The American Express Business Platinum Card is an incredibly popular premium card with one of the best all-around offerings for frequent business travelers with lounge access, generous fee credits, elite status with Marriott and Hilton, and an incredible 5x Membership Rewards on airfare spend.
One of the most lucrative benefits of the card has been the Platinum Global WeWork Access. The benefit gives Amex Platinum Business cardholders access to over 300 WeWork locations around the world during local business hours.
Unfortunately, the popular benefit is scheduled to expire at the end of 2020. And American Express has not made any announcement on extending it.
With the Business Platinum Card’s Global Access benefit, cardholders could access hot desks in over 300 WeWork locations around the world including this location in Paris, France. Photo courtesy of WeWork.
What is Amex’s WeWork Platinum Global Access?
With Platinum Global Access, Platinum Business cardholders have an exclusive benefit providing access to over 300 WeWork locations around the world during local business hours.
For frequent road-warriors, the benefit is incredibly valuable especially given that (pre-pandemic) hot desk memberships at a single WeWork location could cost over $500 a month.
The benefit gives Platinum Business cardholders a secure place to set up your laptop and get work done with reliable Wi-Fi and free refreshments. It also gives access to WeWork amenities including phone booths, events, and location-specific benefits such as gyms.
Many road warriors have come to value access to reliable workspaces around the world from WeWork. Unfortunately, this benefit will be discontinued in 2021. Photo courtesy of WeWork.
The Upshot
While WeWork has faced rocky times recently, it’s still the largest company in the coworking sector. Locations around the world make it a reliable oasis for business travelers looking for a place with reliable internet and coffee.
The benefit was originally introduced in 2019 and extended through 2020. Assuming that an extension is not forthcoming, losing it is a massive devaluation for Amex Business Platinum cardholders.
Of course, the card still comes with a rich portfolio of other travel benefits so many cardholders will probably decide it’s worth keeping the card even after the devaluation.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
23 comments
your use of hyperbole is absolutely the worst clickbait of all time (yes, I am being ironic)
It’s only a massive devaluation if you use the benefit, and I strongly suspect *very* few people have used it since March and *very* few people will use it until sometime mid-next year.
I personally have about a dozen friends who regularly use this benefit in normal times. Also know others who have used it to have a consistent, clean workplace to get away from family during WFH. Not sure usage is as rare as you think.
+1. Amex pulled good benefits and substituted this instead. Not only have I never used this myself but to the best of my knowledge I don’t even know anyone who has used it. For the very few who do, I’m sure it’s great though.
I use this benefit including many of my friends. Very sad to see this go away…
I use the benefit every single workday and am deeply disappointed that it will likely not be extended.
With no travel going on, I gave up my Platinum card that I’ve had for 25 years when the renewal came due recently, but I never got any use out of the WeWork benefit. I had tried a few times to use it as a place to work while waiting for a late flight, but I could never really figure out how to use it. Maybe I’m dense, but I found the whole reservation process complicated, and I never bothered to figure it out. I would be very surprised if cardholders used this much, but certainly they aren’t using it much these days.
Massive devaluation ? I bet less than .001% even heard of this benefit. Thanks for the click bait through !
Don’t blame Amex for this. I’m sure they got this at a huge discount, given WeWork’s history of losing money under their founder. Now with new management, it makes sense they stop the bleeding as WeWork rationalizes their business. And the headline does seem click-baity.
Also 5x on airfare is only through amextravel.com, not booked with airlines like the personal card. Please fix.
Have tried this benefit at WeWork in two locations in LA. I’d rather work in a public library. Paid parking. Dogs dogs and more dogs. Less than IKEA quality furniture and seated in the reception area. For some the loss of this benefit is a bummer. Not for me. Hyperbole anyone?
Amex made the announcement to extend the wework benefit for one year in late December 2019. If Amex decides to extend again, it is likely to be announced in December again. Will just have to wait and see what happens in December.
They won’t extend. Spoke with Amex and WeWork they cut it off.
