American Express is doing an incredible job adding limited-time perks to its cards in light of the coronavirus pandemic. At the beginning of January, we saw Amex add perks to some of its cards earning Membership Rewards points, like a $30 monthly PayPal credit on The Platinum Card from American Express. Eligibility for the offers mentioned here are limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming
Now Amex has rolled out some phenomenal new perks on its co-branded Delta, Hilton, and Marriott cards, which are valid for the remainder of 2021.
In this post:
Amex adds $5-20 monthly dining credit to personal cards
Exclusively for 2021, American Express has added a new monthly dining credit to its co-branded personal cards issued in conjunction with Delta, Hilton, and Marriott:
- $20 monthly dining credit
- $15 monthly dining credit
- $10 monthly dining credit
- Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card
- Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
- $5 monthly dining credit
How does this work?
- You can receive a statement credit each month when you spend at least $5-20 (depending on the card) at U.S. restaurants, whether that’s for dine-in, takeout, or delivery
- This credit is valid once each calendar month, between February and December of 2021, meaning you can use this benefit up to 11 times
- To be eligible, you must have had your card prior to January 1, 2021 (so this isn’t valid for new cardmembers)
- You need to register for this offer through Amex Offers
Amex adds $5-20 monthly wireless credit to business cards
Exclusively for 2021, American Express has added a new monthly wireless credit to its co-branded business cards issued in conjunction with Delta, Hilton, and Marriott:
- $20 monthly wireless credit
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card
- $15 monthly wireless credit
- Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card
- $10 monthly wireless credit
- Delta SkyMiles Gold Business American Express Card
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
How does this work?
- You can receive a statement credit each month when you spend at least $10-15 (depending on the card) on monthly wireless telephone services purchased with U.S. wireless service providers
- This credit is valid once each calendar month, between February and December of 2021, meaning you can use this benefit up to 11 times
- To be eligible, you must have had your card prior to January 1, 2021 (so this isn’t valid for new cardmembers)
- You need to register for this offer through Amex Offers
My take on Amex’s new dining & wireless credits
What can I really say, these new limited perks are exceptional. American Express is doing the best job of any issuer in terms of adding temporary benefits during these uncertain times, and it makes keeping any Amex card an absolute no-brainer.
As you can see, the value of these offers varies from $55 for a no annual fee card, to a massive $220 for Amex’s premium cards. Wow. I’d say this is particularly compelling for Amex’s premium cards, since the annual fees are already pretty easy to justify for many, given the strong perks. But I’ll certainly take an extra $220 in value on several of these cards.
For those of us with a lot of credit cards, maximizing all the current bonuses and perks is basically a part-time job.
Bottom line
Select Delta, Hilton, and Marriott co-branded American Express cards now feature $5-20 monthly credits for the remainder of 2021. What a phenomenal addition, as this can get cardmembers anywhere from $55 to $220 in value over the course of the year.
American Express is in a league of its own when it comes to the limited time perks being added to cards. Thanks to all of these benefits, I haven’t even been considering canceling these Amex cards.
What do you make of Amex’s limited-time dining & wireless credits?
Have the dining & wireless credit benefits been withdrawn? I have the Amex Hilton Aspire card, and neither offer shows up as of 06 Sept 2021.
Same here, offer is gone from Aspire and a dining charge on 9/1 hasn't been credited. However, it still shows on my DL Reserve, but I haven't attempted a charge. To muddy the waters further, there's a report on Reddit of credit denied on their Reserve after speaking with a chat agent: https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/comments/pkcqr9/amex_delta_reserve_spend_20_at_restaurants_get_20/
Same for me. My Hilton Honors and Hilton Surpass cards both no longer show the $5 and $10 back dining offers.
Hilton aspire does not show $20 offer
I have previously used the $10 Amex dining offer on my Marriott Amex in combination with EatsPass on Uber but for some reason now it says I have to use an "eligible" card to pay to get EatsPass benefits. Did they change the terms to require the Plat card now be used to trigger EatsPass benefits? Anyone else experienced this?
