Fairmont President's Club - Rate Fairmont President's Club

We are going to review Fairmont President's Club in the August issue of InsideFlyer magazine and would like your input.

If you would like to participate, please post your response in the thread with the pros and cons of membership in Fairmont President's Club and grade the program from A to F (A being the highest grade). You can include a plus or minus with the rating.

You can also respond directly to me at dmankell@insideflyer.com.
Thank you!

I think Fairmont Presidents Club is an excellent offering given that I'd rate Fairmont as very close to the luxury category, and Four Seasons & Ritz Carleton don't have any similar program.

Pros:

- Confirmed room upgrades
- Free nights are simple to redeem
- Free Internet access
- Simple airline point accumulation (1,000 per stay for Platinum members)

Cons:

- Potentially limited airline point accumulation for long stays compared to other programs
- Limited global properties

Rating: A

In my opinion FPC is a great program, especially the benefits for basic members are far better than those of other programs.

Pros:
- complimentary membership
- complimentary internet access
- fast lane for check-in / check-out
- upgrade and free night certs, very few black-out dates
- early re-qualifying
- status not too hard to achieve
- FPC hotline in general very helpful, knowledgable and flexible

Cons:
- upgrade and free night certs not redeemable against Fairmont Gold rooms/suites
- IT system full of mistakes (reservations and stays don´t show up properly, my home country automatically changed twice in the last three weeks, my membership date is shown as Aug. 2009 which is quite impossible)
- hardly any difference between Premier and Platinum, lack of a "top status" (e.g. for the top 1000 customers)

Overall rating: A-

Been a President's Club member since the first dot com boom. I have not heard of ANY of the program's benefits mentioned above. So communication F.

Spent about 10 leisure nights at a Fairmont near home and up in Vancouver and while I am happy that Fairmont general reservations picks up immediately (A+), apart from a free coupon for a dinner on my birthday way back when, I have no knowledge of any benefits of belonging, and I read my mail.

My rating? E for "eh." Okay...D. Enlighten me, thanks.

To me a hotel program is not only about the program per se. It's the whole brand. I really like FPC for this reason. Not only is the program very good for what I need, the hotels and the service I receive at the hotel are usually very good.

I agree in general with what Jasper says, though I think there is a difference between Prem and Plt. With Plt, you get basically twice the amount of upgrade certs. And the free night coupon is not a buy two get one free thing.

While the program does not offer points, I'm fine with it. I like the free internet, Fairmont Fit, Plt Amenities, confirmed upgrades, guaranteed early checkin and late checkout (some such benefits for Plts only, so there's another difference).

IT really is bad, though. Very bad. I find it hard to believe how such a large brand can have such horrific IT.

And mikeyyz is right about the size of the network. I get Plt the hard way, not through any promos, and I'd have loved to give FPC more stays, but it's impossible! I end up still having to spend at least 20 stays a year at properties other than FPC simply because they have no presence.

On the whole, for consistency, service, and generally being pleasant to deal with, I love the FPC program. ^

Pros:
- Excellent network of hotels within Canada
- Only 5 stays to premier, which has better benefits than virtually any other hotel program out there for that number of stays
- Upgrades confirmed at time of reservation
- Quality of properties is excellent

Cons:
- Lack of world wide presence

Cons:
- Lack of world wide presence

Less of a a con with the Raffles/Swissotel merger.

This former Premier always appreciated the personalized luggage tags that arrived in my annual membership kit. Well, those and the dining cert. ;)

My biggest con is their IT as the website bites. Reconfigure it to be more user friendly same as the fairmont.com site.

Overall, I give the Fairmont brand and FPC program both an A.

I am an FPC premier member

Pros
- The customer service with FPC and at every hotel is excellent.
- For the near-luxury hotel level, it is an excellent value, typically at a much more palatable price-point than Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton.
- Easy to attain FPC Premier level, at 10 nights/year.
- The upgrade and discount certificates as an FPC Premier member are a tremendous value, allowing for markedly-discounted stays in my experience over the last two years. This really allows the high-end traveller to really stretch dollars and spend close to the average-hotel level for a high-end hotel.
- Upgrade and discount certificates are easy to redeem, though they require a phone call. The agents on the phone are all about HELPING customers to use their certificates, rather than throwing up roadblocks.
- Stays using upgrade and discount certificates still qualify towards Premier status for the following year.
- There is a good Fairmont presence throughout North America.
- Free internet service for FPC members is a substantial value, relative to internet charges at other hotels.

Cons
- Lack of a traditional, points-based accrual-and-redemption program may put off more mainstream travellers (though I find the upgrade and discount certs far more valuable than the points in any other hotel program).
- While all hotels have fantastic customer-service and luxurious accomodations, some hotels remain dated both in decor and age of furniture and carpeting in the rooms. Common areas are generally up-to-date, however.
- Lack of significant European presence, where I'd really like to use the Fairmont brand more.

here is why i do not value the fairmont president's club. in a week long vacation, i spent 3 nights at a hyatt, 3 at a fairmont.
at the hyatt, the rooms had flat screen tv's, and as a platinum (free program also) we were upgraded to the best available room. this meant a junior suite, with an outside terrace on the ground floor overlooking a pool.we had a hiccup with housekeeping service and were immediately handed two coupons for full meals at any of the restuarants, and for no reason at all, received a 5pm check out. we never had to call for housekeeping and it was done to the highest standards and all soaps and lotions replaced.

at the fairmont our tv was the old box kind, so old that it hurt our eyes to watch certain channels (the tube was going). we only received a move to the next level up after being shown two horrible rooms and spending 45 minutes down in the loby having to wait each time for a new key and a new trip to a bad room, then at last received a slight "upgrade" to a well-worn room done in old fashioned style despite the vast availability of larger suites and were offered the opportunity to pay $50 for a suite. the housekeeping nightmare at fairmont earned us two days of back and forth messages from the director of housekeeping and nothing in the way of an amelioration or apology (not that we asked, but we didn;t ask at hyatt either). oh and we had our soap replaced exactly once.

the true irony is the fairmont property is considered a "resort" and the hyatt a regency (business hotel) and we felt as though our lesiure dollar was far better spent and apreciated at the hyatt.

with fpc you get what you (don't) pay for.

upright which fairmont was this? I was thinking Empress till you said resort and then I got curious....

Premium is easy to get to--and given that the closest luxury hotels have no similar programs, I think FPC is tops. The downside to the program, as so many others have note, is the general paucity of hotels.

upright which fairmont was this? I was thinking Empress till you said resort and then I got curious....

fairmont sonoma mission inn, california, usa.