New Amex UK Welcome Offers: 80,000 Points on Platinum, 60,000 on Marriott Bonvoy

American Express has just boosted the welcome offers on three of its UK personal cards, and they all run until 12 January 2027. The Platinum Card now comes with 80,000 Membership Rewards points plus a £150 Selfridges eGift Card, the Preferred Rewards Gold Card comes with 30,000 points plus a £100 Selfridges eGift Card (and no fee in year one), and the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card has tripled to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

Two weeks ago it was the turn of the business cards. Now it's the personal cards, and the eligibility rules are different - so the order you apply in can decide whether you get one bonus or two.

WHAT // From 4 November 2026 until 12 January 2027, three personal American Express cards carry boosted sign-up bonuses. The standard offers are 50,000 points on Platinum, 20,000 points on Gold and 20,000 points on Marriott Bonvoy, so Platinum is up by 30,000 points plus a gift card, Gold is up by 10,000 points plus a gift card, and Marriott Bonvoy is three times its usual bonus. The spend targets are the normal ones.

WHY IT MATTERS // Membership Rewards points transfer 1:1 to Avios and Virgin Points, so the Platinum bonus alone is 80,000 Avios. Both Platinum and Gold earn 1 point per £1 on most spend, so you would need to spend £80,000 to earn that the slow way. A welcome bonus is still the fastest way to build a balance in the UK.

👉 Apply for the Amex Platinum Card (80,000 points + £150 Selfridges)

👉 Apply for Amex Gold (30,000 points + £100 Selfridges, no fee in year one)

👉 Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Amex (60,000 points)

My links open Amex's referral page. Check that the card and the bonus shown there are the ones you want before you apply - the offer on that page is the one that counts.

All three cards have a 24-month rule, but it is not the same rule. Here is what Amex's own application pages say:

That creates a one-way street. If you want both Marriott and Platinum, get Marriott first. Once you hold Platinum, you hold a personal Amex card, and the Marriott bonus is gone. Do it the other way round and Platinum is still fine, because Marriott Bonvoy doesn't earn Membership Rewards. Gold and Marriott, on the other hand, block each other, so for most people it is one or the other.

For what it's worth, my own Amex cards are Business Platinum and Business Gold, which don't count towards any of this. If you're not sure where you stand, our Amex welcome bonus eligibility tool and our guide to the 24-month rule are good starting points, but the terms on the application page are the final word.

Add the points from the spend itself and Platinum gives you at least 86,000 points, Gold at least 33,000, and Marriott Bonvoy at least 66,000. Using British Airways' current off-peak prices from London, with Reward Flight Saver taxes:

Peak dates cost more and prices change, so check your own route with our how many Avios for a flight tool and look for real seats with Award Travel Finder. At around 1p per Avios, the Platinum bonus is worth about £800 plus the £150 Selfridges card - more than the £650 fee, before you count any benefits. More on that in what an Avios is worth.

Same playbook as the business cards: gift cards in, points out. This time last year, Amex ran 85,000 points plus a £250 Amex Travel credit on Platinum and 45,000 points on Gold through referral links (75,000 and 40,000 publicly). So the Platinum headline is a little higher than last year's public offer, but the £250 travel credit has become a £150 gift card - and Gold has dropped to 30,000 points with a £100 Selfridges card to soften it. That is the same pattern I wrote about when the Business Platinum and Business Gold offers landed in October.

The one card that hasn't shrunk is Marriott Bonvoy. 60,000 points is the same as the offer that ran until May, and with a £95 fee it's the cheapest of the three to hold. As a Bonvoy Titanium member, I'd be careful not to oversell Marriott points - they go much further on hotel nights than on flights - but the 15 Elite Night Credits a year are a useful head start if you're working towards Gold or Platinum Elite.

The question I'd think hardest about is Platinum. Apply now and your first card year runs to late 2027. From 1 January 2028, Amex is capping Priority Pass at 20 visits a year unless you spent £30,000 in 2027. So year one is unaffected, but if you're keeping the card for the lounges, the second fee will buy you less than the first. My read - and it is only my read - is that Amex is pushing Platinum towards people who spend heavily on it, and the bonus is there to get you started rather than to keep you.

Gold at 30,000 points plus £100, free for a year, is the best value of the three if you're eligible. Marriott Bonvoy at 60,000 points is a strong second, and the one to apply for first if you'd like Platinum too. Platinum at 80,000 points plus £150 is a big number, but it is less generous than last November once you count the old travel credit, and the £650 fee means it only makes sense if you'll use the benefits.

All three offers close on 12 January 2027. I'll update this piece if Amex changes anything before then, and I share the best offers as they land over on Instagram. Running a limited company? The Business Platinum (100,000 points) and Business Gold (40,000 points) offers are live until the same date.

👉 See the new Amex Platinum, Gold and Marriott Bonvoy offers

That's all from me for now. Any questions, just hit reply - I read every email.

Safe travels,
Jack