Amex Platinum Card $400 Resy Dining Credit: Suspiciously Easy To Use

Link: Learn more about American Express Platinum Card®

The American Express Platinum Card® (review) has recently undergone a major refresh. With this, we’ve seen the card get an $895 annual fee (Rates & Fees), which is shattering records among premium cards. However, for once, I’d say this card refresh is actually legitimately positive, and I’m having a lot easier of a time justifying the card’s annual fee than in the past, despite the $200 increase.

In particular, I very much appreciate the new credits that have been added. In this post, I’d like to focus specifically on the up to $400 annual Resy credit, since I know there are some questions about the logistics of using this, as it’s (almost) confusingly easy to redeem.

Basics of the Amex Platinum Card $400 Resy credit

While the Amex Platinum Card potentially offers thousands of dollars of credits, there are terms and conditions associated with each of them. I’d argue that one of the easiest perks to maximize is the annual $400 Resy credit. For those not familiar, Resy is a restaurant reservation platform, which has well over 10,000 restaurants nationwide in its portfolio. Amex actually acquired the company in 2019, so it belongs to the card issuer.

The Amex Platinum Card offers up to $400 in Resy credits annually, in the form of a $100 credit each calendar quarter. To give the simple summary upfront, all you have to do is register, use your card at an eligible Resy restaurant, and then you’ll be reimbursed.

There’s no need to reserve your restaurant through Resy, you don’t have to let the restaurant know you’re using your benefit, and there’s nothing else special you have to do. So as long as a restaurant is one of the 10,000+ that belongs to Resy, you’re good. You can even use it for takeout, as long as you’re paying directly with the restaurant.

Now, to share some more specific terms:

• Registration is required prior to using the benefit
• This is only available on the personal version of the card, and not the business version of the card
• Spending by the primary cardmember or authorized users qualifies toward this credit, but there’s only one credit per primary account
• You can receive up to $100 in statement credits each quarter, and that can be based on spending in one or multiple transactions, and you can only be reimbursed as much as you spend
• Eligible Resy purchases include purchases made directly from U.S. restaurants that offer reservations through the Resy website or app
• It can take up to eight weeks for the credit to post to the eligible account, but typically it’ll post much faster than that

When it comes to registering, just log into your online account for the Amex Platinum Card, click on the “Rewards & Benefits” tab, and find the “$400 Resy Credit” section.

There you’ll find all the terms, and you’ll also see the enrollment button. You’ll also receive an email confirming enrollment.

Based on my experiences (and the experience of family members), the credit typically posts in a matter of days.

The Resy credit is worth close to face value, in my opinion

We often refer to some premium cards as “coupon books,” given the number of credits they offer, the hoops you have to jump through to redeem them, and the way they’re broken up. With that in mind, I’ve gotta say, the $400 Resy credit on the Amex Platinum Card is a breath of fresh air, and something I consider to be worth close to face value.

Admittedly all consumers are different, so no credit is going to be valuable for everyone. Like, if you don’t dine out or live in a small town without Resy restaurants, then you might have to go out of your way to maximize it. However, if you dine out with some frequency and live in a major city, I’d say this is worth pretty close to face value.

The way I view it, the major catch with this credit is that the Amex Platinum Card isn’t ordinarily one of the best cards for dining spending, given that that’s not a bonus category for that on the card. So for me, it’s about remembering to use the card once per quarter for a dining purchase.

I get frustrated by this kind of stuff if we’re talking about some super small credit, but for $100, I’m happy to remember to do that. Also keep in mind that if you have a more expensive dining experience, you can typically split your purchase between multiple cards.

Personally, I’d basically view the opportunity cost of this perk as being the rewards I’m forgoing by not earning more than one point per dollar on that dining purchase.

I’m curious about the economics of the $400 Resy credit

Unrelated to the actual value of this perk, I’d be fascinated to know what the economics are of this benefit. A bunch of premium card perks nowadays are merchant funded, which is to say that the merchant covers much of the cost, in exchange for getting access to an affluent consumer base.

In the case of the Amex Platinum Card $400 Resy credit, Resy is owned by Amex, and the credit is being redeemed at any of 10,000+ independent restaurants. My general assumption is that the intent with this perk is twofold:

• To increasingly drive people to using the Resy platform for reservations, since it’s owned by Amex
• To get people to put their dining spending on the Amex Platinum Card more consistently, with the assumption being that if you start using it for dining once per quarter, maybe you’ll start using it more consistently

That being said, $400 per cardmember is a pretty big investment to make on that front. I can’t imagine that individual restaurants are in any way on the hook when these credits are redeemed (or are they?), so I’d be fascinated to know what the accounting on this looks like.

It’s a little different than some sort of a hotel credit, as you see on many cards, where the logic is a little more straightforward — the credit card company gives you a hotel credit, and hopes you’ll book a much more expensive hotel, since they’re acting as an online travel agency, and receive a commission.

Of all of Amex’s credits, the $400 Resy credit is the one that seems most generous and perhaps more costly, in terms of direct funding by Amex and its subsidiaries. I’m curious if others have a different take on that.

Bottom line

The Amex Platinum Card offers thousands of dollars worth of credits, and I’d argue that one of the most valuable is the annual $400 Resy credit. Registration is required, and the credit can be used in increments of $100 quarterly. But beyond that, there really aren’t many hoops to jump through. Just find a participating Resy restaurant, spend money there on your card, and you can receive a statement credit. You don’t even have to book through Resy.

What’s your take on the Amex Platinum Card $400 Resy credit, and what’s your best guess as to the economics?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees).