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Hi there,
Trying to decide if I can use FHR / Plat card (in decision making) to pay for upcoming travels.
I understand all AMEX cards have a 2.99% FX fee unfortunately, so when I use AMEX for a Booking.com purchase that is not in the UK, I pay fees.
Does FHR or Amex Travel get around that? Or is it the same.. you pay the GBP equivalent of whatever the local currency is, so a fee is charged?
Just trying to understand how it’d work and if it’s something I can use to hit a SUB before diving into it and not meeting it. If anyone has used it recently or has good experience – can you please enlighten me? I’m aware you can pre-pay or pay on departure too – is that the case for say, the US as well or hotel specific?
Thanks!
If you book a pay at hotel rate then you won’t be charged anything until you check out of the hotel, at which point the hotel will bill you in their currency of choice meaning you may be charged a foreign transaction fee.
If you book a pay in advance rate then American Express will convert the hotels nightly rate into gbp at the time of booking and then charge that to your card. Amex travel will then effectively issue you with a voucher for the equivalent rate that you would have been charged at the hotel.
Even if you book a prepaid rate you may be charged additional local city taxes etc, if that’s an FHR booking then you’ll need to pay with your Amex card. If you charge anything to your room you’ll need to pay at checkout, which will charge you in local currency and so you’ll need to pay the foreign exchange fee.
Thanks for that. Reason for asking –
The 6 months SUB would expire in July even if I take it out as late as possible. My stays are in late September so I’d need a way to pay it well before I arrive to make it count towards the welcome bonus. On arrival / on departure is no use sadly.
So to make sure I understood correctly – I could book a hotel with free cancellation on FHR or Amex Travel and I’ll pay in GBP with the option to pay in full on booking? And I guess if I cancel I’d just get a refund?
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
That’s great. In general / your experience.. is HFP bookings the same price and the bonuses added on top are value, or they are that much more expensive where you could just pay for it yourself almost?
For example.. is the price of 5 nights at any Monday – Saturday in the Bellagio the same as it would be on say.. direct or on Booking.com and I get the value on top? Or it depends.
Could I be cheeky and ask if you could pick a Mon – Sat for 2024 that FHR allows you in Bellagio and share the price FHR quotes in GBP for a King Room? If you can do that or have access – if you can’t or don’t want to that’s fine too! 😀
booking.com rates may not be the same as rates through other channels.
As an aside if you book through hotels.com it’s usually the same or often less than booking.com, but there won’t be any Amex forex fees as you can choose to pay in most world currencies which they convert at close to interbank, and you can also voluntarily prepay most flexible bookings. Unfortunately they have destroyed their loyalty programme
booking.com rates may not be the same as rates through other channels.
As an aside if you book through hotels.com it’s usually the same or often less than booking.com, but there won’t be any Amex forex fees as you can choose to pay in most world currencies which they convert at close to interbank, and you can also voluntarily prepay most flexible bookings. Unfortunately they have destroyed their loyalty programme
I was more wondering if a Plat cardholder could quote me a 5 night stay’s price so I could compare to see what it comes up against direct / other third party channels. Is it – not worth it / worth it / up to the individual.
@Simey it’s going to vary a bit by hotel, but in general, the FHR programme is a very expensive way to book hotels. Hotels aren’t offering some amazing bargain to the millions of Plat cardholders around the world. FHR operates similarly to the Plat card itself – you pay a high price and then get some benefits back on the hotel’s terms plus the hotel pays 15%+ commission to Amex, so you know you are paying too much.
One of the benefits is often $100 per stay F&B credit which obviously reduces in value the longer you stay. You would be very pressed not to be able to get all the benefits and still have plenty of change, booking via an OTA, luxury travel agent or ideally directly with the hotel. The hotel will be delighted to deal with you directly as it saves them paying the commission and you can negotiate the benefits that specifically suit you and confirm genuine upgrades in advance rather than guess what might happen at check-in.
I didn’t coin the phrase – the Far Higher Rates programme, but it feels very apt; it’s an entirely illusory Platinum ‘
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
That’s great. In general / your experience.. is HFP bookings the same price and the bonuses added on top are value, or they are that much more expensive where you could just pay for it yourself almost?
For example.. is the price of 5 nights at any Monday – Saturday in the Bellagio the same as it would be on say.. direct or on Booking.com and I get the value on top? Or it depends.
