Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
again. u are free to do watever u like. i am here to warn everyone of the admin headache thats about to occur if pple wanna select FLEXIBLE CANCELLATION vs non-refund.
similar to u, ive been doing this personal plat FHR thing for a long time w/ multiple. i got too comfortable w/ the process. i was careless. i quickly did the FHR booking like many times before. and i got screwed.
same thing w/ amex $50 HH credits via gift cards. tons of pple buy it despite the CLEAR documented issues. and ever since amex biz plat intro the HH credit, ive been waiting in the front desk forever watching pple trying to split payment 20+ gift cards to settle their folio. pple in this game still dont understand u burn locations w/ that type of behavior and next time, there will be a stupid 2 payment form max policy.
anyway, let me try to clarify again for the benefit of this thread. esp since FT has helped me so much w/ DPs for many years.
below is example of what screwed me:
I'm completely unsure what the new $50 HH credit on the Biz Plat card and the fact that guests are using numerous gcs to pay which may or may not burn locations, has to do with the $200 FHR credit not having been received because Amex FHR screwed up on the Pay Now selection for several hotels (namely those in Vegas). The former has nothing to do with the latter and you've already brought this up in the correct thread where that discussion should remain IMO.
Having said that, it is totally incorrect to tell members that only non refundable rates are the way to go to get the $200 FHR credit. The differentiation should be made in the way Amex tells you that you will be charged when selecting Pay Now (Pay with card). In the case of WA LV which I replicated myself Amex very clearly writes that the deposit will be made by the hotel. This is automatically a red flag because a charge made by the hotel will not trigger the FHR credit (and it makes no difference if they do or don't charge a deposit because either way there's no $200 FHR credit). It's wrong of Amex to do it this way when you choose Pay Now but you need to be aware of this and go on with your eyes open and it tells you very clearly what's going to happen here so this is not a good option obviously to get the FHR credit regardless if you do it Jan 1 or Dec 31 (which honestly you shouldn't wait until then unless you just got the card).
Contrast that with the WA Orlando which I've booked several times via FHR and used Pay Now with flexible cancelation and had no problem getting the $200 FHR credit - my card was charged right away by Amex FHR with no issue. Notice in my screenshots that it doesn't say anything about a deposit like it does with yours at WA LV. The Pay at Hotel option for me said No Deposit Required. Notice that in this reservation it says "Pay Today" vs your reservation that just says "Hotel Deposit" - when I replicated your reservation choosing Pay Now and Pay at Hotel showed the same results on that screen so this is not hotel I would reserve at to use my $200 credit.
