Are Amex Resy Credit Changes Coming To Gold & Platinum Card? (Update)

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.

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!

The whole Resy thing is just inconvenient unless you live or frequent large cities where there are Resy restaurants. In the burbs, selection is incredibly limited. And when I travel internationally, its basically worthless.

I was hoping that Amex Plat would be much easier to get value out of as the AF increased, but its starting to look harder and harder.... Great for those who live in NYC, fly Delta at JFK, but for the rest of us... just not sure anymore

The photo of the restaurant shows the tables pushed too close with one another . Also excessive fees for a separated seat .

We've made good use of this benefit. I will see how it plays out after the change.

I'm also assuming this is Tock related... which is/would be a bummer.

Here I was thinking I might be able to knock $200 off some local Michelin restaurants, once the integration came to pass.

Go figure.

A lot of minor cities have Resy as well. Annapolis, Ann Arbor, Lancaster PA, Winston-Salem, etc.

I'm lucky that my little town has 3 (tourism so we punch above our weight) so I can get a gift card every month on my DL reserve, but it shouldn't be hard to use quarterly or semi-annual credits

You are correct that even smaller cities have restaurants in the Resy system.

But there are none in Holland, Michigan where I live.

We could use the benefit when we go out of town but that means working our plans around a dining credit which doesn’t seem like a great payoff of money versus preferences and time.

Same thing with ride share credits or the Mastercard public transportation credit.

Yes, people in smaller cities can use these benefits but they really work better for those in larger metropolitan areas.

You are correct, you can use them but speaking from personal experience it is just not the same.

It would be great if this made it easier for them to start including non-US restaurants. It has always seemed odd to me that these premium travel cards only offer credits for use in the US, such as for Resy, Uber, and Lululemon. I hope this changes!

Technically, you can downgrade. That’s what I’m doing in September when my AF hits.

I actually already had an issue with Resy a couple of months ago where we ate at a Resy restaurant and were not given the credit until we complained and it had to be forced. through

So, yeah, they are curtailing it. If they continue to curtail, this card will no longer be worth it for me. My wife and I each have one currently.

Not a bad idea, Andrew. I'd recommend downgrading to Amex Checking Account: $0 annual fee; no minimum balance required either. Allows you to keep your MR active.

I'm curious as to whether this will affect the related credits with the Delta card(s).

I'm definitely using the 3rd quarter credit prior to Aug 1, just in case.
We've always used it at pretty premium restaurants for special occasions, well exceeding the credit value.

Thanks for the heads up.

There was a reddit thread a while back that there are restaurants on Resy that don't even take Amex. There's nothing on the site that says that and diners didn't know until they went to pay.

I suspect it's because restaurants join and exit resy quite rapidly. I had made a reservation with a restaurant a month prior through resy. When I went to the restaurant I could no longer get info on the place through resy which was confusing. When I looked at the website of the restaurant where it used to actually say use your amex resy credits, it was quite obviously removed.

Worst case scenario would be if if not all restaurants on Resy participated AND if the participating restaurants were allowed to only offer benefit at times they wanted. Meaning that main dinner times like 6-8 would be blocked from the benefit. Right now the AX Resy benefit is so much better than the OT Chase benefit but I fear that is about to change.

This is a reasonable take (with some surprisingly reasonable comments). I wonder about how numbers are calculated for these coupons. There are apparently two million Amex plat users out there, and a pretty large number of them are willing to pursue the coupons.

Since participation can change "at any time", what if you have a confirmed reservation and the restaurant drops out before day of or before charges post?

Reconfirm

Amex also recently acquired the European platform called The Fork. It has 15k restaurants in 11 countries. There's probably an integration issue there as well. The acquisition of The Fork and folding member restaurants into Resy *might* be a way for Amex to incentivize them to accept Amex cards. Which we know is sometimes problematic.

I feel like open table has been poaching resy restaurants. Been finding it harder to use the resy credit.

I would also like to point out Amex is also acquiring TheFork, from Trip Advisor (in addition to the Tock acquisition).

In that context, limiting the credit to “eligible Resy-marked restaurants” reads less like a devaluation and more like infrastructure catching up with a growing offering—especially if Fork/Tock inventory is being progressively folded into Resy’s system.

If anything, the longer-term direction still looks expansionary.

there are three Resy restaurants where I live. maybe now we will have five.

your first bit is already true. not every restaurant on the Resy app participates now.