Mastercard® Gold Card™

Mastercard® Gold Card Review

The Gold Card is an impressive credit card offering. It ticks all the boxes you’d expect for a premium credit card and boasts quite a few perks that even competing cards lack. Though its $995 annual fee is among the highest of all consumer credit cards, the Gold is filled with incentives, bonuses, and credits that cater to those who do not put a price on quality and comfort.

Luxury Card Concierge

One of its standout features, 24/7 Luxury Card Concierge is a service that assists with travel bookings, personal requests, and more. A dedicated and complete lifestyle management tool that is tailored to your individual needs, Luxury Card Concierge is available via phone, live chat, and email.

Your dedicated Concierge team uses a global network and the latest technology to get the most from an advanced recommendation engine, providing you with meaningful, targeted, and personalized suggestions for travel, dining, accommodations, and more, based on your previous requests. It’s a very personal touch that’s not available with most credit cards on the market. From restaurant reservations to hotel and car rental booking to even flower arrangement delivery and recommendations for gifts and activities, the Luxury Card Concierge can accommodate customers’ lifestyle needs.

The Concierge can even help with less-than-common tasks: Need to research the best school districts in a city you’re planning to move to? Your Concierge can help. Want to check on stores that have a product in stock but prefer to avoid the time-consuming process of checking? The Concierge can help you plan and do the research necessary to find what you need.

Unbeatable Benefits for Travel Enthusiasts

The Mastercard Gold Card makes travel both easy and stress-free by providing comprehensive travel services based on your tastes. No matter where you go, or when, you’ll have countless resources at your fingertips. From the moment you arrive at the airport, you can breeze through security screening if you are enrolled in TSA Pre✓®. And once you return to the United States, you can equally make short work of the customs process by being a Global Entry enrollee. The Gold grants cardholders a $100 automatic statement credit for the cost of the Global Entry application fee.

As you wait for your flight, relax comfortably in one of the more than 1,300 airport experiences available worldwide within the Priority Pass™ portfolio. Having a Gold Card grants you complimentary Priority Pass™ Select membership, allowing you to enjoy pre-flight food and drinks as well as free Wi-Fi connectivity in a private, quiet space. You’ll find a member airport lounge in over 500 cities around the world.

Priority Pass™ also grants cardholders – and those traveling with them – access to over 31 restaurants at airports within the network. Restaurant access grants cardholders a dining credit off the bill of approximately $28 per person, allowing them to enjoy a bite to eat while waiting for their flight. This dining perk doesn’t apply to all premium credit cards with Priority Pass™ Select, as American Express recently removed the benefit for their cardholders – another reason why the Mastercard Gold Card is quickly gaining popularity.

To further sweeten the deal, the Gold Card automatically qualifies you for $200 in annual airline credits toward flight-related purchases (including airline tickets, baggage fees, and upgrades). This credit renews every year, making it particularly appealing for those with long travel bucket lists.

As you journey across various destinations, make use of the Luxury Card Travel program, which offers a comprehensive suite of services reserved exclusively for Mastercard Gold Card members. This program features over 3,000 properties from trusted hotel brands across the world. Also included are carefully curated travel experiences that cover multiple interests: Culinary & Wine, Activity & Adventure, Sports & Entertainment, Family, Arts & Culture, and even Specialty Travel – all exclusively for Luxury Card customers.

Tying all these perks together is the Luxury Card App. This virtual companion allows you to find hotels, travel services, and other amenities from your mobile device and offers a 24/7 live chat with a Concierge agent – particularly useful if traveling internationally when calls might be a more expensive option. Use the app to access itineraries, book flights and hotels, and more.

Earning Rewards with the Mastercard Gold Card

Part of the Gold Card’s allure comes from the rewards-redemption options that back up this gold-plated and carbon credit card. It shines both literally and figuratively while packing plenty of redemption power. For each purchase you make with your Gold Card, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 spent with no limits or caps. You’ll see a 2% value for airfare redemptions and a 2% value for cash back redemptions – meaning if you spend $1,000 each month with this card, you’ll earn $240 in cash back each year, or $240 in annual airfare redemption options. This 2% valuation in airfare redemption puts the Gold Card at the top of its class. Cash back rewards can be applied as a statement credit to save you money on a purchase, or it can be deposited directly into a U.S. bank account to be used as savings.

Luxury Card Travel and Consumer Protections

Frequent travelers will be happy to know that Luxury Card protects them from any major setbacks, ensuring peace of mind. Coverage includes baggage delay insurance – if a checked bag on a common carrier flight is delayed in transit for tickets purchased using your Mastercard® Gold Card™, you’ll be reimbursed for the cost of replacing essential personal or business items. Also included is reimbursement of up to $300 – and up to $600 per $12-month period – if your trip is delayed more than 6 hours for an eligible reason. What’s more, if your trip is canceled or interrupted due to a covered reason, you can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per trip and $10,000 per 12-month period.  Should their cell phone be damaged or stolen, cardholders are reimbursed for the actual cost to replace or repair an eligible wireless cellular device if the bill is charged to their Gold Card.

In addition to offering travel insurance coverage, cardholders will be happy to know that Luxury Card™ monitors the security of every transaction, whether it is made in-store, online, in-app or via a wearable device like an Apple Watch, so your personal information will be safe every time you use your Mastercard Gold Card. There is also Mastercard ID theft protection and $0 fraud liability protection. Moreover, if your card is misplaced or stolen, you can receive a temporary replacement within 24 hours in the United States or within 48 hours globally.

Everyday Luxury and Value

A world-class, premium credit can’t merely offer luxury when traveling – it also needs to perform every day. The Gold Card shines in this regard, offering a level of benefits that are difficult to beat. The card offers a dizzying array of perks for members, which easily offset the annual fee. These perks include: