Originally Posted by
Raffles
With the FHR, it is the guaranteed 4pm check-out.
There are situations where this really pays off - late night flight back from NA to Europe, weekend break where you want to make the most of Sunday etc - and is worth more than a potential upgrade, food credit etc.
Yes, a Virtuoso agent may be able to negotiate this but you'd want it in writing - and why bother asking them to do this when it is automatic with Amex?
FHR also usually includes upgrade and some kind of credit, so not always mutually exclusive.
If another amenity set is better, I always just get written confirmation of late check out from hotel. I believe there is a clause in the FHR contract that gives Amex FHR exclusivity with
guaranteed 16:00 checkout, meaning other consortia cannot use that exact language in their contracted "benefits," but in practice I can't think of a single time I have been denied 16:00 check out when booking through other programs.