American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card Review

American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card is positioned as a Premium Credit Card in Amex lineup, standing one step below the Platinum Charge Card (metal). The Amex Reserve Credit Card was never a go-to card in the past for most because of it low rewards and high annual fee.

While these issue still remain even after the current refresh, some changes have been made to the product to make it slightly better for some. Here’s everything you need to know about the AmEx Reserve Credit Card in its latest form in 2024:

Overview

Type	Premium Credit Card
Reward Rate	1% – 3%
Annual Fee	10,000 INR + GST
Best for	Monthly Spends of 50K INR
USP	Accor Plus Membership

The Accor Plus membership is the USP of the Reserve Credit Card, as there is only one other card that offers this membership, which is the Axis Reserve. Let’s explore more about Accor Plus little later in this article.

Joining Fees

Joining Fee	10,000 INR + GST
Welcome Benefit	11,000 Reward Points (~5,500 INR value)
Renewal Fee	10,000 INR + GST
Renewal Fee waiver	On spending 10 Lakhs
Renewal Benefit	Nil

Expecting 10L spend for the renewal fee waiver is unreasonable for the benefits it offers. However, you can get it waived for much less with a retention offer, more on that below.

Apply through the link on the page to get extra 4,000 Referral Bonus MR points (~2,000 INR Value) post 5K INR spend in 90 days.

Design

The new design looks great on the screen and quite good in reality too.

However, the name on the card kind of disturbs the beautiful design, especially when your name is not correctly aligned in center, unlike mine.

Rewards

SPEND TYPE	REWARD POINTS	REWARD RATE
Regular Spends	1 MR / 50 INR	1% – 2%
Utility, Insurance, Fuel & EMI	No Rewards	Nil

The reward rate is based on the assumption that one can get 1MR=0.50 INR easily with Marriott Points transfer but getting 1MR=1 INR isn’t easy in most circumstances.

So, a 1% reward rate just like most other Amex cards, is quite a disappointment, but well, that’s why the milestone benefit exists.

Monthly Milestone

SPEND REQUIREMENT	MILESTONE BENEFIT	VOUCHER TYPE
50,000 INR	1,000 INR (2% value)	Flipkart, BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip & more

• Enrolment is mandatory to avail the benefit

While the revamped milestone benefit is better than before, life would have been much better if it was a quarterly/annual benefit.

Nevertheless, it’s a good way to earn 2% on spends that wouldn’t earn rewards otherwise.

Given that there are so many restrictions on other bank credit cards in 2024, this card could help get some value back on those type of spends as well.

Accor Plus

• Up to 50% off on dining across Asia Pacific
• Accor ALL (Accor’s loyalty programme) – Silver Status
• 20 Status Nights in Accor ALL Program to get closer to Gold or beyond
• Upto 50% off on rooms with red hot rooms sale

American Express Reserve Credit Card comes with an “Accor Plus Traveller” Membership as complimentary. Note that it doesn’t offer a complimentary night stay, or other dining/stay discount vouchers.

The primary use case of Accor Plus membership is the dining benefit with which you can get 50% off on dining (if 2 person dine).

This is an amazing benefit that could save few thousands on dining when you’re travelling abroad with family.

While it’s meant for Asia Pacific only, surprisingly it also works in few other countries as well, like in South Africa & Egypt where I availed it few months ago. Perhaps it’s just hotel-specific when you go beyond APAC.

Taj Epicure

• 25% discount on food & beverage and Qmin 
• 20% discount on Jivas Spa & Salon
• Complimentary celebration cake (500 gms) in birthday month
• Happy Hours 1:1 at Taj Club Lounge, valid twice
• And few more vouchers

Taj Epicure Plus is the customised membership by Taj Hotels for American Express cardholders and it’s slightly better compared to what we get with ICICI Emeralde Private Metal (or) HSBC Premier.

However, just like Accor Plus, Taj Epicure also doesn’t come with the complimentary night benefit.

That said, the 20% discount on Spa and 25% off on f&b are the benefits that some Taj loyalists that I know can’t live without.

Note that you might need to order the celebration cake 1 day prior, as sometimes the hotel doesn’t have it ready the same day, as it was the case recently with me at Taj Exotica, Goa.

Golf

• 2 Games per month
• Spend Requirement: 50,000 INR (two months prior)

Historically, Amex Reserve was primarily used for Golf and now Amex has decided to put an end to it, literally.

Spending 2 months prior, tracking it, and booking them later is not something that one can easily do.

They could have instead simply enabled the complimentary access based on annual spend and saved cardholders from processing unnecessary calculations.

Airport Lounge Access

ACCESS TYPE	ACCESS VIA	ACCESS LIMIT
Domestic (Primary)	Amex	12/Year (3/qtr)
International (Primary)	Priority Pass	2/Year

The new addition of International lounge access is good to see on the Reserve card but the limits are way too low for the fee it comes with.

If one needs domestic & international lounge access for self and add-on, HDFC Regalia Gold is the one you need.

That aside, Amex Reserve no longer offers access to Amex lounges in Mumbai and Delhi. Thanks to Plat Charge Cardholders who are travelling left and right, leaving no room for others to step in.

Other Benefits

• Eazydiner Prime membership (25% savings at most restaurants)
• No Fuel surcharge at HP fuel pumps (limits apply)
• 3X on Reward Multiplier

Companion Card Status

Most Amex Reserve Cardholders that I know have got it as a companion card issued as complimentary with Amex Platinum Charge Card.

However, post the refresh of Reserve card benefits, now Amex has dropped this companion card benefit on Amex Plat Charge.

To those who already hold Reserve as a companion card, it would continue as is, as long as the Plat Charge is active.

Retention Offer

Apart from card spends being the primary factor, Amex also keeps changing the retention offer from time to time.

The good news is that 100% renewal fee waiver is also part of the retention offer, as of now.

One might need to have spent ~5L (not sure of latest rule) for this, but at times you might as well get a spend linked target (usually 1L-2L spend in 90 days) to get the 100% renewal fee waiver.

How to apply?

Applying online is the quickest way to get American Express Cards in India.

Currently, one of the best offers you could get is 4,000 additional bonus points as a part of Limited Period Offer when you apply using a referral link.

Apply through the link on the page & you’ll get 11,000 MR Points (INR 5,500 Value) + 4000 Referral Bonus MR points (INR 2,000 Value).

Bottomline

• Cardexpert Rating: 3.8/5

The re-imagined American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card in 2024 is certainly better than what it used to be in the past. It’s good for those who can make use of Accor Plus benefit along with monthly milestones.

But except for the Accor Plus and a few other benefits, American Express Plat Travel Card is a much better choice as it’s not only light on the pocket but also can get you more than 2X the reward rate on Reserve.

So, the Amex Reserve with refreshed features holds good only for a small segment, leaving a lot of room to grow if it needs to attract a larger segment. Perhaps American Express has to re-imagine the product yet one more time.

Until then, Amex could consider doing some small additions like adding Accor ALL as points transfer, which even at 2:1 would make the card sell like wildfire.