Membership Rewards points are not all the same, and a 1 million point bonus is not so generous
I have lost count of how many times I have had to explain the ABCs of American Express Membership Rewards points. The complaint [...]
I've lost count of how many times I've had to explain the ABCs of stitches. American Express Membership Rewards. The most frequent complaint, however, is the comparison Between partners and conversion rates in the American market than in the Italian market.
In this article:
In recent days a reader wrote to me asking. How to apply for Amex in Hong Kong to get the 1 million MR points bonus, of course without considering that the points in that nation are worth much less than those here.
Each nation has its own program
What needs to be understood is. Amex is a multinational corporation, but each subsidiary around the world has its own rules And it is a kind of watertight compartment that does not communicate with the people across the street.
This means that the partners, rules, and benefits of each individual card is customized to the market it is designed for. Starting from welcome bonuses to promotional Introduce a Friend have different values.
If 1 point is accumulated in Europe for every euro spent, in the UK it is 1MR every pound in Hong Kong you get 2 MR points every HKD spent, which translated into euros means you get 2MR for every 24 cents spent.
Each nation has its own partners and conversion rates
Of course we all wish we could convert the MR points with the same U.S. rate (1:1 if not better), but no one considers that instead in Hong Kong moving MR points into British Airways Avios has a conversion of 18 to 1, while in Italy it is 5:4, while in the UK you can transfer by exchanging points at par.
Can I apply for a card in a country other than Italy
The answer is yes, but you have to comply with the rules of each individual market. Often residency or having an active bank account in that nation is required, but technically there is no blanket ban on owning cards issued by different markets.
In this case, however it must be understood that you will have separate MR profiles, so you cannot use them from time to time in the most convenient channel, but the points will be tied to the card that generated them and transferable only according to that market's conversion rates.
