Mastercard Luxury Card Comparison: Statement Credits, Travel Benefits, Fees, and More Mastercard Luxury Card Comparison: Statement Credits, Travel Benefits, Fees, and More

Mastercard Luxury Card Comparison: Statement Credits, Travel Benefits, Fees, and More

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The Luxury Card Collection is a little-known trio of Mastercard cards touted as premium cards with high-end benefits. These three cards have hefty annual fees — ranging from $299 to a whopping $1,199 — and a variety of benefits and perks that can justify those fees for the right cardholder. But are they really worth it? And if so, which of the three cards is best?

Let's compare the Mastercard® Gold Card, Mastercard® Black Card®, and Mastercard® Titanium Card®.

What Is the Mastercard Luxury Card Collection?

The Luxury Card Collection is a trio of Mastercard cards offered through Barclays, which prides itself on both luxury benefits and physical cards made from premium materials.

The three cards are:

Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Titanium Card<sup>®</sup>
Mastercard® Titanium Card®
Featured Benefit Exclusive Luxury Card Travel® benefits—average value of $500 per stay (e.g., resort credits, room upgrades, free wifi, breakfast for two and more) at over 3,000 properties.
Annual Fee$299
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent
Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Black Card<sup>®</sup>
Mastercard® Black Card®
Featured Benefit Enjoy automatic enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select with access to 1,700 airport lounges worldwide with no guest or lounge limits. Includes credits at select airport restaurants for cardholder and one guest.
Annual Fee$699
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent
Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Gold Card<sup>™</sup>
Mastercard® Gold Card
Featured Benefit Annual Airline Credit—up to $300 in statement credits toward flight-related purchases including airline tickets, baggage fees, upgrades and more. Cardmembers simply pay for airline purchases with their Mastercard Gold Card, and the credit is automatically applied to their account. There's no need to activate or designate an airline. The full credit amount is available at the start of the calendar year.
Annual Fee$1,199
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent

Welcome Offers and Annual Fees

The welcome offers on these cards leave something to be desired. In fact, they don't even come with welcome offers. Whereas other premium cards, like the American Express Platinum Card® or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), come with great offers that help offset the big annual fees, the Luxury Collection Cards give you nothing.

One small silver lining is that each Luxury card offers a 0% introductory APR for 15 months on balance transfers that are made within 45 days of account opening. Beyond that, if you're looking for a card with a big bonus, these cards are not it.

The annual fees on these three cards vary from big to bigger.

  • Mastercard Titanium Card: $299
  • Mastercard Black Card: $699
  • Mastercard Gold Card: $1,199

Related: This Month's Top Credit Card Offers

Earning and Redeeming Rates

All three cards earn 2X on airfare and hotels booked through LuxuryCardTravel.com. Unfortunately, there are no further earning categories on any of the cards.

When redeeming, points earned on all three cards can be used at a 2% value toward airfare booked through LuxuryCardTravel.com.

Additionally, points can be cashed out, but the rates vary by card. With the Mastercard Gold Card, you can cash out your points at 2 cents per point, with the Mastercard Black Card, 1.5 cents per point, and with the Mastercard Titanium Card, 1 cent per point.

Escape Lounges bar.
Credit: Escape Lounges/Facebook

Travel Perks and Statement Credits

Each card comes with a handful of travel benefits you may find useful. They include:

  • Lounge access through a Priority Pass™ Select membershipThis lounge access includes unlimited guests, setting it apart from nearly every other lounge access card on the market.
  • Access to the Luxury Card Travel program. When booking a hotel with your card through LuxuryCardTravel.com, you'll receive free breakfast for two, a room upgrade (when available), a resort credit, a welcome amenity, early check-in and late check-out, and free Wi-Fi.
  • Travel insurance. This includes trip cancellation/trip interruption, MasterRental coverage, travel accident insurance, and baggage delay insurance.
  • No foreign transaction fees. 

In addition to the list above, the Mastercard Black Card and Mastercard Gold Card offer further travel benefits.

With the Mastercard Black Card, you'll receive a $200 annual airline credit and a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credit.

With the Mastercard Gold Card, you'll receive a $300 annual airline credit, a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credit, and a $200 Ship&Play credit to help ship your travel items to your destination.

Related: Best Credit Cards with Travel Credits and Airline Incidental Credits

Other Benefits

Beyond travel-related perks, these cards offer a range of additional benefits that can help offset their high annual fees.

All of the cards are Mastercard World Elite cards, so they come with the following:

  • A $5 credit on Lyft rides after taking three rides in a month (through January 2027)
  • Up to $5 off Peacock membership (through December 2027)
  • $10 off your second order each month with Instacart+ (through January 2027)
  • Concierge services
  • Priceless Experiences, which can be unique events or tickets
  • Automatic cash back with Mastercard Travel Rewards®

Additionally, the Mastercard Black Card includes a $100 annual dining credit, and the Mastercard Gold Card includes a $200 annual dining credit. These credits are automatically applied to your statement balance for the first $100 and $200 (respectively) charged to your card.

Bottom Line

The Luxury Card Collection gets high marks for fancy card materials and premium benefits. However, they may only be a good fit for a narrow group of travelers. If you're someone who values airport lounge access with unlimited guests, hotel benefits when booked through a portal, and a handful of statement credits that are easy to use, you may consider one of these cards.

Otherwise, the lack of welcome offers and bonus categories makes these cards less appealing than similar cards that have higher offers and better categories. Ultimately, you'll need to take a look at your spending habits and the benefits you value to see whether one of these cards deserves a place in your wallet.

Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Titanium Card<sup>®</sup>
Mastercard® Titanium Card®
Featured Benefit Exclusive Luxury Card Travel® benefits—average value of $500 per stay (e.g., resort credits, room upgrades, free wifi, breakfast for two and more) at over 3,000 properties.
Annual Fee$299
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent
Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Black Card<sup>®</sup>
Mastercard® Black Card®
Featured Benefit Enjoy automatic enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select with access to 1,700 airport lounges worldwide with no guest or lounge limits. Includes credits at select airport restaurants for cardholder and one guest.
Annual Fee$699
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent
Mastercard<sup>®</sup> Gold Card<sup>™</sup>
Mastercard® Gold Card
Featured Benefit Annual Airline Credit—up to $300 in statement credits toward flight-related purchases including airline tickets, baggage fees, upgrades and more. Cardmembers simply pay for airline purchases with their Mastercard Gold Card, and the credit is automatically applied to their account. There's no need to activate or designate an airline. The full credit amount is available at the start of the calendar year.
Annual Fee$1,199
Credit ScoreVery Good, Excellent
  • Earn one point for every dollar spent

For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees)

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