Maximizing The Amex Platinum Card $600 Hotel Credit: Here’s My Strategy

Link: Learn more about The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) is one of Amex’s most premium cards, and it recently underwent a full refresh. While the card now has an $895 annual fee (Rates & Fees), it offers benefits that will more than help offset that for many, and I’d argue the value proposition is better than ever before.

The card potentially offers thousands of dollars in benefits and credits, and in this post, I’d like to take a look at one of the single biggest potential credits offered by the card, which is an annual hotel credit of up to $600. As you’d expect, enrollment is required, and there are terms to be aware of, so let me share how the credit works, and my strategy for maximizing it.

For what it’s worth, this same credit also applies on The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review), which is also a card worth considering.

Basics of the Amex Platinum Card $600 hotel credit

The Amex Platinum Card and Amex Business Platinum Card offer up to $600 per year in hotel credits. To take advantage of this, you just have to book a prepaid hotel through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (no minimum stay) or The Hotel Collection (two-night minimum stay) through American Express Travel®. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

• This is a semi-annual credit, so you receive one $300 credit in January through June, and one $300 credit in July through December
• The credit is up to $300, so you don’t have to spend $300+, though if you spend less than that amount, you’d only be reimbursed as much as you spent on the hotel booking
• This is available on both the personal and business version of the card issued in the United States, and it can be used by the primary cardmember or authorized users (though authorized users don’t get incremental credits)
• There’s no registration required to take advantage of this, as long as you have a card in good standing
• An eligible hotel stay can be booked through the Amex Travel website, Amex Travel app, or by calling the number on the back of your eligible card
• Only prepaid bookings qualify for this perk (referred to as “Pay Now” bookings); this doesn’t mean the stay is non-refundable, but instead, just that you pay at the time of booking
• Statement credits will typically post within a few days, though in some cases it could take up to 90 days for credits to post

Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® & The Hotel Collection basics

For those not familiar with Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection, these are programs that those with the Amex Platinum Card and Amex Business Platinum Card can take advantage of. The credits specifically have to be used with one of these two programs.

Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® is a program that gives you access to a selection of 1,800+ luxury hotels around the globe. You’ll typically pay the same as the flexible rate charged directly by the hotel, and will receive extra perks, including complimentary breakfast, a room upgrade subject to availability, a hotel credit, guaranteed 4PM check-out, and more.

The Hotel Collection is another program by Amex, giving access to a selection of 1,300+ hotels around the globe. These are also typically luxury properties, but a tier down from Fine Hotels + Resorts®. You’ll typically pay the same as the flexible rate charged directly by the hotel, and will receive extra perks, including a room upgrade subject to availability, a hotel credit, and more.

There are two other points worth clarifying:

• While you need to book a prepaid reservation to take advantage of the hotel credit, that doesn’t mean the stay is non-refundable; instead, it just means you’re paying upfront, but it’s often possible to still cancel for a full refund, in line with a property’s typical flexible cancellation policy (you’ll want to check the terms when you book)
• You can usually still earn points and receive perks with your preferred hotel loyalty program if booking stays through these programs, as they’re usually considered “qualifying” stays for those purposes, unlike most other third party bookings

My Amex Platinum Card $600 hotel credit maximization strategy

While the Amex Platinum Card and Amex Business Platinum Card offer lots of perks, the truth is that there are hurdles to using many of the credits. Often the credits are issued monthly, registration is required, etc. Personally, I find the hotel credit to be one of the easier perks to use (along with the $400 Resy dining credit on the personal card, for which enrollment is required).

That’s because this isn’t a benefit that you need to use monthly (like some other Amex credits), but rather you can extract big value from it once every six months. There are many ways to get value from this perk, though my approach is pretty straightforward.

I use this benefit for Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®, since there’s no minimum stay, and there’s a great collection of hotels. Yes, there are lots of Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® properties that cost thousands of dollars per night, but there are also some reasonably priced ones.

There are plenty of eligible properties that cost in the $200-400 range, and sometimes even less. The value here is simply excellent. Not only can you get an up to $300 statement credit applied to such a stay, but you can also take advantage of the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® perks, including complimentary breakfast, a $100 property credit, and more. Best of all, if you’re staying with a hotel belonging to a major hotel program, you can even earn points.

With my travels, I often have one-night stays in some cities, and there’s something nice about staying one night at a luxury property while paying close to nothing, and getting super valuable perks. For example, I’ve used these hotel perks for stays at properties like the Raffles Europejski Warsaw and the Waldorf Astoria Kuwait. Both hotels were phenomenal, and I got an amazing deal thanks to a combination of perks plus the credit.

Just to give some totally random examples of Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® bookings (obviously rates vary by night), you could spend a night at the Waldorf Astoria Doha West Bay for $246.89, so the $300 credit would more than cover that.

Or if you have an overnight in Frankfurt, you could book the Steigenberger Icon Frankfurter Hof for $269.01, also more than covered by the $300 credit.

Or you could book the Four Seasons Jakarta for $214.17 per night, covered by the credit, with even quite some residual value.

Or the St. Regis Kuala Lumpur can be booked for $307.61, so when you subtract $300, you’re looking at paying $7.61.

I’m going to argue that the Burj Al Arab Dubai is an incredible hotel that’s worth staying at once, if you can swing it. While it’s pricey, a $300 credit helps a little bit with offsetting the cost of that.

The Amex Platinum Card $600 hotel credit economics

I know some people are curious about the economics of card benefits, so how does Amex justify giving up to $600 in hotel credits per year to those with the Amex Platinum Card and Amex Business Platinum Card? Who is funding this?

This perk is pretty easy to make sense of. All the major card issuers are trying to massively increase the volume of bookings on their travel platforms, essentially taking on the major online travel agencies. After all, there’s a lot of money to be made there.

Generally speaking, online travel agencies get significant commissions on hotel bookings, so Amex’s logic here is to use this benefit to get people to switch their hotel bookings to Amex’s travel portal.

The goal, of course, is that this benefit will transform how people book hotels. Amex hopes that a $300 semi-annual credit will get you to try Amex Travel, and to then keep booking that way.

For example, Amex would be making a lot of money on this perk if you book a $10,000 hotel stay in Paris with this benefit, since the commission would be way bigger than the credit offered. Meanwhile if you’re good at maximizing and book a hotel that costs close to $300, Amex would almost certainly lose money on that.

However, I imagine the expectation is that this balances out, and that between the direct commissions and the increased bookings through the platform, the benefit will work out nicely for Amex.

Bottom line

The Amex Platinum Card and Amex Business Platinum Card offer lots of perks, and I’d argue that one of the most valuable benefits is the up to $600 hotel credit. While there are some terms to be aware of, I expect to easily get close to full value out of this each year, going a long way to making this a “profitable” card for me.

My primary strategy is to just use this benefit for two one-night hotel stays each year at luxury properties bookable through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®, where the perks on such a short stay are especially good. Ideally they’ll even be at properties belonging to major loyalty programs, so that I can double dip and earn points.

What’s your take on the Amex Platinum Card $600 annual hotel credit?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees).