A Search Engine for Amex FHR & THC

Scott      2022-02-23     2022-04-17 5 Comments

We create a map-based search engine for Amex FHR and THC hotels. The search engine presents a price calendar, stay benefits, location, and other valuable features for Amex FHR and THC hotels. We believe this is perhaps the most price-monitoring friendly platform for these hotel collections on Internet so far.

1. What are FHR and THC hotels?

Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) is a hotel collection program run by American Express. It provides elite-like perks at a selected set of luxury hotels worldwide when you book through the program through American Express using a Platinum or a Centurion card. You may expect the following stay benefits through Amex FHR booking regardless of the length of your stay:

• Room upgrade upon arrival, when available at check-in (Properties may exclude some room types, and some may only give you a room with a better view).
• Daily breakfast for two people
• Guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout
• Noon check-in, when available
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Experience credit ($100 for property, dining, or spa credit in most locations)

The Hotel Collections (THC) is another hotel collection program run by American Express, with hotels distributed into a lower tier compared to the FHR ones. It provides elite-like perks at a selected set of luxury hotels worldwide when you book through the program through American Express using a Gold (including Rose Gold), Platinum, or a Centurion card. You may expect the following stay benefits through Amex THC booking when staying two or more consecutive nights:

• Room upgrade upon arrival, when available at check-in (Properties may exclude some room types, and some may only give you a room with a better view).
• Experience credit ($100 for property, dining, or spa credit in most locations)

2. Why this search engine seems to be helpful?

Since 2021, the updated Amex Platinum membership benefits add a $200 Hotel Stay credit for each cardholder every calendar year. Such credit can only be redeemed when you book a stay and prepay through Amex for an FHR and THC property, including the booking cost itself.

However, it seems not easy to spend this $200 credit on a hotel stay that really worth its value, especially for those budget-tightened travelers. This is because most FHR and THC hotel nights are priced high, and also because the Amex FHR and THC hotel booking system is not user-friendly. This system only supports searches for a specific date/period. There is no price calendar available, and the interface links are deep. Thus, optimizing a hotel stay at the right time and place seems to be difficult.

Recently, the idea of ​​developing an Amex FHR and THC search engine has emerged one after another. My special thanks to ThunderFat for providing a complete list of FHR & THC hotels (including hotel names, addresses, and Amex benefits). On this basis, I use Google Map and Google Travel, imitating the logic of the Marriott map to search for Flexible Date, and successively developed this FHR and THC search engine. On this program, you may find all the FHR and THC of properties on the map, including hotel name, address, Amex benefits, and a link to its Price Calendar, Google Review, and some hotel highlighted features.

3. How does it work?

We officially launch the English version of the search engine today, including the information on 1,264 FHR and 636 THC properties around the world. I thank people who offered help and comments on this project, including ThunderFat, the authors of the US Credit Card Guide, and many users of the US Card Forum.

I present the map below; you may hold down Ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom in/out or click the upper right corner to open the full-screen mode. Please do not reprint this map link without permission.

Several points may draw your attention：

• The price on the Price Calendar is the minimum value that Google takes based on the prices of several third-party booking platforms (without Amex). Sometimes there is a bug price. Moreover, the final price of the actual Amex reservation is often 20-30% higher than a Price Calendar price (after all, there are taxes and benefits, and the benefits are not free essentially).
• Some casino hotels (such as the ones in Vegas) and a few resorts will have a certain amount of hidden fees to pay at the property.
• The data is mainly parsed using an algorithm, and some are obtained manually. There could be bugs remaining. Please leave a message in the chat below this post if you find any.
• Very few hotels can only book by phone, so there is no price list (often those are unusual expensive ones).
• When parsing the global data, some countries, due to confusing road information and characters, Google map information, and hotel positioning are inaccurate, so the coordinates on the map are biased.

4. Access the map through a Mobile APP

The URL to this map is：

• https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/view?mid=1HygPCP9ghtDptTNnpUpd_C507Mq_Fhec&usp=sharing

To access the map through a Mobile APP, here are the instructions:

• iOS Users：

1. Launch the “Safari” app
2.  Enter into the address field the above URL of the website. Tap “Go.”
3. Tap the icon featuring a right-pointing arrow coming out of a box to open a drop-down menu.
4. Tap “Add to Home Screen”

• Android Users：

1. Launch the “Chrome” app.
2. Enter into the address field the above URL of the website.
3. Tap the menu icon (3 dots in the upper right-hand corner) and tap Add to Homescreen.

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