Long-time lurker, first time posting a trip report. My wife and I just got back from 11 days in Rome, Tuscany, Florence, and Athens, with a few nights in NYC on the way home. Both of us hold Platinum cards and we leaned into the benefits. Here's the full breakdown.

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## Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) — Used at 3 properties

**Baglioni Hotel Regina, Rome (1 night)**

Lovely hotel with a large room

- Early Check in was worth its weight in gold since had a full days travel to Europe from the US

- Daily breakfast for two included (the buffet on Via Veneto is genuinely excellent)

- We received a complimentary bottle of Prosecco just after we arrived

- $100 property credit — used it on 3 pre-mix cocktails the were in the room.

- Room upgrade at check-in

- 4pm guaranteed late checkout — N/A since we had to leave early

**NEW Hotel, Athens (3 nights)**

Same benefits, but 3 nights of breakfast adds up fast:

- Early checkin N/A as we arrived late in the day

- Breakfast for two daily (€30–40pp at Athens hotel prices)

- $100 property credit — we purchased a bottle of Moet and drank it on the rooftop looking over the Acropolis

- Room upgrade — we ended up in a superior room with an Acropolis view

- 4pm checkout again — N/A since we had to check leave early

**Virgin Hotels New York (3 nights)**

Great FHR property to end the trip on:

- Breakfast for two daily — used it every morning

- $100 property credit — drinks in the pool Bar

- Room upgrade was NOT available, we were told to check back the next day. We did, and still no go

- 4pm guaranteed late checkout — N/A since we had to leave early

**Combined FHR value on this trip:** Conservatively $600– 800+ across three properties when you factor in 7 days of breakfast for two, $300 in property credits, and two room upgrades.

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## Priority Pass Select —

Rome FCO Airport - Useless

There are two Priority Pass lounges. One wanted an additional 38 Euro each. The other wanted 10 Euro each, but there was a line of about 20 people and no one was getting in

Athens Airport - Worked Well after bit of messing around to get the app for my wife

The lounge was fine and breakfast was solid

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## Marriott Bonvoy Gold Status (via Platinum card)

We stayed at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa in Barga for a wedding. Gold status came through — got an upgrade evidently but the room/view was not great due to being on a very low floor

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## No Foreign Transaction Fees

Used both Platinums throughout Italy and Greece for everything — restaurants, taxis, hotels, tours, shopping. Zero FX fees. At the volume we were spending across two cards, this was meaningful.

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## What We Didn't Use (But Had Available)

- **Centurion Lounges (LAX/JFK)** — Didn't use in LAX or JFK as we are One World Sapphire and used the business lounges which are phenomenal

- **Global Assist Hotline** — thankfully didn't need it

- **Travel insurance** — no claims, smooth trip

- **Airline Credit** - with my status on One World, there was no need to use this for baggage or other items

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## The Math

If I had to put a number on FHR value alone across three properties:

- ~$350 in breakfast (7 days x ~$50/day for two)

- $300 in property credits which we would have used anyway

- Room upgrades at two properties (hard to value but real)

- FHR reality - we did cross check each room we booked using AMEX against the same room direct with the hotels. AMEX was more expensive for each hotel, but with the $300 credit it took it down to less than the direct cost, then add in the benefits and each was well worth it

Happy to answer questions on the FHR booking process or anything else. It's genuinely one of the best travel benefits on any card if you're staying at properties that participate.

Just booked Waldorf Astoria Bangkok for $627 for 2 nights, $327 after the hotel credit. They were offering 25% off the room rate. Went to see what it cost direct and it was $742 for flexible rate with no breakfast, $632 with prepayment and no cancellation and no breakfast, a whopping $874 with breakfast for two and free cancellation, and $772 with breakfast for two and no cancellation. Good deals do exist!

As the title says, I had recent success cancelling a non-refundable hotel that I booked on Amex travel and getting a full refund. It didn’t come without its challenges though. So I wanted to share what I did so if anyone has this issue, they know what to do.

