I normally only use American Express travel when I get one of the their great card member offers for money off a minimum spend. However, whilst looking at their website recently I noticed a couple of things of interest.
In this post:
Are American Express cheaper than other online travel agents?
Nowadays most of the online travel agents offer similar prices on hotels, with the variations being between cashback amounts and whether the perks of booking direct make it more worthwhile. Although there is the odd online booking agent that will appear much cheaper than the others, you will usually find they are name you have never heard of and it has poor reviews of customer service.
American Express Travel are offering prices on some hotels that are hard to find elsewhere. As an example, I looked at the Fairmont Royal York, Toronto on Booking.com which was showing the cheapest on TripAdvisor’s comparison. On booking.com it was £324 a night, £9 cheaper than most of the other online agents. If I look at American Express, they are only charging £220 a night giving a hefty £102 a night saving! Later in the year it was £150 a night cheaper. This doesn’t apply to every hotel but in the places I searched there were hotels that are substantially cheaper with Amex. From now on, I will be checking the American Express prices before I book somewhere to stay.
American Express Hotel sale – up to 50% off
In addition to the regular excellent prices, there is also a hotel sale offer with up to 50% off. You can’t combine the sale with any other offers or promotions unless it is specified in the Terms and Conditions. The discount is only off certain hotels and must be booked by 30 September 2017 for stay until 15th October 2017. An example of the sale pricing is the Palazzo Las Vegas for £120 a night, although this is for the peak summer time when it will be scorching hot in Vegas. It is only marginally cheaper than the main agents such as Expedia, so it will still be worth comparing sites, even if a hotel appears to be on sale.
The sale page is here.
Other benefits
If you have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards, you can earn points faster with 1 additional point for every £1 spent on flights, hotels, car hire and experiences. There is also no or credit card or booking fees for using your American Express card. This may also save you money versus using one of the on-line agents and cashback, if you want to use an American Express card to get your points/miles.
You can also use Membership Rewards against your travel booking starting at a minimum of 1,000 Membership Rewards points. This is generally not a great way to use your points, as to save £10 you have to use roughly 2200 points. You would be better off transferring them into Avios and using Avios to buy your hotel.
Fine Hotels and Resorts
If you have a Platinum American Express card it may be worth considering a Fine Hotels and Resorts booking. These are hotels that Platinum holders can book where they will receive extra benefits. This works in a very similar way to Virtuoso, which anyone can use as I wrote about here. The rates are not as competitive as the main Amex Travel rate,s as they are usually the best flexible rate which is more expensive. When you look at the benefits though, it may still work out cheaper.
The sort of extras you can expect are:
- Noon check-in, when available
- Room upgrade upon arrival, when available,
- Daily Breakfast for 2,
- 4:00 PM Late Check-Out Guaranteed,
- Free Wi-Fi
- Amenity valued at US$100. This is usually some sort of hotel credit such as spa or dining credit.
An example in the UK would be Shangri-La at the Shard where you get £85 of food and dining credit. This would definitely be a big benefit with a great bar and restaurant on site with a magnificent view over London.
The main American Express Travel site is here.
