Originally Posted by
GallyChef
Hoping for some collective wisdom on the best way to use the Business Platinum hotel credit for a family member. The goal is to maximize value that would otherwise go unused.
Here is the setup:
- Primary Cardholder: My father (with the Amex Business Platinum).
- Me (Son): I have an unpaid employee card on his account and also have my own personal Amex Platinum.
- The Goal: I'd like to use his $300 semi-annual hotel credit for a prepaid FHR/THC stay that I will be taking.
- The Detail: We share the same last name, but have different first names.
The Problem:
When I'm logged in and ready to book, the Amex Travel tool's dropdown list of existing travelers forces the selection of my father's name, as he is the primary cardholder.
This leads to a couple of key questions about the booking process:
- After selecting my father's pre-populated name from the dropdown, the tool still allows me to edit the First Name/Last Name fields. Will Amex Travel actually process the booking successfully if I manually edit the first name from his to mine?
- Alternatively, if I book through my own Amex account (logged in as me) but use my employee card from his Business Platinum account as the payment method, will that correctly trigger the $300 credit on his primary account?
I know the standard workarounds are booking in his name and calling the hotel to add me, or doing back-to-back reservations to link our stays. However, the ultimate goal is to have the booking entirely in my name so I can get the Marriott Titanium elite night credits and on-property benefits without any hassle.
Wondering if anybody has any similar experience with this or has found a clean way to achieve this. Thanks!
1. Amex no longer forces booking in the name of the primary card holder for FHR stays so you can and are allowed to book in your name with no need to book in your father's name and call the hotel. I've done bookings for other people using my card(s) and their loyalt number with no issues.
2. You can use the employee card under your father's account to make your booking and it will trigger the $300 credit. I've done that too shortly after the new $300 credit on the Biz Plat came out. You only get the credit once per account though so if you use it on your card then that's it until January.