American Express Membership Rewards - AMEX Travel Service for Honeymoon?

I'm planning my Honeymoon to Italy for Sept. and am somewhat hesitant to use a travel agency (ie: liberty travel). Has anyone had any luck with getting decent deals/rates (better than what the websites show) by going through the AMEX travel offices? There is one about 30 minutes from my house, and I was thinking about stopping in.

They are just another travel agency. They may have deals with some properties/providers, but I wouldn't bet on it.

You can probably put together a pretty decent itinerary and plan specific to your budget with out an agent if you want to. But I wouldn't expect to get much of a different experience with AmEx travel versus Liberty, except for things like the FHR program, Villas, etc.

Whom to work with really depends on what you're after.

There are some itineraries and travel styles that are best just booked online by yourself, piece by piece.

There are some itineraries that ought to be booked by a real specialist in your destination.

But really can't point you in the right direction without know what you're looking for and at what price point...

And there are some travel styles best assisted by an agent, eg Virtuoso.

also a suggestion if you are a AAA+ member you get free books on the countries and suggested places to visit with ratings next to them as well.

I highly suggest doing research on what is good and what is not so good to see as well so if you go with a tour or something make sure they hit the spots you want to see.

wow! thanks everyone for the quick responses.

Well, basically we're gonna plan go go Sept. 8 - 22.
We'll be going to Venice, Florence, Rome and Capri/Alfani Coast.

The tough part, we'd really only like to spend 6500-8500 for hotels (with Capri having a nice hotel stay). Obviously the low dollar is gonna make things a bit rough. I'm reading through the Rick Steve's books so far, and going through different hotel sites, however, I dont know how much the travel agents and DIY hotel bookings really differ. It's been so long since I've been to one.

Thank you everyone for your quick responses. I really appreciate them.

Well, basically we're gonna plan go go Sept. 8 - 22.
We'll be going to Venice, Florence, Rome and Capri/Alfani Coast.


I would say you should check out a Virtuoso agent. They should be able to respect your budget and offer you a lot of value add. The value is similar to FHR, but you will hopefully have a real live person advocating for you instead of someone from an FHR call centre or someone in a local Amex Travel office who isn't passoinate about Italy or honeymoons

Go check out the luxury hotel forum for more details....

PS: Try and save up for the Four Seasons Florence, it is really special!