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One of the many benefits available to American Express card members with a Platinum or Centurion-branded charge card, including the Platinum Card® from American Express and the Business Platinum® Card from American Express, is access to the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program (also known as Amex FHR). This program provides elite-like benefits like daily breakfast for two, guaranteed 4pm late checkout and a unique property amenity valued at around $100 at select properties worldwide.
The American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program made a splash last fall when it was announced that card members could earn 5x points on prepaid Fine Hotels & Resorts bookings. We subsequently found that many, but not all, hotel loyalty programs would still provide elite benefits and earnings on these stays. Now, Amex has began sending emails to card holders stating that they can use Membership Rewards Pay With Points to cover all or part of a Fine Hotels & Resorts stay.
The Pay With Points option will only appear when you are logged in as a primary card member. As an authorized user on my husband’s Platinum Card, I didn’t see the Pay With Points option until I logged in as him. Once you log in, you’ll see that the Pay With Points option only values Membership Rewards points at 1 cent each.
Redeeming your Membership Rewards points for 1 cent each generally isn’t a high-value redemption, especially considering you’ll be giving up the chance to earn 5x points on your stay. After all, TPG’s latest valuations value Membership Rewards points at 2 cents each. But, if you have ample Membership Rewards points or don’t want to worry about transferring your points to any of the Membership Rewards transfer partners, this is another option for getting value from your points. And given that you’ll be enjoying free breakfast, late checkout and an on-property credit with an Amex FHR stay, you could argue that you are getting more than 1 cent per point at the end of the day.
Featured photo of the Park Hyatt Beijing by the author.
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Aside from the up to 100,000 points welcome bonus, Amex recently made huge improvements to the Business Platinum Card, including the fact that you will now earn 50% more points on purchases of $5,000 or more, earn 5x on flights and eligible hotels at Amextravel.com and cardholders will receive a $200 airline fee credit each year.
- Welcome Offer: Earn up to 100,000 Membership Rewards® points.
- Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 and an extra 50,000 points after you spend an additional $15,000 all on qualifying purchases within your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Get 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com.
- Get 50% more Membership Rewards® points. That's 1.5 points per dollar, on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more. You can get up to 1 million additional points per year.
- 35% Airline Bonus: Use Membership Rewards® Pay with Points for all or part of a flight with your selected qualifying airline, and you can get 35% of the points back, up to 500,000 bonus points per calendar year.
- Enroll to get up to $200 in statement credits annually by getting up to $100 semi-annually for U.S. purchases with Dell. Terms apply.
- Get one year of Platinum Global Access from WeWork. With this membership, you can access 300+ premium, inspiring workspaces in 75+ cities. To get this exclusive offer, enroll between 2/15/2019 and 12/31/2019.
- Terms Apply
- See Rates & Fees
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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