New Amex Platinum hotel benefits launched – but a shock exit too

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Back in October, I wrote about the new deal that American Express had done with Hilton HHonors to offer status as part of the American Express Platinum benefits package.

It had been slowly rolling out globally but had not yet reached the UK.

However, a development has occurred.

If you go to the Platinum cardmembers website, you now see links for:

Hilton HHonors – Gold status (gets free breakfast)

Shangri-La Golden Circle – Jade status

Melia Rewards – Gold status

I will do another article next week looking at each of these in detail and explaining what benefits they bring. They definitely add value to the Platinum package.

But here is a shock ….

The following message appears on the Platinum website if you look closely enough:

Enrolment to receive the American Express benefit of 1-year complimentary Le Club AccorHotels Platinum tier membership will end on 15 April 2016; after which Cardmember requests cannot be accepted, and Cardmembers will not be enrolled or upgraded to Le Club AccorHotels Platinum tier.

Yes, after 15th April you will no longer be eligible for free Accor Platinum status. Your existing status will continue to be valid until it expires, of course.

I never took great advantage of this, but my wife used it successfully at the Sofitel in Sochi. Even on my last Novotel stay I received two free drinks, an upgrade and bonus points.

I would rather have Hilton Gold than Accor Platinum, but at the same time I wouldn’t swap Accor Platinum for Melia Gold. This was, after all, the only top tier status that came with Amex Platinum.

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Category

Accor Live Limitless, American Express Platinum card, Hilton Honors, MeliaRewards, Shangri-La Golden Circle

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

florida says:

6 Feb6 February 16:25

When my German Amex Plat sacked me for living in the uk I didn’t replace it but Accor Plat continued to be renewed even though I stayed only very occasionally. Lets see what happens this march when the next renewal is up!
Imbruce says:

6 Feb6 February 17:53

Just got an invite from Amex to upgrade to Platinum from Gold
Not sure if I will bother as the travel insurance won’t cover me because I have high blood pressure
Need to think about it because £450 is a lot for an annual fee with 20,000 membership rewards points thrown in.
When you renew the Gold Amex does the lounge pass automatically renew as I have not had
any information about it renewing.
- John says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 01:51
  
  Yes it renews, but you only get 2 visits for free per year. I renewed gold amex briefly to get the 7500 bonus points (10000 for newer cards) but I struggled to use the lounge club visits as I very rarely fly non-alliance airlines. Ended up using them in Dubai instead of going to the BA lounge, which I heard is rubbish (and I still haven’t been to)
  - Rob says:
    
    7 Feb7 February 11:18
    
    It is rubbish – but BA will move to Concourse D very soon with a new lounge.
Adam says:

6 Feb6 February 18:11

A shame about Accor, however, if my understanding is right, bonus points count towards status so this year I have earned it on my own anyway, hopefully they will keep the offers coming, and maybe they will further improve their platinum offering as the numbers drop off.
Liz says:

6 Feb6 February 19:13

We don’t have the Amex Platinum but have taken out the Hilton Honors card. Once you spend the 10k and get gold status how long do you keep it? Is it only till the end of that calendar year and then you have to start your spend all over again from January?
- ankomonkey says:
  
  6 Feb6 February 20:11
  
  I hit the spend in April 2015 and got gold until end of March 2017. I doubt it’s a standard 2 years though, I think I just got lucky in whatever cycle they work on. I have no idea what would happen status-wise if I spend £10k on it this year – extension to March 2018 or absolutely nothing…
  - Liz says:
    
    6 Feb6 February 21:53
    
    Thanks!
- Nick M says:
  
  6 Feb6 February 22:49
  
  I’m currently working towards this… As far as I’m aware you should get Gold until March 2018 whether you hit 10k now or in December – I could well be mistaken though!
- YL says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 01:07
  
  Nick is right.
  If you achieved Gold this year, it doesn’t matter which month, you will have the status for the rest of the year + the whole year following year, until the end of March 2018.
Waribai says:

6 Feb6 February 23:35

Yes, Accor brg all the way. I think I’ve only paid for one of my last 5 stays at the Sofitel Gatwick. Be warned though that kids are no longer allowed in the lounge in the evenings.
They did give us extra complimentary drinks in the bar instead though so no complaints.
- xcalx says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 08:10
  
  ” Accor brg all the way.I think I’ve only paid for one of my last 5 stays at the Sofitel Gatwick ”
  
  Has the Accor BRG changed, I thought it was on the lines of match price plus an extra 10% off.
  - Waribai says:
    
    7 Feb7 February 10:49
    
    Sorry I meant the holidayextras BRG!
YL says:

7 Feb7 February 01:47

Hopefully the Hilton Gold will still be there and the benefit are still as good when I needed…
Last time around The Hilton Gold was only for one time only. I saved mine and waiting to use it when necessary. The year that I wanted to register for it, Amex removed the offer without notifying anyone…I was very annoying as I planned to use the benefit and have deliberately not to do an extra 2 nights mattress run at Hilton to re-qualify Gold….
- John says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 01:52
  
  You can usually get gold for 3-4 nights per year if you wait for the right offer.
- Alan says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 12:45
  
  Agree, I was caught out by this too but then had a run of stays and managed to complete a Diamond challenge instead 😀
  - YL says:
    
    7 Feb7 February 13:03
    
    Yes, luckily Hilton has been nice to me. They offered me a Diamond challenge and reinstated my Gold status at the time:-)
Empers says:

7 Feb7 February 08:06

I got my Accor Platinum status through the Amex Platinum card. I didn’t keep the Amex Card past 4 months, so got a pro rata refund of the £450 fee.

3 years on my Accor Platinum status keeps renewing, even with no stays or points credited to Accor. I had my new card through last month. So my guess is that it won’t be an immediate removal of your Accor statuses, I suspect (like me) it will keep rolling over for several years! But I do agree with the point of the article, which is commenting on the degradation of Amex Platinum offered benefits.
- YL says:
  
  7 Feb7 February 13:17
  
  I am hoping this too! Although I don’t use Accor hotel much, but it is nice to have the status for occasional stays.
  
  I guess it really depends their system…
  There were various promotions for Accor Platinum in the past, I signed my mum up and her status was renewed for 2 years without the needed numbers of stays. Then one year she received an email saying her platinum status will be renewed, but a month letter another email informed her that she has not stayed the required numbers of nights, therefore she will be dropped to Gold…and she is now only the basic member!
James67 says:

7 Feb7 February 08:36

OT but amex: anybody else having problems with amex online travel bookings? When I enter the dates it removes my destination when attempting to book a hotel. This has been happening for over a week already.