V-Flyer

I am costing up hotels (well one hotel) for our trip to Las Vegas later in the year. I am always on the look out for a better deal!

I was wondering if booking our hotel via the Amex Travel Service using an Amex Platinum charge card (which I reliquished last year) would get us a better deal? We are considering re-applying for one and will do so if this got us a better deal than we ahve already secured.

Unfortunately the prices for Platinum card holders are only available if you enter your platinum card details.

So if any Amex Platinum card holder would be prepared to kindly do a quick search on the Amex travel service website for me and let me know their quote for my preferred hotel and dates, I would be most grateful. Please message me and I will let you know the details.

Thanks.

The cost per night will almost certainly be the same as other sites you check. The key thing with booking via Amex FHR is the benefits you get. We were af the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago and, as we'd booked via FHR, received a free room upgrade, early check in & late checkout, $100 spa credit and free breakfast up to the value of $25 pp per day. Had we not booked via FHR the same stay would have cost far more. Furthermore at certain times of the year you get (af MO) a free night for every 4 paid nights which brings down the average night rate substantially. We use FHR for Hilton and Starwood hotels too where similar benefits apply.

That all sounds good- especially as the MO is where we are staying.

Were those "extras" given when you booked via FHR or when you actually arrived at the MO?

They're standard FHR benefits as per what's listed at https://travel.americanexpress.com/travel/fhr At the MO you simply bill everything to your room as normal but when you check your folio via the in-room system you notice that you never actually get charged for breakfast (or only a few dollars if you go over the $25 pp allowance). With the spa, we both went for treatments (totally fabulous by the way!) and the cost of one was automatically reduced by $100 when we looked at our folio. We've never not received a room upgrade for any FHR booking at any hotel - at the London West Hollywood we received a double upgrade to a Crown Suite! All in all I'm extremely pleased with what we've got, and continue to get, via FHR.

If you have an a Amex gold card they have just added a similar thing to fhr too, called the hotel collection. The hotels are not as "luxury" as the platinum card ones and the benefits not quite as good but still worth checking. I would be happy to check both FHR and hotel collection rates if you need me to.
https://travel.americanexpress.com/travel/gcd to check out the benefits.

On every occasion I have got pricing from Amex in the past I have always been able to get a better deal via the hotel web site so I do not even bother now.

Thanks everyone. Someone has kindly checked FHR rates for me (thanks y) ).

My reduced rate with the "Best price Promise" reductions works out at £530 less than the FHR rate. My rate also includes tax and resort fees.

Even taking in to account the complmentary benefits, it does not appear competitive. Maybe nearer the time rates will fall further. I shall keep searching though, the thrill of the chase

The rates I was quoted by FHR for the MO at Las Vegas included all taxes and resort fees. Other than room charge items there was nothing extra I paid over & above the Amex FHR confirmation. Agree though - there may well be cheaper quotes out there.

Amex are quite happy for you to cancel and rebook at any time prior to your stay if the hotel's own web site is offering a cheaper price for the identical room, I have done this numerous times so as to ensure I'm never paying more than the hotel's rate. A key thing to remember is the cost for the upgraded room, were you to pay that yourself, it can run in to hundreds if your stay spans several nights.

Vegascrazy wrote:The rates I was quoted by FHR for the MO at Las Vegas included all taxes and resort fees. Other than room charge items there was nothing extra I paid over & above the Amex FHR confirmation. Agree though - there may well be cheaper quotes out there.

Amex are quite happy for you to cancel and rebook at any time prior to your stay if the hotel's own web site is offering a cheaper price for the identical room, I have done this numerous times so as to ensure I'm never paying more than the hotel's rate. A key thing to remember is the cost for the upgraded room, were you to pay that yourself, it can run in to hundreds if your stay spans several nights.

Can I ask what you were upgraded from and to? The Strip View is important to me and I would rather stay in a smaller room with the view than a larger room with a city view. Plus I LOVE the bath in the Strip View Room!

I can comment we used both FHR and non-FHR rates last month in Vegas, and we do tend to use 5 star properties, MO, Wynn/Encore, or Bellagio are our favourite places (we won't do Aria). FHR is value - but we do shop around, and last trip combined 3 nights of FHR with 2 nights without. One night was an addition at last minute due to us skipping a stop due to the snow in the mountains - and we were surprised how reasonable last minute FHR rates were at Bellagio (circa £90 a night with $160 of credit thrown in, almost a resort fee only cost) at the time.

FHR at bellagio every time is reccomended over the hotels own rates - the $100 food and beverage credit + free breakfast voucher of $60 a day which could be used any time at the cafe, early checkin, late checkout means a savvy customer willing to move room with his supplemental holder at 3pm daily wlll get excellent benefits/return from the cost paid (me/wife have different surnames, so they didn't notice us - I think may be more obvious if both share names). It is a faff when they move you from the spa tower to the main and back though as in our last trip, but in most cases you'll just move in the main tower which is a 10 min use of time! That said, 3 nights, 3 credits, 2x king fountain rooms at front, and a junior suite in the spa tower were very acceptable upgrades. With the credits on things we would have spent anyway we worked out the stay cost us under £10 a night on the 3 day period there based on what we were comped on things we would have spent in any case (as they comped some of the other fees due to gambling) - it would have been £30/night without the players club - I'd add we don't gamble a lot - we are very low rollers by Vegas standards, just gamble, and eat/drink well.

The best rate was the rate the wife managed to book in a Wynn sale in January - worked out at under $100 a night in the Wynn (Encore was way more) under Wynn insider rates, and even included breakfast in the buffet daily (sadly credit only usable in buffet, but you can't turn down a free brekkie) - we honestly thought it didn't until checkin. They offered an upgrade for $20/night, which we accepted for a high floor strip view up on 40th floor. We did like the Wynn more than the bellagio, but the Bellagio was better value overall as the stay credit offset the stays almost entirely as mentioned - that said, the FHR rate for Wynn or MO was 3x what we paid at the Wynn for similar benefits.. The Japanese (Mizumi?) at the Wynn we really liked on this stay, the scallop/Sea bass combination at teppanyaki being one of best meals we've ever had out in Vegas).

Wynninsider is definitely worth joining based on above, as I've never had rates as good as those from the Wynn, and the room does beat the Bellagio rooms, unless you get a Junior Suite.

Thanks for the information starquake, useful for a Vegas novice like me!