Big creditors have gone to great lengths to win over your spending on premium cards — and few have fought harder than American Express and Chase, following the rollout of their refreshed (and more expensive) Platinum Card and Sapphire Reserve.

That’s not to say Capital One or Bilt haven’t tried. But Amex and Chase are playing a different game. To justify ever-higher annual fees, they’ve been rolling out new perks — more coupon book credits tied to brand partnerships, travel, and lifestyle. Increasingly, those credits are coming from in-house.

Setting the dining table: As predicted, many of the new perks underpinning Amex and Chase’s latest “premium” cards are credits that push users deeper into their platforms — more money to spend on travel portals, streaming services, and… dinner? Perhaps you’ve used Resy or OpenTable to book a reservation at a restaurant or bar, but these card networks want to turn those tools into discovery platforms for dining out.

• Amex now makes Resy a key benefit — Platinum cardholders get $100 per quarter in statement credits at in-network restaurants, while Gold cardholders get $50 every six months.
• Chase has done the same as part of a partnership with Booking Holdings’ OpenTable — offering $150 in “Exclusive Tables” credits every six months on its Sapphire Reserve.

Food Fight

The latest Resy and OpenTable perks are just the newest shots in an ongoing rivalry, with both banks partnering, investing, and acquiring their way into more control over the restaurant experience.

• Amex’s opening shot: In July 2016, Amex teamed up with the Michelin Guide, later launching its own OpenTable-like feature — then buying Resy in May 2019.
• Chase returns fire: In Sept. 2021, Chase bought The Infatuation, gaining the Zagat dining guide and more food-world credibility.
• Amex doubles down: In 2024, Amex bought Squarespace’s Tock for $400M, planning to merge with Resy this year — bringingthousands of new restaurants to its network.
• Chase sharpens its focus: In concert with OpenTable and Visa, Chase launched its new “Exclusive Tables” dining program, supported in part by its Infatuation and Zagat buy.

Far from over: Building a dining ecosystem makes perfect sense for Amex and Chase — both spent years creating aspirational brands that capture more of affluent consumers’ everyda (and not-so-everyday) spending. Understandably so, with the USDA saying Americans spent $2.57T on food in 2023, and 58.5% of that was “food away from home.” No wonder others are lining up — including DoorDash, which snapped up booking platform SevenRooms last year.