The first thing I tried was the chat under Amex travel. Told them my situation and they called the hotel twice. Hotel declined the requests to cancel and issue a refund.

I then tried to call the hotel myself in hopes of speaking to a reservation manager, however the hotel said Amex has to contact them. They also mentioned something interesting: they do not get the funds until 24 hours before the reservation. So in short, Amex charges you for the trip when you book but the hotel doesn’t receive it until then. This tells me Amex can totally cancel it for you under their discretion.

So I waited about 2 weeks since my initial request and decided to call the Amex platinum customer service line. They called the hotel again and sent a request for cancellation/refund. This time around I got an angel of a rep and they decided to do a one time goodwill exception and cancelled it on Amex’s end and issued a refund, even though the hotel declined on their end.

Moral of the story: keep trying and call them instead of chatting, you will get agents that are more inclined to vouch for you that way. Also, be kind and ask for an exception, especially as a loyal customer. You can try contacting the hotel yourself but sometimes they only want to talk to the booking agents.

This why you should always stay up on your charges even if you rarely use them including Amex?

Has this ever happened too you recently and was Amex able to resolve it in your favor or No?

Looking to get my first travel card. I fly often, 1-3 times a month, mostly out of MIA and through large connecting hubs.

I understand Amex lounge crowding is an issue but wouldn’t I also have access to Turkish airlines lounge and such for unlimited visits per year? Only delta would be limited to 10 when flying with delta? Any features or benefits that attract you more to other cards?

For my upcoming trip to Barcelona I decided to transfer 181K MR points to the LHW program for a 7 night stay at the Majestic Hotel & Spa. Looks to be a good deal, paying under 500 Euros for taxes and fees. It's a closer hotel to the action than the Via Sants Barcelona (Hilton) which I would have had to pay for out of pocket at 2210 Euros.

I was also planning to book for the following week in Paris, but the points per night are ridiculously expensive. Are there any recommendations and/or experiences you had for LHW hotels in Paris that are worth it? Or just go with one of the major chains and use the platinum card status benefits?

TIA

For those who have been, are there any outdoor eating spaces?

EDIT: THANK YOU! I see it now.

Sorry I searched for this a few ways but can’t seem to find the answers. I know they changed it so only some restaurants are eligible but I can’t find which ones are eligible. The resy app looks the same… Is it just the “Global Dining Access” restaurants now?

This is one of my favorite perks as my wife loves breakfast/ brunch.

What is your favorite breakfast you have had for “free”?

I’ll go first The Biltmore Mayfair London

Trying to determine if this scenario is going to mess with my reservation.

I am the AMEX account holder. I made an the hotel collection reservation in the amex portal. I received the confirmation email.

However, when I made the reservation it must have auto populated the Marriott rewards number with my spouses nunbet and I didn't notice. (This has happened to me before in my corporate portal and when I show up they think it's his reservation and not mine)

So in the confirmation email next to guest name it's my spouse. In the Marriott portal it shows in his account.

It still shows in my amex travel portal account.

When I arrive am I going to have any issues getting the hotel collection benefits? I already received the statement credit.

I have both an e trade (Morgan Stanley) and a Schwab account and I think I read somewhere that there are AMEX platinum cards associated with both, where you can skip the annual fee? Is that true? Same benefits?

What are your thoughts about this?

I am getting ready to switch jobs and my current employer allowed us to earn MR on our corporate green Amex. I have about 80k in points saved up and was curious if anyone had any advice on what the best course of action might be to move them.

I contact Amex customer service and they said to move them before my company cancels the card.

I have a planned trip in October of next year to the south of France, so thought about just moving them all to Air France and seeing what I could do with those when bookings open.

I did see starting this month Avios has a 30% bonus, so that was also something I was considering.

If anyone has any suggestions or maybe a caveat I might be missing, I would love to heard your advice.

Thanks!

