Which of the 19 current American Express hotel cashback deals is the best?

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• Louie says:

  4 Oct4 October 06:17

  I know I am being lazy here, but do any of these offers cover any hotels in Australia? All the ones I have looked at seem to be EMEA focused.

  My Aussie card has Hilton and IHG hotels offers only (for hotels in Australia) but none of those work for me.

• Bosco says:

  4 Oct4 October 06:32

  25% off firmdale is surely the best deal.

  • John says:

    4 Oct4 October 06:59

    The what?

    • Dubious says:

      4 Oct4 October 07:07

      The Firmdale

• aviosnewbie says:

  4 Oct4 October 07:09

  The title of the article says ‘which is the best deal’ – so Rob, did you mean to include your thoughts on what is the best deal? Sorry if I missed it, but don’t seem to find any suggestions. It’s ok if the article was merely meant as a summary, but a bit confused by the title

  • Rob says:

    4 Oct4 October 08:49

    You are meant to work out your answer, to be honest. I will clarify ….

• MD says:

  4 Oct4 October 07:18

  The article title is “which is best?” But you don’t answer your own question. Anyone can compile a list – where’s the expert analysis and opinion?

  • Olly says:

    4 Oct4 October 07:33

    I thought the same. Though it could be read as a question Rob is asking us to answer. On a % basis the best offers are the Hyatt or Connaught/Berkeley, because they offer a 33% return assuming you spend the precise amount and no more

    • Jonathan says:

      4 Oct4 October 07:44

      Surely it depends what you’re after? 2 nights in a regional 4* such as a Hilton where the potential 25% discount stacked with points promo could end up very cheap on a net per night basis.

      Maximum cash saving potential would be a Firmdale in London but would you pay £250/night after discount for a boutique hotel in a city where you wouldn’t/shouldn’t spend much time in the hotel anyway?

    • Rob says:

      4 Oct4 October 08:48

      Rhetorical question. There is no answer! Totally depends on what you are doing.

      • Ben says:

        4 Oct4 October 08:52

        Hi Rob, do you know if the offers for the Connaught / Berkeley would work on non room spend alone?

        • Rob says:

          4 Oct4 October 09:12

          Usually not as spa and restaurant have different merchant IDs so standalone transactions are likely to fail.

    • memesweeper says:

      4 Oct4 October 14:07

      Good luck getting away with spending only £ 300 at Connaught/Berkley though!

      • Rob says:

        4 Oct4 October 14:27

        Yes, you won’t get far there, unless two of you have the offer and you split payment.

• Nkp says:

  4 Oct4 October 07:29

  I’m also have Melia £75 back when you spend £300

  • Erico1875 says:

    4 Oct4 October 08:10

    If you can use that to buy Melia Points then that would be a massive deal.
    With their current 40% bonus works out at O.033p per point (£3.30 per thousand).
    Using points you can book e.g 5 * Melia Gran Don Pepe in Marbella for roughly 30% of their best cash rates for July 21

    • Rob says:

      4 Oct4 October 08:45

      Points purchases go via points.com so it won’t work.

      • marcw says:

        4 Oct4 October 09:23

        Melia did work with points.com in the past. Now they work with a different company (a Spanish one I believe).

        • Erico1875 says:

          4 Oct4 October 10:47

          It is showing on my Amex statement as ” MELIA REWARDS PALMA DE MALLOR”

• Andrew says:

  4 Oct4 October 07:55

  Is it me or is this second wave more depressing than the first? At least the first there was news about FTV, status extensions, which airlines were going bankrupt, and the hope that it would all be over by Christmas. Now all there is are hotel offers on Amex which we aren’t going to use. Yawn.

  • Erico1875 says:

    4 Oct4 October 08:14

    Yes. We are all tired of it now.

  • Nick_C says:

    4 Oct4 October 08:47

    The second wave is extremely distressing because it could have been avoided. It has been caused by complacency and reckless behaviour. The stupidity of people generally has been shocking.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      4 Oct4 October 10:13

      The second wave is about 10-15% of the cases at the peak of the first wave.

      Lots of people are making lots of changes to keep it that low.

      • ChrisC says:

        4 Oct4 October 11:11

        That might be the case at the moment but it will soon change.

        All those pubs etc etc chucking out at 10PM and maskless groups congregating on the streets will soon have an impact on the figures.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Oct4 October 13:03

      I kind of agree @Nick_C but which aspects of reckless behaviour do you mean?

      • Rob says:

        4 Oct4 October 14:33

        Not closing every shop, every office and forcing people to stay in their houses 23 hours per day for 2-3 years.

        • Lady London says:

          4 Oct4 October 15:22

          Haha good point Rob.

        • Nick_C says:

          4 Oct4 October 19:01

          Well, encouraging people to break the law with regard to quantine would be one example.

        • OHR says:

          4 Oct4 October 21:55

          Exactly. Everyone is going to have to learn to live with this and get on with life. There seems
          to be a generational divide opening up on this – cornoaphobic boomers are not helping anyone (noting Rob seems to take a more pragmatic view).

• MT says:

  4 Oct4 October 08:06

  The Connaught / Berkeley Offer is good if you have it on a few cards and can pair it with a 3 night stay. You get the £85 FHR credit and at the moment they are offering an extra $250 to spend in the hotel, which goes a long way to a nice meal at one of the restuarants!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Oct4 October 08:08

    3 nights for 2 aswell?

    • Lady London says:

      4 Oct4 October 15:25

      For The Berkeley and Connaught, if you have ambitions to stay there, adding all these up I dont think we are ever going to see such a lucrative offer again.

• Andrew says:

  4 Oct4 October 08:07

  Is Cromlix House listed individually or is it part of another offer? It’s a family favourite for lunch so I’m probably excluded…

  Worth pointing out that LBG have 15% offers on Hilton & Marriott, 10% on Apex (Santander have similar) so it might be worth splitting the bill across cards at check out.

  • Crafty says:

    4 Oct4 October 10:15

    Individually.

  • RussellH says:

    4 Oct4 October 12:46

    I often see references to LBG (Lloyds Bank Group?) offers here, but never any mention of the cards where the offers apply.

    Are they on debit cards on Lloyds / Halifax / Bank of Scotland current a/cs, or on credit cards? I have Halifax and MBNA 0% FX credit cards, but normally only use them outwith the UK / Eurozone / CH, which means not very often.

    • Andrew says:

      4 Oct4 October 14:31

      The offers are accessed and selected when logging into the main Halifax, BoS or Lloyds banking website or app.

      I have Halifax and BoS accounts (both sites accessed via same log-in details), but not credit cards. I don’t have any offers on my MBNA credit card which is via a different log-in.

      • RussellH says:

        4 Oct4 October 17:03

        Thanks.

        So, the offers (15% offers on Hilton & Marriott, 10% on Apex) are only relevant if you have an LBG current a/c?

  • Lady London says:

    4 Oct4 October 13:12

    This would be a good idea if other cards also have travel benefits. Otherwise more generally in the UK, moneysavingexpert covers a lot of it generically.

    Personally given the non-executionability of key promised American Express Platinum card benefits even before Covid – specifically really poor provision and handling of travel insurance claims by Axa and the lost ability of Priority Pass to provide entry to major UK airport lounges when needed – a hedge against possible non-development of Amex’s strategy for travellers in the UK could be a good idea.

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