QUESTION: amEX Travel Credits for credit cards

[SOPOOR]

hi everyone,
please excuse the newbie questions, I only have a bank AMEX and so I dont know anything about the normal amex and its programs

im considering one fo the full amex cards with travel credit included, a few people have said the $400 credit included isnt realll worth $400

im not a corporate traveller and I travel to asia a few times a year on cheap jetstar flights and stay in hotels booked via agoda, hotels.com, booking.com etc etc as I found the prices are the cheapest

I went to amex travel and although the hotel avaiaibility was pretty poor the prices didnt seem that bad

so my question is , is the amex travel and amex travel hotel sites any good for pricing to use the $400 credit

I searched flights and it only came up with qantas and china airlines etc. so Iassume jetstar isnt coming up, and the hflights are way more expensive than jetstar so spedning the credit on flights isnt a goer for me, it appears

 

[mmchow]

Unfortunately AMEX travel do not have Jetstar on the drop down airline selection. A simple MEL-SIN search did not yield any Jetstar flight.
With regards to airline pricing, I was looking to. Ok MEL- DPS and both AMEX and QF priced the flight at $902 one way J. I went on and booked via AMEX travel; instead of paying $902, I paid $502 with the $400 travel credit.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Has been discussed at length in other threads - I am 100% convinced $400 Travel Voucher = $400 value - in Dec I needed to spend 2 nts in PVG ao I booked at Le Royal Meridien - $400 straight off top of total stay cost and booked through Amex Travel online at price basically same as direct through hotel web site - others who don't use the Travel Vouchers in similar fashion view their value differently.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I went to amex travel and although the hotel avaiaibility was pretty poor the prices didnt seem that bad

so my question is , is the amex travel and amex travel hotel sites any good for pricing to use the $400 credit

This is a good question. And one I seriously considered before recently signing up to this card.

In the searches for hotels I did in December, I found some hotels slightly more than prices I could get on sites like hotels.com/wotif etc and others slightly cheaper via the AMEX site. So in my view the $400 credit is worth close to if not equal to $400. This makes the bonus points you'll get for signing up free. Add in the AMEX cash back offers and little additional thought was required. I signed up and got the 4 additional supplementary cards.

Don't forget to use a referral link to get additional points for yourself:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....can-express-explorer-referrals-now-79058.html

 

[tinkybelle]

hi everyone,
please excuse the newbie questions, I only have a bank AMEX and so I dont know anything about the normal amex and its programs

im considering one fo the full amex cards with travel credit included, a few people have said the $400 credit included isnt realll worth $400

im not a corporate traveller and I travel to asia a few times a year on cheap jetstar flights and stay in hotels booked via agoda, hotels.com, booking.com etc etc as I found the prices are the cheapest

I went to amex travel and although the hotel avaiaibility was pretty poor the prices didnt seem that bad

so my question is , is the amex travel and amex travel hotel sites any good for pricing to use the $400 credit

I searched flights and it only came up with qantas and china airlines etc. so Iassume jetstar isnt coming up, and the hflights are way more expensive than jetstar so spedning the credit on flights isnt a goer for me, it appears

which Amex card are you looking for the one that is $195
[-]referral here[/-]
www.americanexpress.com/au/platinumedge


$395 or $1200( the best in my opinion as you get the whopping 100,000 bonus)
[-]referral here[/-]
www.americanexpress.com/Australia/PlatinumCard ($ 300 travel credit)
you also get the free reserve card with a free flight which will apparently be converted to travel credit after march making a $700 travel credit for the $1200 fee
this also means you can register for all those amex cashbacks more than once!
I use my credit to purchase round trips within Australia and that is the best use in my opinion I avhe constantly checked hotels and transfers and have always found them not as good if an elite member of a hotel program where you get discounts.

 

[Renato1]

In the searches for hotels I did in December, I found some hotels slightly more than prices I could get on sites like hotels.com/wotif etc and others slightly cheaper via the AMEX site. So in my view the $400 credit is worth close to if not equal to $400.

I guess it all depends on what location one is searching.
Fortunately, seeing this thread made me wonder what to do with my $200 credit that is coming soon.

I searched hotels for three days in Como Italy both at the Amex site and at the Booking.com site.
Amex came up with 17 properties, most were very expensive, a few were inexpensive but not something that would suit us.
Booking.com threw up 192 properties.

When I compared the prices on the Amex site to those on the Booking.com site, they were either very similar, or significantly cheaper on the Booking.com site if there was a special that day, or a Genius discount was applicable. At one hotel the Genius discount came to $120, so that had I booked that hotel on the Amex site, my $200 credit would only really be worth $80.

So that leaves one in the position that in order to get full value from one's Amex credit when used at hotels, one has to look for hotels that don't discount at other sites - which is a bit odd.

That Genius discount at Booking.com is a pretty decent discount. I'm a member of Club Carlson which is meant to give me the best deals at Radisson Blu places, but nearly every time I've checked Club Carlson, it has been trumped by the Genius discount.

Regards,
Renato

 

[fairbasa]

As others have shown, it's definitely possible to get $400 of value out of the $400 travel credit. It's also possible to redeem it for less too if you're not prudent and check the value.

Just make sure when you choose to redeem it, you compare the AMEX Travel price to competitors to make sure you're getting value. I'm planning on using the credits for domestic flights where there's minimal inconsistency in price and also theme park tickets which are as closed to fixed price as you can get.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I've also found good value with 'experiences'. That's definitely worth a look.

