5000 and the money is donated to ‘Help for Heroes’ and ‘The Royal British Legion’.
In case you haven’t seen a trailer for the movie, here it is:
Who Needs AAA If You Have A Black Card
An infrequently talked about benefit of having a Centurion card is the roadside assistance. Black cardmembers, and platinum ones too, receive roadside assistance service if you run out of gas, break down, etc. This program comes with a $50 credit for service, so if you need a tow, the first $50 of the tow will be covered. AAA’s program, only the first 3 miles are covered, and each mile is charged at $3/mile. Meaning, the Centurion benefit is about 5x more free towing coverage.
Another benefit of AAA is the rental car benefits. However, with the Centurion card, members receive Hertz status as #1 Gold Club, a Midsize to Premium upgrade, and guaranteed availability from reservation line. In addition to Hertz, Centurion members also receive status as Avis President’s Club, which includes a 2 class upgrade, and guaranteed availability as well.
If you’re saying “well AAA also has discounts at other places like Payless Shoes (10% off)”, I say wouldn’t you rather have a $1000 gift card to Mikimoto.
So there you have it, if you pay the $5k initiation and the $2.5K annual fee, you can save about $60/yr by not getting AAA.
On a side note, I recently did an interview with a producer from a national news network , and she told an interesting roadside assistance story. In gathering information for her television piece, she was told by an individual about someone who got stuck in traffic near and was about to miss their flight. So they called their Centurion concierge and arranged for a helicopter to pick them up on the side of the road and take them to the airport. Can AAA do that?
Move Over Mikimoto, $5 Off TGI Friday’s
Yea that’s right, $5 bucks off a meal at TGI Fridays. I went to check my mail today, hoping I might have a Mikimoto gift card, or a Cannon PowerShot camera, but instead I have a voucher for 5 bucks off TGI Friday’s when I spend $15 or more and pay with an Amex card. Now that is a promotion if I have ever received one. The colors and layout of the mailing seem to resemble the Blue Cash card, so it might be coupled with that card (I do have one and used to use it a lot until I got the personal platinum card).
Speaking of more gifts, it is getting close to Christmas time, I wonder what Centurion is going to mail out this year? Last year the Cannon Powershot was sent out right before Christmas. Anyone want to take a stab at this years gift? Maybe American Express will read this (and they do) and you will get your wish. So if you haven’t opted into marketing promotions with Centurion (personal members only), now would be the time to do so.
Statistically, How Rare is the Black Card?
This post is sort of a food for thought post. I was interested to know exactly how rare the Centurion card really is, so I did a little bit of research with the US Census department. Any of the population and household numbers I got from Census.gov and from CNN.
There are roughly 19,000-20,000 Black cards in the United States. I am not sure on an exact number as it is difficult to get, but we do know that it has become a little easier to get it over the last year or so, really increasing this number. The number I am really interested in, if I could ever get it would be the cancellation rate of black cardmembers.
- The estimated August 2008 civilian population for the US is 303,588,896. Assuming 20,000 Centurion members, roughly 0.00658% of the population has a black card.
- There are an estimated 111,162,259 households in the US, roughly 0.0179% of households have a black card.
- There are 9,200,000 households in the US worth over $1M (excluding primary home), which is approx 8.27% of the US households. Again assuming 20k black cardmembers, roughly 0.217% of millionaire households have a black card.
- There are approx 1,190,000 households in the US worth over $5M, which is about 1.07% of US households. Roughly 1.7% of households over $5M have black cards.
You are more likely to die from Brain cancer than you are to be in a household that has a black card. I just read the brain cancer statistic, I had to add it is. Look on the bright side though, you are more likely to be in a household worth more than $5M than have a black card. I would rather have that any day.
Even More Free Black Card Gifts
It appears that good things come in groups of 3. First, Amex recently sent Centurion members a Mikimoto gift card, and now they just recently sent 2 more things out. A few days ago I received word that several members had received a $500 credit at the Wynn Tower Suites, which can be used toward rooms. There have been a lot of discounts popping up for Vegas and this one is a pretty good one.
In addition to the $500 Wynn credit, I just got an email today from someone saying they just received a $500 gift card to Domenico Vacca, where Men’s suits start around $4,900. Here is a picture below of Jacob the Jeweler (left - who was recently sentenced to 16 months in prison for laundering money for the Black Mafia Family) with Domenico Vacca (right).
Remember, you must be opted in to marketing promotions with Centurion to receive these gifts.
Best Buy Jumps On Black Card Bandwagon
It became public today that Best Buy inadvertently sent out an email to a small group of rewards customers for their new “Premier Black” program. The new rewards program is will supposedly include access to a best buy concierge, exclusive shopping privileges and a little more. This is the email that went out:
It makes me chuckle when I see companies trying to harness the pop culture power the Centurion brand has gained. But nothing made me laugh more than reading about the new bar in Arizona that opened, called Black Card Ultra Lounge.
