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The Hottest Club in Town Is… Run by Your Credit-Card Company?

The Wall Street Journal

When Christopher Remy’s friends visit, he calls his credit-card concierge to book a table at one of the most exclusive lounges in the city.

About halfway up One Vanderbilt, the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan, American Express’s 17,500-square-foot Centurion New York lounge boasts floor-to-ceiling windows that make the nearby Chrysler Building’s stainless-steel spire feel like it’s within arm’s reach.

“When you step out of the elevator to go into the lounge, it’s dimly lit, and it’s got this Centurion logo on the floor in lights,” said the 38-year-old financial-technology worker. “It feels really like you’re going to something exclusive.”

Customers who pay $5,000 a year for the Centurion Card, better known as the Black Card, can walk into the lounge whenever they please and reserve meeting or event spaces.Everyone else needs a reservation. Platinum cardholders, like Remy, who pay $695 a year, can try to reserve a table through Amex’s concierge service. Those without either card must call a phone number that only works two hours a day.

Remy first tried to book a table by calling on his own but found it almost impossible: “The phone will just ring and ring and ring.” Thanks to the concierge service, he’s visited the lounge five times since it opened last year.

The Centurion New York is the first permanent credit-card lounge outside an airport or event venue. It marks a new phase in a decadeslong competition among credit-card companies to win over big spenders with perks they market as luxurious and one-of-a-kind.

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