It looks like soon both the business and personal platinum American Express will come with a semi annual $300 credit ($600 total). The terms originally appeared here on the American Express website but have now been removed. The new credits will go live on September 17, 2025. The terms are as follows:
Personal Platinum $600 Credit
$600 HOTEL CREDIT: Basic Card Members on U.S. Consumer Platinum Card Account are eligible to receive up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually (January to June, and July to December) for up to a total of $600 per calendar year, when they or Additional Platinum Card Members use their Cards to pay for eligible prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings made through American Express Travel (meaning through amextravel.com, the Amex Travel™ App, the Amex® App, or by calling the phone number on the back of your eligible Card) or when Companion Platinum Card Members on such Platinum Card Accounts pay for eligible prepaid bookings for The Hotel Collection made through American Express Travel (meaning through amextravel.com, the Amex Travel™ App, the Amex® App, or by calling the phone number on the back of your eligible Card).
Business Platinum $600 Credit
Basic Card Members on U.S. Business Platinum Card Accounts (“Card Account”) are eligible to receive up to $600 in statement credits per calendar year when they or eligible Employee Card Members on the Card Account use their Cards to pay for eligible prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings made through American Express Travel (meaning through amextravel.com, the Amex Travel App™, the Amex® App, or by calling the phone number on the back of their eligible Card). Purchases by both the Basic Card Member and any Employee Card Members on the Card Account are eligible for statement credits. The total amount of statement credits for eligible purchases will not exceed $300 semi-annually for a total of up to $600 per calendar year in statement credits across all Cards on the Card Account. Each semi-annual eligibility period is defined as January to June and July to December. Starting on September 18, 2025, customers will have $300 available for use, expiring on December 31, 2025. Fine Hotels + Resorts® program bookings may be made only by eligible U.S. Business Basic and Employee Business Platinum Card Members. The Hotel Collection bookings may be made by eligible U.S. Business Basic and Employee Business Platinum and Employee Business Expense Card Members. To receive the statement credits, an eligible Card Member must make a new booking using their eligible Card through American Express Travel on or after September 18, 2025, that is prepaid, for a qualifying stay at an available, participating Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection property. Bookings of The Hotel Collection require a minimum stay of two consecutive nights.
Our Verdict
There are already rumors that the Platinum card annual fee will increase to $895 and a mirror finish. With these credits I’d be surprised if we didn’t see an increase close to $995. Hopefully there are more added benefits to come alongside a large sign up bonus.
Hat tip to /r/amex
What if I already used the $200 credit?!
I’m wondering if 3x credits might be possible for one AF. My biz platinum AF bust hit. If the credits go live on September 18th, I could use one this fall, one Jan-June, one July-August and cancel within 30 days of 2026 AF. Am I missing something?
if you get the card in december (though by then amex prob will have raised the AF), you would get the 2025H2, 2026H1, 2026H2. the AF would post in december 2026 and you have til jan 2027 to cancel and can prob use the 2027h1 credit.
This feels like it has the potential to be a surprisingly nice upgrade.
A $200 credit isn’t very useful. If I could sell it to someone, I’d probably take as little as $50 for it. It probably only gives a meaningful discount at <1% of the hotels or nights I want to use it, due to a few factors. First, most of the times the the hotels are so expensive, so that the $200 doesn’t make much of a dent (i.e. a $1000/night hotel becoming $800/night still doesn’t make the hotel worth my money). Sometimes, even though the cost of the hotel is lower, the FHR rates are elevated compared to external rates. For instance, a hotel might be $450 via FHR and then I get a $200 credit so it’s effectively $250, but the same hotel is also on expedia for $350 and Rakuten is offering 10% MR points back so it’s more like a ~$300 alternative cost ?(and perhaps there are other even higher value options via points), so the true savings or value I’m often getting from the credit is often more like ~$50. And I’d say my credit goes unused about half the time.
With a $300 credit, all of a sudden that $450 hotel goes from a net cost of ~$250 to ~$150, which now means it is ~$150 cheaper (previusly ~$50 cheaper) than the net cost of the expedia+rakuten option. So, about 3x the savings. And now there are going to be a significantly higher % of hotels where the FHR credit makes them make economic sense. So I won’t needing to find a lower-end hotel on a random Tuesday in St. Louis for it to make economic sense. I expect I’ll use this credit close to 100% of the time now, and get ~3x the value out of it (even if I’m still not getting anywhere close to the $300 worth of actual value). I probably would place a value of ~$150 on a $300 credit (if I were allowed to buy or sell them).
I’m interested to see what happens to the annual fees on the personal vs business platinum. Because obviously this is completely incremental for the Business platinum, but only an upgrade for the personal platinum
You know this credit has been prepaid with your (increased) annual fee? Your math is assuming it is free/savings.
The FHR Credit is useful only for 1 night stays for most properties because of the high nightly rates. So 4 pm check in time and 3 pm late checkout time gives you 23 hours
Each time I used FHR it has come with early check-in and late check-out
You’re confused on the hours. It’s 28 hours: 12pm check-in (not 4pm) and 4pm check-out (not 3pm).
P2 & I have 2 Amex PP, several Biz P. We’ve used the 2 PP $200 at one hotel several times, of course requires 2 separate reservations, but hotels don’t seem to care. Could work with the Biz Plat? Book 5 nights & use 5 different cards.
I used 3 CCs and made three one-night back-to-back reservations using FHR a few years ago. I think it was in Abu Dhabi. Hotel had no problem (asked them to link reservations at check-in). Received one on-site credit, as I expected. I did alternate nights between P1 and P2.
Gold upgrade to plat now to lock in annual fee or wait?
Think these benefits will see some grandfathering like CSR did?
Last Amex Plat fee hike had a 6 months grandfathering period. I would assume the old rate would hold at least until January 1 if not a full 6 months like last time. So this will depend when your renewal date is.
FHR is great, so more FHR = more happiness
i’m prly gonna downgrade this plat to gold…so 2 golds..at least food is a necessity
so more overpriced hotels?
Depends on where you look. I’ve found some pretty great properties through FHR.
gymnastics man.
few and far between.
This one isn’t too bad. I kind of like FHR and $300 credit is a decent discount on a night at a nice hotel.
What I’m really looking forward to is the $5 coupon to the Dollar General every month though.
it’s actually $2.50 every 2 weeks, get it right my man
I think they will nerf the FHR with a two (2) minimum night stay,
It’s not a discount. It’s prepaid with your increased annual fee.