kennycrudup

If you have a profile with Plat (and/or presumably, by extention Cent) Concierge, you can E-mail them at [I had put an E-mail address here, but thought better of it- but it's the same one they send E-mail confirmations from, so use that] and they'll contact you back.

I use it for non-realtime requests.

TAHKUCT

I have tried an email option, but nobody ever replies to me or calls me back.

kennycrudup

TAHKUCT, weren't you also once telling me that you weren't getting your FHR confirmations from PTS, either via E-mail (or they were significantly delayed)?

If it wasn't you I remember telling me that, forgive me, but perhaps their reply E-mails are being SPAM-filtered, or otherwise blocked (or your profile E-mail address isn't right)? (They do always include a couple of gigabytes of legalese at the bottom, so maybe that's trapping the filters?)

TAHKUCT

I could of had reported some delays earlier in the year, but I don't remember myself. I do get emails after my call usually within few hours now and they do not go into spam.

DrivingRain

^

This wrinkle of pricing transparency at the Ritz drove bookings to them for me over the competition. This is a major loss for Ritz Carlton IMO

goingnow

goingnow

BeantownFlyer

I had the opportunity to have a fairly lengthy telephone conversation with an individual at AMEX who told me he is in charge of the FHR program. Although there was not much in the way of positive changes that came out of the conversation, it was helpful to at least be able to speak to someone who was intelligent and clearly knowledgeable about the facts.

Among the things I heard:

-The rates were taken off the Ritz website (and also Starwood and Hilton) at AMEX's request. In fact, I was told that Starwood and Hilton did it right away, but that Ritz resisted and was slow to act on AMEX's request.

-AMEX does not want them out there because: (a) they don't want non-Centurion customers to be able to book those rates; and (b) they don't want competitors to be able to see the rates. [Since it seems to me there are a variety of ways to police the booking situation, it strikes me this is really about b - AMEX does not want its competitors to be able to see the negotiated rates it has with Ritz. Interesting that they would chose to inconvenience their cardmembers for what is a very obscure business risk in my view.]

-AMEX recognizes that they need greater online service - particularly the ability to book travel online. At the same time, there is no development timetable or deadline. [It sounded to me like this continues to be years off.]

-The individual I spoke with was surprised to hear of the complaints we all have expressed in regard to getting accurate information from CTS/PTS in regard to FHR and Centurion rates and amenties. He said he forwarded my original e-mail to the travel folks for further comment. [I emphasized that I thought many of the CTS agents did a great job, but that it struck me that the screens they must be viewing could not have had the same detail as what I could see on the Ritz website - which always resulted in a call to the hotel directly by the CTS agent. This was a typical occurence for Ritz and Mandarin bookings I noted.]

-The individual I spoke with was clearly familiar with flyertalk and had reviewed this thread and others relating to the FHR program.

So the bottom line is that AMEX made a conscious decision here, and has no intention of changing their position. I have to say that what troubles me most about my Centurion membership and relationship with AMEX is that they routinely bungle the opportunities to develop good will and further the relationship where the dollar cost is minimal. I have passed comments on to customer service, to higher ups, been on focus groups, completed surveys, etc., but they just can't seem to get it! It is interesting - this month is my 25 year anniversary as an AMEX cardholder. I haven't even attempted to tally up the volume of business I have given them over those years, but a rough guess is $2 million - $3 million or more. Yet I haven't even received any acknowledgement of my loyalty as a customer, let alone something tangible like a card, token gift, or something of real value (fee waiver?!). I am never quite sure if it is arrogance or ignorance!

Since the individual I spoke with is monitoring this thread, and has seen all the comments, I don't see any purpose in subjecting him to a barrage of e-mails by posting his contact information. Suffice it to say they have apparently heard the complaints and see no reason to change their position. Very disaapointing, to say the least.

19103_aa

Wow, astonishing (and disappointing report). Thanks for getting back with us. I am a lowly Platinum, but if I were paying Centurion fees, I'd seriously reconsider my investment with Amex. Can someone do the head to head with Centurion vs. Virtuoso on travel planning?

I am particularly frustrated in their retarded pace to online bookings. It defies explanation.

ThWilmesi

It seams that there is a different pace with regard to online booking tools in the different countries. With Centurion Card Germany you already have a pretty powerful booking engine for eveything based on the START system. In the hotel area most of the FHR rates are loaded and can be booked online. although with Ritz Carlton I always had problems to view the Centurion benefits in comparision to the FHR benefits, and there I also had the problems with CTS. The Mandarin Oriental program for Centurion can here be seen under Centurion Designer Program. What bugs me on this system is that I don't have the possibility to cancel online any reservations but I always have to call CTS to get it done, it is a bit of a waste of time.

DrivingRain

and they are simply inefficient at cancelling reservations. I average 2 to 3 failed reservation cancels per year with CTS. So the no-show charge hits my account, which causes me to go through the drawn out charge reversal with Cent customer service. What a pain in the -you-know-what. I really loathe CTS b/c of this. We need full internet booking ASAP!

TAHKUCT

I had the same experiencing with my Toronto reservations in May. We initially booked Sutton Place (2 rooms), but then called Platinum Travel services and changed it to Four Seasons. The rep did cancel one room, but the other one was charged to my account as a no show just few weeks ago.
Called Platinum services and they told me that they no longer can pull up my reservations due to the fact they only keep it in the system for up to 2 month. So I had to file a dispute. Just to speed up the process, I called Sutton Place and they gave me a credit (they saw one room was canceled and another one was not)

It is just frustrating that Platinum Travel services cannot even fix their own mistake

Kagehitokiri

BeantownFlyer, thanks for the detailed report. ^

other cent cardholders are noticing >
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=730385

recap of current sites to look (not book) >

TAHKUCT

I have noticed that I cannot see FHR anymore on Centurion German site. Has anybody else noticed the same?

free101girl

It continually amazes me that Amex refuses to join the 21st century and offer online booking of FHR.

As others have posted, it is ridiculously time-consuming to call PTS and book anything. It strikes me as very ironic that I'm booking luxury hotels and cruises, yet nothing about the booking experience is pleasant or luxury-oriented. I'm sick of waiting on hold, having to provide all my information each time, etc.

The PTS phone reps are not well-informed. (It's ridiculous to call them travel counselors, as most of them know virtually nothing about travel destinations, hotel properties or cruise lines. I don't think most of them have ever left the phone room.)

I'm really just disgusted with PTS in general and consequently have recently switched to booking everything through a Virtuoso agent, who has so far gotten me the same or better benefits. He provides me with a single point of contact, useful insights, and best of all, the ability to reach out to him by e-mail and get things booked quickly and conveniently!

I'm undecided about continuing to pay the big bucks for my Platinum Business card. There are some other benefits, but FHR is no longer a factor in my decision.