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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Well it happened.

The American Express Platinum changes dropped.

And I have some thoughts about them.

So lets get into it.

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Travel News

Major Changes to the Amex Plat (LINK)

It’s been in the works for a while, Amex has been hinting at it, and leaks have been dropping.

Today, American Express unveiled the new changes to the Personal Platinum and Business Platinum.

Along with that, the new $895 annual fee.

I’ll talk about it more later in the newsletter, but here’s the quick overview.

They didn’t remove any existing credits.

They actually added more, bringing the “value” to $3,500.

I didn’t see an elevated sign up offer.

I’m guessing they think the new credits make up for it.

The hotel credit increased from $200 → $600
(split into $300 / $300).

The digital entertainment credit increased from $240 → $300. They also added Paramount+, Youtube Premium and Youtube TV as eligible for the credit.

Do note that you already get access to Paramount+ with Walmart+ membership from that $155 Walmart+ Credit.

New credits include:

• $400 Resy dining credit (broken down quarterly)

• $300 Lululemon credit (broken down quarterly)

• $200 Oura Ring credit

• $120 Uber credit

• Statuses for Luxury Hotels of the World

All in all, card fee hikes still suck.

I’m glad they didn’t cut existing credits and just added more.

But it’s sad to see the Platinum drift from “travel card” into more lifestyle coupons.

Could’ve been worse on the fee, so sure, small win.

Still don’t love pre paying a huge annual fee and then having to chase credits to justify keeping it.

Hilton Amex Credits (LINK)

If you’re not familiar, the Amex Business Platinum and the Hilton Surpass card both have quarterly Hilton credits.

The only downside of them is that they’er use ’em or lose ’em. Like a lot of the credits nowadays on credit cards.

The Aspire has a resort credit, too. But for the Business Platinum, it’s $50 each quarter.

There was a time when Hilton sold gift cards online that triggered the credit.

You could buy them with your Biz Plat and stash the cards for later.

But too many people found out about it and now the site’s closed.

So people got crafty.

You can buy food at certain restaurants or coffee shops inside Hilton hotels, and it’ll still trigger the Hilton credit.

There’s a running spreadsheet listed here that shows which hotels and outlets work.

This is way easier than forcing a partial hotel payment or trying to pay for part of a trip up front before the credit expires.

$50 can cover a meal, and you’d get it covered by the quarterly reimbursement.

If you’ve got other cards with Hilton credits, check the list and see which nearby Hilton restaurants trigger it so you don’t let those credits expire.

Park Hyatt to Reopen in December (LINK)

This Hyatt has a special place in my heart.

It was one of our Tokyo stays on our two week honeymoon across Japan.

Some parts felt luxurious, but the rooms and lobby were dated.

Good to see they’re finally finishing renovations.

They closed in May 2024, were supposed to reopen in fall 2025, ran long (of course), and are now set to reopen December 9, 2025.

Reservations open September 24 (next week).

I’m not sure if that’s cash only or if award bookings go live too.

It used to be a Category 7 but during the renovation it moved to Category 8 (the highest tier).

The views were amazing, but based on my stay I’m not sure it’s worth Cat 8.

The Andaz in the area ended up being a way better pick for us than the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

Who knows, maybe the refresh earns the upgrade and I just need to see it for myself.

Either way, sounds like a good excuse to go back to Tokyo and find out if the hype matches the renovation.

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🛋️ Luis’ Lounge

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

It’s good to see Amex add more useful benefits and the fee “only” went up $200 but I still think the $895 annual fee is a response to Chase’s move.

They wanted to be higher, just not too much higher.

With that fee, it feels like a line in the sand: pick your premium team Amex, Chase, or something else.

Holding all the “travel” cards is getting hard to stomach.

The sad part is Platinum used to be the travel card, but most of these new perks aren’t travel (outside the $600 hotel credit).

Honestly, this thing now has more dining value than the Amex Gold Card, and the Gold is the “dining/grocery” card.

From Amex’s side, I get it, they want you to default to Platinum for everything at 1x, instead of being efficient and using Gold for 4x.

I don’t know if I’m keeping it.

If your renewal lands before year end, you’ll pay $695 this time then $895 next year.

So you might still squeeze value from the new credits before the higher fee hits.

Also, you’ve got 12 days to use this quarter’s new credits:

The $100 Resy Dining Credit is quarterly and the quarter ends Sept 30.

Go into the app, activate the Resy credit, and pay with your Platinum.

Same for the $75 lululemon (also quarterly)

Buy something or a gift card, before month end so you don’t let $175 evaporate.

Quick note on the Business Platinum, it got updated too.

The good news that it now has the hotel credit it was missing, which is a real plus.

But the annual fee is also $895.

I hold both personal and business but I may downgrade the personal.

Some Biz credits got trimmed, but overall I still like it better than the personal right now.

One last tip: if you don’t have Amex cards yet, don’t start with Platinum.

Because of the family rule, opening Platinum first can block you from welcome bonuses on lower tier cards.

If you want both, consider Gold first (get the intro bonus), then Platinum.

Check out these crazy award deals!

🔬 Secret Travel Research

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

• Lots of award availability to Europe Next month

🖥️ TravelBot

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

👀 My Favorite Finds

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community

• China launching 29 hour “direct” flight (LINK)

• These newsletters are changing the game (LINK)

• USAA ranks as most trusted credit card company (LINK)

• The 10 states with the most and least passport owners (LINK)

• How to claim $175 in free money if you have the Amex Plat Card (LINK)

• Delta launching planes with 44 first class seats vs the expected 20 (LINK)