Could I be cheeky and ask if you could pick a Mon – Sat for 2024 that FHR allows you in Bellagio and share the price FHR quotes in GBP for a King Room? If you can do that or have access – if you can’t or don’t want to that’s fine too! 😀
I’m not entirely sure why but the Bellagio isn’t bookable for 2024 on FHR. To give you an idea for comparisons though the 18th-23rd December this year prices up at £815.61, there’s no pay at hotel rate option available, however, you’ll also have to pay £210 (actually $250 so may be subject to fluctuations) for the resort fee. Looking on the Bellagio site gives a total price including resort fee of $1100.
Personally, i think the longest FHR stay I’ve ever done was 3 nights and that was only because the hotel had a 3 nights for the price of 2 promotion on when booking through FHR. When we tend to travel somewhere we end up jumping around a bit, it’s not uncommon for us to stay in 7-10 hotels for a 2 week trip, which makes FHR valuable for us since we’re only staying 1 or maybe 2 nights in each hotel. Anything over that though, the value proposition of FHR starts to fall quite a bit. Ultimately you’re booking the standard flexible rate and for stays longer than 3 or 4 nights most hotels will happily knock 20% off that rate straight away for a stay longer rate. Whilst FHR might give you a $100 room credit, that’s not too useful if it’s costing you an extra $400 above a hotels special rate.
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
That’s great. In general / your experience.. is HFP bookings the same price and the bonuses added on top are value, or they are that much more expensive where you could just pay for it yourself almost?
For example.. is the price of 5 nights at any Monday – Saturday in the Bellagio the same as it would be on say.. direct or on Booking.com and I get the value on top? Or it depends.
Could I be cheeky and ask if you could pick a Mon – Sat for 2024 that FHR allows you in Bellagio and share the price FHR quotes in GBP for a King Room? If you can do that or have access – if you can’t or don’t want to that’s fine too! 😀
I’m not entirely sure why but the Bellagio isn’t bookable for 2024 on FHR. To give you an idea for comparisons though the 18th-23rd December this year prices up at £815.61, there’s no pay at hotel rate option available, however, you’ll also have to pay £210 (actually $250 so may be subject to fluctuations) for the resort fee. Looking on the Bellagio site gives a total price including resort fee of $1100.
Personally, i think the longest FHR stay I’ve ever done was 3 nights and that was only because the hotel had a 3 nights for the price of 2 promotion on when booking through FHR. When we tend to travel somewhere we end up jumping around a bit, it’s not uncommon for us to stay in 7-10 hotels for a 2 week trip, which makes FHR valuable for us since we’re only staying 1 or maybe 2 nights in each hotel. Anything over that though, the value proposition of FHR starts to fall quite a bit. Ultimately you’re booking the standard flexible rate and for stays longer than 3 or 4 nights most hotels will happily knock 20% off that rate straight away for a stay longer rate. Whilst FHR might give you a $100 room credit, that’s not too useful if it’s costing you an extra $400 above a hotels special rate.
Thanks – so in this example the 2 prices are basically the same? But with FHR I’d still get full cancellation for free, is that correct too? Even if you prepay, you’d get your full fare refunded if you cancel in the timelines. Additionally, all the benefits of FHR would add on top but the 2 rates (direct vs FHR) seem to be the same. This is a great deal, no? Or am I misunderstanding.
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
That’s great. In general / your experience.. is HFP bookings the same price and the bonuses added on top are value, or they are that much more expensive where you could just pay for it yourself almost?
For example.. is the price of 5 nights at any Monday – Saturday in the Bellagio the same as it would be on say.. direct or on Booking.com and I get the value on top? Or it depends.
Could I be cheeky and ask if you could pick a Mon – Sat for 2024 that FHR allows you in Bellagio and share the price FHR quotes in GBP for a King Room? If you can do that or have access – if you can’t or don’t want to that’s fine too! 😀
I’m not entirely sure why but the Bellagio isn’t bookable for 2024 on FHR. To give you an idea for comparisons though the 18th-23rd December this year prices up at £815.61, there’s no pay at hotel rate option available, however, you’ll also have to pay £210 (actually $250 so may be subject to fluctuations) for the resort fee. Looking on the Bellagio site gives a total price including resort fee of $1100.
