The American Express Platinum Card has been regaling us with free stuff for the past year or so, and the good times just keep on rolling.
Following on from $250 and $200 in free groceries in late 2020 and early 2021, respectively, the Platinum Card is now adding a $175 statement credit on select dining locations in Canada and internationally, valid between September 1 and December 31, 2021.
$175 in Free Meals
The offer is valid at a collection of higher-end restaurants across Canada, the US, and a handful of other countries and territories. You can find the full list on the American Express website.
Any purchases made at these restaurants will earn a statement credit of equivalent value, up to a maximum of $175 in total credits across each Platinum Card. The offer is valid until December 31, 2021.
Since the offer is based on your cumulative purchases at participating restaurants, you don’t have to spend $175 in one go (even though you probably will if you’re patronizing some of the more expensive locations on the list).
Similarly, if your dining bill comes to more than $175, you’ll only get a single $175 credit. If there are multiple Platinum cardholders among your party, it would certainly make sense to split the bill accordingly.
The terms and conditions of the offer do specify that the credits will be applied to your account “within 90 days after 31/12/2021”. However, in practice, they should show up within a few business days of competing your purchase.
List of Eligible Restaurants
Browsing through the list of restaurants, I’m particularly looking forward to trying out some of New York’s impressive collection of eligible locations on an upcoming trip, as well as revisiting some old favourites like Pai Restaurant when I pass through Toronto later this month.
I’d also like to revisit Damas in Montreal if I get a chance, with fond memories of our last meal in town before Montreal’s October 2020 lockdown went into place.
Here in Vancouver, I’m happy to have a wide selection of restaurants to choose from as we plan out our gastronomic adventures for the rest of the year. I’m thinking of spending some of our credits at Boulevard or Coast, having already enjoyed a meal at Blue Water Cafe recently for which a $175 credit would’ve certainly helped with the bill.
Certainly, Canadians who aren’t based in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, or Calgary’s metropolitan areas may feel a little hard done by, as there aren’t any eligible restaurants outside of our four largest cities. To take advantage of the statement credit, you’d have to make a trip out of it, or plan your dinner reservations so that they line up with existing trips.
If you’re travelling to Europe or Mexico this year, you’ll also want to look up the fairly wide selection of restaurants at your destination where you’d be eligible to earn $175 back.
I’ve been tinkering with the possibility of flying Frankfurt–Mexico City on Lufthansa First Class in light of the US’s ongoing ban on passengers coming from Europe, so these statement credits might just sway me into pursuing that itinerary and slotting in a dining experience at Pujol.
And lastly, if you don’t have immediate plans to dine at a participating restaurant before the end of the year, you can always purchase a gift card from an establishment that sells them and bank some future meals, too.
Also: 25–40% Off Tap Purchases (Targeted)
Simultaneously to the Platinum Card’s $175 dining offer, American Express has also rolled out a few targeted offers for 25–40% discounts on contactless transactions, whether you’re tapping to pay or using a mobile wallet like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay.
There are two such offers floating around on all types of products. Personally, I’m seeing them on my Business Platinum Card and Aeroplan Card:
- Spend $20, Get $5, Up to 5 times, for a total of $25 in statement credits on $100 of purchases
- Spend $5, Get $2, Up to 10 times, for a total of $20 in statement credits on $50 of purchases
There is a registration cap of 50,000 and 20,000 on the two offers, respectively, so if you see them on your accounts, be sure to register as soon as possible.
These offers are pretty straightforward – register, carry the card in your wallet, and use them to tap for purchases until you’ve maximized the credits.
Conclusion
The American Express Platinum Card has rolled out its latest lump-sum statement credit to the tune of $175 towards dining at eligible higher-end restaurants.
There’s a wide selection of eateries in major Canadian cities and across select locations in North America, Europe, and Asia, so you should have no trouble making full use of the $175 dining credits before the end of the year.
Where do you plan on spending your $175 dining credit? Which restaurants are calling your name? Let’s get some inspiration going in the comments.
So dined at Arc restaurant in Vancouver and Minami . Got credit at Minami but as Arc (which is on the list on the website ) posted as the Fairmont hotel I didn’t receive the credit . Chatted through the app and got a canned response that hotel restaurants are not eligible, even though I directed them to the promo website . Called and told to wait 90 days . Saw on Red Flag Deals others who dined at Arc has similar issues.
I dined at the ARC restaurant in Vancouver, for $200, at the beginning of September to take advantage of the offer loaded onto my platinum card. But the $175 credit still has not shown up, after more than four months. I contacted AE twice since, and both time they told me to keep waiting until after the 90 days. Is this sort of long wait expected?
