American Express recently introduced a $200 hotel credit that can be used select prepaid bookings (Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection) when using American Express Travel. Reddit user u/JimmyGodoppolo had an existing booking that was made before the benefit was added, there was no cancellation fee so they cancelled and rebooked. The $200 credit posted and then was clawed back, when contacting American Express they said this was done as the original booking was made before the benefit was added.
Seems ridiculous, shouldn’t matter when the original booking was made as the rebooking still met the terms of the $200 credit. Counter datapoint here.
Hopefully this helps someone in addition to chado’s DP: I mentioned my credit was also partially clawed back earlier, no double-dip or even a FHR booking ever before June 2021. My timeline looks appr like this:
June 15: Booked Hotel charge @ $350 (ineligible for benefits)
July 1: New FHR Benefits kick in
July 7: Rebooked same Hotel charge @ $400 (eligible for benefits)
July 9: -$200 credit posted
July 10: Cancelled original ineligible Hotel booking for -$350
July 12: New Amex Hotel charge for $150 (clawback)
I chatted online today and got the rep to realize this was a mistake, but took a ton of back and forth to get him to realize where the mistake happened. The system (and rep, for a while) thought the refund for -$350 was a partial refund from the second (eligible) $400 hotel booking, not the first (ineligible) one.
He claimed chat reps could only append the credit after 90 days after the most recent hotel charge, or call an Amex Travel agent to get it done faster. I haven’t called yet but looks like there is hope for anyone who had a clawback.
Has anyone tried booking a $400 room on the phone using 2 Amex cards?
I can offer my own data point here – I had made a reservation in late June for September in Spain, was $435. They announced the new credit, so on July 1 I canceled and rebooked, price was now $432 with exchange rate change. On July 4 I saw posted a $150 off with a $150 clawback, and a $200 off with a $200 clawback. The $150 was for the Amex Offer at FHR for $150 off $800, so I knew that was going to be erroneous, but I called because they had improperly clawed the $200 which is the new card benefit. Rep I talked to said that was a mistake and that I had to wait 14 days from post for a rep to manually override it. I called back on the 19th, explained it, the rep manually reinstated the credit, said it would take up to 48 hours to post, and it posted on the 21st as promised.
Hopefully the rest of you will have similar good outcomes.
Glad to hear this counter DP
Did he CFPB them? If it wasn’t in the TnC to cancel and rebook, it seems like a legitimate complaint.
Regarding cancellations: Be careful changing your dates while booking a Hotel Collection. Qualifying two-night THC stays are refundable (until ~3 days before) on otherwise non-refundable rates. However, if you search one set of dates, select a THC hotel, then change the dates while looking at the hotel, it books as non-refundable. The booking page still says it’s refundable, but if you actually open the refund policy link it says it’s non-refundable (as will the confirmation email). This lesson learned by lots of clicking while waiting 72 hours for a reply from Amex Travel’s escalation team.
This is why I have no issue going scorched earth on them.
What about booking a reservation similar to the one you had. Then cancelling the first reservation a few days later
FWIW I booked a 1 night Fine Hotels stay July 13 and the $200 credit posted on July 16.
Hey AMEX defenders! Where y’all at? You’ve gone awful quiet lately.
Yeah I’ll be honest I’ve refrained from speaking badly about them in the past, but this is just too much. And tbh it’s just dumb from a business standpoint as well. They’re just asking for a fresh wave of CFPB complaints.
Read the T and Cs and follow the rules and no problems.
Except that this isn’t violating the T&C.
I’d cancel and book through the hotel website out of spit if I was this guy.
Agreed, just don’t get it anywhere near me, please and thank you.