Amex Diwali Offer: Get Vouchers Worth Upto Rs.25,000 on your Amex spends

By | October 3, 2019

American Express Diwali spend based offer is one of the most awaited offer in the credit card industry as it used to be highly rewarding one, usually >5% on spend. Earlier it used to revolve around Tanishq Gold vouchers, but now they’ve rolled out different offers for each cardmember based on their spend pattern and none of them have Gold vouchers.

Instead, all vouchers that I know of till now are in Travel segment. Hereโ€™s all you need to know about Amex Diwali Offer for 2019,

Amex 2019 Diwali Offer Details:

  1. Offer period: October 1 to November 30, 2019
  2. Offer #1: Spend Rs.50,000 to Get Rs.3,000 Paytm Movie Voucher (6% Value)
  3. Offer #2: Spend Rs.1,50,000 to Get Rs.8,000 Paytm Flight Voucher (5.3% Value)
  4. Offer #3: Spend Rs.2,50,000 to Get Rs.12,500 Amex Domestic Travel Voucher (5% Value)
  5. Offer #4: Spend Rs.4,75,000 to Get Rs.25,000 Amex Domestic Travel Voucher (5.3% Value)
  6. The offer is applicable for only select American Express Cardmembers. A Cardmember is eligible for this offer only if he/she has received an offer communication directly from American Express through any of its channels.
  7. A Cardmember will be eligible for a maximum of one voucher in the offer. In case the Cardmember holds and enrolls more than one eligible American Expressยฎ Card, the Cardmember will receive a total of only one voucher.
  8. Spends on the Supplementary Card(s) will be accounted under the Basic Card. The Supplementary Card(s) need not be enrolled separately.
  9. Excluded Cards: Centurion, Plat charge card, Jet/Co-branded card & corporate cards.
  10. Excluded Spend Types: No restrictions (good news, compared to 2017 offer)
  11. Fulfilment: 29th Feb 2020  & Voucher will expire in 2 months.
  12. To Enroll: Please check your email or Call Customer Care if you’ve not received the email.

I Got the Offer #4

The spend requirement is similar to 2018 Diwali promo except that they’ve replaced TanishQ voucher with Domestic Travel voucher.

I’ve received this offer on my Platinum Travel Card and it clearly says that charge cards are not a part of this promo. But I think they may send separate email for plat/gold charge cards with some twist. Either way, remember, you qualify for only one offer.

Updates for Plat Charge Card Holders

Amex rolled out the offer for Plat charge card holders separately on Oct 1st and the target would be one from the below, as communicated via email:

  • 2L Spend / 12L Voucher
  • 3L Spend / 15K Voucher
  • 4L Spend / 20K Voucher
  • 7L Spend / 35K Voucher

Note that no enrolment is required for Plat Charge cards alone. All spends between Oct 1st – Dec 31st will be considered.

Bottomline

With about 5% returns on most spends, American Express did not disappoint this year. Further, you also continue to earn regular reward points which now carries a lot of value with the Marriott Transfer Promo.

Even-though I feel Amex could have continued the Tanishq voucher for Diwali as it used to be quite unique, I continue to love Travel vouchers.

As always, before you begin with the spends don’t forget to enroll.

What’s your thoughts on 2019 Amex Diwali Offer? Which offer did you receive? Feel free to share in the comments below.

108 thoughts on “Amex Diwali Offer: Get Vouchers Worth Upto Rs.25,000 on your Amex spends

  1. Surya

    Looks like a damn good offer to combine with the marriott conversion, which gives you 8-10% if you can earn the points before october end.

    Reply
  2. Gaurav

    The value of “Hotel Stay” vouchers from Amex Domestic travel is considerably low since they use Cleartrip platform at the back-end and hotels on this platform are typically overpriced by 30-50% when compared to competitors like MMT, Yatra etc. Have used these vouchers twice in past (from other ongoing offers they had) and can certainly say Tanishq used to be a far better deal!

