In this post:
Amex Member’s week issues
Amex Members Week started this week with supposedly a range of offers, but it does not seem to be going smoothly, judging by mine and many other people’s experiences.
You can find all the potential offers here: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/benefits/member-week/
I only found one on my BA Premium Amex for the money off dining, but there were none to be seen on my Platinum card despite receiving an email from Amex inviting me to add the offers. Given the rise in fees that is imminent and the lack of decent Platinum offers recently, you’d think they’d be wanting to encourage people to stay with some good offers…
£75 off £300 spend with Amex Travel
The last time Amex ran a similar offer, it was available for flights or hotel spend via Amex travel. Unfortunately, this time, it is only available on pre-paid hotel and car hire booked online at Amex Travel. So make sure that the hotel you select requires pre-payment, or it will not count. It is available until 2o December, which is good, but it is not cumulative.
This offer was not available on any of my cards. I managed to get it added to my Platinum card, but it was a right faff. I had to contact Amex chat, screenshot the email, then screenshot the offer details, wait 25 minutes for them to receive them and then contact them again. Then, they went through every single term and condition of the offer and made me accept them all. I was losing the will to live by the end of it.
It is also worth bearing in mind that it is only available for the first 20,000 people that register. Although, given my experience, that may not be an issue!
FHR hotels and The Hotel Collection offers
FHR is the hotel program for Platinum cardholders that offers extra perks. There is also The Hotel Collection for Gold and Platinum cardholders, which requires a two-night stay but also gives extra perks.
You can find all the special offers for Members Week on this page. https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/travel/discover/offers
The offers vary and include offers such as every 3rd or 4th night free or 15% off or up to $525 credit.
Some of the hotels included are:
- L’Oscar London
- Shangri-La The Shard, London
- The Carlton Tower Jumeirah, London
- The Londoner London
- Conrad New York Midtown
- Oceana Santa Monica, LXR Hotels & Resorts (just visited, review coming soon)
- Atlantis The Palm
- Park Hyatt Dubai
- Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, A Fairmont Managed Hotel
Priority Pass expands pre-book
Getting into many Priority Pass lounges in the UK can be tricky and involve a bit of a queue in many instances. Currently, the best way around it is to pay a fee and pre-book to ensure you get access.
You can currently pre-book certain lounges at:
- London Heathrow – T3 Club Aspire, No 1; T5 Aspire (all £6pp)
- Gatwick North – Clubrooms (£15) No 1 lounge (£6); South – Club Aspire, No 1, My Lounge (all £6pp)
- Birmingham – No 1 (£6pp), Clubrooms (£15pp)
Now Priority Pass has expanded the list with:
- London Stansted Airport: Escape Lounge
- Manchester Airport: Escape Lounges in Terminals 1, 2, and 3 and the premium 1903 Lounge in Terminal 2
- Bristol Airport: Escape Lounge and 1903 Lounge
- East Midlands Airport: Escape Lounge
These additional lounges are all bookable for £6, apart from the 1903 lounge, which is much more premium and costs £21. Members of LoungeKey and DragonPass can also sign up to book in advance. You must book at least 24 hours in advance, and it can be cancelled up to 24 hours in advance as well.
To pre-book a lounge, go to the app and the lounges with it available will show Pre-book underneath.
Then click on the lounge for further details, and it will have a link for pre-booking.
HT: Head for Points
MGM & Marriott partnership won’t launch until 2024
I previously wrote about MGM ending their partnership with Hyatt and announcing that they would be teaming up with Marriott instead from this month. You may have also seen the stories that MGM were hacked with ransomware and refused to pay. This has led to weeks of issues with their systems, website and app. When I was in Vegas a week ago, things were still not back to normal 100%.
No doubt, as a result of this, the partnership won’t launch until early 2024. When it launches, it will include 17 MGM properties, mainly in Vegas, which will allow Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards members to get reciprocal loyalty benefits. Plus, you will be able to earn and redeem points across the schemes. We don’t know the exact match of tiers, but it could be very handy if you plan to stay in Vegas and have Marriott status. For example, with the previous Hyatt partnership, I matched to MGM Gold, which waves the resort fee of around $45 a night + tax and allows you to skip the line at check-in and various other queues.
Three more MGM hotels will become Marriott brand properties:
- Bellagio Resort & Casino will join Luxury Collection
- ARIA Resort & Casino will join Autograph Collection
- Park MGM will become part of Tribute Portfolio
Plus The Cosmopolitan will continue its affiliation with Autograph Collection. So, with these properties, you will be able to get your Marriott status perks. At the others, you will get whichever MGM Rewards tier you are matched with perks.
So if you plan to stay in Vegas next year and have Marriott status, it could be worth staying at an MGM property in anticipation of the start of the partnership.
I would recommend the Nomad if you want a quieter hotel without having to walk across a casino to get to your room.
4 comments
Surely the whole idea of Priority Pass is to have paid a Fee for the Card which gives access to the Lounge.
It is mainly in Rip-off Britain that this is an issue. In Leeds Bradford Airport there is a certain pleasure in turning away Priority Pass Card Members, say the lounge is either full or reserved.
I guess they would argue that most lounges will allow you access by queuing, whether you want to queue for ages is up to you. There are other lounges in the world that also charge a fee to reserve a place. But PP is definitely not great for a number of lounges in the UK in terms of getting access when you want it without paying a fee.
I have a Platinum Amex card and had never heard of Member’s Week till I read it here – nothing from Amex at all. As you say, the offers are not that exciting, the price has gone up so time to ditch.
I have quite a few Amex points – any recommendations on what to do with those?
The best value is to take them as airline or hotel points. Marriott can be a useful option since you can transfer into various airline schemes although its not the best deal. Avios or Virgin Atlantic points would probably be the best options if you are in the UK and want a wide range of redemption options as although taxes are high with BA at least you can transfer your Avios to other airlines or use on airlines that have lower taxes. Avios also has non flying redemptions like wine flyer.
Comments are closed.