American Express Membership Rewards - Plat FHR Rates high in Las Vegas

I was checking out rates for 17-20 Oct
a the Venetian and the Bellagio. The
Venetian quoted me $299. Amex was $279
for the 17th and $419 after that. Bellagio
quoted $256 a night while Amex was $359.

I was surprised of the huge difference in
prices. Looks like FHR rates are not so
good in Vegas when booking far in advance.

Paul

I found that generally to be the case anywhere I stay. Which is one of the reasons I thinking of going back to Green or Gold from Platinum. (I also have never used the buy one get one free FC ticket---which is why I went for the card to begin with!)

I think that the hotels do this to cover the cost of the "extras" they provide the program. I have never really used this program as amex could always get me better corp. rates than the FHR program was offering.

I too am becoming disillusioned with Amex. In 12 years I have never used the free Fc ticket, finding better web deals each time i travelled. The $300 plus $150 extra card is exhorbitant and recently I have had a slew of little items added to my bill that are easily removed but I consider them "slamming". What gives? this used to be an elite card....but it is a hassle to try to get airline tix with MR points, and the transfer rates are lame. I'm ready for a new card with some romance and some appreciation!

"I'm ready for a new card with some romance and some appreciation!"

If you manage to find one, please make sure you post the details on this board, as there will be a lot of takers ;-)

I agree...Amex PCS is pretty useless unless you are too lazy to spend a few extra minutes getting a good deal yourself. I have always found a better deal elsewhere.

Curiously, I called Amex PCS a few weeks ago to ask them to send me their hotel directory, to see what would happen. A few days later I got a copy of the corporate rate catalogue, which guarantees prices for hotels for (all) Amex users.

I them called PCS and asked them to quote me some rates. They were way off (and always much higher than their agreed rates). I told the agent this, but she did not really seem to have a clue.

Hopeless

I just re-booked at the Venetian (originally booked in August) and Amex adjusted the rate for me so that it was only slightly higher than the direct Venetian booking (originally I was paying about $600 more for the entire stay of 4 nights, now only about $150). With the free breakfast and the guarantee of the room at noon (an amazing benefit at the Venetian), I thought the rate was worth it.

The last time I used Amex CS for a hotel booking was, when I was looking for a superior hotelroom in Bilbao.

They war able to give me the rack rate over the internet and didn´t even mention the special weekendrate (30% off!!) which could have been booked instead.!!

Thank you, never again!