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yes, that’s how they’re able to burn 5% while they hardly get 2% from us.

      But, you get the best value when used for 4/5 star properties where the rates are all same everywhere.

      Reply
  3. Amit

    This year also nothing for me ๐Ÿ™ looks like amex don’t like me.
    Even though i spent 6L + last year

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Which card do you hold? And did you try calling Amex cust. care?

      Reply
      1. amit

        Have Platinum travel and mrrc card as companion card.
        Last year i called but they couldn’t help. I will call again tonight

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          One of my relative having the same combo isn’t eligible for any of the offer. So that happens too this year!

          Reply
          1. amit

            Daam ! I’ll still try to convince them since i have fee renewal as well this month.

          2. Amit

            Had a word with Amex cc. Representative asked 2 days time to check. He was almost sure that i should be getting offer

          3. Abhi

            I have same combo, MRCC & Plat travel (MRCC is addon to Gold charge) I got offer 2.
            @Sid, spend 4.75L ? You must be a big spender.

          4. Amit

            Thanks Sid
            Calling them helped. I’m eligible for offer 3 now

  4. nitin agarwal

    what is the conversion rate for Platinum travel card to marriott bonvoy? as it is a different platform from other MR points, i think its difficult to convert?..any suggestions.

    Reply
  5. Ranganathan

    I pefer Tanishq vouchers, however these travel vouchers are transferable.

    Reply
      1. Mouli

        Sid,

        Checked with them and hot a shocking reply that I am not eligible for the offer.

        I am holding Plat Travel and MRCC and didnt get offer on both.

        This is ridiculous way of ignoring customer and its not normal spend based offer but Diwali offer and all should be given a chance and they may put into different bucket based on other parameters

        My last year spend was around 7L and my card membership year started yesterday and they dont want me to double dip so they ignored my card or I got upgrade offer to Plat CHarge card and that is valid till today so they would have ignored my card. I received diwali offers last 2 years.I was holding few transactions just for this offer

        Either way Amex is loosing track on giving these offers

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          That’s sad. I guess double dip issue could be the major reason. But do drop them an email to see if they can do anything.

          Reply
          1. Mouli

            But every year its the same,even in previous years also Amex diwali offer and my membership year would be during the same time
            My another guess is I have availed all the offers last year including Diwali offer on both the cards and then Spend based offer for the 30k hotel voucher so this year they ignored my card

          2. Siddharth Post author

            The reason should be something that makes Amex to earn less from your cards. Do you stop spends after getting bonus points/milestone benefit?

            If not, I would suggest to do an escalation. They may give you the reason.

        2. Amex Guy

          Honestly, Amex does not apply much brain in Plat upgrade offers. I got a Plat upgrade offer on my existing Plat!

          Reply
          1. Shri

            Hello Amex Guy! I have read a lot of your comments and seems like Amex platinum is pretty valuable card to have, even with double the annual fees compared to US version.
            I wanted to know your thoughts on FHR, US vs. India card.
            I did a search for a stay in Maldives through US site and I see 12 hits which qualify for FHR. (I’m interested in Conrad) however the same search on Indian Amex Travel site yielded none. ( I dont know if its because I dont have any Indian Amex card)

            Any insights here would be very valuable.

  6. Ameya

    I have 2 cards, 1 Plat Reserve & 1 MRCC (got both of them separately). I received the offer #1 only on Plat Reserve. Nothing yet on MRCC.
    My question is, will I get a offer on MRCC as well?
    If yes, will I be able to get both benefits? As in, I meet criteria for both the cards separately and I receive the benefit from both.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      This line in T&C helps: A Cardmember will be eligible for a maximum of one voucher in the offer. In case the Cardmember holds and enrolls more than one eligible American Expressยฎ Card, the Cardmember will receive a total of only one voucher.

      Reply
  7. Aman Gupta

    Regarding Mariott Bonvoy offer: How do you rate Mariott conversion in comparison to 24 Carat gold rewards?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      It gives 2X more value (with this offer), a lot more if you can find a sweet spot. But again totally depends on the kind of property you’re planning to redeem.