I recently received a survey from wework that implied that this Amex benefit will continue in 2021. I suppose we will have to wait and see. Love the click bait though, gotta get those clicks!
Everyone calling it click bait, but FWIW, I got Amex Biz Plat for two reasons:
1. High SUB
2. WeWork b/c I was traveling a lot. When I did an ANA RTW last year, I stopped into WeWorks in Barcelona, Bangkok, and Seoul.
So yeah, i’m in the .001%. It would be a massive devaluation for me. Since COVID, I’ve only used it once to go in and print.
♂️
It’s interesting to see how the most critical comments about the loss of this feature are coming from people who openly acknowledge they do not use it. I signed up for the American Express Business Platinum Card in 2019 specifically because of this benefit and have used it regularly since then. Initially in 2019 it was while traveling, for most of 2020 it was to have a place to get out of the house and work. I know of a significant number of other Amex card holders who also regularly use this benefit. In response to some of the earlier comments:
1.) To use this feature you simply register through the WeWorks website. Once you are registered you can download their app and use it to reserve a desk at any of their spaces global. The total time takes less than 10 minutes.
2.) This benefit gains you access to WeWorks common areas and there are indeed other people (and potentially their pets around). It is not meant to be a replacement for a private office (WeWorks offers those for a monthly fee). That said it does gain you access to a space to be productive and get some work done. I’ve used their facilities all over the country and it found it to be a great benefit.
2.) Currently about half of the people in my local WeWorks location are Amex Global Access Members. Overall their facilities have taken a massive hit in the number of tenants since the lockdowns. It is not uncommon to only see 3 or 4 people in a space designed for 300-400 on a given day. Right now the traffic from the Amex members is a huge benefit to WeWorks as it allows them to have at least some traffic in the building. Without it the places stand to look embarrassingly empty and no one joins a shared workspace that has no one there.
I didn’t sign up for wework. Got it as an added benefit to the 100k sign on bonus and lounge access. I did like the hotel benefits (surprisingly). WeWorks ended up being the best benefit for me. I canceled early this year but would sign up for Amex again if it came with WeWorks! I can totally see that this is a hit or miss benefit. I would use it zero in my past life.
Were people under the impression that this was a permanent benefit? Even though Amex extended the complimentary WeWork membership for a year, there was never any indication that it would last after 2020. It seems weird/sensationalistic to say that losing a temporary benefit is a massive deval. When temporary shipping/streaming perks end, will we call that a massive deval too?
I just got a letter in the mail from WeWork saying to watch for more information in January for Amex Platinum members. I expect some sort of special renewal offer. naturally WeWork should take a shot at converting some of these Amex members who used the benefit into paying customers, even at a discounted rate.
For you people calling this clickbait, you are so wrong. This is a critical service offering for me, especially during the pandemic. I can get work done by having a place to work, whole family is home making it difficult to work in a small space.
Wework was literally the only reason I got business platinum as an entrepreneur. Will be interested to see if they can do anything similar to justify keeping the card. Traditional travel related perks and points are meaningless right now with covid restrictions. In fact, a lot of these websites are missing the point that not everything is about “travel” for business owners.
I signed up SPECIFICALLY for the WeWork benefit and the airport lounges. Airport lounges arent as valuable as they sound as they are ALWAYS way overcrowded and last March prior to flying home from SeaTac I arrived early trying to catch an early flight but couldn’t get on. Centurian lounge made me sit outside until 2hrs before my flight time shown on ticket. Incredible that they don’t allow you to come in and work. #goingbacktogoldcard
I too am disappointed that the WeWork subscription has been cancelled and replaced with 25% off a membership. Looking for workspace now while in Paris no less! Will weight the benefit of working from a hotel vs. signing up for Global Access.
I too am disappointed that the WeWork subscription has been cancelled and replaced with 25% off a membership. Looking for workspace now while in Paris no less! Will weigh the benefit of working from a hotel vs. signing up for Global Access.