Centurion Living Events: Review & Critique 2026

If someone had asked me three years ago what makes the Centurion Card special, I would have named the events first. Not the lounge, not the concierge. The events.

Today, I would no longer say that.

How It Used to Be

The Centurion Living Events were invitations that genuinely felt exclusive. Small groups, special locations, experiences you simply could not book. An evening at a winery that normally does not host events. A dinner with a chef who does not run a restaurant. Private access to an exhibition before its official opening.

The events were included in the card fee. You received an invitation, signed up, showed up. That was it.

One of the best events I experienced: a private Alicia Keys concert in Munich, organized as a Centurion Living Event. No public event, no ticket sales. An invitation by mail, an evening with a few hundred people, and one of the best live performances I have ever seen.

Or a private Salif Keita concert in Amsterdam. A small group in a historic hall, no public ticket sales, just an evening of extraordinary music in an extraordinary setting.

That is exactly what the Centurion events once were about. Experiences that no amount of money could have bought.

What made them truly valuable: they were not staged. The point was not to sell you something. The point was to give Centurion cardholders access to experiences that were otherwise inaccessible. And that is exactly what worked.

What Has Become of Them

The events have become less frequent. That alone would not be a problem. Quality over quantity. But what has changed is the character.

A growing portion of the invitations that arrive today are, at their core, sales events. Travel packages dressed up as "exclusive Centurion experiences" that are ultimately package holidays at premium prices. Memberships for 5,000 euros and up that give you the "opportunity" to book further expensive trips. Collaborations with luxury brands where the "event" consists of sitting in a nice room and watching a product presentation.

That is not exclusive access. That is a sales channel.

The Upsell Problem

I understand that American Express enters partnerships and that events cost money. But the original idea behind the Centurion events was different: you pay the annual fee, and in return you receive experiences that cannot be bought. Not experiences designed to make you spend even more.

When I receive an invitation to an "exclusive travel event" and what awaits me is essentially a sales presentation for a 12,000-euro travel package, that has little to do with the original promise of the Centurion Card.

The absurdity of it: Centurion cardholders are, by definition, people who spend a lot of money. You do not need to sell them anything. You need to offer them something their money cannot buy. That was the core of the Centurion promise. And that is exactly what gets lost when events become upsell platforms.

What Still Works

They still exist, the good events. A private concert here, a dinner there. They have become rarer, but when they happen, they recall what the Centurion events once were.

And the concierge can still organize individual experiences that no event program would offer. Ironically, that is often the better path now: having the concierge put together something personal rather than waiting for the next invitation.

My Conclusion

The Centurion Living Events were one of the strongest arguments for the card. They demonstrated that the annual fee does not just buy access to lounges and insurance, but to a world that otherwise remains closed.

That these events are increasingly being replaced by sales presentations is not just unfortunate. It undermines the foundation of what the Centurion Card wants to be. A card that defines itself through exclusivity cannot simultaneously function as a sales channel for premium package holidays.

I hope American Express finds the balance again. The card deserves better events. Anyone looking at the comparison between Centurion and Platinum has every right to expect that the higher fee also funds unique experiences.