Hi, I had the exact same issue and was told when I first called that the restaurant has to be in the same country as the country where your credit card was issued. When I argued with them that nowhere in the terms and conditions does it state this to be the case, I had to receive a call back from a supervisor a few days later who argued the same. The supervisor then emailed the marketing team who promptly took down the list of restaurants. Their argument was that if you click on “click here” for the list of eligible restaurants it populates by default the country in which your card was issued and only those restaurants are eligible. I argued back that you can choose any country on that page so why would that make the other restaurants ineligible. In short they conceded I was correct, gave me the credit and removed the link to the restaurants. I strongly suggest escalating.
Same issue for many who dined at Arc. Have them escalate it if you can . Some on red flag deals reported after escalating it was resolved promptly .
I dined at one of the restos and got the credit within 48hrs; my wife bought a GC online as a last minute resort and didn’t receive it; called them and was told that the online GC purchase won’t be eligible, but funny how the trxn was posted as just the restaurant name and didn’t mention any 3rd party or GC purchase. Looks like the only way to circumvent it is to actually go to the restaurant and buy the GC on their Moneris terminal
HI,
In Montreal, out of 3 of the 4 (175 offer $) are close because of covid. My reservation was canceled so at last, Damas is ‘still’ open for takeout, order for 190 $ today 26 dec.
Ouf ! I’am sure that Amex, won’t extend that offer because of covid (end 31/12/2021) even if all restaurants close before the end of the month.
Question: does the tip count for the 175 $ crédit ?
Hrm, I got the offer so dined out at two of the listed restaurants… I got the statement credit for the first resto very soon after the charge (~$75), but have not (yet?) been credited for the second (~$100) — it’s been about 2.5 weeks since the charge.
Not really looking forward to waiting 90 days to see the credit!
Has anybody else dined out at 2 places and received credit for both?
OK, so about a month after, the 2nd credit finally came through. To confirm, I did get credit for dining at 2 places, but there may be a delay.
Does anyone know if this works on takeout orders when processed by another company (ie if order through ritual app, it typically shows up as Ritual-restaurant on the statement so not sure credit would come through/does AMEX know it was from a qualifying restaurant)? thanks for any data points
Hi folks,
i know Ricky had mentioned this within the post – buying a gift card and getting the credit…wondering if someone has succesfully tried? I love amex and by no means am i trying to abuse or go against T&C….however, next Monday starts the mandatory epassport to enter restaurants and as such, i wont be able…by the time it is ower, the promo will be expired (Dec 31)…appreciate all you Ricky and your team do! Mark.
One restaurant in Calgary, none in Edmonton. AMEX is treating Albertans like the Federal government does.
What a great perk! Brings down the AF to a reasonable amount with Shop Small and perhaps more perks to come. Really contemplating keeping this into month 14 to get the 30k.
Any suggestions for a high end restaurant to try in Toronto?
Quite possible Ricky. I have had my Platinum card for about 6 weeks. Maybe I need to “mature” the card a bit. I will enjoy the $2 tap bonus though.
Just as a data point, I had opened the personal platinum account on July 10, and able to see the offer, also there’s one more offer (rather useless) of hotel x Toronto popped on the offers list today.
i dont have the 175 offer on my account.
i cant seem to find the 175 dollar offer on my account. what should I do.
Agree with Chief. My wife’s personal platinum received the $175 offer but not the tap one. Her Cobalt card got the tap offer though ($5 on $20). Interestingly, the same Cobalt got another offer of $10 back on $50 cumulative spends on food delivery/pick-up transactions made on Skip/Ritual/Eats, potentially allows us to double dip into these credits for our food orders in the next two months!
My Aeroplan didn’t get the tap offer but my Business Marriott got the same tap offer as my wife.
Also, now would be a nice time to maximize the $175 credit until Sept 23 to stack it up with 10x additional MR points on eats and drinks offer from June 23 that expires on Sept 23. If you maximize these two, you’ll get $175 worth of free food plus 1750 AMEX MR points worth $36.75 per Ricky’s valuation. Not a bad deal at all!
Great input Dhiraj – I’ll add that tidbit about stacking with 10x to the article.
Same situation as Chief. Oh well, I didn’t recognize too many of the restaurants on the list anyway. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
I think both these Platinum offers are targeted – I received the tap one, but not the restaurant one.
How long has it been since you opened the Platinum Card? Offers do take some time to start filtering through in the first couple of months since opening, and this seems to vary by offer, so could that be it?
My girlfriend opened her card around the end of July, 2 weeks after mine, I got the offer and she didn’t get it yet.