      Expect a series of Marriott hotel reviews in coming weeks. It might help you decide on some.

      Reply
      1. Mouli

        Waiting for that and i am unlucky fellow,last month I have transferred more than a lakh points to Mariott without any bonus offers
        Had I waited for 1 more month,I would have received another 50% points

        Reply
          1. Mouli

            Neo,
            Already I booked one in JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut and even the one in jaisalmer marriott resort also a worthy one

            Mussoorie is Cat 5 property and used 35000 points for a night stay

          2. Neo

            Both those are on my list as well. There is a Marriott sale going on right now, wherein you could get 100K points for abt 60K. Just FYI.

  8. MAA-traveler

    I got Spend Rs.1,50,000 to Get Rs.8,000 Paytm Flight Voucher on my Plat Travel card and none yet on my MRCC (anyway not gonna try for MRCC spends offers if the pattern is the same). Flight offer is the best offer among the other options and it so happens that my Amex anniversary year gets over by November end and still have a significant amount to spend for the Rs 4 Lakh. So will double dip and the timing was almost perfect. ๐Ÿ˜€

    Reply
  9. Nishith

    I hold a gold charge card and received the 2.5l/12.5k offer on mail and the email states that it is applicable to my charge card itself.

    I guess charge cards are also in the ambit.

    Reply
      1. venugopal Pareek

        What is the news source of festivity offer on platinum charge card.i called the concierge and they say NO offers on platinum charge card

        Reply
  10. A2Z

    Ironically they sent me promotion email for Spend Rs.1,50,000 to Get Rs.8,000 Paytm Flight Voucher in my supplementary card number instead of Primary card
    And this is for my Gold Charge card ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      That’s interesting. Did you spend more on that supp. card compared to primary card?

      Reply
      1. A2Z

        Used sparingly probably max cumulative spends would be 10-15k
        Called CC and they confirmed Primary card or Supplementary card, spends on both cards will be counted
        So Charge card is yet not out from counting ๐Ÿ™‚

        Reply
    2. SH

      Well the same happened for me. I got the 12.5K voucher offer on the supplementary card that I hold against my wife’s MRCC. She got a mail, and so did I. Initially I was thinking that the communication to me was for my MRCC.

      So at the end of the day I don’t have an offer..:-)

      Reply
        1. SH

          Yes checked with them. They gave the usual stuff saying that not all offers have been rolled out, and folks will see more offers rolling out over the next few days. It was deja vu..:-)

          Reply
  11. Neo

    No offers for me as well. I didnt touch the Plat Travel after the 4L spends & have been using MRCC & Gold charge for 10K a month. The Paytm movie voucher offer looks the best though IMO

    ~Neo

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Looks like they’ve made an algo this year to filter some accounts.

      Reply
    2. SH

      None of the folks with Plat Charge got an offer. Don’t know what the logic is on that.

      Reply
  12. Praveen Katiyar

    I too got Spend Rs.1,50,000 to Get Rs.8,000 Paytm Flight Voucher on my MRCC. Took this MRCC in Jan, already completed 1.5L but would try for this one too.

    Reply
  13. Prashant Gupta

    No offer for me as of now. My wife has MRCC and Gold Charge – renewed this month and i have gold credit card not used till date. Looks like i might miss out on the offer this time.

    Reply
  14. CL

    The vouchers need to be redeemed in 60days after you receive them. That’s a bad thing

    Reply
  15. Deepak Kumar

    I have Amex Gold Card and I got the email from Amex for offer #3.
    I enrolled for it now. Let’s see what happens…

    @Siddharth, I have emailed you today about setting up Facebook Chatbots for your FB page.
    Would love to hear back from you and would like to collaborate with you about the same.

