American Express acceptance
 

Hi.
My company just switched our credit cards from Master Card to American Express. Makes me sort of nervous because I travel a lot; frequently to small towns where I've even had trouble with MC.

What's your experience with American Express? Is it everywhere you want to be?
What about everywhere you NEED to be, is it there?

Dan
familyroadtrippers.blogspot.com

PhotoDad~ I know our friend and business partner has had a lot of trouble using it abroad.

Japan was one place, and it seems not to be as easy as other cards in the states for him either. His company is well established and his credit is excellent btw.. that's all I know. J.

we found that American Express has a lot of hidden fees attached.

We had one for years, but learned to have either a MasterCard or Visa for backup since lots of places don't accept AmEx. It's also good to have a second card in case something would happen to the one you use for most purchases.

I traveled for years with a corporate Amex and can't remember a problem with acceptance - for corporate travel anyway. I'm surprised that you'd had trouble with MC. Must be REALLY small towns :-)

The smaller the vendor, the less willing they are to pay the Amex fees, but I can't imagine a hotel not accepting Amex. I'd have cash on hand for small restaurants that don't accept Amex.

I've had an Amex card for over 20 years and have yet to encounter "a lot of hidden fees" that nanabee talks about. Details, please!

Maybe the OP meant for the vendor--the higher fees for vendors seem to be the limiting factor in AmEx acceptance. Thirty years ago AmEx was not as widely accepted as Visa and/or MasterCard in California, but I think that has changed.

Most hotels and motels in US accept AmEx; from time to time a restaurant does not.

Small hotels and restaurants in Europe often do not accept AmEx.

Visa is accepted everywhere I go that accepts credit cards, and that's what I started using exclusively in 2006 after using AmEx at every opportunity for several decades.

To switch from Master Card to Visa makes sense, but from MC to AmEx does not (IMHO).

Have never had trouble having AmEx accepted for business travel in the US. (I know some small local stores may not take it - but they're not the type of places you would typically use for business travel).

It is not accepted as frequently as Visa in europe - but again - I've never had it rejected at any place you would use for business travel - again it's usually small local places or B&Bs or family hotels etc.

Sorry - and I've been using it exclusively for business travel - both US and abroad - for more than 20 years.

Visa has much wider acceptance than AmEx. Coincidentally, there is an article in todays NYTimes about this issue:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...57C0A967958260

PhotoDad - several years back we went to Cabo with our Amex and our debitcard (master card I think) - we constantly had to use our debit card as NO place we seemed to go took Amex.

In Europe over the summer - we actually got a citibank AA card just in case. We were able to use our Amex at most places - all hotels we went to took Amex... our rental in Florence only took V/Mc (in advance) and our Rome rental only took cash ;-).

I have 3 cars in my family and all 3 of the dealers associated with these cars only take Visa/MC, no Amex. While Amex is my card of choice, I find I can't rely on it for everyday business.

I had a Citibank Visa for many years and in June they switched me over to American Express. I had several automatic payments set up and none of the vendors would take American Express. We also used the Visa to pay our daughter's tuition (earned more miles for trips!) and the school wouldn't take AE either.

I gave Citibank a call and expressed my concerns. They switched me back to Visa with no problem!

Margy

Perhaps this varies by part of the country - but here the only place that doesn't take AmEx is the local news stand. It;s accepted in the supermarkets, all the drugstores, the dry cleaners, deli, hardware store etc.

And I can;t imagine there are any hotels (NOT family B&Bs) or more than a very few restaurants that don;t take it.

NYC is different, which is why we love it.

The OP wrote, <i>I travel a lot; requently to small towns where I've even had trouble with MC</i>

I travel extensively to towns of all sizes in all parts of the world, and I find that for the places I go Visa is more widely accepted than AmEx.

I think I've had only one business travel situation where I couldn't use my corporate Amex.