You are invited to a weekend of London events sponsored by Amex

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• andyandy says:

  7 Oct7 October 07:38

  Contacted. Thanks Raffles for this and for all the other very useful posts. Really appreciate it all even when irrelevant as I know nothing gets past you and your readers (of which I manage to increase by one or two per month!)

• Alan says:

  7 Oct7 October 08:27

  Not half term up here, but not planning to travel to London just for this – hopefully they’ll consider some regional events in the future 😛

• Geoff Richards says:

  7 Oct7 October 11:39

  In case anyone is wondering if they will score some free MRs in return for the focus group, sadly not. The official response was: “There is no direct incentive to take part in the focus groups, as AMEX are sponsoring the dinner and a champagne reception. Although we are requesting a donation to charity, the Saturday night is worth over £150 per person (a goody bag is provided for each attendee), so the suggested donation represents a large saving. “

  • Rob says:

    7 Oct7 October 11:50

    To be fair, you don’t get much in London for £35 all-in, inc champagne, drinks and service, on a Saturday night assuming you paid the minimum requested!

    • Geoff Richards says:

      7 Oct7 October 12:11

      It’s true. I would’ve been happy with some MRs for the two hour focus group and not be so bothered with a fancy dinner, but that’s not their format

      • andy21 says:

        7 Oct7 October 12:38

        Yes, seems a bit tight of them really – I attended a Business Traveller Magazine focus group for an afternoon (as this one is) and was given £150 cheque.

        • Geoff Richards says:

          7 Oct7 October 13:23

          That’s a decent return! After speaking to the organiser a bit more, they said they requested to give away MRs but were turned down. Something about there being non-UK people there as well and I’m guessing AMEX UK can’t reward non-UK people with MRs.

          It sounds like they’ve had good interest and good luck to them. For me, the benefit didn’t match the effort, this time.

        • andy21 says:

          7 Oct7 October 13:31

          I’m with you on that one – always happy to give my views to companies but expect to be compensated appropriately for my time – Amex is hardly a charity! But like you say, sounds like they have a good amount of interest so hope it goes well for them.

        • Andrew says:

          8 Oct8 October 06:43

          Hi. Just to point out that American Express are not involved with the organisation of the event. The event is about socialising and is a community and charity event. AMEX sponsor a part of the event (the dinner), allowing us to raise some money for charity. As a sponsor, they are invited to use the group as they wish to gain information or feedback. In this case, they are unable to provide a point- or mile-based incentive. We do not feel that a cash incentive is suitable – one aim of the event is to raise money for a homeless charity and the event is completely non-profit. This is the second time that AMEX have sponsored the event and their support is really valuable. We give hundreds of hours of our time to organising the event and request that those who wish to attend and are able to give 2 hours of their time to a focus group.

        • Geoff Richards says:

          8 Oct8 October 12:20

          That makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification, Andrew.

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