American Express Revamps The Gold Credit Card With Additional Benefits

American Express has been proactively promoting their Platinum credit card, which is the more premium of the two Charge cards they offer in India and comes with a hefty annual membership fee of Rs. 60,000. They have been neglecting the other Charge card (the Gold credit card) that they offer, for quite some time. But now finally, comes a good news for the Gold cardmembers as AmEx has started paying attention to their Gold card customers as well.

Recently, American Express has added several new benefits and introduced new offers for their Gold cardmembers. Some of the benefits that were earlier exclusive to the Platinum members can now also be availed of by the Gold cardmembers. Here are a few benefits that AmEx has recently added for their Gold cardholders-

• 5X Points on Reward Multiplier: Earlier, the AmEx Gold credit card used to earn you 2X Membership Reward Points on the Reward Multiplier portal, while the 5X benefit was available exclusively to the Platinum members (in the Charge category). Now American Express has extended the 5X benefit to its Gold cardmembers as well.

• Membership Reward Points on Fuel and Utility Spends: Fuel and utility spends also earn you Membership Reward Points w.e.f. from July 1, 2021. You earn 1 Membership Reward Point for every Rs. 50 spent on fuel purchases and utility (water, electricity, gas, etc.) bill payments. You can earn a maximum of 10,000 Membership Reward Points from utility bill payments and a maximum of 5,000 Membership Reward Points from fuel purchases.

• 10% Discount on Vistara Bookings: Earlier, only the Platinum cardmembers used to get a discount of 15% on Air Vistara bookings, now this offer also has been extended to the Gold cardmembers as well, although, instead of 15% you get only 10% discount on Air Vistara with the Gold card. You need to use the promo code VISGOLD21 to avail of this offer. This offer is valid w.e.f. from July 15 to 31st December 2021.

• Option To Pay the Card Membership Fee Monthly: American Express now allows you to pay your Gold card’s membership fee monthly (instead of annually). Customers opting for the monthly payment cycle will be charged Rs. 375 (+GST) every month until the time the card is active. Once you’ve opted for the monthly payment cycle, you can not switch back to the old annual payment cycle in the same membership year.

• New Discount Offers on Hotels: American Express is now offering exclusive discounts in partnership with some of the most premium hotel chains in India including Heritage Hotels and Resorts, Agoda, The Leela, Soukya, Atmantan Spa Resort, CGH Earth Wellness, Cabo Serai, Assam Bengal Navigation, Saffron Stays, Aquaterra, Vista Rooms.

• Dining Offers: You also get a discount of up to 25% on orders from The Oberoi Gurgaon, The Leela, The Lodhi, Roseate, Hilton, Accor, and Qmin, and diner dines free offer from The Lodhi.

• Salon Offer: American Express has recently launched a new salon offer that is applicable for both Glod and Platinum members. The earlier offer was exclusive for the Platinum cardmembers. We have already covered this offer in detail in one of our earlier posts.

Bottom Line:

American Express has taken a good step of ramping up their marketing strategy by not only inculcating new offers and discounts in their catalog but also extending the benefits that were already in place for the Platinum cardmembers to their Gold cardmembers as well. At a time when American Express is not allowed to issue new credit cards, this move might help them retain their existing customer base.