American Express is about to launch it’s first major promotion for 2020. The promotion has two parts to it.

• Starting 28th February and right through to 31st March, cardmembers will be able to save money when dining out at participating restaurants across Sydney.
• Further, every Thursday in March, American Express will be setting up a pop-up lounge at a different location between 4-7 pm, which cardmembers can access and enjoy complimentary drinks and nibbles.

Now lets look at these two offers in detail.

Spend $60 Get $20 Back

This is a targeted offer and not available on all cards. To check if your card is targeted, login to your American Express account and navigate to Amex Offer. If you have received the offer, it should appear here and look like this:

Once you have saved the offer, simply spend $60 or more on this card at a participating location between 28th February and 31st March (both days inlcusive) to receive $20 back in statement credit.

Sadly, the cashback is limited to just two times per card and only once per location. Moreover, the offer is only available to be saved on first 50,000 cards which I expect to be capped within hours. If you wish to take advantage of this offer, I suggest you login to your account and save the offer pronto.

Do ensure that the restaurant you plan to dine-out at, is participating in the promotion before you go out and spend the money. You can check the full list of locations over here.

American Express Pop-up Lounge

This offer is NOT targeted, as long as you have an American Express card, you get in. That said, if you do plan to bring guests with you, then the type of card you hold becomes important as I discuss below.

Every Thursday during the month of March, between 4-7 pm, a new American Express lounge will pop-up at a different location in Sydney. These are:

• Sydney City – (Pitt Street Mall) 5th March
• Surry Hills – (Cnr Crowns and Collins Street) 12th March
• Potts Point – (Fitzroy Gardens) 19th March
• Parramatta – (Alex&Co. on Church Street) 26th March

Help yourself to some nibbles and drinks at the American Express Lounge

To enter, just show your American Express card at the door. At certain times, the lounge may reach capacity and access may be restricted. Centurion and Platinum cardmembers though get priority access and go straight-in as long as there is space, while others have to queue up and wait for their turn.

Once inside, cardmembers and their guest(s) can help themselves to complimentary drinks and appetisers. The servings are not unlimited though, rather, the number of people you could guest in, as well as your food and drinks allocation is strictly tied to the type of card you hold.

• All cardmembers can bring 1 guest, and will receive a complimentary drink and food item each.
• American Express Platinum cardmembers can bring two guests with them, with everybody entitled for 2 complimentary drinks and food items each.
• If you happen to have the Centurion card, you could bring up to 3 guests and everyone receives 2 complimentary drinks and food items each.

Access for non Amex cardmembers

Don’t have an American Express card, but keen to experience the lounge? You are in luck. Non American Express card members can register for access through this link. The link is not currently active, but I expect this to start working on 28th February once the promotion goes LIVE.

Better still, why not consider getting one of the American Express cards for yourself? One of the most valuable American Express Card is The American Express Explorer Credit Card (review here). This card earns Membership Rewards points which you could transfer to a total of 9 airline partners, offers complimentary access to American Express lounge at Melbourne and Sydney Airport , free travel insurance, $400 per year in travel credit and much more. To me, this is one of the best mid-tier card that American Express offers.

If you wish to explore one of the other American Express cards, you can do so over here.

In Conclusion

Despite undergoing a massive devaluation in April 2019, the American Express cards continue to be amongst the most valuable in the Australian market. In previous years, American Express have often teamed-up with The Fork (formerly dimmi) and offered similar promotions.

This promotion however, seems to be a lot more restrictive and not as lucrative. Personally speaking, I look forward to taking advantage of the dine-out offer and visit at-least one of the pop-up lounges over the coming month.

Do you plan to take advantage of this promotion? Leave a comment below and tell us which of the lounges you may visit.