16 With A Black Card, Harrison Gevirtz
Move over Bow Wow, meet Harrison Gevirtz. Harrison is a young entrepreneur/internet marketer that has done quite well for himself at such a young age. I can only imagine what the local high school kids think. He can’t go to the bars quite yet, but he could sure throw down on some candy! Without further ado, this installment of reader spotlight is on Harrison Gevirtz.
What is your name? Harrison Gevirtz
Where are you from? Santa Barbara, CA
How old are you? 16
What do you do for a living and do you also go to school full time? I used to be a big search engine marketing affiliate but now I focus on Small Business Search Engine Marketing ( www.blitzlocal.com ) and Social Network Application Monetization ( www.leaderclicks.com ). I do not go to a regular day school, I go to an independent studies program where I go every Tuesday for about 45 minutes.
Do you plan on going to college? If so, what for? I really have no plans as of now to attend college. But this can always change
How long have you been a Centurion member and do you have a personal or business centurion card? I have been a centurion card member since June and currently hold a personal centurion card.
What made you want to get the Centurion card? I travel quite a bit (I’m out of town as I write this to you) and have heard great things of the benefits with the centurion card if you travel a lot.
Did you have to call and ask to apply for the card or did they invite you? I had called before I had spent the 250k and they told me that they would call me back when qualified enough for the centurion card.
What is your favorite aspect about the card? Free nights at the mandarin oriental, and the fact that it’s metal - I always joke that if I sharpened the edges it could hurt someone.
Being so young, your friends must be in awe of the card. What have their reactions been like? “Oh S*#t” etc. Some of my friends didn’t even know what the centurion card was!
Have you bought anything extravagant on the card yet? Of course: Bought A Watch & A lot of clothes in the bahamas, Bought 200 itunes gift cards last week, Bought caviar dinner’s (RIDICULOUS), and of course Booked some hotel suites.
What has been your largest month to date in terms of spend? About $180k
When you weren’t using the Black card, which Amex card where you using? Platinum Card, & the Delta Reserve Card
Any advice for other kids your age on how they can become successful? Depends on what they are doing but I always tell my friends to never let people treat you poorly based on your age. Demand respect & don’t let people judge success by age.
If you want some more information on Harrison you can go to his site above, or check out this recent interview by Jeremy Schoemaker.
Amex Concierge Made Vegas Trip Awesome
I just got back tonight from my first trip to Las Vegas, I really can’t believe I have never been before. As a disclaimer to this post, I am personal platinum card member and used my platinum concierge, I am assuming the Centurion concierge is equal to or better than the platinum concierge.
Since I had never been before, the first thing I did was call my concierge and ask for a little help with the planning since that’s what they’re there for. My concierge put together an overview of the city, its highlights, history, landmarks, must see’s, etc and emailed it to me. It really was an awesome guide to the city. She also sent me a list of popular restaurants and clubs, asked that I tell her which I wanted to go to and she would take care of the rest.
After going through the list I decided I wanted to try Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio in The Venetian. I called my concierge back, told her the day and time, and she took care of the reservations. She also asked if I would like to have a bottle of wine waiting for me when I got there, so I said sure, told her I liked Pinot Noir, and it was done. I showed up to the restaurant, no wait, they took my girlfriend and me right to the table, and had a bottle of Pinot Noir waiting. I couldn’t have asked for better service.
In addition to restaurant reservations, I asked her to put me on the list for Ghost Bar at The Palms for Friday night. She emailed me, confirmed I was on the list ,and gave me the cell number of the VIP host. I showed up at 11PM, walked straight to the front, asked for the host and said my Amex concierge had called ahead for me, and they let us right in. No cover, no wait, it worked out perfectly.
This was my first time using the concierge and I was really impressed at the level of service and offerings they had. My expectations might be lower than some, but I was definitely glad I used them and will continue to use them in the future. I highly recommend getting the Platinum card (if you can’t get the black) to have access to the concierge service. Totally worth it. You can apply for a Platinum card here and get 25k bonus points.
What have your experiences with the concierge service been like?
Guy Prank Calls Centurion Service
I will say up front that I found this article on a forum and can’t verify if it is real, but it seems to be real. Apparently, this guy prank called the Centurion service number and pretended to be a rep for Barack Obama and said Obama wanted a black card. To make a long story short, he got them to waive the 250k spend requirement to get Barack a black card, didn’t actually get a black card, and wound up getting a supplemental Gold card with Barack’s name on it. Pretty funny read/audio clip.
New Gift For Centurion Members
It was reported by a member on Flyertalk that Amex recently sent out gifts to certain black card members. A $1,000 Mikimoto gift card, supposedly with no minimum purchase, was sent out to selected Centurion members. As usual, this is for personal cardholders, and you have to be opted into marketing promotions (some previous gifts can be found here). If you aren’t sure, or aren’t opted into it, call your concierge and ask to be opted in. Has anyone received one yet?
