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How many Centurion cards are there?

1/4/2017

9 Comments

 
​After all, the Centurion card in particular has built a reputation for luxury and wealth.
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Centurion and Platinum Card Members have unlimited access to the AMEX Lounge at Sydney International Airport.
From time to time, an article will appear on news websites about the secrets to the American Express Centurion Card. American Express continues to maintain this card as one for the elite spender, whose identity is fashioned off a notion of card holder members who are frequent travellers, affluent globalists and life explorers.

It maintains this identity by sending Centurion and Platinum card members with special magazines, a benefit that is not advertised or even widely lauded, even among card enthusiasts. It is after all just a magazine... but one that shapes perceptions among card holders themselves about having the card, and secondly shaping the brand associations an elite cardholder would naturally associate with, right?
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Departures is a benefit exclusive to the Platinum Card.
Journal International Experience GmbH is the international publisher of the flagship magazines, Centurion for Centurion Black Card holders, and Departures for Platinum Card holders. In the United States, Time Inc. acquired American Express Publishing Corporation in 2013. Time Inc. and still publishes Departures, Black Ink and Executive Travel.

Here's the stats on what is known. Circulation figures for 2017 suggest that outside the U.S., there are about 400,000 Platinum Cards, and 84,000 Centurion Cards.
Centurion
​Europe & Middle East - 43,300 
Asia - 18,000
Japan - 7,500
Pacific - 6,000
Latin America - 9,500
​Total - 84,300
​Platinum
​Europe & Middle East - 199,800
Asia - 34,400
Japan - 84,000
Pacific - 26,000
Latin America - 53,000
​Total - 397,000
Source: Journal International Experience GmbH, ​CENTURION & DEPARTURES Media Kit 2017
In the United States, TimeInc reports that American Express Platinum Card and Centurion membership has increased 23% since 2010. In its 2016 Annual Report, American Express acquired ten million new proprietary card holders and grew card spending by 8 percent. There are probably up to 20,000 Centurion Card holders in the United States, with the remaining 84,300 in international markets (as described above).

So then, if card acquisitions are growing, why aren’t they growing astronomically for the Platinum Card and the Centurion Card?
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It's about making a statement when it comes to luxury.
In luxury marketing, Vincent Bastien explains that, ‘the function of luxury brands is to create dreams, not to answer to problems and needs.’ The relative obscurity of even elite cards like the Platinum Card and the Centurion perhaps shows that the growth in American Express cardholders and spending are those being acquired at entry level. If a brand or card is too commonplace, it’s just not seen as exclusive and not as appealing to the wealthy.

After all, the Centurion card in particular has built a reputation for luxury and wealth. Liu Yiqian, the billionaire art collector and entrepreneur bought an Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude on his Centurion Card for $170 million USD in 2015, with enough points to travel first class on any airlines for the rest of his life. 

A key takeaway when analysing American Express is how an individual identifies with the product itself. People use luxury items as a statement of their own identity . Between the value-hunters and the status-aspirants, I probably straddle somewhere in between.

Wiedmann, K.P., Hennigs, N. and Siebels, A., 2009. Value‐based segmentation of luxury consumption behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 26(7), pp.625-651.
9 Comments
arosan
6/1/2022 01:52:26 am

As a Centurion cardholder of 22 years, I finally gave up my Centurion membership.

I think your reader should know about the changes to Centurion and the feelings of a long standing cardholder.

As a loyal Amex customer since 1988, I worked hard to help the team at Centurion understand how appalling their customer service had become, how untrained their agents were, and how their new team structure vs dedicated contacts has led to booking errors, mistakes, and the general feeling one gets when calling a remote call center that knows nothing about you.

This is everything Centurion claims it is not.

You can try to talk to senior team members at Amex but you will get no response. They simply don’t care.

I finally spoke at length with a very sweet and nice “executive customer service” team member I had spoken to a year ago when things started going off the rails and she promised me that she would discuss my issues with “management”, but in the end was given the run around with the obligatory “I’m so sorry we can’t meet your needs and that we are losing you."

I personally was mentored and coached for years by an old leader of American Express named Alan Loren. He would be turning in his grave if he knew how terrible the Centurion product had become. He was a believer in the customer experience and in those days management was willing to speak directly to a customer to understand their concerns. No longer :(

AEXP happily lost me as a Centurion customer after 22 years, without doing anything to try to make amends for the terrible service received.

Here are some of the shortfalls anyone should know before considering this card:

- Multiple booking errors leading to problems with travel, lost seats, lost flights, etc.

