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The end of the year is always chaotic and hectic, but this one seems to be even more so.
For all of you who visit Mamo, we hope you had a quiet and warm day on Christmas Day.
Today's post is a quick guide on how to change the date of a hotel reservation through the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (FHR) program.
You might be wondering why we're suddenly booking FHRs at the end of the year.
I didn't want to, but I realized I hadn't gotten my $200 FHR credit that I'm supposed to get every year ;);
Last time Year-end reconciliation remindersI emphasized that you need to have your FHR 200 on time, but I actually forgot to do that. lol
Fortunately, it's not completely too late for FHR, as it's now possible to reschedule an appointment (We hope you won't be late, but we can't guarantee it.), so if you're like me and forgot and didn't get the credit, I recommend booking your hotel reservation today.
Table of Contents
1. What is FHR?
Before we get into the post, I think we should start with a brief explanation of what FHR is.
Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (FHR) Programis a hotel booking program that's only available to Amex Personal/Business Plat cardholders (and Centurion cardholders, who can only apply by invitation).
When you use Amex to book luxury hotels around the world that Amex has partnerships with,
- Complimentary breakfast for 2
- A hotel credit of approximately $100
- 4-hour let checkout guarantee, and
- If you have a room, this is a program that allows you to benefit from upgrades and more.
The nice thing about these FHRs is that bypassing Amex as a middleman doesn't necessarily make them more expensive - they're usually the same rate as the best publicly available rate on the hotel's official website (i.e., not including AAA or government discounts). Plus, for chain hotels, they count as an elite qualifying stay and qualifying night.
2. 200 FHR (Amex Personal Flat Card)
FHR is a nice perk, but it's not enough to make me intentionally book a hotel when I don't need to. It's more of a "if I need a hotel stay, I'll book it through FHR" kind of thing.
That changed in the summer of 2021 when Amex introduced an annual $200 credit offer for personal flat card members.
This $200 credit is a great deal that can partially offset the Amex Flat Card's expensive annual fee ($695), so I'd definitely recommend taking advantage of it if you can.
How to use it,
- Through the Amex Travel site
- When you make a reservation for one night at an FHR hotel or two or more consecutive nights at The Hotel Collection, you can use the
- If you're making a prepaid payment
- You'll receive a hotel booking credit of up to $200 per year.
- A year is based on a calendar year.
- I understand it's based on the time of booking, not the stay (since it's an upfront payment). (If I'm wrong, please let me know in the comments).
3. How to schedule
You get the basic idea, right?
Now, let's explain how to schedule an FHR.
1) FHRs must be booked through the travel booking site on the Amex site. Once you're logged into the Amex site, select Travel from the left menu and then Book Fine Hotels + Resorts from the menu that appears. Of course FHR pagefor more information.
2) There are hotels all over the world, including the US, but I'm going to use Shilla Hotel in Korea as an example because they have really good food, including breakfast.
Select Seoul on the booking site, and then choose The Shilla Seoul from the list of hotels below. That's a lot of hotels in Seoul, isn't it? Eight.
3) Next, select your check-in date and check-out date. As we mentioned earlier, FHR bookings are eligible for the $200 credit even if you only stay one night.
4) I'm looking for a stay on July 1, 2025 for next year, and the rate is 275 + tax. Please login and select the room type you want.
Now, this is the most important part.
5) You'll see three options for paying for your hotel stay. You must select the first one, Pay Now: Pay with Card.
6) On the next screen after selecting, you'll need to enter the guest's name. It used to be that the cardmember's name was automatically pre-populated and you couldn't change it, but as of recently, the name is pre-populated but you can change it to someone other than the cardmember.
I know some of you are wondering, "Uhh, so can I book a reservation for my family in Korea?" I know you need an Amex Flat card in the guest's name to get the FHR benefit (I've seen some examples on Flyertalk where a regular Amex card (not a Flat) works, but I don't know if hotels in Korea do, so you do it at your own risk).
7) After confirming your name, the next screen is the payment screen. Since prepayment is required, I'm going to select Use Only Your Card to pay (you can also use Points + Card, but I don't recommend it because it can be a hassle to refund your points).
8) A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that the name is entered correctly. If the name of the reservation does not match the name of the eligible Amex cardmember, you will not receive the FHR benefit.
9) Okay, so the booking is complete. You've paid $275.20 for the hotel stay, plus $27.52 in taxes, for a total of $302.72.
4. How to change the FHR date
FHR bookings can also be refunded if you booked at a refundable rate, but you have the option to keep the hotel and just change the dates. We'll explain why you don't apply for a refund right away in a moment.
To change the dates, simply go to the booking confirmation page and press Change Dates to search/select a different date.
Date changes are only possible if the same room type is available at the same hotel, and you may pay an additional fee or get some of your money back, depending on how much hotel rates change.
For example, if you change your July stay to August, you'll need to spend an additional $45.41.
Let me explain why we're changing the date here instead of canceling.
The answer to the question, "Why change the hotel dates if I can cancel for free, why not just cancel and get my money back?" is, of course, because of the $200 credit calculation.
For example,
- In December 2024, you make a hotel reservation for a stay in August 2025.
- Receive a $200 credit for 2024 during December 2024
- Circa April 2025, needing to cancel a trip in August. Canceling a hotel reservation
- Around April 2025, hotel prepaid expenses paid in 2024 will be refunded to your card
- In April 2025, you draw another $200 credit for 2024. It's physically impossible to get a new $200 credit in 2024 because it's already 2025.
Because that's how it works.
