Jasper2009

No. Your stay needs to occur before the certs expire.

nas6034

In that case what are some good domestic places to use them?

Jasper2009

US or Canada?

mahasamatman

Or other?

nas6034

US or Canada. I guess best bang for the value but easily accessible by airplane.

Jasper2009

Generally speaking the most expensive Fairmont properties in NA are:

- the Fairmont hotels in California
- the Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver (and nowadays also the Fairmont Waterfront)
- the Fairmont properties in Hawaii (especially during peak season)
- the Fairmont properties in the Cdn Rocky Mountains (especially during peak season)

Your perspective will very much depend on whether you're based in the US or Canada (Canadian properties may seem rather cheap at the moment if you're based in the US based on the current FX rates whereas Canadians may find most US properties rather unaffordable).

ptownca

Where would I burn a free night ?

1) Grand Delmar San Diego. The "standard" rooms are exec or suite level in most places in terms of amenities or luxury. Just be aware dining and spas are top end and priced accordingly.

2) Chateaux Frontenac - Quebec City is awesome and the hotel is iconic.

3) Banff Springs. A Harry Potter castle in the magnificent Canadian Rockies.

4) Boston Copley Plaza - the perfect place to explore Boston. Beloved by the natives as well as guests.

5) The Fairmont SF. The original Fairmont! A great base to explore San Francisco. I live in the area and have made two stays there and delighted with the experience.

mahasamatman

Definite value there. When we lived in Boston, we used to call it the Costly Plaza.

PJLukasik

My wife and I opted to use ours for Lake Louise, and it was really spectacular. The rooms are a bit small, but the property is breathtaking.

Our thinking was: what might be a place we wouldn't ordinarily go that the free nights made available to us?

CanadaDH

The suggestions offered so far are good, but best bang for the certificate isn't necessarily the places with the most expensive rooms. That's a good strategy to use when you plan to stay at multiple destinations, and you want to determine where you get the most savings when you have more stays planned than you have certificates available.

However, since it sounds like you're not planning to hit several properties, and are sort of picking a destination in order to use the certificates you have, I think the best value for you is redeeming them at the place you would most like to visit, regardless of their regular room rates.

But, if you're looking for suggestions to get the most "savings", my top choices (excluding overseas destinations) for certificate use are:
- Banff Springs - Suite Upgrade gets you into some really large suites, much better than base rooms.
- Lake Louise - Very expensive any day in winter or summer (but cheaper in the off-season), and they're flexible about making deals on using them toward better suites.
- Chateau Frontenac - Also expensive (especially in summer).
- Copley Plaza - Very nice hotel in a great location, and fairly expensive.

dmodemd

Did you call FPC and inquire?
I specifically asked if I had to wait until the closing of the statement and they confirmed I did not, although I did suspect that I might need to call in and alert them once I made the spend. I don't expect Chase to be that proactive to alert them mid cycle.

It turns out, my charge that goes over the $3000 was pending when the statement was generated. I just paid the full $3000+ amount anyway. I need to get the two days soon as I need for a stay in mid April.

I will be calling in 7 days to check on it. It seems they have staff assigned to the credit card rewards specifically who do the cert generation. I presume they can check your account and can issue the certs.

Finkface

Check out my follow up post just a couple below the one you quoted. The free nights appeared a couple of days after I met the spend and were dated March 11, which was exactly 7 days after I cleared the $3,000 threshold. So your rep was correct. No need to call in - they appeared in my FPC account with no call necessary. The system works exactly as the rep said. Here is my post:

lkar

Anyone ever able to combine chase Fairmont rewards points? I thought I read about it being possible in the past, but I cannot find it and before I call Chase (which tends to be pretty clueless about Fairmont rewards points) I thought I'd try to get my ducks in a row.

Basically, I have about 20k points and my wife has about 20k, and we'd like to combine them to order a 40k ovation cert.

anjeo

did the spend in 4 days - certs posted a week later - booked - Chateau Frontenac in July - used the free room cert and upgrade cert ( was surprised they allowed a combo ) Very easy and very friendly.

mahasamatman

I've never heard of that possibility.