As we cruise through the peak travel season of 2023, American Express continues to roll out some enticing Amex Offers.
Similar to what we saw last year, Amex is now offering $125 or $200 in statement credits on prepaid hotel and car rental bookings made via Amex Travel.
These offers appear on many of American Express’s travel credit cards, and are valid for prepaid purchases made through August 22, 2023.
Amex Travel Hotels & Car Rentals: Earn a $125 or $200 Credit
There are two different offers for Amex Travel bookings this time around, on a variety of personal and business credit cards. As expected, the chunkier offers tend to be assigned to premium cards with higher annual fees.
Spend $800, Get $200
The first offer is for a $200 statement credit upon making a $800 purchase via Amex Travel Online.
In order to maximize the offer, you could make a purchase of exactly $800, which would be equivalent to a 25% discount on any prepaid hotel or car rental booking.
It looks like this offer is limited to the American Express Platinum Card and the Business Platinum Card from American Express, as it doesn’t appear to have been reported on any other American Express cards.
This offer has a registration cap of 10,000 cardholders, so make sure to register as soon as possible to lock in your eligibility.
Spend $500, Get $125
The second offer is for a $125 statement credit upon making a $500 purchase via Amex Travel Online.
To maximize this offer by making a purchase of exactly $500, this is equivalent to a 25% discount on your prepaid hotel or car rental booking.
You’re likely to find this offer on lower-tier Amex cards, such as the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the American Express Cobalt Card.
This offer has a registration cap of 20,000 cardholders. As per usual, you’ll want to log in to your Amex online dashboard or the mobile app now to make sure you manage to get in on this offer.
Amex Travel can be used to book a wide range of travel purchases, including flights, hotels, and car rentals. However, the terms of the offer include the following:
Offer only available when booking prepaid hotels or car rental online at www.americanexpress.ca/travel where American Express Travel (not the hotel or car rental company) is the merchant and charged to your registered Card at time of check out. Flight purchases, purchases or bookings made by phone or email, and travel insurance purchases are excluded.
Notably, only prepaid hotels and car rentals booked online will be eligible for this offer. Single or cumulative purchases count towards this offer, and the purchase(s) must be charged to your card before the offer ends on August 22, 2023, but the actual hotel or car rental may take place on a later date.
Make sure to select the “Pay Now” option when booking via Amex Travel Online, so that the reservation is processed as a prepaid booking. Paying upon checkout would render your booking ineligible for these Amex Offers.
Therefore, the most likely best-use case for the majority of cardholders will be to plan ahead for future travels later on in 2023, or even 2024. Of course, if you still have reservations to make for travel this summer, it’s worth considering switching them over to Amex Travel on a prepaid booking to lock in some savings.
Keep in mind that not all prepaid bookings are non-refundable, so you can still book fully refundable hotels and car rentals in case you change your travel plans later on. Be sure to read the cancellation terms of your booking to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Furthermore, while honouring elite benefits at hotels and car rental companies is usually assessed on a case-by-case basis for online travel agency (OTA) bookings, don’t expect to receive hotel points or elite qualifying nights on prepaid Amex Travel bookings. This would apply towards all major chains like Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, or World of Hyatt.
These credits could be particularly useful towards prepaid car rentals (where elite status makes a smaller difference), or booking hotels via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR), with which you’ll get comparable benefits to elite status.
You can also consider any boutique or independent hotel bookings for the next 12 months, as these hotels tend to be difficult to book with points anyway.
Since cumulative transactions still count towards this Amex Offer, you don’t have to spend the full $500 or $800 in one fell swoop – you can also make multiple smaller purchases in order to unlock the credit.
This time around, the terms and conditions of the offer specify that the credits will be applied to your account “within 90 days after 22/08/2023.” However, in practice, they should show up within a few business days of competing your purchase.
Stack with Annual Travel Credits
If you’ve received the “Spend $800, Get $200” offer on the American Express Platinum Card, you’ll be able to stack this offer with the annual $200 travel credit in order to unlock even further savings.
The $200 annual credit is applied towards a booking a few days after the full amount is charged to your Platinum Card. Thus, by making a prepaid hotel or car rental booking with Amex Travel, the $200 should stack as well, making a total discount of $400 off an $800 purchase – a whopping 50% discount!
Similarly, if you have the Spend $500, Get $125 offer on your American Express Gold Rewards Card, you can stack the $100 annual travel credit with this offer, too. If you were to spend exactly $500, you’d get a total of $225 off the purchase – $125 with the Amex Offer, and $100 with the travel credit – for a total discount of up to 50%.
Be sure to check your accounts to see if you have credits available, as it could result in significant savings for prepaid hotel and car rental bookings.
Conclusion
American Express has introduced its latest travel-oriented Amex Offers to soften the blow that summer travel is making in your wallet. Should you have already booked all your travel this summer, you can always apply it towards any Amex Travel booking in the next year.
Premium cardholders should see the Spend $800, Get $200 offer available, whereas lower-tier American Express cards should see a Spend $500, Get $125 offer.
Since the offers are only valid on prepaid hotels and car rentals, their overall appeal may be limited when compared to other, more flexible existing offers. But for those who have specific travel bookings to make, it’s an easy way to put some money back in your pocket.
Furthermore, you can always book a prepaid fully-refundable booking for next year, so it’s a no-lose scenario to lock in a booking in the next two months.
Registration caps this time around are limited, so be sure to register immediately to avoid disappointment.
Then, book soon to lock in your savings before the offer expires on August 22, 2023.