So if you booked a hotel in 2024 for a 2025 stay with FHR and received a credit, I would recommend using the change date feature rather than canceling the reservation if possible to take advantage of the $200 credit.
5. Things to keep in mind
There are a few things to keep in mind when scheduling an FHR.
1) No hotel changes
If you want to change your reservation without canceling it first, you can only change the dates, not the hotel.
If I have a reservation at Shilla next summer and I have to cancel my trip to Korea, switching directly to an FHR hotel in the US is not a viable option.
In this case, you'll need to cancel your Shilla hotel reservation and rebook a new hotel, which will likely forfeit the 2024 credit you've already received.
2) Your credit may be tangled
On a related note, there's also a chance that booking a reservation right now will mess up your credit.
In other words, the card payment went in in 2024, but for one reason or another, it takes a while for the payment to go up on the card account, and there's a lag time for the FHR credit to come in, so it's possible that the credit will come in next year in 2025.
In this case, it would be nice to see it categorized as a 2024 credit, but it's not impossible that a computer error could cause it to be caught as a 2025 credit.
Therefore, If you're reading this and hoping to take the FHR credit in 2024, it's good to remember that things may not work out as planned.
Let's wrap up today's post.
The Amex Personal Platinum Card FHR $200 credit is a decent deal for a one-night stay at a nice hotel at a heavily discounted rate.
For those of you who haven't claimed your 2024 credit yet (at your own risk), it's not over yet, so you might want to hurry up.
Featured image: 673821336 (Depositphotos)
22 Comments. Leave new
You're giving up the Saks credit, too.
Oops, my bad.
I'm trying my best, but the free shipping has gone up to $300, which makes it very cumbersome to use.
Thanks for the great info as always! I'm going to be canceling next March as the annual fee is taken up.
After the card is canceled, I won't get the benefits even if I booked in advance through FHR, right? I thought I understood that the booking and stay had to be done before March.
There are some cases where it's okay to have a non-flat Amex card, but to be safe, you'll want to end your stay before March.
Ah, I see, thank you for your response. We hope you have a warm holiday season.
If I book one night at an FHR hotel for 2024 credit and then book the next night at the same hotel for 2025 credit after January 1, will I receive the FRH benefit for the second night as well as the first night if I stay at the same hotel for two consecutive nights using FHR?
You can get it, but you can only get the $100 credit once.
As Jay said, you can still get the breakfast benefit, but I believe the $100 credit is a one-time thing.
How are you?
I've been in the miles game since I started looking at MileMoA and I'm one of those people who loves to compare card offers. I recently traveled to Cancun for 6 days and 7 nights on miles and I'd like to thank MileMoa for their hotel reviews, which helped me choose the right hotel. I've been enjoying browsing through MileMoA articles in my spare time and check in almost daily.
One question, I know you haven't been accepting new members for a long time, is there any particular reason for that? As mentioned above, I think it might be helpful for members to post about my recent travels, and I see some posts that might be helpful to comment on. On the flip side, I'm also tempted to post a question that everyone might be curious about.
According to your About, I believe your last signup was about 4 years ago, but do you have any plans or timeline to add more signups? Hope you have a great holiday season and thank you.
1. the last membership was in February 2024 last year, and we usually schedule a day once every 1-2 years.
2. The reason we restrict membership is because there are many past cases of people creating multiple accounts, posting questions and only getting answers, and then deleting their posts.
Hi. I'm getting a lot of help and always appreciate it. Is there any way I can sign up to receive emails from you?
Added to the notification list.
Thanks for the summary. Isn't it possible to cancel the flat card after booking the FHR, and then change the reservation later, and not have a problem? If there is a difference due to the change, I will get the difference back, but if there is an additional amount to pay, it is okay not to pay with the flat?
I just tested it and it appears that only the card you originally used is available.
"At this time, you can only pay with the Card details used for the original booking. To proceed with the changes above, please enter the four-digit Security Code found on the front of your Card, before submitting the change."
DP leaves. I made a reservation and canceled the flat. Before I canceled, when I clicked change date, I was able to change to another date, but after I canceled, when I click it, it says I can't change.
Oh, right, thanks for the important information.
Thanks for all the great information. I would love to be able to post something good centered around my field, but it's unfortunate that my name is still only on the waiting list for membership. Also, since I'm nearing retirement, I've read most of the related posts several times until the comments, but I'm still a bit young, so I still have a lot of questions for you. I've been waiting since last year, so I can wait a little longer, but if you have a chance, please open the door to membership early this year. Just in case...
We'll add both of the emails you listed in the body.
Please understand that I have removed it from the comments because it is personal information.
Ah yes, I understand. Looking at the above text, the door was opened in February 2024, but I missed the opportunity. I've been reading often before that, but I thought I couldn't join at all, but when I saw someone posting like this in the comments on the bulletin board, I wanted to "get it"... lol I will definitely not miss this time. ^^; Honestly, I often feel like my neighbors when I read a lot of good people's posts... Old couple, multiple nationalities, doko, dog bone, sylph, lol, lol, jawbone, jawbone, apple, etc. It's been 20 years since I lived in the US, so I miss people a lot. ^^;;
Yes. Please be sure to sign up during the next signup period.
I found this article and am reading it as I'm traveling to a 5 star hotel in downtown Vancouver starting tomorrow that I booked with FHR... I'm hoping to get a room upgrade since it's a weekday and I'm taking a small child with me, so an extra bed would make the room cramped... I had actually forgotten about the 200$ credit, but thanks for reminding me. I'll have to check my bill when I get there.
Please make sure I receive a notification email when the registration date is determined.