flyerfirsts

Can I book a hotel today at 65k points, and then once my anniversary nights post change that to the certificate + 15k points, to avoid the risk of the points price going over 65k?

DallasEsq

I think once you make a change to a reservation like this, it would require however many points are needed at the time of the change. You'd benefit if the rate dropped to 50k, so it's only fair that you'd pay more if the points needed went up.

flyerfirsts

Shame. The whole 2-3 months wait after anniversary for the night to post seems a bit excessive.

rowdypfeifer

I've previously has success locking in reservations with points in my account (not Points advance) and then phoning in to replace the points with FNA's and then getting the points refunded to my account. This was for a Hawaii booking in Fall '21 before the Top-ups, but recent enough to still be a possible option.

Note: The only thing I modified was the payment option, the hotel, room type and dates all stayed the same

flyerfirsts

Ok, I booked it, figure I have nothing to lose this way at worst.

margarita girl

But did the points price increase? There should be no problems switching payment type if it’s still the same number of points, but I doubt it would work if the amount of points has increased. Perhaps CS can make it happen (even though I’m doubtful they can) but I’m 99% sure you won’t be able to swap out a cert for the points if it’s increased in price.

Spikes

Not sure why yours takes so long, mine took 2-3 days.

flyerfirsts

The e-mail says 8-12 weeks and last year it was around 10 weeks, this year I'm at 6 weeks and counting.

rowdypfeifer

It was for a 5 night stay at a Cat 7 hotel. I was able to attach 5 separate 50k points certs to the reservation and they redeposited back the 200k points (fifth night was free) I originally used to reserve the room. At the time I attached the certificates and received the points refund, there were no more point redemption rooms available for the full 5 night stay. For individual nights that were still available, they were now priced 20k per night higher.

I would completely understand if you were modifying the room reservation in any way (dates, room type) but all that I really modified was the form of payment. I know it is a different story with points advance, as you are essentially trying to lock in a redemption rate with points you haven't earned yet.

YMMV but just wanted to let people know I was successful in doing so back in Oct 2021. I have another reservation that I will be trying this on in a few weeks to burn the rest of my FNA's so I will report back and let you know how it goes.

Happy

FN cert from Chase takes no more than a week upon anniversary.

FN cert from AMEX does not post until one to two billing cycles AFTER you paid the AF.

Just talking about FN cert does not make any sense, needs to specify WHICH bank issues the cert.

flyerfirsts

Honestly, I forget the Chase one exists. This was all about the AmEx one.

rrgg

Even if the points price increases, at least you have locked in a standard room and it might still work out. If you wait to book, the standard room could disappear.

flyerfirsts

How did it go for you? They're not doing it for me. Is it a HUCA?

margarita girl

Has the price increased over 65K pts?

flyerfirsts

Right. Which he had said was fine in the past because frankly per what the website says the rate is subject to change if you change dates or length of stay, not how you pay.