Positive experience with Amex Travel

[Steamrollersam]

Hello, folks! I thought I might let people know of my recent experience with Amex travel. On a Plat Charge card I've booked FHR several times with no hitches, but generally go through OTAs for no-frills bookings. There was a great offer on a room in a NYC hotel in early September that caught my eye just before we headed off to our USA trip. It was for a relatively new and trendy 5-star hotel quite close to Central Park and the price quoted for five nights for a queen bed room on a nonrefundable booking was nearly half of what it was 1-2 months previously on booking.com, agoda and kayak. I grabbed the offer knowing there was a catch somewhere, and indeed the 18th floor alcove turned out to be quite noisy given its location in the back of the hotel with pipes vibrating like jackhammers amplified by the enclosed back end of the hotel. Otherwise the room and the hotel itself were fantastic so I was unkeen to just pack up and leave at first. The front desk found a new room for us three floors down but given the room type it was exactly in the same location at the back. The noise was tolerable but constant at 75 dB . I thought there was no point complaining again to hotel management as the hotel was small and quite packed and I didn't favour my chances of getting an upgrade because I bought the room on the cheap. I called Amex travel support the morning after our first night. The consultant got back to me promptly after discussing with the supplier and offered a full refund on the cash but not the MR points I used (85k, whereas the room was ~120k a night on points). They would also assist in securing a comparable room elsewhere. I was delighted to have this option as I've never encountered issues like this on my travels, but in the end hotel management came to the rescue and offered some noise mitigation measures. I wound up staying as packing up and hauling luggage to another hotel would have interfered with plans for the rest of the trip. I must commend Amex travel for their willingness to help particularly for a heavily discounted nonrefundable booking!

 

[DC3]

... management came to the rescue and offered some noise mitigation measures ..

Ear plugs?

 

[Steamrollersam]

Heavy curtains and a wooden board on the window from the outside. I used Bose cancelling headphones the first night but I can’t sleep with those on. Used earplugs from the QF amenity kit. Didn’t feel like I should just leave it like that at first having paid $900 a night + points without a whinge.

 

[I love to travel]

Wow which hotel so I know to avoid?

 

[Steamrollersam]

One Hotel Central Park -- honestly I think it was the cheap room and not the hotel itself which was wonderful.

 

[theblank]

was it really cheap becuase its a noisy(lousy) room? i didnt think hotels manage their quotas that precisely.
unless all rooms on that side of the hotel are the same class.

 

[SOPOOR]

Awesome response by the hotel and aMex

However unless it was a coincidence I think they shouldn't be advertising rooms like that deliberately for a lower price without mentioning it all the hassle could have been avoided