Review of the American Express Lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League game

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One advantage of being an American Express Platinum cardholder is the opportunity to access special offers and complimentary experiences. These are generally not bad, although I am so busy these days that I rarely get to one. Details of what is available are sent out in the monthly ‘Vista’ email.

You probably know that American Express is a major employer in Brighton. You may not know that it is also the headline sponsor of the new Brighton & Hove Albion football stadium, now known as the American Express Community Stadium (or, apparently, “the Amex” to locals).

American Express has a suite in the stadium. Reader Tim managed to get free tickets from Amex for a recent Premier League game and offered to write up his experience.

American Express Community Stadium

Over to Tim:

“In July American Express Platinum card members received an offer of complimentary Amex Lounge tickets for Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League games. The offer was allocated on a waiting list basis, and the Platinum Concierge advised that factors such as annual spend and time of cardmembership were taken into account. I was allocated tickets for Brighton vs West Ham, my third choice. A quick check showed equivalent hospitality tickets for this game started at £185 per person.

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

The American Express lounge is located at the South East corner of the stadium. It’s a nice space, with floor to ceiling windows looking out across the pitch. There is a bar at one end, and most food & drink, including beers and wines from the bar, is free. Tea/coffee, etc was self service.

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

and

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

and

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

In the two hours before kick off we were served a three course ‘bowl food’ menu. I opted for vegetable spring rolls, fish pie and lemon meringue. For each course guests were give the option to try multiple bowls and despite the small serving sizes the food was good and there was plenty available. A cheese selection was served at full time.

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

We sat at a table for six, and as tickets are allocated at two per card member this encouraged us to talk to other guests. We had driven three hours from Bristol and were surprised to find that despite this being a neutral area, most people were local supporters of Brighton or West Ham.

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

We had reserved balcony seating alongside the lounge for the match itself (FA rules meant that the lounge windows were covered during the action to prevent people drinking alcohol whilst in view of the pitch). The view of the action was very good, although I doubt there are any bad views in this modern stadium. Unfortunately the match didn’t quite live up to the hospitality, with few exciting moments in the 1-0 home win!

Amex lounge at a Brighton & Hove Albion FC Premier League game

The Amex lounge is a fairly new offer. As I know Amex will read this, one area for improvement is communication about what is and isn’t complimentary. A few times people were embarrassed to be called back to pay for certain spirits and snacks, and no one mentioned until full time that the lounge had free wifi. This would have been useful given that the stadium had almost no mobile reception!

Overall, it was a fantastic card perk to be able to have a free night out watching a Premier League game from the Amex Lounge.”

Thanks Tim. If you enjoy using your miles and points to watch Premier League football from VIP suites, you might also find our article on redeeming Emirates Skywards miles or American Express Membership Rewards points for Arsenal tickets of interest (especially now they are winning again).

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges. Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20. You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus. Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network. Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer. Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

American Express Platinum card

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

John says:

13 Oct13 October 05:07

I always check for wifi when I go into somewhere I’m going to be spending some time! Reduces battery usage at least
Callum says:

13 Oct13 October 07:23

Great review, but I’m puzzled why you were surprised most people at a Brighton Vs West Ham match were either Brighton or West Ham supporters! I’d be shocked if they weren’t…
- Tim says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 07:31
  
  As the offer was marketed at cardholders nationally, and it wasn’t necessarily that easy to get tickets for a specific game, I had assumed that there might be a few more people who’d accessed it like us – i.e. as neutrals who thought it was a good experience/perk worth traveling for.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 09:33
  
  Corporate hospitality suites don’t work that way! In general no-one there is bothered about the concert / sport / event going on ….
  - Callum says:
    
    13 Oct13 October 09:44
    
    Well, seems like they did!
- ChrisC says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 10:08
  
  Neutral does not mean not supporting one of the clubs but that users of suites such as this aren’t supposed to wear team colours / replica shirts.
  
  For example in the pic in the article I don’t see anyone wearing a seagulls or hammers shirt.
  
  (Is the Amex still ‘new’ given it opened in 2011?)
Asa rawson says:

13 Oct13 October 08:15

As an Amex holder I have now missed out two years in a row of receiving tickets. wonder if next year will be three. Would love to visit .
Mr(s) Entitled says:

13 Oct13 October 08:25

If Amex do read this then some experiences outside of London would be great. The last Vista had a “taste of Scotland” option which briefly got me excited before the location was identified as London. Why not taste Scotland in Scotland? If memory serves there wasnt a single item outside the M25. Come on, throw us a bone.
- David says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 09:15
  
  Err, this one was in Brighton…
  - Mr(s) Entitled says:
    
    13 Oct13 October 10:06
    
    I would differentiate this as a continual long running offer derived from their sponsorship. It’s not a typical Vista ‘product’ which tend to be one off experiences.
- Iain Miller says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 10:01
  
  Was going to post the same thing!
  Err and only someone from the south east could answer your point by saying Brighton isn’t London!
  - David says:
    
    13 Oct13 October 11:57
    
    Well it’s not!
    
    I myself am going deep into the regions next week, travelling all the way to Gatwick, and that’s not even half-way to Brighton!
  - Callum says:
    
    14 Oct14 October 03:06
    
    Why, do you lot up North not learn Geography in school?
- Dale says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 10:22
  
  There was a whisky one at Aberfeldy a month or so ago, that’s certainly in Scotland.
Obi says:

13 Oct13 October 09:15

Tim, care to divulge what your (approx) annual spend and membership years are?
- Tim says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 10:11
  
  I’m actually a relatively new Platinum cardmember, having upgraded from gold a few months ago. At the time they were allocated I think I’d just got the £2,000 in 3 mths spend bonus. I got the impression being a newer member, a big spender or a long term member would help. They didn’t divulge exactly how the allocations worked though – just the type of things they look at.
DavidW says:

13 Oct13 October 09:37

We also got two tickets for the same game. Concierge called me the week before and also offered parking no more than 50 metres from the door to the Amex lounge. We had a good time as well. And all Tim’s points are exactly as we found it. And I even made it into one of your photos!
Shoestring says:

13 Oct13 October 11:21

Wife was in charge of her company’s Cardiff city (minor but free hospitality tickets) sponsorship and in 2013 they got promoted to the Premiership. She neglected to tell me anything about it – I only learned about halfway through the season and all the freebies had long gone!

Did enjoy a few seasons in our Aston Villa box ‘entertaining’ people back in the good old days when Villa were a force. I guess 1989-1994.
Speedbird676 says:

13 Oct13 October 11:25

I’ve been a Platinum cardholder since January and have never received a Vista email. This is the first I’ve heard of it :-0
- Rob says:
  
  13 Oct13 October 11:40
  
  I got one two days ago.

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