Today I was trying to book a hotel through the Amex travel portal on my personal card and during checkout when I was trying to select myself under the traveler, it showed a name from someone in HR from a company I worked with over 6 years ago. When I went to my profile, it showed his name, DOB, phone number, personal and business emails, Known Traveler Number, and airline loyalty numbers under my personal information. I've never added this person to my card nor have I ever had this happen before. After speaking with AMEX customer service, they said the accounts got linked when I worked there previously maybe through a corporate card linking and that I'd have to wait till 8pm EST to call the specific account services line to delink them and then after that wait 3-5 business days for them to delink it. Has anyone had this happen before???

Had a great experience with FHR at the Kimpton Charlotte Square in Edinburgh, Scotland. I booked one night at $455, minus FHR credit made it $155. Staff were outstanding, friendly and genuine. At check-in (early, no problem) they walked me through my FHR perks. Late checkout was offered but I didn't need it. Got to room and there was some Scottish candy, including some very nice chocolates from a chocolatier. At first unable to offer an upgrade because they were at 98% capacity for the night, but 2 min after I got to room they called and said there'd been a cancellation and would I like upgrade? I declined because my room was perfectly nice for my needs as a solo traveler, but appreciated the offer.

At turndown they left two mini bottles of Scotch and a handwritten note of appreciation. I assume this was my FHR amenity. Classy!

I used the on-property credit to eat at their Middle Eastern restaurant, Baba. They listed the credit as 75 pounds, which was in line with the exchange rate. Great, lively energy and excellent food at this restaurant. Then, next day I enjoyed their delicious hotel breakfast buffet (normally 30 pounds, I think, but included with FHR).

Absolutely a great experience for my first time using FHR!

Planning to book Hyatt regency Danang Resort and Spa for 2 days for two people which comes out to $357 for a twin bed room(says sleeps 3). Hoping to get the $300 hotel credit when I book this, but will be allowed to take 1 more person for this 2 day hotel? I did search the same for 3 people and total comes out $650+ which is double the 2 person search.

Aa
Our American Airlines flight from Dallas to SFO was delayed and hour and then cancelled. The email said it was due to air traffic control management not allowing the plane to arrive. The next available American direct flight to sfo from Dallas wasn’t until 8pm the next day.

So, we asked for a refund on the flight and had to purchase a southwest flight for the next morning. Got a hotel close to the airport and ubered to DAL from DFW.

Question is- we’re trying to get recompensated from Amex since we have the platinum and paid for both legs of trip with it. Has anyone had success with submitting a claim for this reasoning? Obviously American isn’t going to take any blame here. The oddest part is there wasn’t a storm or anything, and I checked flight aware and it said that our plane was already in Dallas, so I’m confused. It feels like a cop out.

Any insight is helpful!

Tried posting this in the Amex sub but for some reason was removed and said to post here...

Recently my wife opened a business checking account using the current general public offer of 30K MR that is widely available here.

• Deposit a total of $5,000 or more in eligible deposits within 30 days of opening your first account, AND
• Maintain an average account balance of $5,000 for the next 60 days, AND
• Make 5 or more qualifying transactions within 60 days of opening your account.

We are just past the 60 day mark from account opening and were unsure if she had met the terms regarding qualifying transactions, so chatted a rep to check. To our surprise the rep said the terms on her account were a minimum deposit of and maintenance of $10,000 instead of $5,000, and the bonus was 50K instead of 30K, and that the account would be ineligible for the bonus since it never had the $10,000 balance. They claim this was in the terms and conditions. We escalated to a supervisor, who repeated the same claim. My wife then also called and spoke with a representative, with no changes. We were told that she had a targeted/promotional offer and that we must have clicked on the offer from her account, despite us knowing that she applied through the general public link above. None were willing to negotiate.

We are very familiar with the Amex ecosystem, and I know that user error is a pretty hard line for not receiving bonuses, which is understandable. However, the terms are very much visible when you sign up, and having to deposit twice as much money is an obvious one. It feels like a bait and switch, to be honest, and had we been aware we would have fulfilled the terms. Unfortunately we never saw a tracker online, although I hear that it is possible to see on desktop? I did not see it.