    Reply
      1. Deepak Kumar

        Thanks Siddharth… Looking forward to having a quick chat with you…

        Reply
  16. Abhinav Mishra

    I received offer#4.
    Any idea when do we get the vouchers tentatively post fulfillment. Wanted to check if I can plan something around the new years eve with these.

    Reply
  17. Harshal

    Minor correction in Point No. 11 above.
    The fulfillment date should be 29 Feb 2020.

    Reply
  18. AB

    Mine is offer 4 on platinum travel card. I am holding platinum travel card and mrcc as companion and gold charge card also. Last year i have received offer on gold charge card and this year on platinum travel card. Last month i have renewed membership for platinum travel card and this time also they waived off charges. Now it is going to be double dip .

    Reply
  19. MB

    I have met the (highest slab) offer every year. Last year, I forgot to register but did the 4L+ spends in the promo period. Called up customer care. They said they will take care of it. Then they backtracked. This year, I am not eligible!!! LoL.
    Amex stooping to new lows it seems ๐Ÿ˜›

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Don’t forget to call and ask for escalation. If there are enough calls to get attention, Amex may re-consider their decision.

      It works at times, just like how Indusind relaxed their reward points over credit limit rule now for Diwali ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
      1. HG

        True, Amex was very kind to reconsider my request of re-evaluation of the Summer Travel offer that was running during Feb-Apr. Although I made the spends of 4L+ during the offer period, there was a small asterisk which I didn’t pay heed – Merchant should claim the transaction during offer period. Although this point is meaningless, what happens on the other end is between the bank and merchant and we should not be worried about it. This ideally means any spends on last day of the offer period, if claimed by merchant on next day won’t be counted, which is what I had missed.

        Reply
  20. Mohit Jain

    1) I got offer #3 on my Gold Card. Enrollment confirmation email received. I checked with the customer care about the eligible spends. She said ,” Anything and everything qualifies”. Easy Peasy
    2) Marriott Bonvoy rejected my bonus points conversion request for 1:1.5 points . Amex is currently investigating the case.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      #2 Marriott Bonvoy has nothing to do here. Amex will transfer the bonus as mentioned.

      Reply
  21. Amex Guy

    I got the offer for my Plat. 20K voucher on 4L. For Plats, the spending till 31st December will be counted, unlike 30th November for other cards.

    The terms and conditions say the following:

    โ€œThe offer is applicable for only select American Expressยฎ Platinum Cardmembers. A Cardmember is eligible for this offer only if he/she has received an offer communication directly from American Express through any of its channels.โ€

    So they are sending separate offers to Plat and Cents.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Cool. Any idea about the top tier offer on Plat/Cent?

      Reply
  22. Mouli

    All those who didn’t get the Amex Diwali offer, Plz raise the same with Amex through Calls,email and in twitter so that they will take it seriously and wont repeat the same. I have already raised it with Amex

    Reply
    1. SH

      Already done. They called and said that they will check with their concerned team and get back. I don’t expect any action for this Diwali. But the post from Mr Himashu below sheds some light: the key is spending pattern. My interpretation of that is if you have more spends for travel and life-style based expenses you are more likely to get these offers. As for me, after I got the Citi Prestige I moved a lot of my expenses to that card and the DCB 10X and SmartBuy are too sweet to let go. May be I over did it a bit..:-)

      Reply
      1. Neo

        Hi SH,
        I dont think there is any set logic in who gets the offer & who doesn’t. I exhausted the 4L of Plat travel & till date haven’t touched the card after that. I use the MRCC & Gold Charge combined for exactly 10K a month ( and its all PayTM wallet load). Today i received Offer # 3 when i logged in to my account.
        Like yourself, all my other spends are on Prestige & DCB. And i dont see myself putting that expense on Amex.

        Reply
      2. ANI

        I don’t think it’s spend base, it can be reverse also, if you spend more on monthly why should they offer voucher for normal spending? I believe these offers are targeted to increase the spending in festival times… I have spend around 18 lac with in 6 months of receipt of Amex platinum card not all at one time but MONTHLY basis , but I have not recieved any offer so my assumption is there are various ways they study a customer spend / rewards behaviours. Since I didn’t got the Diwali offer I decided to do a small change in my style, these two months I won’t spend anything in platinum. Morever when we closely evaluate the Amex plat card benefit with the kind of spending a person makes, I feel that the return is not at all matching.

