Yes, I think that WAS my problem. I used the "book now" button under the "Benefits" tab to book my hotel. It then displayed a list of hotels. But it turns out that list included lots of hotels that aren't eligible for the rebate. I see AMEX has NOW modified this listing to color-code participating "Fine Hotels and Resorts" and "Hotel Collection" properties -- separating them from all the other hotels where you won't get the credit. So if you fully understand what's going on, you'll know which hotels work and which don't.

In my case, the AMEX agents (logically) didn't understand which hotels qualified. So they told me my booking qualified even though AMEX didn't intend that to be the case. When I complained, they actually went back and replayed the recorded conversation in which their agent told me my booking qualified! Based on that recording, they have decided to pay me the $200 credit for my booking, which I think is the right thing for them to do.

Going forward, though, this benefit probably won't be useful to many people. For my Hawaiian travel dates, they now only have 3 hotels on the island of Hawaii that qualifiy. The minimum nightly rate for booking one of these properties is $1100. I think that won't interest too many cardholders.