By
Patrick Sojka - CEO Rewards Canada | Posted Oct 25, 10
At
the beginning of October American Express Canada re-launched their American
Express Gold Rewards Card. This reincarnation of American Express' flagship
charge card takes the best features of its competitors and puts them into one
package. The card falls into the hybrid travel rewards card category which means
you have the option of using the points for any travel booking or you can choose
to convert the points to frequent flyer miles and frequent guest points. Overview
The American Express Gold Rewards Card provides an excellent insurance
and benefit package that is similar to its primary competitors. The card features
a good earning ratio that meets and in some cases exceeds other hybrid and travel
points cards like TD's First Class Infinite Visa and RBC Infinite Visa Avion because
of the double points earned on certain everyday spending. It has an industry average
sign up bonus and is fee free for the primary and all supplementary cards in the
first year.
Costs The
American Express Gold Rewards Card comes with a $150 primary card annual
fee that may seem higher then its competitors but the first supplementary card
is free in comparison to the $50 or so seen on other cards. A nice benefit is
that the $150 annual fee is waived in the first year of membership. The card offers
a 15,000 Membership Rewards point welcome bonus when the new Cardmember spends
$500 in the first three months. Additional cards over and above the first free
one are $50 (although once again this fee is waived in the first year) which is
roughly the same as many of the card's competitors. Since the Gold Rewards Card
is a charge card it technically does not have an interest rate like its credit
card competitors but should the cardholder miss a payment or not pay off the balance
American Express charges a 30% non-revolving annual interest
rate.
Earning The American
Express Gold Rewards Card earns 2 Membership Rewards points for every dollar
spent on the card for travel, grocery, drug store and gas station purchases. For
all other purchases the card earns 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar spent.
Redeeming On the redemption side, the Membership
Rewards points earned with the American Express Gold Rewards Card can be
redeemed for any travel from any provider or they can be converted to frequent
flyer miles and frequent guest points. The first option which American Express
calls TripFlex, allows the Cardmember to book any travel from any provider they
want, be it a travel agency, online booking engine or directly from an airline,
hotel, train, car rental company and more and then then call Amex to redeem their
Membership Rewards points against the charge on their statement. The rate of redemption
for the TripFlex option is 1,000 points for a $10 credit with a minimum redemption
of 1,000 points. Cardmembers have up to 12 months from the date of travel purchase
to redeem points and can use them to pay for only part of the purchase should
they choose. The second option of this hybrid card is to convert the Membership
Rewards points for frequent flyer miles or frequent guest points. For most Canadians
their primary frequent flyer program is Aeroplan and this card offers a 1 to 1
redemption rate on conversions to Aeroplan. Other airline offered are Alitalia
MilleMiglia, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, and Delta
SkyMiles. For all of these other airlines 1,000 Membership Rewards points will
net 750 miles in the respective program. For hotel programs, cardmembers can convert
to three frequent guest programs: InterContinental Hotels Priority Club (1,000
MR points = 800 Priority Club points), Hilton HHonors (1,000 MR points = 900 HHonors
points) and Starwood Preferred Guest (1,000 MR points = 500 Star points). Beyond
these two main redemption options Membership Rewards points can also be redeemed
for American Express Travellers Cheques, gift cards and merchandise.
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Features
and Benefits As stated above the American
Express Gold Rewards Card comes with
an insurance package that competes with all the other high end cards.
The card features your standard travel accident, baggage and car rental insurance
that are found on almost all fee based rewards cards but it also includes some
that are only found on a few select cards.These include, trip interruption
insurance, hotel/motel burglary insurance and travel medical insurance
The card also American Express' Front of the Line Service which provides advanced
ticket and reserved ticket access to some of Canada's most popular events.
What
is good about this card The earning ability of 2 points per dollar
for travel, gas, grocery and drug store spend means that cardmembers, particularly
those who travel a lot, will be able to earn points at a much faster rate then
many of this cards competitors. Being totally fee free the first year is a nice
perk and by not charging for the first supplementary card each year thereafter
actually makes this card cheaper to own over other cards. With a one to one redemption
to Aeroplan, the card is also one of the highest earning Aeroplan cards on the
market when you take into account the 2 points per dollar feature. A good insurance
and benefit package means the cardholder is well covered when travelling in Canada
or abroad.
What is not so good
about this card There are only a couple of minor details
which may keep some people from getting this card. The first is that it is a charge
card, for anyone who runs a balance, this card is not for them as the balance
has to be paid off every month. Second, some may say that American Express is
not widely accepted like its competitors and while
this may be true the current trend has more and more merchants accepting American
Express everyday. Third, for some people who travel a lot, the lack of Trip Cancellation
insurance may push them to a card that offers this benefit and the peace of mind
should they get sick, have a death in the family or lose their employment.
Conclusion By combining the best features from many of its competitors,
the American
Express Gold Rewards Card as a whole is a great card. I have
had the card in my wallet for a little over two weeks at the time of writing as
I was asked by American Express to test drive the card*. I have used the card
quite a bit, particularly on gas and grocery spending and plan on continuing to
use it as it will replace for my American Express Blue Sky credit card. The card
will definitely shake up our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings for 2011
in the Hybrid card category. The higher earning ability, the vast redemption options
including the ability to book travel yourself and a nice benefit package make
this an above average card in the Canadian travel rewards credit card market.
We would like to hear your thoughts on the new American
Express Gold Rewards Card by commenting on our blog!
At
the beginning of October American Express Canada re-launched their American
Express Gold Rewards Card. This reincarnation of American Express' flagship
charge card takes the best features of its competitors and puts them into one
package. The card falls into the hybrid travel rewards card category which means
you have the option of using the points for any travel booking or you can choose
to convert the points to frequent flyer miles and frequent guest points.
