How much value do you actually get out of the new Amex Platinum?

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was recently refreshed with new perks and enhanced benefits, including a welcome bonus worth up to 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points (after spending $8,000 in the first six months) and up to $600 annual hotel credit on select prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Travel (up to $300 semi-annually).

However, the refresh also increased the annual fee to $895, so it’s more important than ever to review the card’s benefits, potentially worth over $3,500 each year, to see how much value you can get.

We’ve analyzed each card benefit to determine its potential value and usability level. The usability levels are “Easy,” “Medium,” and “Hard,” depending on how simple or complex we think it is for the average cardholder to use each perk.

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American Express added various new benefits to the while upgrading a few existing benefits.

• Benefit: Get up to $600 hotel credit on select prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Travel (up to $300 semi-annually)

• Usability: Medium

• Potential annual value: $600

You can get up to $300 back in statement credits each half of the year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings through Amex Travel. Using this credit depends on where you live and your travel schedule.

Large cities usually have plenty of options for booking Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection. You can also use this credit to add a night to existing travel plans.

Still, the fact that you have such specific requirements for this credit bumps its usability level up to medium.

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• Benefit: Get up to $300 annual digital entertainment credit ($25 back per month); enrollment required

• Usability: Easy

• Potential annual value: $300

If you use streaming services, this credit should be easy to use. You’ll get up to $25 back each month on Paramount+, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal.

This benefit lets you receive up to $100 back per quarter on purchases at Resy restaurants. From experience, you don’t have to use the Resy platform; you just have to make a purchase at a Resy-associated restaurant.

We gave this a medium usability score because not every market has many Resy restaurants. This credit is much easier to use if you live in a big U.S. city or often travel to bigger cities.

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Up to $75 back per quarter on lululemon purchases should be easy to use because you get free standard shipping on online purchases in North America. However, we gave this a medium usability score because it may be difficult to find something you want each quarter, and you simply may not shop at lululemon very often.

Related:

• Benefit: Get up to $120 Uber One membership credit each calendar year for an auto-renewing Uber One membership in the U.S.

• Usability: Easy

• Potential annual value: $120

This credit is easy to use: You just have to use your card to pay for an eligible Uber One membership. That doesn’t mean an Uber One membership is worth $120 to everyone; it depends on where you live and how often you use Uber.

You can get up to $200 back in statement credits each calendar year when using your card to purchase an Oura Ring through Ouraring.com.

This credit is difficult to use because Oura Rings are generally more expensive than $200, and you must pay for a subscription to get meaningful data from your ring. Since this credit is specifically for buying a ring and not an Oura membership, we don’t see many people getting too much value from it, unless they can resell older-generation models.

• Benefit: Receive Leaders Club Sterling Status from The Leading Hotels of the World; enrollment required

• Usability: Hard

• Potential annual value: Varies

The Leading Hotels of the World is a luxury hotel collection with over 400 properties worldwide. This benefit is useless if you don’t plan on staying at any of its hotels. However, the Sterling elite status can get visitors a few nice perks over the Club status, including five pre-arrival upgrades per year and SIXT Platinum status.

These are existing credits that have largely remained the same.

To use this credit, you must select one qualifying airline, and then you can receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for airline incidental fees, such as checked bags or in-flight purchases.

It’s not the most challenging credit to use if you fly often, but it would be much better if you could use it on direct flight bookings with an applicable airline.

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This credit covers the cost of an annual CLEAR Plus membership, which can help expedite your time waiting in line at the airport. It’s very easy to use this credit, but it’s only useful if your airport has CLEAR Plus kiosks.

This is an excellent benefit because Walmart+ comes with a free Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium subscription. So, whether you shop at Walmart or not, you can still get value.

If you also shop at Walmart occasionally, the Walmart+ free shipping with no order minimum is nice.

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• Benefit: Get up to $200 annual Uber Cash ($15 in Uber Cash per month for Uber rides or Uber Eats orders, plus a $20 bonus in December)

• Usability: Easy

• Potential annual value: $200

From personal experience, we’ve found this benefit very easy to use on Uber Eats pickup orders. There are plenty of restaurant options near where we live, so we treat ourselves to takeout at least once a month.

• Benefit: Get up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit ($50 back semi-annually); enrollment required

• Usability: Medium

• Potential annual value: $100

This isn’t our favorite benefit because Saks Fifth Avenue is so expensive, and $50 in semi-annual credit won’t get you much, especially when factoring in the cost of shipping if shopping online.

• Benefit: Receive a $120 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee

• Usability: Easy

• Potential annual value: Around $20 to $30

This credit is easy enough to use and valuable. We’ve had countless experiences zooming through the TSA PreCheck or Global Entry lines while the standard lines move much more slowly. The nice thing about this benefit is that you don’t have to use it for the cardholder; it works when you pay for a friend or family member’s eligible application fee too.

Related:

• Benefit: Receive up to $300 in statement credits each calendar year on membership fees for eligible U.S. Equinox memberships or a standalone subscription to Equinox+

• Usability: Hard

• Potential annual value: $300

This benefit is so specific that it’s essentially worthless. There are so few Equinox locations that most people wouldn’t be able to visit regularly. As for the Equinox+ digital membership, Amex Platinum cardholders can get an annual membership for $300, but its value depends on whether its features align with your fitness goals.

We aren’t going to assign values or usability scores to these, but don’t forget about other benefits, like the welcome offer for eligible new cardmembers, the rewards rate, airport lounge access, and elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors.

A generous welcome bonus can provide more than enough value to offset the annual fee, at least for the first year.

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The is well worth it if you can use many or all the benefits hassle-free. After all, it potentially offers over $3,500 worth of annual value for a $895 annual fee.

However, our biggest gripe with the Amex Platinum, other than its huge annual fee, is that many of the benefits are specific and inconvenient.

For example, the airline fee credit of up to $200 back in statement credits each year would be much better if it worked for directly booking flights on any available airline. But, it doesn’t. It’s purposely designed for incidental costs, such as checked baggage fees.

The same goes for the enhanced hotel credit. It’s great to earn up to $600 yearly ($300 semi-annually) in statement credits for hotel stays, but this only works on Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection prepaid bookings made through Amex Travel. So, it’s not like you can just pull up any hotel you want, book your stay, and expect to get your credit.

That said, there’s still a place for the Amex Platinum in the wallets of people who can make it work for them, especially new cardholders who can take advantage of a generous welcome bonus.

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