Question - my husband just got an Offer to upgrade his Hilton Surpass to a Hilton Aspire. I am tempted bc it is 150K points (I know the annual fee is much higher). Do we think that the $10 Surpass dining credit will continue, or be upgraded.to the $20 Aspire credit? Any data points on this? Thanks.
Got the wireless offer on my Bonvoy personal card but did not get the statement credit for Google Fi. This service is hit or miss for paying for offers.
As for receiving the credits for the restaurants use, it took 12 days for two of them to appear on my statement (on two different cards) I am still waiting for a third credit to hit after having used the card in a restaurant on Feb 9.
I had to call AMEX to have them issue one of the $50 credits, Home Depot, when it did not appear in 12 days and the $30 check out with Paypal offer as well. They did issue those credits immediately when I called.
@Ben
Anyone still having issues of the offer not appearing? I'm getting the runaround from Amex chat.
Is the Amex restaurant offer working for other delivery services like delivery.com, slice.com, or grubhub.com? The offer details indicate that 3rd party billing won't work, yet others posted above that it worked for DoorDash.
Most online restaurant ordering in my area uses 3rd party billing, even when ordering directly on the restaurant's website. Exceptions are chains like Dominos, but I'd rather purchase from somewhere else.
Are the additional cards for these credit cards also getting this offer?
according to American Express, none of the monthly credits will show up on your respective credit card until after June 2021!!!
I am waiting for the restaurant credit to hit on three of my American Express cards since February 5, I called American Express yesterday on another matter and asked them about the restaurant credits and was told they were experiencing delays in posting credits in February but they will eventually catch up....
Added offer prior to charges at a restaurant. Received emails stating credit was used post purchase but no actual credit applied yet. Has been almost two weeks. Has anyone seen the credit post yet ?
@Randy In January, my $30 PayPal credit posted 2 days after the transaction. I just checked, and the credit for my Feb 1 PayPal transaction still has not posted. Maybe all Amex credits are delayed at the moment.
Just another data point -- purchase through the Chipotle app triggered email (but no actual credit yet).
Eight days ago I used one of the $50 Home Depot offers nothing posted yet as well the $30 monthly pay through PayPal credit nothing on that either and I’ve used three different American Express cards with three different restaurant credits nothing posted yet.....
Has anyone actually seen their credits post? I made an order through DoorDash and reloaded my Starbucks balance through the mobile app. Both transactions triggered the "Thanks for using your Amex Offer" email, but I have yet to see the credit post. It's been about a week and I realize technically the terms state posting can take longer, but other credits have posted sooner in the past.
FWIW, I made an order on Uber Eats...
Has anyone actually seen their credits post? I made an order through DoorDash and reloaded my Starbucks balance through the mobile app. Both transactions triggered the "Thanks for using your Amex Offer" email, but I have yet to see the credit post. It's been about a week and I realize technically the terms state posting can take longer, but other credits have posted sooner in the past.
FWIW, I made an order on Uber Eats that did not trigger the email. Haven't tried GrubHub.
I also paid $15 towards my AT&T wireless account with the Bonvoy Business that did not trigger the email.
@Mister Malibu hmm, I don’t know because I never use the website (only the app, where I am signed in to my US Starbucks account). Both the reload money and trigger email have been instant using the app.
@Mister Malibu hmm, I don’t know because I never use the website (only the app, where I am signed in to my US Starbucks account). Both the reload money and trigger email have been instant using the app.
@Zoe @Dale, is Starbucks card reload on website instant? I've tried reloading with my Amex Bonvoy and HH and both times the website shows "something went wrong on our end". Yet I received emails that offers were triggered with hold on my credit cards, no credit on SBUX card tho.
DP - this offer does NOT appear to work for Grubhub and presumably other delivery services, unless there's an unusual delay. Normally AMEX offers trigger immediately.
Do these Amex perks include the Centurion card?
Thank you
Make sure to check/add the offer through the AMEX website. Mine did NOT appear to my app somehow.
This, through AMEX HH Surpass.