 

[tizey]

I used my $300 platinum credit to book some intra-europe flights on SWISS, which were not an option to do on the web search (done over the phone). A $22 fee did apply, but I had it reversed as they did stuff the booking up and didn't tell me about the fee at the time. Flights were same cost.

Also used the $400 explorer credit on airberlin flights online - same price as other websites.

So yeah.. to me, $1 credit = $1.

 

[andye]

Used mine for Delta comfort plus flights-not available cheaper elsewhere

 

[SOPOOR]

when I had a quick look the other day, I found the hotels were the same or more in terms of price compared to booking.com/agoda type sites,
however there was a few that were $120vs $220, however far far far less range

I fly jetstar etc for short haul so I cant use it on flights,

what else do people use it for.

for my istuation ,it appears that its 1:1 if you are lucky

if anyone else has suggestions on good uses, that would be apprecaited

 

[Austff]

subscribed

 

[SOPOOR]

Anyone help me out trying to find a hotel in Thailand bkk. In sukhumvit.
I've got my flights sorted. Trying to use credits for hotel. Have been staying in about 60 three to four star hotels.
However the drop down menu only gives the airports as location. Which is weird. The map only shows hotels on the list on that page only so I can't see them all geographically. I

It seems the hotels are quite expensive as well.

Wouldn't mind staying in a 5 star for about 120 max per night. Even by the river and If available. Stayed in chairs riverside for 120 last time and that was perfect however it's not avail on amex website Q

 

[Haplo]

A $400 hotel booking on amex site is no way equal to $400 direct hotel booking in most circumstances.

For starters amex booking is treated the same as a OTA booking so you WILL be the last of the people to be allowed and will get the less desirable room. Then you don't get any elite recognition nor elite benefits, and lastly you don't get any hotel loyalty points.

As an example I am looking to stay at Hilton in Taupo next month. On a nightly rate of $252 NZD if I book direct I will receive free breakfast (worth $60), free room upgrade (worth $30), early checkin/late check out (say $20), rebate via points earned (say $30), but if you book direct you will get none of the benefits listed above.

So on the face you are paying the same $252 booking direct or via Amex travel, but you are losing about $150 of benefit that you would otherwise be entitled to receive had you book direct.

 

[Dr Ralph]

A $400 hotel booking on amex site is no way equal to $400 direct hotel booking in most circumstances.

I realise it won't be universal, but what you have stated is not my experience with hotels booked in the US and Thailand. $400 has equaled $400 and sometimes even more.

 

[fairbasa]

A $400 hotel booking on amex site is no way equal to $400 direct hotel booking in most circumstances.

For starters amex booking is treated the same as a OTA booking so you WILL be the last of the people to be allowed and will get the less desirable room. Then you don't get any elite recognition nor elite benefits, and lastly you don't get any hotel loyalty points.

As an example I am looking to stay at Hilton in Taupo next month. On a nightly rate of $252 NZD if I book direct I will receive free breakfast (worth $60), free room upgrade (worth $30), early checkin/late check out (say $20), rebate via points earned (say $30), but if you book direct you will get none of the benefits listed above.

So on the face you are paying the same $252 booking direct or via Amex travel, but you are losing about $150 of benefit that you would otherwise be entitled to receive had you book direct.

I assume you have status with Hilton. It's not fair to say Amex Travel is poor value because it's an OTA and therefore Hilton don't honour benefits when booking through OTAs. This is the fault of Hilton, not AMEX travel. Just because it didn't suit your individual circumstances this time it doesn't mean it's poor value.

There's still plenty of other ways to redeem the credit for full value such as flights or experiences OR at hotels you don't have status with.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

A $400 hotel booking on amex site is no way equal to $400 direct hotel booking in most circumstances.

Might need to change most to some and then this statement holds a bit more substance. You only need to read a few posts by other AFFers to understand no way can sometimes be yes way.

 

[Gold Member]

No means Yes?

 

[potm]

I would say in some circumstances when booking flights or one of the limited range of hotels that they have (and then if it's not overpriced) you can get $400 in value.
Of course the $400 in travel credit is not worth $400 though, just as any voucher for a particular product or service is not worth the full value because you lose the flexibility of where you could spend it.
If you were going to spend there anyway then there is potential for it to be equivalent for you.

 

[Haplo]

Flights is generally the best way to spend the credit as generally the price on amex website is the same as airline, however I have found cases where the airline website is cheaper because they are doing a special/

Anyway coming back to the hotel discussion there is a few point to note. First of all the reason why Hilton doesn't honor benefit when booking through OTA is because they have to pay circa 20% commission to Amex. By booking direct the hotel gains that 20% and so why you would get some form of benefit (even with no status you get points for future stay and gets room allocated ahead of OTA booking).

If you compare it with booking with another OTA then Amex does not give rewards like hotel.com 10 night get 1 free night or rocketmiles bonus miles, nor be able to take advantage of 10 - 15% discount codes with hotel.com or other OTA, whilst at the same time it is more expensive than than opaque website like priceline where effectively the OTA is rebating some commission to you. So by going via amex you are paying a full rate hotel room without any form of rebate in the form of elite benefit/points/miles/cashback (save the 1 addition MR which is worth at most 1.5 cents per dollar spent).

So staying at chain hotel you are certainly worse off than booking direct in most of the circumstances, and staying at none chain that sell their inventory via OTA you lose the ability to earn OTA loyalty points or pay a higher rate than opague website.

I find the best way to spend it is for overseas car hire or flight where it is the same price as airline website, however having said that you will be slugged with amex processing fee if you were to make any changes to flight that could have been avoided if booked direct.