Benefits in hotels, the ultimate guide for American Express Platinum holders
Sleeping for free in the most beautiful facilities in the world is one of the purposes of reward travel. Knowing how to take advantage of all the benefits [...]
Marriott
Recommended by TFC
Sleeping for free in the most beautiful facilities in the world is one of the purposes of reward travel. Knowing how to take advantage of all the benefits of the loyalty programs linked to the American Express Platinum credit card can help you achieve this goal and allow you to save hundreds each year, which can help pay off The monthly fee of the card.
What statuses are "included" in the Amex Platinum
Thanks to the Platinum card, statuses are obtained in 4 chains: Hilton, Marriott, Melia e Radisson. Unfortunately, the possibility of also having the status with Shangri-là and related benefits.
The benefits of statuses in different groups
Hilton Honors Gold
- Ability to choose whether to get extra points per stay or free breakfast for one person staying in the same room. The choice can be made directly from the app thanks to the My way section, where you can set all your preferences, such as room location or bonus
- Category upgrades based on availability
- Extra bonus of 10k HH for every 10 nights over 40 nights
- A bonus of 80% on base points earned per stay (so that you will earn 9 or 18 base points for every dollar spent in the various facilities)
Free breakfast for two people can save 30 to 70 € per day, besides that thanks to the generous extra bonus getting the points needed for free sleep is very easy.
Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite
- Free Wi-Fi
- Marriott Bonvoy member rates for rooms
- Mobile check-in
- Guaranteed room (if for any reason the reservation is not honored, you will receive compensation)
- Bonus gains of 25% in addition to base points
- Late check-out (until 2:00 p.m.)
- Welcome gift at the hotel (every time you stay in hotels are given bonuses)
- Room Upgrade
Melià Rewards Gold
- Late check out at 4 p.m. in City Hotels and 2 p.m. in Resort Hotels (except in the case of 100% occupancy)
- Earn 13 Melià Rewards points for every € spent on reservations
- Free Wi-Fi
- 2,000 welcome Meliá Rewards points upon initial enrollment
- Free breakfast for one companion
- 3 vouchers offering 20% discount on stays, valid for one calendar year
Radisson Rewards Gold
- 25 points for every dollar spent at the hotel
- 15% discount on expenses incurred in featured restaurants
- Welcome gift
- Room guaranteed up to 72h before.
- Possibility of having room upgrades (if available)
- Early check-in and/or late check-out (if available)
- Extra "rollover" nights
- 2 complimentary bottles of water
- 10% discount on public fares for non-club members
In addition to these four programs, the following also deserves a mention Accor, which being very present in Italy and Europe can be an attractive choice for many even without the accelerator given by the Platinum card.
It is also good to understand, as is the case with airlines, that having 20 thousand Hilton points is not the same as having the same number of points in Radisson and vice versa. We also explained which tricks don't work to cheat the system.
American Express Partners
The secret of Membership Rewards points Is that, unlike any other loyalty program in Italy, points never expire. In addition, the holder can choose to convert them into cash, airline miles, online spending and points from the loyalty programs of three of the world's largest hotel chains.
You will almost always get better value by transferring your points to airlines, but there are some situations where transferring to Amex partner hotels offers a big saving compared to paying in cash.
Amex in Italy has 3 partners in the hotel industry: Club Carlson, Hilton Honors and Marriot Bonvoy. This means that MR points can be transferred to loyalty programs with the following conversions:
Radisson Rewards 1 MR = 2 GP
Hilton Honors 1 MR = 1 HH
Marriot Bonvoy 5 MR = 4 MB
Today we want to make a comparison between a client without American Express Platinum and a titular customer.
- Who treats paying guests without status better
- Who best treats Amex Platinum holders and related status
Without status: how chains treat you
This is how different groups deal with new customers. Very often there are offers dedicated precisely to "new entrants" that allow you to obtain a status In a simplified way, or status match campaigns To steal customers from competitors. In any case in order to accumulate points you will have to:
- be enrolled in the loyalty program
- Booking through official channels (app and site) and not through OTAs (booking, expedia...)
Here's how many points you earn for each stay:
- Hilton 10 points for every dollar spent
- Radisson 20 points for every dollar spent
- Marriott 10 points for every dollar spent
- Melia 10 points for each euro/dollar spent
- Accor 5 to 25 points for every 10 euros spent depending on the hotel
In the case of Melià, it is the only chain that considers the 1$=1€ exchange rate, which is not exactly convenient for us Europeans right now, while Accor does not tie points earned to hotel spending but to nights stayed.
The fifth night is always FREE
When you use points for a four-night stay, you will automatically receive the fifth night free. This is an effective way to earn multiple trips for the same amount of points.
This promotion works for multiple stays of four. An eight-night stay will earn you two free nights, 12 nights will earn you three free nights, and so on. This is why you should definitely avoid using points for stays of three nights or less.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back