- Multiple times I received no call back from an agent I had spoken to at length and literally no way to get back in touch with them, since there is no longer a personal point of contact for Centurion members (just a large team who often isn’t available anyways and then your call goes into a pool). Centurion has become a faceless, nameless call center experience.

- There’s been a dramatic elimination of historical benefits, personalized events, and special perks - only to be replaced by a complicated grouping of “experiences”, which quickly become unavailable anyway - “Oh sorry”, they say on the same morning an event becomes available for booking, “the event you want isn't available anymore We can put you on a waitlist”. They should be ashamed of this new experience program.

- Gone is Hyatt, United, Hertz and other airline and hotel programs where premium status was afforded.

- When booking flights, almost always, the travel team couldn’t even find the same rates I could find online. I literally booked 5 business class seats to Turkey last summer for 1/2 the cost they quoted. When I pointed it out and showed them, they simply said they couldn’t get the same rates - baffling, as they are supposed to be the experts. They don’t even take the time to shop, offer creative suggestions that any pro would offer, or even understand or know the properties and routes they are quoting. Its very robotic

- When trying to book a difficult restaurant reservation through the “concierge” they called back a day later saying that nothing was available, but when I called the restaurant right afterwards, they gave me a table.

Their concierges can’t even get what any normal person can get, making you wonder why they are even there. It’s become better to simply do things yourself vs working with the Centurion team.

- Wait times to call in are long. I guess thats a global problem now, but you would think for Centurion members you wouldn't have to wait 15-20 minutes to speak to someone. It seems they simply don’t care and Centurion cardholders are treated like everyone else. There is no more special treatment or special feeling.

Which begs the question - what is one paying $5000 for each year? Do they even really want to have this card offering anymore? Do they still care about the customer experience or is it just about the bottom line? Do they even consider customer Customer Lifetime Value anymore?

There are so many more examples of terrible service, whittled down options comparable to Platinum and many more instances of a lack of travel knowledge by their team.

It seems Amex has given up on their Centurion cardholders, many of whom are their most loyal supporters and brand ambassadors. I feel given up on and am saddened by what has become of this iconic card.

Reply
Lee
3/7/2022 04:15:00 am

I am also Centurion and totally agree. I am thinking very hard about giving it up. Where are the wonderful coupon gifts we had at stores? I asked for a comparison to Platinum in writing and saw Platinum has most of the perks Black card has. It is hard to understand

Reply
Francis
13/8/2022 11:34:51 pm

I have held an AMEX card since 1968 after being denied one twice for not having sufficient income. When the Gold was introduced you had to be invited and I was in 1974. Presenting this card brought respect and service at all stores that accepted the card. In 1994 Amex “invited” be to accept the platinum card. Just showing the card at a 5 star restaurant brought the best table while others that came before me were still standing in line. And then the Platinum was thrown “open”. About 10 years ago my gardener showed me his Platinum card. Being an Amex card holder for 55 years and carrying the Platinum for over 25, does it bring me the respect that it once brought. Even the Departure magazine which I looked forward to no longer exists. It’s gone virtual. The ONLY thing that retains my membership is the date 1968, which is 10 years after AMEX started issuing a credit card.

Reply
RCB
21/8/2022 05:03:52 am

I absolutely agree 100% with this above comment.

As a Centurion card holder for almost a decade, I can say without a doubt that the above comment is true.

They are so out of touch with their customer base now; we want point of contact service and chain of responsibility. Not “ lifestyle events”, new card art etc. I want to pick up the phone again and get access to my account manager that knows me, knows my travel, knows my preferences. That’s what Centurion was about. It has now morphed into a quagmire of open table, TripAdvisor and google searches by someone who doesn’t know you, know your preferences or probably even care etc. I agree with the comments on restaurant reservations, flights etc.

Reply
Brie
10/1/2022 11:59:45 am

I have had the same experience with the Platinum card.
They out sourced travel to Expedia??
I will be cancelling my card after 20 years.

Reply
Roseville Countertops link
24/7/2022 01:55:37 pm

Thanks for this!

Reply
Chuck
9/8/2022 07:36:22 pm

I think your all pampered babies

Reply
Mark
21/12/2022 02:31:57 pm

I agree pampered. Black card status gets you 5 star service in restaurants and hotels once it’s presented. if you frequent those places, you’ll always get first class service.
if you need a concierge desk to book your tickets, concerts, etc. you can’t do it by yourself ahead of time then give your card up and just forget about it
Cheers

Reply
chase sapphire reserve card holder
6/12/2022 11:07:08 am

Get the Chase Sapphire Reserve instead, be like the rest of us.

Reply



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