A Search Engine for Amex FHR & THC
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 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 include 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 at an FHR and THC property, including the booking cost itself.
However, it is not easy to spend this $200 credit on a hotel stay that really worth its value, especially for some budget-tightened travelers (it’s easy to find a hotel priced over a thousand dollars per night). This is because most FHR and THC hotel nights are priced high and because the Amex FHR and THC hotel booking system is not user-friendly. The official Amex FHR and THC hotel booking 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 is difficult, especially based on a price calendar.
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 can find all the FHR and THC of properties on the map, including hotel name, address, Amex benefits, and click on the link to see its Price Calendar, Google Review, and some hotel features.
3. How does it work?
The author first tried to make it on the US Card Forum, and today the English version is officially launched, including the information of 1,264 FHR and 636 THC properties around the world. I thank people who offered helps 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 be; 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 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, and 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 some hotels in Las Vegas) and very few resorts will have strange hidden fees to pay at the hotel/resort.
- The data is mainly parsed using an algorithm, and some are obtained manually. There may be bugs. Please leave a message in the chat below this post if you find any bugs or have any comments.
- Very few hotels can only book by phone, so there is no price list (often those unusual expensive hotels).
- 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:
- Launch the “Safari” app
- Enter into the address field the above URL of the website. Tap “Go.”
- Tap the icon featuring a right-pointing arrow coming out of a box to open a drop-down menu.
- Tap “Add to Home Screen”
- Launch the “Chrome” app.
- Enter into the address field the above URL of the website.
- Tap the menu icon (3 dots in the upper right-hand corner) and tap Add to Homescreen.
