Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts

[twiningb]

My wife and I will be travelling to Japan and Hong Kong next month, and have recently become Amex Platinum cardholders. I have flexible bookings for generally high-end (but not luxury) chain hotels with good room sizes and king beds; I don't fit comfortably with my wife on a double and certainly don't want twin beds.

I'm considering whether to replace some bookings (most notably three nights in Tokyo) with FH&R (or Hotel Collection) properties, most likely higher-end Hyatts (Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz) or Hiltons (Conrad).

How likely are these properties to give the "if available" room upgrade? This would be a three-night stay beginning Saturday (or possibly four nights beginning Friday) in the latter half of February. How substantial an upgrade is it likely to be? Would it be the next discrete room class in the booking engine, like "Superior Room with View"? Or just a slightly nicer version of the same "Superior Room" or whatever?

In the case of, say, a Conrad, would my Hilton Honors Gold (through the Amex Plat) increase the upgrade chances, or even stack for a double upgrade?

 

[vnaz]

Did you ever get a reply on this? I've just discovered the fine hotel program !

 

[twiningb]

Did you ever get a reply on this? I've just discovered the fine hotel program !

I didn't get a reply, but our experience was:

Conrad Tokyo: Booked basic king room (city view), received deluxe king room on executive floor (bay view, lounge access), with the classic Conrad rubber duck toys and a plate of cakes on arrival. This is a gorgeous hotel. I don't know what combo of the FHR booking, my Hilton Honors Gold, and my wife's Hilton Honors Gold, got us the upgrade (probably two or more room categories) but it was just lovely and we would highly recommend.

Sheraton Hong Kong: No material upgrade, although apparently that hotel is really stingy on upgrades even for top-level Marriott elites. Room was still very comfortable with wonderful view (paid for harbour view), and we had a small welcome box of macarons with a hand-written card.