The Elephant (s) in the Room
Surely you’ve read about the AA elite changes, Marriott point and certificate changes, and Hyatt peak/off-peak changes in a thousand different places so I’m not going to add another “me too” type post, but here are a few concise summaries without all the fluff for your future reference:
- AA changes (to elite status only, award changes not expected for a long time)
- Hyatt changes (hotels cost more during peak, less during off-peak, and the same in “normal” times)
- Marriott changes (#bonvoyed)
What I Really Wanted to Post
With that out of the way, let’s talk about how crazy American Express can be right now, and I hope you can replicate what I did. Background: I opened a Personal Gold card 364 days ago. The annual fee will hit when the statement closes in a few days, so it was a great time to check on a retention offer over chat. I did that, and then a few more shenanigans because reasons:
- Accepted a retention offer of 30,000 Membership Rewards after $3,000 spend in 90 days
- Followed this link for an upgrade offer to a Platinum with 25,000 Membership Rewards after spending $10,000 in 90 days, and a bonus 10x on spend at grocery for up to $15,000 in spend from the same card
- Referred a Player 2 for a new American Express card for a bonus +4x for up to $25,000 in spend for 90 days from the same card
American Express offers stack, and that means that at grocery stores, this card will earn:
- 24x for the first $3,000 in spend
- 14x for the next $12,000 in spend
- 5x for the last $10,000 in spend
You can do this too as long as you’ve got a Personal Gold or Green card that’s been open for at least a year. It’s a good thing that BestBuy gift card resale rates are high right now, amirite?