        Reply
  23. Himanshu

    I received the following response from Amex regarding the offer:

    Thank you so much for showing interest in our spend based festive offer and I would like to inform you that such offers are curated for select Card Members basis on their nature of spending patterns. If you did not receive it then it’s possible that you receive it after some time. You can enrol for it only if you receive an email from our Marketing Team.

    Further, I can understand your concern regarding this and would like to inform you that we have a dedicated team which manages these services and they’ll be able to help you with the offer.

    You can call our dedicated team at 1800 419 1120* (09:00 am to 09:00 pm, Monday to Saturday) or at 91-124-2801111 (from overseas).

    Reply
  24. kumar

    I did not receive email from Amex on this festive spend offer. But when I logged into my Amex credit card account, pop up came regarding this. I was not able to register, due to server error. So I called customer care and explained. They verified and confirmed that I am eligible for offer #3 and they registered on my behalf. Really appreciate Amex customer care. They are always polite.

    Just wanted to share you all. This might be helpful to someone who did not receive email…

    Reply
  25. Harsh Jain

    Havnt got any offer, which is kinda ridiculous because i got 3 cards, Platinum Travel, Gold MRCC and Gold Charge card.

    Total spend for past 1 yr is well above 30lakhs :/

    Reply
    1. Neo

      I have the same combo & didn’t get any mail. However, when i logged into my account, an offer popped out.
      Maybe that works for you too ?

      ~Neo

      Reply
      1. MAA-traveler

        @ Neo and Harsh Jain,
        What is the total annual fee that you pay for holding Plat Travel, MRCC and Gold Charge card?

        Reply
        1. Neo

          Plat Travel & MRCC – 0 ( referral online) , for Gold i think it was 1000 Rs.
          Plat Travel 12 months are up so gearing up to negotiate the fee ๐Ÿ˜›
          If amex lounges arent a big concern, then I think these 3 are the fastest combination to rack up MR points. In fact the Gold Charge + MRCC is a lovely combo of 2k points every month on a spend of 10K.

          ~Neo

          Reply
          1. Harsh Jain

            @MAA-travler

            I pay usually no fees due to high turnover.

            @Neo no it didnt, i called them today and even now they are like no offer.

  26. Amit

    Few people are complaining about 2 month validity issue, I have a small trick.
    You can add your vochers to woohoo app and check validity most likely it’ll be more than 2 months.
    I tested and verified with spicejet vouchers where they says validity is 6 months and woohoo app showed me around 6 month validity and i was able to book flight on 8th month.

    Reply
  27. SH

    Finally got the offer. It is on my Plat. Spend 7 lac between 1-Oct and 31-Dec and get 35k ATO voucher. Donโ€™t know whether it is blessing, a curse, or a farce ๐Ÿ˜€

    Reply
  28. Abhijeet

    I think there is a glitch with the link to enrol as i have received 2 diff offer links for 2 diff cards but i could enrol with one for both the cards. it was #4 & #2 but was able to enrol both with #4……

    Reply
  29. Points Pandit

    Didn’t receive the offer last year on Gold Credit Card last year. This year also didn’t get any offer on any of my Amex (Gold/Plat Travel). Called Amex and asked them to cancel all my cards after transferring all my MR points to Bonvoy. Also, I had referred 6 customers so far to Amex this year.

    They enrolled me within 1 day. ๐Ÿ˜€

    Reply
    1. Ruhul Laskar

      Do you pay any annual fee against those cards or are they lifetime free or companion cards?

