This could be a major devaluation, or it could have limited implications… we’ll find out soon.
In this post:
Amex Resy credit changes coming August 1, 2026
Both the Amex Platinum Card and Amex Gold Card offer Resy credits as one of their perks. The idea is that enrolled members can get a credit of a certain amount for spending at virtually all eligible Resy restaurants in the United States.
To me, this is good as cash, and I basically deduct the value of that straight from the annual fee, when doing the math on whether a card is worth it. However, something might be changing soon. Doctor Of Credit flags how the latest statements of eligible Amex cards have the following note:
Update to the Resy Credit Benefit
Effective August 1, 2026, U.S. restaurants and other food and beverage establishments (e.g., wineries, cafes) must be indicated as eligible for the Resy Credit on the Resy website or the Resy app at the time of purchase to qualify for the benefit. Qualifying restaurants and other food and beverage establishments will be indicated as eligible on their booking page on the Resy website or the Resy app and are subject to change at any time.
So starting in several weeks, U.S. restaurants must specifically be marked as being eligible for the Resy credit in order for it to apply, rather than all Resy restaurants qualifying.
Similarly, when you go to the Resy website while logged into your Amex account, you’ll already see a note about how “this venue currently qualifies for the Resy Credit.” The key word there is “currently,” so I imagine in the future, some restaurants may no longer be marked in that way.
Is this a huge devaluation, or much ado about nothing?
It’s normal for credit card companies to first provide notice of changes in statements, before making official announcements. The way I see it, there are two potential explanations here, which would amount to a slight or huge devaluation.
Best case scenario, there are minimal changes here, and it could primarily be that Amex is looking to provide clarity. I can’t imagine Amex is just including 100% of Resy restaurants going forward, because then there would be no need to push that off to August 1, or to even disclose the change, since it would just represent the status quo.
Do keep in mind that Tock is being integrated into Resy, so it’s also possible that Amex only wants to include “legacy” Resy restaurants, and not the newly added Tock restaurants. All of that would be fair enough, I suppose.
I think the more concerning potential explanation is that Amex is trying to improve the economics of this perk, and only include a subset of Resy restaurants for credits going forward:
- With the Amex Platinum refresh we saw some time back, I’d actually argue that the card is easier to justify than ever before, thanks in large part to the up to $400 in Resy credits (along with the up to $600 in hotel credits)
- Nowadays a large percentage of premium card perks are merchant funded, and it doesn’t appear that’s what directly has been going on here; instead, Amex owns Resy, and it seems this perk has been driven by getting people onto the Resy platform
- I could see Amex now trying to essentially get restaurants to help fund this benefit, and if they want to included on the list and have business driven their way, they’d need to pay some amount to Amex to be included
That latter scenario would certainly reflect how most perks are doled out on premium cards nowadays, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it. While premium cards have largely become easy to justify if you put in the effort, one point of frustration is the frequency with which perks change, which makes them even harder to keep track of. This also contributes to credit card fatigue.
Bottom line
Amex has announced that as of August 1, 2026, we’ll see some changes to the Resy credits on premium cards, like the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum. The idea is that the credits can only be used at restaurants specifically marked as being eligible for that benefit.
What remains to be seen is just how restrictive this list will be. Is this just because Tock is being integrated into Resy, and Amex doesn’t want to include some of those restaurants? Or is Amex actually going to greatly restrict eligible restaurants, perhaps even trying to get restaurants to specifically opt in, and provide some of the funding for the perK?
We’ll see how this plays out, as we should learn more in the coming weeks.
What do you make of these planned Amex Resy credit benefits?
If Amex proceeds with restricting this credit, it would be yet another nerf/devaluation, in addition to: loss of the $200/year UA Travel Bank (airline fee reimbursement ‘option’), reduced EK transfer rate, loss of Hawaiian (Alaska) transfers, and Saks $50/semi-annual. All after they increased the card’s annual fee by $200 (on Platinum, at least.) I would call it a ‘bait and switch,’ but it’s not legally fraud because Amex has a section in their terms that...
If Amex proceeds with restricting this credit, it would be yet another nerf/devaluation, in addition to: loss of the $200/year UA Travel Bank (airline fee reimbursement ‘option’), reduced EK transfer rate, loss of Hawaiian (Alaska) transfers, and Saks $50/semi-annual. All after they increased the card’s annual fee by $200 (on Platinum, at least.) I would call it a ‘bait and switch,’ but it’s not legally fraud because Amex has a section in their terms that basically says they can change whatever they want whenever they want, so it’s more of a rug-pull, and yet another realization that there’s an asymmetrical relationship between the card issuer and consumers. The only thing we can do is ‘take it, of leave it.’ And if you do close your accounts, be sure to burn all your MR points before doing so. Oh, and Chase’s devaluation and increased fees on CSR are still worse, because that “Exclusive” tables credit, is more like “elusive” tables… c’mon!
Worst case they might move to the system on the UK Plat card with there home and abroad dining credits are only for restaurants specifically on the Amex list, which is a relatively small number in selected major cities...
See https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/benefits/dining/the-platinum-card/ for what I mean.