Personally, i think the longest FHR stay I’ve ever done was 3 nights and that was only because the hotel had a 3 nights for the price of 2 promotion on when booking through FHR. When we tend to travel somewhere we end up jumping around a bit, it’s not uncommon for us to stay in 7-10 hotels for a 2 week trip, which makes FHR valuable for us since we’re only staying 1 or maybe 2 nights in each hotel. Anything over that though, the value proposition of FHR starts to fall quite a bit. Ultimately you’re booking the standard flexible rate and for stays longer than 3 or 4 nights most hotels will happily knock 20% off that rate straight away for a stay longer rate. Whilst FHR might give you a $100 room credit, that’s not too useful if it’s costing you an extra $400 above a hotels special rate.
Thanks – so in this example the 2 prices are basically the same? But with FHR I’d still get full cancellation for free, is that correct too? Even if you prepay, you’d get your full fare refunded if you cancel in the timelines. Additionally, all the benefits of FHR would add on top but the 2 rates (direct vs FHR) seem to be the same. This is a great deal, no? Or am I misunderstanding.
Yeah, you’d get free cancellation etc as per the hotels terms. In this case the rates are the same, however, they don’t take into consideration the 15% discount you’d get if you signed up to MGM rewards before signing up.
Then the FHR rate is only worth it if you know you’ll use the F&B credit and eat breakfast in the hotel every day.
Thanks for that information mate – really helpful. In this example, FHR would be a no brainer.
I somehow secured a really good price for a room @ the Bellagio but as we are doing a lengthy stay, we’re doing 2 hotels. I could always try it out for some other options in LV – such as Crockfords or Pallazzo etc when the dates release properly. Apparently nothing has been signed for FHR yet in terms of logistics and contracts.
Just need to math it right for a Plat SUB as it would be amazing to get that.. somehow!
If you pay in advance then you’re charged the room rate at the time of booking so your spend would contribute to the sign up bonus and there’s no FX fee since you’re charged in gbp. Most pay now rates I’ve encountered also give you free cancellation until the standard cancellation period with a refund equal to the gbp amount you spent.
That’s great. In general / your experience.. is HFP bookings the same price and the bonuses added on top are value, or they are that much more expensive where you could just pay for it yourself almost?
For example.. is the price of 5 nights at any Monday – Saturday in the Bellagio the same as it would be on say.. direct or on Booking.com and I get the value on top? Or it depends.
Could I be cheeky and ask if you could pick a Mon – Sat for 2024 that FHR allows you in Bellagio and share the price FHR quotes in GBP for a King Room? If you can do that or have access – if you can’t or don’t want to that’s fine too! 😀
I’m not entirely sure why but the Bellagio isn’t bookable for 2024 on FHR. To give you an idea for comparisons though the 18th-23rd December this year prices up at £815.61, there’s no pay at hotel rate option available, however, you’ll also have to pay £210 (actually $250 so may be subject to fluctuations) for the resort fee. Looking on the Bellagio site gives a total price including resort fee of $1100.
Personally, i think the longest FHR stay I’ve ever done was 3 nights and that was only because the hotel had a 3 nights for the price of 2 promotion on when booking through FHR. When we tend to travel somewhere we end up jumping around a bit, it’s not uncommon for us to stay in 7-10 hotels for a 2 week trip, which makes FHR valuable for us since we’re only staying 1 or maybe 2 nights in each hotel. Anything over that though, the value proposition of FHR starts to fall quite a bit. Ultimately you’re booking the standard flexible rate and for stays longer than 3 or 4 nights most hotels will happily knock 20% off that rate straight away for a stay longer rate. Whilst FHR might give you a $100 room credit, that’s not too useful if it’s costing you an extra $400 above a hotels special rate.
Thanks – so in this example the 2 prices are basically the same? But with FHR I’d still get full cancellation for free, is that correct too? Even if you prepay, you’d get your full fare refunded if you cancel in the timelines. Additionally, all the benefits of FHR would add on top but the 2 rates (direct vs FHR) seem to be the same. This is a great deal, no? Or am I misunderstanding.
Yeah, you’d get free cancellation etc as per the hotels terms. In this case the rates are the same, however, they don’t take into consideration the 15% discount you’d get if you signed up to MGM rewards before signing up.
Then the FHR rate is only worth it if you know you’ll use the F&B credit and eat breakfast in the hotel every day.
One last Q.. do you get x5 MR points on prepaid bookings on FHR? Or is that a US only thing?
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