Over the weekend, a reader commented on our Amex Platinum card page with a hot tip: some Equinox gyms offer spa services. I had no idea that it is possible to get things like a massage or facial at some Equinox gyms — and that could potentially be great info for Platinum cardholders who live near an Equinox gym.
The consumer Amex Platinum card has garnered a reputation as a “coupon book” with its various monthly, semi-annual, and annual credits for various types of charges. One of the “coupons” that I’ve never even tried to use is an annual credit for an Equinox membership. The Platinum card offers “up to $300 in statement credits each year when you pay for an Equinox+ digital subscription with live and on-demand classes, or an Equinox club membership (subject to auto-renewal)” with your Amex Platinum card.
I haven’t been interested in using this credit because I don’t live near an Equinox gym and I’m not interested in a paid workout app (I do need to work out more, but a workout app doesn’t interest me).
However, a reader commented on our Amex Platinum card page to say that they have gone to Equinox for a massage a couple of times (including both last year and again this year) and as a non-member, they received a statement credit for the cost of the massage (which was less than $300). That could be awesome.
I had no idea that some Equinox locations offer both “body” (massage) and “skin care” services. I looked up one location and saw that a 50-minute, 80-minute or even a 110-minute massage fell well below the annual statement credit threshold (though with gratuity I suppose the 110-minute massage may go just above or below the threshold depending on your generosity and of course keep in mind that I only checked pricing at one suburban location, so YMMV as prices probably vary).
Keep in mind that the terms of the statement credit do not mention services purchased at an Equinox gym as being qualifying. Still, since the cost of an annual membership is covered and Equinox surely wants an in-club charge for that membership to trigger the credit (since the idea of the partnership is to get you in the door), I’m not surprised to hear that any charge at the desk in the fitness club might trigger the annual credit.
This isn’t something you can necessarily rely on working since it is certainly possible that it won’t work forever or won’t work everywhere, but it certainly may be worth giving this a shot if you have an Equinox gym in your vicinity. I’ll probably gamble on this at some point as it would make the Platinum card far easier for me to justify keeping since my wife gets regular massages anyway and our travels will almost surely bring us within range of an Equinox spa several times per year.
Find locations near you here: https://equinox-spa.com/locationsList
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Hey FM, has anyone successfully done this outside of the US and gotten a statement credit for an Equinox massage? I skimmed through the T&C’s and it seems like this only qualifies if it is done at US locations? My wife and I live in London so I was going to try it at an Equinox spa here, but wanted to check in here first before trying it.
I don’t think that would work. In fact it’s looking like this may have stopped working in the US as well.
did it post for you on the million mile challenge?
Not yet. I wouldn’t normally worry – Amex sometimes randomly takes a long time to post credits and its been less than 3 weeks — but the reports that suggest it is dead do make me think that there’s a chance that it won’t post at all.
Did you have to enroll the Equinox benefit first via the app?
the platinum.equinox.com page now seems to loop back to itself and won’t show an option to finish the enrollment process for the E+ digital membership (for the 7-day free trial). I chatted Amex and all they could do was submit a ticket. I plan to go ahead with the massage in two days and, if the credit isn’t automatically applied, will chat them for a manual credit. Will post back.
yes the website links are non existent/don’t work and you have to call them to enroll in the membership. I was told they are having a “surge” in interest around the platinum card and they are aware of problems with registering on the website. During this conversation the rep also told me (without me asking any questions) that spa services are not covered under the platinum credit. So. I did enroll with them. I have a massage scheduled. We’ll see what happens but I suspect the loophole has closed
Thanks I thought it was just me.
Crazy how they won’t fix the issue.
It’s a free 300 bucks from amex in their pocket and they won’t even take the money.
Also.. when they set up my trial membership manually it did not change my status to “enrolled” on my platinum benefits page . This may be how they closed the loophole. I’ll bet I’ll only be “enrolled” after I’m charged. So the spa services won’t work.
I contacted equinox via email and they are now manually creating accounts. They explicitly state in the email reply that only subscriptions are eligible for the Amex credit.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are currently experiencing a system outage that is temporarily preventing new enrollments for the Amex Platinum card. Our team is working diligently to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We will have to manually create your account, but before we proceed with this step, we wanted to clarify some details of this Amex Benefit as there has been some recent confusion. The $300 statement credit is only eligible with the purchase of an Equinox+ digital subscription or an Equinox Club membership. Purchases made at the club, such as spa services or personal training packages are ineligible per American Expresses terms.
I made sure Equinox showed up as “Enrolled” in Amex on 7/24. Had spa service on 7/25. They charged my card on 7/26. As of today (7/30), no credit yet. Hoping it happens in the next 1-2 days or else I’ll probably deem this hack dead (for me at least).
Got the credit today (7/31)!
Did you pay in person at the spa, or online, somehow? Trying to do this soon!
When you make the reservation online, you have to put a card on file. They just charge it after you receive the services.
Thank you!
Confirming this works. Signed up for the free 7-day trial of the digital membership on 7/19, had my massage on 7/20 and it was reimbursed today, 7/22, the same day it went from pending to confirmed. A pair of shorts I bought were NOT reimbursed (the merchant showed as “Equinox Shop” as opposed to just “Equinox” for the massage). FYI, I would not recommend the Flatiron-NYC location. The masseuse was fine, but the regular gym music so loud that I heard it in the treatment room.
Did you signed up via the Amex link under the benefit tab or signed up the 7-day trail first then sign in to the account via the Amex link?
I don’t believe you can enroll just within your online Amex account page. The selection shows https://platinum.equinox.com/ for enrollment. Choose the digital membership option, enter your Amex Platinum card number and then – I don’t remember exactly – either there’s an option for a 7-day free trial or it is an automatic thing with all (or just monthly?) subscriptions. Just make sure you see it applied to your selection before you confirm your choice. I waited a day before my massage out of an abundance of caution. FYI, you can use the gym the day of your massage.
