Amex Platinum / Fine Hotels & Resorts

[newel]

Hi There,

I’m new to the forum (and the platinum Amex) so apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere.

I recently upgraded to the Amex platinum card to take advantage of the 40,000 bonus points offer as it was well timed for me coming a few weeks after my gold card anniversary. I was planning to hit the spend threshold and take advantage of the dining/HN offers either side of the new year before cancelling at some point in January as long-term I wouldn’t really make use of the benefits enough to justify the ongoing fee.

However, we have a trip planned in May and one of the hotels we were planning to stay at for 2 nights at the end is on the FH&R list. I am of course happy to book the trip through the Amex travel portal with the platinum card (cost is the same as elsewhere although I’ll lose a bit of cashback it is worth it to me for the other benefits – $100 spa credit, late checkout, etc.).

However, I don’t really want to keep the card open for an extra 4-5 months until we stay as that would cost an extra £200+ which is worth more than the benefits. Even factoring in other benefits of the card (e.g. travel insurance, lounge access) it wouldn’t make sense for us to keep it.

So my question is really about how the platinum FH&R benefits work. Will I automatically get the benefits because I’ve booked on the platinum card through the Amex travel portal? Or do I need to physically be able to show and pay with an active platinum card at the hotel? For the room upgrade/late checkout I’d imagine I could just show the platinum card (even if it was cancelled) if needed given there’s no cash charge, but for things like the $100 spa credit I’m wondering if that needs me to pay $100 on the card and then it gets refunded (which obviously I couldn’t do if the card was cancelled).

Any input from someone who has used the FH&R benefits before would be much appreciated.

[memesweeper]

Datapoint from 5 years ago, but I checked in, and paid on checkout, with another card on an FH&R booking. It wasn’t even an Amex. I still had the Plat, so I could have produced it if required, but I was not asked for it.

[BLT]

From my experience this summer in Miami, the hotel bills everything and then you get the rebate on the bill. They did request the card on file be an Amex, but didn’t take an interest in which type of Amex.

[newel]

BLT wrote:

From my experience this summer in Miami, the hotel bills everything and then you get the rebate on the bill. They did request the card on file be an Amex, but didn’t take an interest in which type of Amex.

Thanks for the replies – very helpful.

By “bill” do you mean the hotel bill on checkout (rather than the monthly Amex bill)? So they’d show the normal cost for breakfast and the spa/food on your hotel invoice but then they’d show credits on the hotel invoice that you didn’t need to pay for those because they’d received the booking through the Amex HF&R system? So you just pay for the room on checkout (rather than paying for all the services and Amex crediting you later)?

If it is this way then seems like I could make the booking now through FH&R and still make use of the benefits even if I cancel the card before our stay.

[Supergers49]

My prior experience with FH&R bookings have all been “pay on depature rates”. In all instances I have attempted to pay with a more suitable card (ICs with my old IHG CC, or others cards that do not attract Fx fees) and the hotel has insisted on being paid by Amex, but I have on a few occassions used a Green EUR Amex.

Even with the new “pre-paid” rates the hotel will need to take a card, to allow you to bill stuff to the room (otherwise you will struggle to use the €100 F&B credit). Given it is a pre-paid rate, the hotel may not care which card you hand over in this instance, and I would suspect any Amex would do.

Many hotel chains around the world have a policy of insisting upon seeing the card that the booking was made with to verify your ID. So, depending on the hotel you may need to show the Amex Plat.

The other option worth considering is seeing whether Emyr at Bon Vivant can get you similar benefits via his luxury travel agency at the same hotel. That would escape the need for using FH&R or your Amex.

[BLT]

@newel Yes I was talking about the hotel invoice at checkout.

[bruinbrown]

I think it really depends on the hotel. The strictest I’ve stayed in, the shilla in Seoul, asked to see my platinum card at check in and then put through a pending charge to verify the card actually worked. They also commented that they have had people try and use cancelled cards for FHR and were declined all of the benefits of their booking. But this is definitely an outlier and most of the hotels I’ve stayed in don’t care too much about the card you use, it really just depends on the front desk staff.

[Rob]

The rule is that you must pay on AN Amex, not necessary a Platinum one. The hotel could ask to see it but as you don’t need to pay on it you could easily push them off.

After that, I’d say it is 50/50 whether the check-out person actually notices and therefore allows you to use a 0% FX card instead. I got away with using my 0% MBNA card in Montenegro last month.