Originally Posted by
ZbadhabitZ
Though, staying at properties like The Clift in San Francisco, TheHotel in Las Vegas, the Skylofts in Las Vegas (albeit this is a higher end property), or the W in New York, I have ALWAYS found FHR to be less expensive than anywhere else available (either through the hotel directly, online, 3rd party sites, etc.), and the benefit of the room upgrade, free breakfast, and extra amenity (in many cases is a free $100 spa credit or free $100 food credit) makes FHR a really really worthwhile and option.
Those properties are generally outside the range of what I'll stay in.
My two FHR experiences are the Bellagio and the Oriental. The free breakfast at the Bellagio was fine and certainly of some value, but that was the only benefit that I used (no upgrade, I didn't go to the gym and no late checkout needed). At the Oriental I got the upgrade, didn't use the breakfast, the lunch was just OK and the late checkout was not used. I definitely got $$ value for the FHR at the Oriental, but that was on my honeymoon and next time I'm in BKK I almost certainly will stay somewhere less expensive, even with the great FHR benefit.
Yes, the FHR rate is generally good at the FHR properties. But, much like that IAP 2-4-1, unless you are planning on spending a whole lot of money anyways, the benefit really isn't helpful. Since I don't plan on doing so, I don't get the value from the program.