January 14, 2025: The Platinum Card® from American Express includes up to $200 in statement credits each year for bookings on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® hotels and two-night or longer stays with The Hotel Collection.
Here’s what you need to know about the annual $200 Amex Platinum hotel credit.
Terms apply to the $200 Hotel Credit.
$200 hotel credit: The basics
The American Express Platinum card’s $200 hotel credit is a statement credit that you’ll automatically receive when you use your card to make an eligible booking. Here are the most important rules and caveats of using the credit:
- Your booking must be a prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection booking using your eligible card on your Platinum Card Account, made through AmexTravel.com.
- The Hotel Collection bookings must be at least two-night stays to receive the credit.
- The credit is automatically awarded as a statement credit to your Amex Platinum account when you make an eligible booking.
- The credit resets at the beginning of the calendar year.
- You earn your credit based on the date of your booking, not on the date of your stay. For example, you could make a booking on December 26, 2025 for a stay from February 13-16, 2026, and you would use your 2025 credit.
How to book: Online at amextravel.com
To book a hotel and use your $200 Amex hotel credit, start your search at AmexTravel.com or click through the link on the benefits panel when you log in to manage your American Express account.
Once you have the list of results, find the filters and check “Fine Hotels + Resorts” and “The Hotel Collection”. This will ensure that you only see hotels that can qualify for the $200 credit.
The booking process continues much like any online travel agency. Find a hotel that you want.
If you haven’t already logged into AmexTravel.com, you’ll need to log in before selecting the room.
Next, you will select your room type.
And finally, complete your booking by checking out. Be sure to select that you want to “Pay Now” and that you’ll pay with your card. Remember that you’ll receive the $200 credit only for prepaid stays.
After you make your booking, Amex promises that you will receive your credit within 90 days, but in practice the credit tends to show up within a week or so.
My experience: How I use the $200 credit
Let me start by saying that I hate expiring credits like the $200 hotel credit. They’re one more thing to keep track of and I feel like I’m always scrambling to use credits like that at the end of the year so that they don’t go to breakage. In 2023, I literally used my credit on December 30th, desperately hoping that the charge would post in time to use my 2023 credit.
I did better in 2024. And in 2025, I ended up using the credit in January for conference travel later in the year. (The timing of this article is no coincidence!)
That said, I am becoming quite fond of Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection. During the last several years of Platinum Card membership, I’ve stayed at some lovely properties internationally and I feel like I’ve gotten genuine value out of the program. The hotels have usually been marginally more expensive than the hotels I would otherwise stay at, but the service standards at the hotels in the program are so far beyond what a mainline Marriott offers that I felt like the additional $30-$40/night was well-spent.
Surprisingly, on my most recent trip, I actually saved money by booking with The Hotel Collection. I was able to book a Hilton boutique brand for less than Hotels.com was pricing out Red Roof Inn, Super 8, and similar hotels. That was a solid win.
Bottom line: A good reason to book a hotel with Amex Travel once a year
The $200 hotel credit offered on The Platinum Card® from American Express gives you a good reason to try booking a hotel with Amex at least once a year if you hold the card. But it’s probably worthwhile to dig a bit deeper into the Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection programs. You might find more value in these programs than you might expect.
