Fairmont President's Club - Fast Tracking Premier Status

I just signed up for FPC this weekend. Mrs. pdx_fam and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next July and we are planning on going to Hawaii. I am thinking that if we take the kids (teenagers) on a spring break (end of March) circuit of Victoria-Vancouver-Whistler-Vancouver-Seattle, we could make premier status quickly and have a fun spring break trip.

Any reason this wouldn't work? Will it make a significant difference on our Hawaii trip? I am hoping to use promotional rates (great rates, great dates, nfaf, etc.) where possible.

If we split the Hawaii trip up, say two days at the Orchid and three days at Kea Lani, that would get us up to seven stays by my math... Might even make platinum with another summer trip!

Thanks for any response, I appreciate the knowledge on this site!

Welcome to Flyertalk! :)

IMO premier status itself doesn´t make that a big difference while you stay at a hotel. (You might get a slightly better room but apart from that there isn´t that a huge difference between base and premier membership if you consider benefits during a stay)

BUT if you qualify for premier in spring 2010 you will be sent one room upgrade cert and one suite upgrade cert (+some other goodies) after qualifying good until Feb. 2011 (for qualifying early) and other set of certs valid until Feb. 2012.

IMO this would be a huge benefit as you would be able to upgrade your stay in Hawaii (e.g. getting a jr. suite, but paying for a Fairmont room and using a suite upgrade) Especially as Hawaii tends to be rather expensive this would be a great use of the certs.

Yes, the upgrade cert's are awesome. You get one room upgrade cert, one suite upgrade cert, one buy 2, get one night free cert (CAN BE USED ON ANY PROMO RATE!), and $50 in dining or spa credit.

For example, I have an upcoming stay at Banff Springs. The NFAF rate was cheap on the Thurs and Fri, but significantly more on the Saturday night.

So I booked the NFAF cheap rate for the Thursday/Friday night, used my buy 2, get 3rd free, AND my suite upgrade, and I now have a 3 night stay, PLUS have been upgraded to an amazing 700 square foot suite for the price of 2, cheap NFAF nights.

I don't see how getting cert's valid until Feb. 2010 would be any good if you are receiving them after that date... So I assume that if I qualify early, there would be one set of cert's good until the following Feb (2011), and then another set the following year good until Feb 2012? (This future date stuff gets a little confusing :p ) I hadn't counted on a double set of certificates!

I also assume that I would have to use the certificate(s) at the time of booking - I couldn't wait until checking in to see if our anniversary merited a complementary upgrade? Or didn't I read that the certificates depend upon availability (at check-in or at booking)?

And let me complicate things slightly more with one more question: Any stay before the end of 2009 won't help me, as status is based on the calendar year, right?

Thanks again!

Sorry, confused the dates. Of course you would get two sets of certs valid until Feb. 2011 and Feb. 2012.

The best way to make the reservation is to call as early as possible and tell them you want to use an upgrade cert. They will charge you the lowest available rate and given a suite (based on availability at the time of booking). You might mention your anniversary on the phone, as they might give you a better suite (officially you are only entitled to the lowest suite category)

Spending a night in 2009 wouldn´t help.

Does premier offer any per stay upgrades, or is it only with the certs? should I expect possibly a room upgrade now that I am premier, first new stay later this week.

Does premier offer any per stay upgrades, or is it only with the certs? should I expect possibly a room upgrade now that I am premier, first new stay later this week.

Not officially.

Does premier offer any per stay upgrades, or is it only with the certs? should I expect possibly a room upgrade now that I am premier, first new stay later this week.

As CanuckFlyHigh mentions, "not officially". That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I've received upgrades from standard room to 1 bedroom suites recently.