Remember to cancel the trial if you don’t plan to keep the membership. Massages (at least) will have nominal tax and automatic 20% gratuity. When you book the massage on Equinox’s site, obviously add the credit card that you just used to sign up for the Equinox digital membership. I should use say this was all my experience and may not be universal.
So I could just get an online membership with the enrollment for $40 a month, use remainder for spa services and then cancel my monthly membership?
Data point: I got a $300 massage a few weeks ago (the sacrifices we make for science!!) but did not “enroll” or sign up for a trial membership and therefore did not get a credit. I chatted Amex, was told I wasn’t enrolled (because as noted below it funnels you to sign up for a membership online), so the rep opened a ticket to try to get me enrolled without having to first make a purchase online. Will report back if that works out.
Any update?
Still no credit.
I can confirm the equinox spa service I received was just credited. I do not have a membership. Booked a 50 min massage, which my wife loved, payed with my AMEX Charles Schwab Platinum and was credited automatically almost immediately after the charge posted on my account. I will say, when looking at the benefits page of my CS Platinum account it shows as being enrolled in the equinox benefit. I don’t remember enrolling and not sure how that happened but it may or may not be a factor. I am currently the trying to get my MS Platinum to show as enrolled and have a ticket open with customer service as of now. Good luck
Wondering if once you activate it on the card, any charges at the location will be reimbursed. If they allow returns, I will try this at the shop (but not for a few months). Also, I noticed that there’s a 7-day free trial for the Equinox+ membership.
I can verify that this works. I got a massage at the flatiron location on Saturday. It costed $174 tips included. This morning I saw the credit.
I have no membership. But you do need to activate it on the card.
Easy breezy shoulder squeezy.
How do you activate it on the card without having a membership? When I tried to activate it, it took me to Equinox website where I had to select a membership.
My credit has not yet posted.
I don’t have an equinox membership nor have I ever joined one online.
Question: Even though you’re taken to the equinox website if you do nothing and go back to your Amex credentials does it say you’re enrolled?
You could also try chatting with Amex to ask them whether you need to join.
You shouldn’t have to sign up. Since the credit is suppose to work for soul cycle as well.
It does not show that I’m enrolled.
Okay I remember what I did. It just hit me.
Here’s what you do: Sign up for a free trial to Equinox+. It’s a 7 day free trial. After that you should be able to enroll on Amex. Then cancel before the trial ends.
Now you’re enrolled.
Enjoy!
I tried that but get an error when I enroll my Platinum card. I even chatted and was told to remove my card from the membership, but I didn’t provide a card for the trial.
I think I used my card to enroll. But cancelled before the end of the trial. Who did you chat with?
Did the free 7 day trial of Equinox+ Tried again to enroll and Equinox disappeared completely from my benefits list! So I chatted, and the agent gave me the link to enroll. Tried to enroll. First time seemed to work, but Agent said I was still not enrolled. Tried a second time, and this time got an error saying can’t enroll that Platinum card. Agent said wait 24 hours.
Tried again this morning. Membership in Equinox+ shows as active, but still getting an error trying to enroll my Platinum card: “Unable to enroll the given Platinum Card number.” And Amex says I’m still not enrolled.
Did you ever get a resolution? I am facing the same error
I made an appt for this Friday so I will test this out.
Can’t wait to hear what happens
OP claims the refund came the same day so we should have another DP soon!
Still showing as a pending charge as of today. Will report back.
Any updates! P2 would love to use this benefit!
Going today at 4p to test this too.
I did NOT register my card with Equinox. Got massage on 4/27 and charge showed up pending the same day. However it didn’t post fully until 5/1 (shows a 5/1 date). Still no credit.
Still nothing, so I’m expecting I will NOT get the credit 🙁
No credit yet. Just a posted charge.
Any updates to this?
No credit. Looks like you have to enroll in Equinox (7 day trial), cancel before 7 days is up, and see if that works.
Are there any actual DPs for this working?
I think you must have missed this paragraph and the link to the reader report found within it:
You need to activate the benefit, and the benefit can only be activated if you have an active membership with Equinox.
Sounds like the DP says you don’t have to be a member. I’ll probably try for Mother Day and report back.
Any update?
What if you sign up for the digital subscription to link and activate the benefit, and then go into the Spa service to use up the remaiing $200+ credit? HMMMM
I am not an Equinox member. Is this why when I try to activate the benefit on the Equinox website it doesn’t recognize my Platinum # nor Player 2?
Perhaps I’ll try calling the Amex platinum #
If you call Amex, a phone rep will surely tell you that you need to join Equinox with a membership to enroll / get the credit. I wouldn’t bother calling to ask. This is a situation where a reader has reported it working not once but twice as a non-member. You just have to decide whether you want to give it a shot as a non-member or not. It’s reasonable to be on either side of that.
Something to note that, statement credit might not come automatically and you might need to chat. Therefore you do need to activate membership and have it active at the time of the chat otherwise amex agents will not be able to apply credits. Do not ask me how I know 🙂
But you do NOT need to have membership in that particular gym you are getting massage at, digital membership will do just fine. So the play is to buy the cheapest digital membership and use the rest of the statement credit for the massage. Or use one of your cards for digital membership and the other for massage, if you have two.
With 2 cards and using one for the digital membership and the other for a massage, how would that work? Don’t you need the benefit activated on the card that you’re getting the massage with, and don’t you need the digital membership to activate the benefit?
Again, I think you guys are over-thinking it. See the data point.
you will be able to activate on both cards once you set up your membership
Ah I see what you mean. Using the same membership to enroll both cards in the benefit. Thanks!