In April 2023, American Express announced a partnership with the COMO Group that fast-trackedย AMEX Platinum Charge, Platinum Reserve and Platinum Credit Card members to Comoclub elite status.
Comoclub members enjoy special discounts and privileges at COMO Group restaurants, hotels, fashion outlets and spas. Even if these aren’t your regular haunts, you’d certainly want to visit around your birthday because of theย very generous Comoclub birthday treats programme, which grants up to S$780 of shopping and dining vouchersโย no minimum spend necessary!
Unfortunately, that privilege is going to be nerfed from 1 January 2025,ย when birthday treats will no longer be granted to fast-tracked members.
Comoclub nerfing birthday treats
Here’s a brief reminder of how the Comoclub birthday treats programme currently works.ย
Comoclub members receive their birthday vouchers via the Comoclub app, 10 days before their actual birthday. Vouchers are valid for two months from the date of issuance, and do not require any minimum spend.
๐ Comoclub Birthday Treats |
|||
ย | C5 | C4 | C3 |
DrHair treatment | โ | โ | โ |
COMO Shambhala gift | โ | โ | ย |
Shopping voucher1 | S$200 | S$100 | S$20 |
Dining voucher2 | S$40 | S$20 | S$10 |
Grocery voucher3 | S$20 | S$10 | – |
Total | S$260 | S$130 | S$30 |
1. Valid at Club 21, Kids 21, Dover Street Market 2. Valid at COMO Group restaurants 3.ย Valid at SuperNature and Glow |
Both principal and supplementary cardholders are entitled to the Comoclub fast track, and sinceย American Express gives two supplementary cards free, paying a single annual fee effectively nets you S$390-S$780 of value from the birthday treats aloneย (actually slightly more, thanks to the stackable 10-15% discount at Club21, Kids21 and Dover Street Market).
Card | Tier | Birthday Treats* |
C5 | S$780 | |
C4 | S$390 | |
C4 | S$390 | |
*Across principal card and two supplementary cards |
Comoclub also has a soft landing policy, so if you fail to requalify for your current tier (as I imagine many AMEX cardholders would), you drop to the next lowest tier. That means an AMEX Platinum Charge cardmember would go from C5 to C4, enjoying S$390 worth of birthday perks in the second yearโ still none too shabby!
Perhaps realising how much this programme was costing them, COMO has now decided to tighten the Comoclub birthday treats from 1 January 2025. The website now states that “birthday treats are subject to earned tier qualifications”, which means they’ll only be awarded if you qualified for your tier through the regular route, i.e. spending.ย
Comoclub Tier | Qualify | Renew |
C1 | – | – |
C2 | US$560 | US$560 |
C3 | US$5,600 | US$2,800 |
C4 | US$10,500 | US$5,250 |
C5 | US$35,000 | US$17,500 |
C6 | US$70,000 | US$35,000 |
In other words, anyone who was fast-tracked to Comoclub elite status will no longer enjoy birthday treats in their first membership year. And since I highly doubt that the average AMEX cardholder will be meeting these spending thresholds, the perks of Comoclub become a lot less exciting.
Outlet | C5 | C4 |
Club21, Kids21, Dover Street Market , Club21.com and Kids21.com | 15% off | 10% off |
SuperNature, SuperNature e-shop, Culina Singapore, Culina Kuala Lumpur and Culina e-shop | 5% off | 3% off |
COMO Shambhala (select packages and products only) |
10% off | 10% off |
While disappointing, this development shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Even with COMO’s markups, the birthday treats programme still represented a significant amount of merchandise or food being given away. Factor in the number of principal and supplementary cards in circulation, and the financial hit must have been significant.
Perhaps it wasn’t anticipated that so many AMEX Platinum cardmembers would be such prolificย min-maxers!
Conclusion
From January 2025, Comoclub birthday treats will only be awarded to members who have qualified via spending, as opposed to being fast-tracked via AMEX. This means that most AMEX Platinum cardholders can effectively strike off the value of this perk from their annual benefits valuation.
It’s a shame, because I did enjoy visiting Kids21 and buying the MileCub clothes, accessories and fancy toys, a thrice-yearly ritual with the three sets of credits I had. I don’t find the rest of the Comoclub perks all that compelling, so I guess this is their way of exiting “customers” like me.
Definitely gonna cancel the PCC come Jan after I use up the $100 credits. Bye AMEX!
No reason to keep the base CC anymore. Cya.
Stop Selling Amex Plat Card. The value is deteriorating alr.
This is a worthless card already