Is the Amex Platinum Hotel Credit Really Worth $300?

Tl;dr: The qualifying hotels are usually so expensive that this credit is best thought of as a discount on luxury stays—not $300 toward the kind of hotels most value travelers book.

During our latest round of travel planning, my wife asked if we could use the hotel credit on my Amex Platinum to cover a night or two in a hotel. One of the perks of the card is a $300 credit every six months toward prepaid bookings with Amex’s “Fine Hotels & Resorts” (FHR) or “Hotel Collection” (HC) (2+ nights minimum for the latter). At first glance, $300 sounds like enough to cover a night or two in a hotel, but it doesn’t go as far as you might hope.

Here’s why I have never used the credit, and how it could be useful for you. 

How useful is the credit?

After a lot of searching, I've come to think of FHR and Hotel Collection properties as falling into three categories:

Most common: discount on luxury stays. Most FHR properties are over $500 per night (and most far more than that), while most HC properties are over $250 per night (ditto), so in most cases the hotel credit represents a solid discount on a luxury stay. I never spend that kind of money on hotels, though, so using the credit this way has no value to me—it would just cost me money. But for people who regularly pay $300+ per night on hotels, the credit could offer real value.

Rarely: hotel “upgrade.” Sometimes the hotel credit isn’t enough to fully cover the cost of the stay, but can make Amex’s fancy hotels competitive on price with more budget options. This might not save you any money, but you might get to spend that money on a nicer property, with Amex’s perks like room upgrade availability or property credits. 

Needle in a haystack: free night(s). Ideally, the credit would cover the cost of an entire stay. It is possible to find hotels this affordable, but good luck lining up one of those stays with your travel plans and dates. 

Save on luxury hotels

To find the most affordable FHR and HC properties, I recommend MaxFHR, which displays the cheapest eligible properties and lets you view pricing on a calendar to quickly spot the cheapest nights. 

From my searching on MaxFHR, I have found that it might be possible to get an “upgrade” with this credit in some of the lower-cost areas I travel to, but only with absolutely perfect timing—and I haven’t had that timing yet. I have noticed, though, that there are properties in places like Thailand, Mexico, or, curiously, Las Vegas, that could potentially be fully covered by the credit. Even those require pretty good timing, however. 

If you have an Amex Platinum and want to poke around MaxFHR, consider signing up with my referral link to help support LazyPoints (I may get some free months of premium to keep searching for a way to use those credits). I don’t have any discount for MaxFHR’s premium tiers, though, so if you plan to invest in a premium plan, check out Upgraded Points for a 20%-off promo code on “Platinum” plans.   

Lazy Take 🦥

The Amex Platinum’s hotel credit is often more hassle and expense than it’s worth if you’re looking for value travel, but it can offer meaningful savings on luxury properties if you’re feeling splurgy. If you want to try to take advantage of this credit, MaxFHR is a great resource. But the Amex Platinum offers tons of other valuable benefits, so you might not need to worry about the hotel credit to break even on the card’s annual fee. Personally, I don’t think this one is worth my mental energy.  

Looking for a much simpler travel credit? Here's how I value the Venture X travel credit.