Hotel breakfast and transfer points

[Professor Calculus]

Hello Everyone ,

I am new to the site (first post) sorry if this has been covered already .

If you book a hotel room via a third party like booking.com and pay with your Amex Platinum card will they still give you free breakfast and room upgrade ? or do you have to do it via the hotel website direct , I am thinking mainly of Marriot Bonvoy and Hilton Honours .

My Amex card is due to be sent to me next week , I already have points for both the hotels how do I transfer existing points to add to the auto Gold status ?

Thanks for your help

[Rob]

You will need to book direct to get points and status benefits.

The online agents take 22% commission – it is this saving that basically funds your benefits.

There is also no requirement to pay with your Plat with Marriott, Hilton etc.

[BJ]

Furthermore, you do not transfer any hotel points in the way I think you might be inferring. When you get your platinum then follow the benefits links in your amex account to get your hotel status courtesy of amex. No points are transferred from your Hilton and Marriott accounts, by contrast, you might want to transfer membership rewards points the other way, from amex to Marriott or Hilton. Nowever, befiore doing this I recommend you consider carefully the articles Rob has written on the best amex membership rewards transfer partners. Note though that points are generally best held in flexible currencies like membership rewards until you actually need some alternate currency ; this keeps your options open.

[JosephH]

There are a few exceptions to the “book direct” rule – e.g. booking via Emyr or a pay-at-checkout Amex fine hotels booking