They are electronic certs but I am pretty sure you still have to call and apply the certs to your reservation, you can't just book something online and apply a cert, so they are basically like a paper cert.

I have no idea what you mean by this, but when using a free night you indeed have a choice between calling and making a reservation from scratch that includes your free night certs or call in to apply your free night certs towards an existing reservation. The only difference is that in the latter case you´d have to ensure that your reservation is eligible and there are no black-out dates etc.

I just meant that like with Marriott, Hyatt and others that give you an electronic free night you can book that night online without having to make a call, with Fairmont I actually have to call them to apply the free night certs. It would just be nice if i can make my reservation online, apply the cert online and be done.

this will be changing, possibly next year, one can redeem online.

One very nice (and unique as far as I know) part of FPC is that you can book the room before you have the certificate. It will be a shame to lose this capability.

I don't see that going away, since it is based on Fairmont Room availability.

It will if they require you to redeem the cert at booking.

(Though I should have said "would be a shame" instead of "will be a shame".)

On a recent stay a property apparently forgot to pull free night cert from account - does this happen on occasion?

It´s not unheard of - but has become much, much rarer over the years.

Friend and I applied for the CC and got a total of 4 free nights, 2 each. We're traveling together, so can we combine the 2 pairs of free nights for a 4 night stay? Or will they make us change rooms in the middle?

You can´t technically combine your certs, but youcould certainly politely ask the front desk to assign the same room for both stays or contact the hotel in advance to link the two reservations.

wife has this card. We made around $14k in purchases last year.

AF posted on May 1
Statement closed on May 14
complimentary night posted to fairmont on may 15

The annual complimentary night doesn't come with breakfast or any other certificates (unlike the sign up bonus) But we do have some dining certificates due to the FPC elite membership.

This isnt correct. I called Fairmont and the were able to use mine and my wifes certs and book it as one reservation with one confirmation number. They didnt even bat an eye.

Interesting. Never heard of such an option. Do both of you have Premier status or does either of you have Platinum status?

My wife and I just recently had the same experience as myb821. We both received our cards last August and only have the Premier status that comes with the card. We just booked 4 free nights in Boston. We were able to use our Suite upgrade certificate(s) to get upgraded to one of their suites. I don't know if they'll pull one or two certificates. But the stay is all under one reservation number with just one check-in/check-out indicated.

Very quick and painless reservation process. The rep knew exactly what we wanted to do, and what he had to do to make it happen. Looking forward to our stay with excited anticipation.