Adelphos

With the $200 travel credit, I can imagine more people will be considering booking The Hotel Collection stays in the future. It looks like Amex promises a room upgrade (pending availability) and a property credit for most Hotel Collection stays. Would love to get some data points on upgrades, elite status recognition, etc...

WasKnown

Hyatt has an official policy stating that FHR is elite qualifying. There is no such policy for HC. Similarly, many Marriott stays (IME) do post to my Bonvoy account when booking through FHR. I do not have any experiences with booking Marriotts through HC but the lurkers have (recently and in the past) confirmed FHR elite eligibility without confirming HC elite eligibility.

Based off of these 2 factors, I believe HC is NOT elite qualifying for Hyatt and Marriott. I would be curious to see if there are any data points for this with IHG as there seems to be a few Kimptons in the HC program.

chrisny2

My elite status was recognized and my points posted for a Marriott Hotel Collection stay (at the Walt Disney World Dolphin).

hotturnip

I posted in the "$200 Hotel Credit" thread about my recent experience at the Bellevue in Philadelphia (Hyatt Unbound.) $200 credit was posted quickly by Amex after I made my reservation and prepaid. I only got an upgrade at the hotel because the clerk made a mistake and put me in a connector after I specifically told him "no connecting door." The third night free worked fine. The $100 F/B credit worked fine (those charges didn't even show up on my folio). F/B availability was quite limited--just a limited room service menu, with no lunch available and no dinner on Sundays. I spent some of it by using the pantry by the front desk. I offered my Hyatt # at checkin, and the agent entered it. I received full points for the nights paid, including the current Hyatt bonus. I only got credit for 3 of the 4 nights stayed in my World of Hyatt account.

This "upgrade if available" stuff is nonsense, if you ask me. What qualifies as an "upgrade" anyhow? In hotels like this one, rooms are highly variable. But in a lot of newer properties, the rooms are virtually identical, just varying in view. They'll tell you a room on a high floor is an upgrade.

The real problem for budget travelers such as myself is that the rates on the THC hotels are usually so high that even with all the credits, another option is likely much cheaper. I had to look really hard to find a destination/hotel that I felt was a pretty good deal.

Zhariak

I think it was last year I booked "The Hotels Collection" for a Fairmont property in Vancouver, BC. I use FHR all the time with my Canadian Cent card, but first time using this.

The rate was awesome, the perks were awesome (got a credit and some other stuff), and I got status recognition and points from Accor (which I was worried about). Will definitely be using again, I regularly check both "The Hotels Collection" and compare to FHR to see which is best with perks vs rates.

Procter

Plan to stay at a Marriott property for two days already have a backup booking (flexible).

Checked the THC site, same hotel, same day, the prepaid rate is $4/night more, and the flexible rate is about 20/day more.

Two questions:
1. Is prepaid rate at THC counted as stay credit in Marriott?
2. What format of $100 credit would be issued? Would that reflect anywhere in writing? I'm counting that $100 otherwise the rebooking would not make any sense. It is a Four Point, so I'm not seeing anything fancy being provided as "experience".
3. The term said “Bookings must be made using an eligible Card and must be paid using that Card, or another American Express®Card, in the eligible Card Member's name”， Does it work if I book with the amex gold and pay with Marriot Brilliant? Or the charge needs to be on eligible card (Amex Gold)

Thanks a lot.

Ord Liza

As to #3, I just asked that question yesterday and the rep was adamant that you have to pay with the eligible card (in your case, the Gold, but I was asking about the Plat). If that is the case, it is very poorly written and makes no sense to me. Her explanation was that this language came into play when an authorized user made the booking but paid with the account holder's card. I think she is wrong, but would love to hear from someone who has done it.

dw

1. The prepaid booking will come through to the hotel looking like an OTA booking (Expedia), so while you might get lucky and get stay credit, it is not supposed to qualify
2. The Hotel Collection $100 credit is a credit applied by the hotel at check out against on property charges that you are able to charge to your room (i.e. dining, spa and sometimes parking, though parking will depend on whether you can charge it to your room). Since you mentioned you are staying at a Four Points, I would evaluate whether there is $100 worth of incidentals you would spend at the property. Also, if you are thinking of applying it against dining charges, I would also check that the hotels F&B outlets are open.
3. If you don't go the prepaid route, the hotel should be willing to let you use any Amex card in your name at check out.

Also, out of curiosity, what Four Points belongs to The Hotel Collection? My first reaction was that it doesn't sound right, but I suppose there are international Four Points locations that might be more upmarket than what we have in North America.

(But I'll note that at first glance I don't see any Four Points locations on the list. Are you sure you aren't just looking at a plain vanilla booking using Amex Travel online?)

Procter

That's a good question. I googled the hotel collection and gets me to that portal which has quite some different low tier hotels (BW etc). I know FHR definitely does not have Four Point, not sure THC is the same deal.

Let me double check.

Now think back I don't think I'd risk the prepaid rate at THC for a potential $100 credit. The corporate flexible rate I have is the same as Amex prepaid rate.

Edit: @dw, you were right, it was Amex travel regular listing. THC has a much smaller directory.
So apparently somehow in the clicking process, I landed on the amex travel regular page.

mia

In general, its best to start at americanexpress.com and navigate to the feature you want to use or research. The reason is that American Express issues cards worldwide, including many other English-speaking countries, and it's easy to inadvertently find a page from a foreign site which does not match the USA-issued products. American Express tends to use the same branding "Platinum", "Gold", "Green", "Blue", "Membership Rewards", "Fine Hotels & Resorts", everywhere, but the details can be very different.

4aks

I was hoping to find this a useful benefit , the $200 credit on 2 night THC stay - but the prices available on AMEX travel are tax inclusive nearly $100/night over a flexible booking direct on hyatt ...

Enigma368

Is there a master thread for the Hotel Collection on FT, I cannot find it?

My question is whether I can book 2 nights in a hotel collection hotel with my Amex Plat, and then 2 subsequent nights with my partners Amex plat and get the $100 credit for each of the two stays? I assume I could do this if we check out after the first stay and then check into a new room for the second stay but will they allow it if we just want to stay in the same room?

mia

There was not much interest in The Hotel Collection until this offer. Here is a thread discussing back-to-back bookings using the Fine Hotels and Resorts program. I would expect The Hotel Collection results to be similar, which means you need to be prepared to change rooms. It will very much depend on the property and the individuals you deal with.

FHR back-to-back booking questions.

niral917

Does anyone have experience booking Caesar's through the Hotel Collection via Amex? Cannot find information anywhere on whether the 100$ credit can be used towards spa only or F&B.

mildfrequence

This is me.
I've resigned myself to accepting scenarios where I'm spending a little more than I might otherwise, but getting a good measure of quality that would generally cost far more.