      Reply
  30. Vish

    Didn’t get an offer in my platinum charge card, I spend 5-6 Lakh monthly, This is crazy ๐Ÿ˜€

    Reply
  31. Ankit

    Hi
    I hold Plat charge and on contacting the customer care I was informed that the offers are individually targeted according to swiping pasterns. Not all Plat Charge customers are auto enrolled. He told to wait for the offer email.

    Reply
  32. Anish

    Sad. Holding platinum charge card, platinum reserve and membership rewards card but did not receive any email regarding the offer.

    Reply
    1. Bhavin Shah

      Log in to your card account you will find the offer. I never receive any mail from Amex but it is either available on web or you will find it when u call customer care

      Reply
  33. nikhil

    I hold three cards Plat Travel, AMEX GOLD Charge and Rewards MRCC. My spend is well above 50 lacs this year and sad to know not a single email on the festival offers! Disappointed with AMEX and already emailed the customer service head escalating the same.

    Reply
  34. Arun12

    Amex has been playing super smart with these offers. So my membership year started in the third week of September and I had already spend 2.5 lacs on my Platinum Travel the September last week. They gave me offer #2. I am not sure if I will be using my card for such a value soon. Another thing is I can try to double dip so that I can reach the 4 lac milestone and get the 8,000 worth of voucher. Let’s see. I so wish if they could have taken into account statement level spends.

    Reply
  35. SATENDRA SHARMA

    I also have not received the offer this diwai ๐Ÿ™
    Amex cc says that i have enjoyed many vouchers in past years :), that may be the reason why i am not receiving these offers for this diwali.

    Reply
  36. Avinash Bikumalla

    Sad. Holding Gold charge and membership rewards card but did not receive an email regarding the offer. I spoke to the customer care and they told I am not eligible. I spend atleast 2 lacs per month and disappointed for not receiving any offer.

    Reply
  37. Kumar

    Did anyone use the Paytm flight voucher that they received? I received voucher on my platinum travel card can i pay the convience fee using my mrcc card. Did anyone try paying visa/MasterCard. Please reply if anyone booked the flights

    Reply
  38. Kumar

    Did anyone tried booking flights with different amex or Visa/ MasterCard card other than targeted amex card. I want to use my visa or another amex mrcc card. I received the offer on platinum travel. I received 8000 Paytm flight voucher

    Reply
  39. Rakesh

    Expiry for the Hotel vouchers is 30 April, anyone tried contacting Amex and asked for extension due to current situation ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Was said that they’re very well aware of it and a communication reg. the same should come shortly, as no one knows how long the situation is expected to continue.

      Reply
      1. SH

        They will extend. Here is a mail from them in this regard:

        Dear Mr. [SH],

        This is with reference to your email dated March 16, 2020 regarding your American Express Card Account **** ****** ***** and our subsequent discussion regarding the same.

        To begin with, we thank you for your time over the phone discussing matters related to your Card account.

        Further to our discussion, we would request you to check the revalidation of the ATO vouchers near to your travel we will be happy to review and assist you on the real time basis.

        Your patronage as our Card Member is valued at American Express and we look forward to your continuous support.

        Reply
        1. Praveen Katiyar

          Received a SMS today(07/04/2020) that Validity of my Voucher is being extended from 30 April to 31 May.
          Others will also receive that.

          Reply
          1. MT

            for unused vouchers , extended till 31 may , if you already used the voucher, no extension

      2. Rakesh

        Thanks Sid, I would better ask them before even they send out the comm for everyone !

        Reply
  40. Rakesh

    Got an update via sms from Amex :

    Dear Cardmember, the validity of your existing American Express Domestic Travel Hotel Stay Voucher (received on reaching your spend target during the offer period, 1 October, 2019 to 30 November, 2019) has been extended from 30 April, 2020 to 31 May, 2020. This is only applicable for vouchers which are not used. Thank you. T&C apply.

    Reply
  41. Xeon XP

    Dear MT,

    Just a quick question. I received the communication in the month of may that this is extended till 31st of August. I was wondering if I need to write to tame to get it further extended as in your case. Please can you help me with email id.

    Reply

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