Quarenghi (Amex CEO) exclusively to TFC: "We are thinking about a Centurion Lounge in Italy, but it may not be at the airport"
A centurion lounge in Italy would be a novelty and a strong attraction to new customers interested in the American Express Platinum card
Yesterday, I attended the press conference presenting the New Amex co-branded ITA Airways credit cards, a product expected by so many frequent flyers and serial accumulators of points and miles. I did not miss the opportunity to speak with Enzo Quarenghi., who has been serving as SVP and CEO of American Express in Italy for about a year.
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The topic of cards/flying points I had already covered abundantly and in the next few days I plan to take a deep look at the features of the three new ITA cards that accumulate only Volare points (lots of them), but no Membership Rewards points like the traditional Amex cards.
The first question I posed to American Express' number one in Italy could not help but be about Membership Rewards points, TFC is without fear of contradiction the Italian-language site that has devoted the most content to explaining to users How to use and how not to waste points and so the biggest curiosity was related to how many billions of MR points rest in the accounts of Italians and whether there is someone in Italy like a well-known American businessman who showed his balance in a video
How many points do Italians have
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"I could say several billion, I don't know the exact number.," Quarenghi replied, "but I can say that there is a very small slice of Italian customers who have many more points than you do (The reference was to me who admitted to having among all my accounts about 4mil MR points. ed.), let's say that you are among those who have many, but you are far from the top."
Curiosity at this point prompted me to ask the CEO of Amex how many points he had on his of account, "I don't have that many, I would say about 3/400 thousand, because I spend them obviously."
In the course of our chat, Quarenghi, who has worked for over 14 years at Amex, with a small stint at Visa and Valentino, admitted to introducing lots of friends; "I think I am one of the biggest presenters of new platinum customers, I always convince people to apply for the card, but I don't get points for the presentation like all other clients."
How Italians use points
On TFC we explain how to get the most out of points, always specifying that each user should use them for what they want, not for what others say is right or wrong; everyone is free to find the best conversion. Not everyone has to use MR points for Book the world's best first-class cabin, namely the Singapore Airlines Suite. Some people use them for don't pay for the hotel in the Maldives, who use them for last minute vacations to Greece, and who keep them as a second severance pay when they reach retirement.
"Points for our customers are an additional service, sometimes serving to make life easier other times to give unique experiences. We have two categories of users. There are those like TFC who make rational value a life mission, these users do a very thorough evaluation with the aim of getting the most out of them at the conversion level," the CEO continues. Then there is a good portion of our customers, in which I am for example, who aim for emotional value That is, using points to simplify his life."
To explain what emotional value is that so many Italian Amex users like Quarenghi amazed me with his latest use of points.
"Last Saturday I was supposed to go to Brindisi with ITA, so I decided to pay for the ticket. using my Volare points balance and the remaining part of the expenditure I zeroed it out with the shop with points, all very simple, no hiccups. I liked it, that's the emotional value."
In practice in one fell swoop Amex's number 1 used the two currencies in what we here at TFC say is the worst possible conversion, this is a demonstration that each customer is free to choose with complete autonomy what use of points is most satisfactory to him or her.
A centurion lounge in Italy
One thing that Italian customers envy from American travelers, but not only, are the Centurion lounges scattered around the world. In Europe there are two, although only London is a true Centurion, And here the CEO of Amex surprised me with a preview revelation.
"I want to be super honest. I'm thinking about it, we're thinking about it with my team. In the airport (at Fiumicino ed.) there is already a very wide offer, there have been recent new openings such as ITA's Hangar, Plaza Premium and the others accessible through Priority Pass. In general at Italian airports there is a good concentration of lounges." I then teased by asking about the possible choice of Malpensa as the location for the first Italian Centurion and Quarenghi's response was categorical: "If we had to choose an airport in Italy we would choose between a business airport (Linate ed.) or an international one like Fiumicino, but right now it's pretty much covered."
And when I thought the answer was concluded here is the real news: "New York City's first downtown lounge opened. It's an American experiment, but it's a solution that people like, and who knows, maybe the future will hold something like this."
Mouths are sealed on what the location might be, the world's only downtown lounge is on the 55th floor of One Vanderbilt in the heart of Manhattan, it could be a lounge overlooking the Colosseum or the Roman forums or in one of Milan's many, new, skyscrapers, we'll see.