- Earn $10 back each month after you spend $10+ on U.S. dining
- Earn 10,000 points after you spend $5000 on your card
@Dale Yeah, loading your US account is really the best approach. Good news, though: you can buy Canadian Starbucks gift cards in-store using your US Starbucks account. I did this just a few weeks ago after loading my US Starbucks app with $30 via PayPal (the new Amex Plat benefit). USD is still strong relative to CDN, so this is a great added layer to the workaround. Once you’ve bought the physical gift card, just...
@Dale Yeah, loading your US account is really the best approach. Good news, though: you can buy Canadian Starbucks gift cards in-store using your US Starbucks account. I did this just a few weeks ago after loading my US Starbucks app with $30 via PayPal (the new Amex Plat benefit). USD is still strong relative to CDN, so this is a great added layer to the workaround. Once you’ve bought the physical gift card, just load it to your Canadian account and BAM, you’ve won the cross-border Amex lottery! ;-)
@Zoe - thanks for the suggestion. Yes this is about the only workaround. I tried buying $5 gift card from Starbucks USA website but didn't get email saying offer was used. Looks like only reloads work.
I guess then I'll have Canadian and US Starbucks account and just have to toggle / log in and out between them huh?
Also not seeing offers on my bonvoy business card
Wireless not showing on my new Marriott Business card, but my personal cards are showing the dining. Is this only for cards that were issued in 2020 or earlier?
"This credit is valid once each calendar month..." Does that mean that if I spend $10 on a meal with my Reserve card ($20 credit), then I can no longer get credited for the balance for that month or that you are credited up to $20 per month?
@ Tommy Trash:
So far in 2021. There was a wireless credit we got in 2020 that was good for $80.
I spent 2020 snapping up AMEX cards (Green, Gold, no AF Hilton, Hilton Aspire and Bonvoy Brilliant) and because of the pandemic credits like the wireless credit, Shop Small, cashing out the Hilton resort credit for takeout dining, and this, it's been crazy good value, even before you throw in the points or status or free room nights. I ain't complaining.
Received following:
Amex Marriott Bonvoy (previously SPG) has $10 for $10 spent; once per mo until Dec 2021
Hilton Honors has $5 for $5 spent; once per mo until Dec 2021
Hilton Honors (recently downgraded from Aspire) has A) $20 for $20 spent; once per mo until Dec 2021 B) 10K Hilton pts for every 5K spent; up to 100K pts until June 2021
Dying to know how to use em as I am currently stuck abroad
@Dale hi from BC! Just create a US Starbucks account at starbucks.com (distinct from Canadian Starbucks/.ca) and load whatever max. amount your Amex offers = for you, $20 USD on your Hilton Aspire.
I have a Personal Delta Plat Amex, so my offer is $15/mo. Just loaded that amount to my US Starbucks app and immediately got an email from Amex confirming my trigger/use of the offer.
Cheers!
Ben - anyway to delete an offer after selecting it? So if 10 never-to-be-used offers are selected in the hope that these new offers (which I will use) show up, how can the Offers Added list be cleaned up?
Zero offers for Amex Green. A Lounge Buddy credit for lounges that are closed during the pandemic is worthless.
@Ben
The Amex Marriott Bonvoy card(previously SPG card - closed to new applicants) also has $10 to spend on dining per month
Amex is missing the mark. As a 30 plus your member with the regular gold card I get nothing by pay several hundred dollars a year to be a member it's also not on my credit history to my SS number so it's worthless as far as keeping my credit score up is there any real reason to keep it anymore? It's certainly not worth the 200 bucks I pay every year. I'm going to use the mileage points that I have or give them away to charity and say goodbye
Nothing added to my Personal and Business Platinum Cards. Had both in 2020. I added a bunch of offers to each card, logged out and logged back in later. Nothing new was added to list of offers.
If you have two or three of the AMEX cards with these offers, can you add them to all, or just one of your AMEX cards?
For both Hilton Aspire and DL Platiunum Amex, didn't show up on App, only on website. Strange......
Anyone who pays $550 for a credit card should get some perks. Still isn't worth it !!
Does Uber Eats count as restaurant spending as well ?
Correction 10,000 points for every $5,000 spend
Thanks for the tip! My hilton honors offer was 100,000 points for $5,000 spend, have the card since 10/2020
Just for a data point, my cards weren't showing any of these earlier, but now the dining offers are showing. Not the wireless ones yet, but I'm guessing they'll show up at some point later.
