I bit the bullet today and ordered my card. Will be in Tuesday. The main reason? Taxes. Money my business does not spend will roughly belong 45% to Uncle Sam as of tomorrow night. That makes the fees much more acceptable and means the savings don’t have to be that great to pay for itself. 55% of 5000 is under 3K.

It takes just a couple trips for perks to add up to 3K. My wife figured that a centurion card on a family trip/ convention trip from Raleigh to Nashville last year would have been worth almost 2K. That’s hardly big league international travel.

Also, image is important in most professions and businesses. If this card impresses just one key person per year, it will more than pay for itself for almost any business or professional person. That, plus the tax deductibility, more than the perks, are the cost-benefit analyses I have made in getting it. Time will tell whether I decide it is worth it. I guess I will have a year to observe reaction to the card.

BTW: did transaction by phone. Been AMEX member for about 18 years. Platinum member for maybe 5. Run about 500-600K per year thru AMEX for the business. No applications or financial statements needed. We were on the invite list but it is true that now it is open to applicants who meet the 250K per year expenditures on AMEX. I do not think it is as common as many on this board have indicated. My banker had never even seen one as of a few months ago.

-New Year 06/07 my partner and I were in Thailand when the bombings happened in Bangkok. First thing the next morning before we knew anything about it Someone from Amex Centurion was on the phone checking we were OK and did we want to be immediately evacuated.. Wow!

Travel service used to be great and I had 2 wonderful agents over 3 years, Now there is no consistency and I seem to get a different person each time I contact them. With Internet travel so easy and often with better rates Centurion is certainly going to have to offer something very special in this area to compete in the future. I am not using this service as I did in the Past.

Centurion has got us into some of the best impossible to get into restaurants worldwide at little notice. As a Food and Wine Fan, This alone to me is worth the fee.

I think the travel insurance provided is a waste of time, Amex outsourses this and service provided during the 1 claim I made was very poor. The drama involved in claiming is not worth the effort.

The upgrades and recognition from hotels booked thru The Travel Service in most cases is fantastic and another perk worth the fee.

Overall I’m keeping mine!!

With a global recession potentially pending - the consumer is king, let your fingers do the walking/talking

As I think over the six years of $2,050 I’ve paid for the Centurion Card ($12,300) instead of the Platinum, I’m thinking what a poor choice I made - the card is simply not worth the additional money when the Platinum Card offers every service I currently utilize.

Probably hi-end establishment might recognise it……
but if you are already shopping in hi-end establishment.. your cash smells good to them no matter what card you use.

I think it’s really shallow that a card can show any status..