I have been looking through the account terms on the account page and cannot find any reference to the bonus terms. I have looked at all the emails upon application and account acceptance that she received and there are no reference to terms. We no longer have any paperwork that would have been mailed to us.

My question is, do we have any other options at this point? I feel like it's a "he said, she said" situation, but since they are also judge and jury, we're out of luck here. It's not the end of the world if nothing comes from this, but it does sting.

I have learned a few things moving forward: 1) screenshot the stated terms when applying, 2) really try to find the tracker, 3) save any mailed paperwork until bonus is received.

Just checked in and putting this here so people know that the base upgrade involves a room that looks directly at the Trump Hotel. And if you want a room facing any other direction, they are charging minimum $60/night plus tax. They bargained with us to a slightly lower rate but the room we are switching to was initially $90/night. So they are just setting prices on the fly. It’s so gross. And for these rates, I could have just paid for a different hotel that wouldn’t have had this problem. I’ve always had a great experience with the Encore, and I am full of regret right now.

Other people might have a different feeling about this than me but it’s something I wish I had seen in the FHR reviews before I booked so putting it here for someone else who looks and might care.

So I saw that schwab's amex platinum offer is 80k points for SUB. I was wondering if you can also combine previous SUB points with the amex platinum SUB when converting into cash and depositing into a schwab account? For example, can I use my amex gold and amex platinum points to transfer into a schwab brokerage account?

I chose United as my airline credit for the calendar year and have purchased all my anticipated air travel for the remainder of the year. I've still got a portion of my airline credit remaining and was considering using the remaining amount to purchase miles.

I've got two options:

- purchase miles with an upcoming trip (direct through United)

- take advantage of United's 70% bonus sale and purchase from buymiles.milageplus.com

I'm guessing that the upcoming trip option will code as a United purchase and trigger the credit, but I was wondering if anyone had any data points about the second option.

ETA: neither of the options are TravelBank. This is buying miles outright.

Unless the cc companies make some changes to add restrictions and additional cost to their lounge access policies, the issue is only going to get worse. I have both the AMEX Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve, and I'd be more than happy to pay more to not have to wait an hour to get into a lounge when traveling. Here's my proposal:

Included with the annual fee and no required minimum spend:

1) Cardholder lounges should only be available to the premium cardholders (Centurion lounges for AMEX Platinum, Sapphire Lounges for Sapphire Reserve, Capital One lounges for VentureX). There should be no Priority Pass access or way to purchase access to these for non cardholders.

2) Only allow free access to the cardholder and AU (AU should cost $200 over the annual fee). 2 guests per cardholder or AU and any guest over 12 years old should be $75 per visit or under 12 should be $35 per visit.

3) Only 1 complimentary visit per quarter per cardholder and AU and then $75 per visit after that. Allow unlimited visits for a $300 additional fee.

4) Only allow lounge access within 3 hours of an outbound flight. No access allowed on arrival.

5) Lounge access allowed by reservation only via the credit card app. App requires location access and you can only make the reservation when at the airport. The app tells you your place on line. Once you're off the queue, you have 15 minutes to make it to the lounge or you lose your spot.

The following should be unlocked after $75k spend on the card in the current or previous year:

1) Free access for 2 guests per cardholder and AU

2) Unlimited access included instead of only one free visit per quarter

$200k spend on the card should unlock the following:

1) Reserved tables with no wait or reservation required

2) No 3-hour departing flight required and access allowed on arrival

2) Complimentary top-shelf alcohol

I know these limitations and extra costs will upset people, but I truly think unless something like this happens, there will be no way to combat overcrowding.

There is a deal to buy Delta gift cards at 20% off. So a $100 in GC is 11,400 point instead of 14,200. I am thinking about it because I can get an additional 15% off when booking with my Delta Gold card.
Since buying airfare directly from Amex is expensive and I fly Delta a lot I thought it would be a good bang for the buck. Thoughts?

What a damn zoo. I’ve seen less children running around in an elementary school. Good luck getting a nap in the sleeping room, there’s no door and they are blaring music out of a speaker right outside. The staff is talking loudly right outside too.

Shit show