@Ben, some weird just happened. I added a few more offers to my account and the spend $7,500 + earn 7,500 points, up to ten time offer magically appeared as well as the $20 statement credit appeared, go figure.
@ Ben Yes, I upgraded the card in April of 2020 from the old SPG card.
@Ben
Thank you Ben, really appreciate it.
Please let us know what Amex says.
It looks like I'm not the only one missing these new offers from looking at the comments here and there.
Got them on the Aspire, Surpass, and Brilliant.
If anyone tried on grabhub or DoorDash and the offer worked, could you note here? Thx!
Yeah, nothing showing up on my (admittedly new as of Jan '21) Brilliant Amex. Perhaps there is a need to have the card for a while or something?
@ Alex -- You must have had a card prior to 2021 to be eligible.
@Ben
I had my Hilton Aspire card since 2018 and I only have about 50 amex offers currently showing up in my account, yet the dining credit nor the $5K spending offer is showing up in the list of available amex offers.
Similar situation for my Bonvoy cards.
Could you get in touch with amex and let them know these offers are missing for some people?
This is very frustrating.
Thank you!
@ JL -- Hmmm, let me do some investigating. I think it's highly likely this offer might still be loaded onto your account, given that the offer is new as of today.
@Anthony are you a long time platinum card member to have received the new 2021 $200 travel credit? I have the card since August, 2020 and don't have that credit on my account.
And with your valuations for Plat, looks like your list doesnt have all those awesome offers that came up last month like $100 for Home Depot, $100 for Best Buy, etc (There was $100 dell credit last year too) so are getting even more value!
Current Amex Lineup:
Platinum - $550
Schwab - $550
Reserve - $550
Brilliant - $450
Platinum - $195
2021 Credits:
Platinum - Uber $200, Saks $100, PayPal $180, Travel $200 (ignoring Airline Fee Credit) - $680
Schwab - Uber $200, Saks $100, PayPal $180, Travel $200 (ignoring Airline Fee Credit) - $680
Reserve - Dining $220, First Class Companion Ticket (Value $300) = $520
Brilliant -...
Current Amex Lineup:
Platinum - $550
Schwab - $550
Reserve - $550
Brilliant - $450
Platinum - $195
2021 Credits:
Platinum - Uber $200, Saks $100, PayPal $180, Travel $200 (ignoring Airline Fee Credit) - $680
Schwab - Uber $200, Saks $100, PayPal $180, Travel $200 (ignoring Airline Fee Credit) - $680
Reserve - Dining $220, First Class Companion Ticket (Value $300) = $520
Brilliant - Dining $220, Marriott $300 - $520
Platinum - Dining $165, Companion Ticket (Value $200) = $365
The value of credits and companion tickets exceed all of my fees this year. Nice.
@Ben or anyone else. I'm not seeing the $20 credit on my Brilliant card. And have 41 available offers and 71 added to my card. Is this the reason why I don't see it? If so, what can I do to make it appear?
@ TravelFitForAKing -- You had the card prior to 2021?
Do these credits work with Doordash, grubhub, etc?
@ Ken -- Yep, they should as far as I know.
@Ben, kind of off topic, but have you heard of AMEX Plat offering an "additional" 200$ AIRLINE credit for certain cardholders...??? I used my 2020 AIRLINE [not the additional travel credit they gave, I had already used that] credit on Dec 30th...That posted to my account along with an additional [2] 100$ credits for United...I was concerned that they accidentally used my 2021 credits as well so I called...The rep said that some accounts [?]...
@Ben, kind of off topic, but have you heard of AMEX Plat offering an "additional" 200$ AIRLINE credit for certain cardholders...??? I used my 2020 AIRLINE [not the additional travel credit they gave, I had already used that] credit on Dec 30th...That posted to my account along with an additional [2] 100$ credits for United...I was concerned that they accidentally used my 2021 credits as well so I called...The rep said that some accounts [?] were given additional credit towards the airline they had selected [United in my case] and when I had made additional purchases, AMEX automatically credited it...I did not have to call...Anyone else have this happen, or did I just benefit from an accounting error...
