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I have a feeling I may get some grief for this post and perhaps a few “I told you so”s. Why do I say this? A bit ago I posted I am going for Diamond again and that is not Diamond with Delta but instead with Hilton. I have now achieved this goal and I had booked, at a decent price on points, a three-night stay at a sweet SLH Hilton hotel in Europe. I was looking forward to, perhaps, an amazing suite upgrade and free breakfast and more.
Then, last month, American Express made HUGE changes to the Platinum® Card family.
There has been no secret that Hilton has been punishing us with multiple devaluations of their points program this year. In fact the hotel in Europe I had booked has JUMPED the cost to book the nights I wanted by a lot and in one way canceling this booking hurts but let me explain my reasoning.
The resort I booked was not that close to where I will be getting on a cruise ship. I justified this because the award price was impressive and the location looked just dreamy including the “possible” perks I would be extended as a Diamond elite with Hilton.
But as mentioned, as we all know, Amex added $300 Fine Hotels + Resorts booking credits to not just the personal American Express Platinum Card® but now ALSO to The Business Platinum Card® from American Express – the latter being a HUGE deal. Well, between my wife and I, we have enough Platinum products, so I started searching for hotels in the city I will visit before my next cruise.
Without getting into all the details in this post (I have to save something for later) the stunning hotel I found that would trigger the $300 per card credit looks amazing. I was able to book 3 one night reservations in a row, each using separate Amex Platinum products from my wife and I (I.E. Me, then my wife then me again). The end result will be we will pay under $200 for the 3 nights and get perks like:
- $100 per stay spend credit (hello free drinks or dinners)
- Daily Breakfast for two each day, up to $60 total each day (looks stunning at this hotel)
- An upgrade if available (same as with Hilton Diamond)
- Early 12 PM check-in (if available) and Guaranteed 4pm check-out
I mean, seriously, saving $900 on my hotel stay plus $300 in credits and saving my Hilton points for another trip is stunning and such a simple choice. Not only am I guaranteed so much that is maybe with Hilton that I had to make this change. Plus, importantly, the new location is MUCH closer to the port where I will board my ship.
Gosh, I LOVE this so much.
Don’t get me wrong I am, likely like you, not a fan of the endless coupon books the Amex Platinum cards have become but at the same time when the rewards are this good I am starting to see the real value of paying for these mega expensive yearly fee card.
Bottom line I am now even more excited about my next great adventure and can not wait to blog all about and share all the things I have done to drive the prices down as low as possible using as many points as possible to have the very best premium experience as possible and trust me there was a ton of stacking and steps to pull it all off.
For now, I would love to know, have the massive new Amex Fine Hotels booking credits changed your travel plans this year and next? – Rene
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Dump Hilton and move on. They are trash after endless devaluations.
I’d racked up 1.2 million Hilton points over the past few years with hopes of a great Waldorf or SLH redemption or two but the prices kept rising. I found that I was using 2-3 annual Hilton CC free night certificates each year instead of points but earning a good number of points in the process to hit the annual spend requirements for certs. With all the increased sign-up bonuses and rumblings of continued devaluations I’ve burned over half a million points this year on redemptions booked BEFORE the latest devaluation. I’m going to continue to burn down the pile and considering ditching one or both of my Hilton Surpass or Hilton Aspire AmEx cards as they’re coupon books now and increasingly difficult to use. If I drop the Aspire with the huge annual fee it frees up another slot for a more rewarding AmEx card in my wallet.
Just an FYI, you should trigger all 3 rebates from Platinum but you will probably only receive only $100 credit at the hotel, not $300 (consecutive one night stays don’t trigger multiple credits per Amex fine print).
Seb – Re-read post why I should get the $300. BTW already got 3×300 credits.