Amex Platinum Hikes Annual Fee by $200, Unveils New Credits and Perks Worth Over $1,000
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Written by
Katherine Fan
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Edited by
Jasmin Baron
Just three short months after being dethroned by the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, The Platinum Card® from American Express, an advertising partner, is once again the most expensive mainstream travel rewards card in the US.
The distinctive Amex Platinum now costs a record $895 — nearly double what it cost just eight years ago. In return, new and continuing cardholders get even more statement credits for purchases with popular brands like Lululemon, Resy and Oura: a grand total of more than $3,500 in annual value, for those who are counting.
Here’s what you should know about the 2025 Amex Platinum changes to decide whether it makes sense for your wallet.
New and Improved Benefits of the Amex Platinum Card
Just as before, the Amex Platinum has an elevated welcome offer: You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points after spending $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Here are the updated American Express Platinum benefits, effective Sept. 18, 2025, in exchange for the increased $895 annual fee:
New Amex Platinum Benefits:
Note that enrollment is required for each perk:
- Up to $400 annual dining credit on eligible U.S. Resy purchases (up to $100 per quarter)
- Up to $300 annual U.S. Lululemon credit (up to $75 per quarter)
- Up to $200 annual credit toward the purchase of an Oura ring through ouraring.com (does not apply to subscription fees)
- Up to $120 annual credit toward auto-renewing Uber One membership in the U.S. (in addition to the existing Uber Cash credit)
- Complimentary Leaders Club Sterling Status with Leading Hotels of the World
In addition, the Amex Platinum will be available in a limited-edition mirror card design for new and existing cardholders.
Improved Amex Platinum Benefits:
- Up to $600 annual credit on eligible prepaid stays through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection (up to $300 semi-annually; previously up to $200 annually)
- Up to $300 annual entertainment credit on select streaming subscriptions (up to $25 per month; includes eligible partners such as Paramount+ and YouTube Premium; previously up to $20 per month for up to $240 annually)
As we’ve seen in recent years, premium credit card benefits are moving toward a “coupon book” model that’s widely decried by many cardholders, but is likely here to stay. These perks typically take the form of a sum of credit available to the cardholder each year, doled out in smaller increments throughout the year. Monthly credits are common, while others are offered on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
Many of the Amex Platinum’s new benefits are surprisingly user-friendly for most consumers, as long as you travel a few times a year and dine out once every few months. The $100 quarterly U.S. Resy credit is easy to use for a dinner date or social night out, while the $300 semi-annual hotel credit through Amex Travel is perfect for covering a weekend getaway or a girls’ trip.
Some perks aren’t as useful as others. While Oura rings have become extremely popular for tracking fitness, sleep stats and other health-related metrics, they require an additional subscription to maximize data access: either $5.99 monthly or $69.99 annually. Unfortunately, the new Amex Platinum annual credit only applies to the purchase of new Oura rings and cannot be used to defray the cost of your data subscription.
Existing American Express Platinum Benefits
The Amex Platinum Card already offers a slew of annual benefits, including:
- Up to $200 Uber Cash each year (up to $15 monthly, plus up to $20 bonus in December)
- Up to $200 airline fee credit toward incidental fees from the airline of your choice (from a preselected list of options) (enrollment required)
- Up to $100 Saks Fifth Avenue credit (up to $50 semi-annually) (enrollment required)
- Up to $300 Equinox fitness credit (enrollment required)
- Up to $155 (plus taxes) Walmart+ membership credit (up to $12.95 monthly on eligible plans)
- Up to $209 CLEAR® Plus credit
Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection, travel insurance protections, Marriott and Hilton elite status (enrollment required), and many other core benefits of the Amex Platinum card remain intact as well.
Amex Business Platinum Changes and Updates
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is getting a parallel update with the same new $895 annual fee.
New and enhanced benefits include a much-needed earning boost on eligible business purchases (2 Amex points per dollar vs. 1.5 Amex points per dollar), the same annual credit of up to $600 toward eligible stays booked through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection, additional credits that can be unlocked by spending $250,000 or more on the card each year, and more.
Who Should Get — or Keep — the New Amex Platinum?
The newly updated Amex Platinum has gone from being a travel card to a lifestyle card for people who value prestige and benefits over all else. This sleek metal status symbol is a no-brainer for anyone who’s willing to drop nearly $1,000 a year to enjoy thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury lifestyle benefits.
If you wear Lululemon and Oura to work out at Equinox before dining out with friends at a Resy restaurant, the newest version of the Amex Platinum will make plenty of sense for you, even before factoring airport lounge access before your next vacation to an Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts destination.
On the other hand, the new price point and added benefits don’t make any sense for infrequent travelers, especially those who rarely take Uber rides or without many Resy restaurants nearby. At a daily average cost of $2.45 just for the luxury of flashing this card at checkout (which is lost altogether if you pay with digital wallets like Apple Pay), the Amex Platinum is a difficult indulgence to justify.
Moreover, the Amex Platinum isn’t even the best credit card to use for paying everyday expenses. Despite a generous number of annual statement credits for a plethora of purchases from Uber and Equinox to Spotify and Resy restaurants, the Amex Platinum only earns 1 point per dollar on all purchases beyond a small subset of travel expenses. In comparison, foodies would earn significantly better returns on many other cards, including the popular American Express® Gold Card, an advertising partner and the “little sibling” of the Amex Platinum.
Even frequent travelers will find it hard to justify the new annual fee if they already have overlapping benefits from other premium travel cards or similar programs. For example, I also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, both premium credit cards that come with airport lounge access, including Priority Pass membership. (enrollment required)
The Sapphire Reserve recently increased its annual fee as well, to $795 a year, adding several generous benefits much like the Amex Platinum has. Despite these additions, I and many others who splurged on two or more premium travel credit cards will probably reconsider their strategy this upcoming renewal cycle, opting to downgrade or product-change one or more cards to avoid overlap.
Less than a decade ago, a family of three could easily justify the Amex Platinum’s annual fee of just $450 at the time by weighing the cost of airport food versus Amex lounge access on round-trip family vacations. But these days, a nearly-$900 credit card is more challenging to defend, especially since said lounge access no longer includes guest access for cardholders who spend less than $75,000 a year.
When Do the New Amex Platinum Annual Fees Kick In?
New cardholders who sign up for either version of the Amex Platinum will pay $895 a year as of Sept. 18, 2025. Existing customers will begin paying the updated annual fee at their next renewal anniversary date: on or after Dec. 2, 2025, for Amex Business Platinum cardholders, or on or after Jan. 2, 2026, for consumer Amex Platinum cardholders.
Bottom Line
The changes to the Amex Platinum cards make sense for a select subset of consumers and business owners who are happy to go all-in on Amex. For everyone else, it may be time to look elsewhere for the benefits you seek.
**All information about the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by CardCritics™ Please see issuer site for full details.