Additionally I did have her verify that my 2021 credits were indeed still there...
@ SEM -- Hmmm, are you maybe thinking of the general $200 Amex Travel credit that some cardmembers have received?
https://onemileatatime.com/amex-platinum-amex-travel-credit/
This offer is terrible compared to the $250 dining credit offered last summer for Hilton Aspire cardmembers for 2 reasons. First, if you have multiple Aspire cards like I do for the benefits which aren't usable this year, you still only receive 1 $20 dining credit. The offer showed up on both cards, but as soon as I added it to one it was not available on the second similar to other Amex offers and...
This offer is terrible compared to the $250 dining credit offered last summer for Hilton Aspire cardmembers for 2 reasons. First, if you have multiple Aspire cards like I do for the benefits which aren't usable this year, you still only receive 1 $20 dining credit. The offer showed up on both cards, but as soon as I added it to one it was not available on the second similar to other Amex offers and it even says in the terms limit 1 per cardmember. 2. The credits are doled out in small amounts so if you and a spouse each have the card, you now need to split payments or make twice as many dining trips and it is far harder to optimize. Of the 2 issues though, the bigger is the first since I get the same $220 in credits whether I pay $450 or $900 in annual fees for the card. As such, I will be cancelling my second Aspire.
@ Jc -- The $250 dining credit wasn't actually an additional credit, though, but rather just a different way to use the $250 resort credit. I get how you feel based on your specific circumstances, but I'm guessing you're in the minority.
$20 dinning credit is showing on both Aspire & Bonvoy, they are considered difference offers?
@ ktc -- I was able to add the offer to both my Aspire and Brilliant.
Got the spend $20 get $20 back on Hilton Aspire... Now if I can only figure out how to use it since I live in Canada... ;(
My Delta Platinum also only had a $15 credit offer. Not mentioned in the article, but my old Bonvoy (legacy SPG card) has a $10 offer too.
This is awesome, not showing up for my Surpass card though (did show up on Delta and Aspire)
Ben,
are these targeted offers?
I'm not seeing them on majority of my cards.
@ JL -- They shouldn't be. Do you have fewer than 100 offers on each account? If you are at the cap, you may have to add some offers for these to appear.
No credit on my Hilton Aspire
Biz Reserve only had the wireless credit and not dining.
@ Paul -- Personal cards have the dining credit, business cards have the wireless credit, so that's expected.
Sorry - Delta Reserve earns 5x on Delta spending, not 7x (now in-line with Amex Platinum, this should really be a permanent change)
FYI: not seeing this on my Bonvoy Brilliant account
@ Matt -- And you had the card in 2020, and have fewer than 100 offers on your account?
Lucky - there are also other offers
Bonvoy Brillant - Spend $7,500, get an extra 7,500 Convoy Points - basically taking the card to 3x Bonvoy points for every 7,500 spent
Delta Reserve - Extra 2x miles on Delta - basically taking the card to 7x on Delta spending
Will be using all of these offers
Weirdly my Delta personal Platinum card is showing a $15 credit, not a $20 credit.
I got $10 for $10 on Marriott and Hilton Surpass Cards. Once again Amex offers more than offset annual fee for stuff I was going to buy anyway. Also got on Surpass spend $5k get 10,000 HH points up to 100,000 points now through 6/30.
The $20 dining credit showed up on my Delta Reserve card as well
@ffi Reserve does have the $20 US dining credit. Hopefully Ben will update the post.
BTW, I was able to add the dining credit to both Reserve and Aspire. Plus I had recently upgraded to Aspire from the basic HH card - and both the $20 and $5 dining credits are there. Wonder if I'll get a clawback from the RAT team.
I have the worst Amex card ever... The business Gold... it gets NO FREAKING LOVE!!! The consumer gold card is 10x better since I do not use any of the business spend categories and cannot use the Amex at Costco for gas.
$20/month is also available on the Delta Skymiles Reserve (at least for mine).
Nothing for the Reserve cards?
@ ffi @ Craig Roberts -- Just added Reserve offers, my apologies that I missed those initially.