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25% off, 3-for-2 and more offers with Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
You are probably familiar with American Express’s Fine Hotels and Resorts Program – Platinum and Centurion cardholders can book select luxury hotels at the Best Flexible Rate, and enjoy benefits including free breakfast, room upgrade, 4pm checkout and $100 on-property credit.
Even better, Amex FHR has launched a sale to sweeten the deal. On top of the aforementioned perks, some hotels are making an additional offer, for example:
- 25% off room rate
- 30% off suite bookings
- Complimentary 3rd or 4th night
- Extra on-property credit
The offer page is dedicated to the U.S. market, but the offer is global. I signed in with my UK Platinum card and could see the same deals. Not many UK / European hotels are participating, but here are some examples:
- Baglioni Hotel London 3for2 / $535
- Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh 25% off / $221
- Conrad Dublin 3for2 / $260
- Mandarin Oriental Prague 3for2 / $286
Rates are in USD and exclude taxes. Remember that they all come with $100 credit to spend at the hotel, so WA Edinburgh is exceptional value for a one-night stay.
There are even more great offers in Asia Pacific, and to name a few:
- Conrad Tokyo – 3for2 / $452
- Conrad Osaka – 25% off / $403
- Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong – 3for2 / $326
- Shangri-La Singapore – 4for3 / $254
- Shangri-La Sydney – 4for3 / $285
- Conrad Maldives Rangali Island – 25% off / $900
If staying with a hotel chain, you are still entitled to the usual elite benefits and points accrual. You also have the option to pre-pay, which may earn you additional Amex MR points.
Renew your Shangri-La status after only one stay or purchase
Shangri-La ceased its collaboration with American Express, which means Platinum and Centurion cardholders no longer receive complimentary Jade / Diamond status with them. Their courtesy status extension is also coming to an end, so many of us will drop to Gold in a couple of months.
However, if you log in to the Shangri-La app, you’ll probably see the following notification in the message centre:
It is self-explanatory enough: you just need to stay one night before December 15 to extend your current Shangri-La status. An alternative is purchasing a dining experience, which I think is a voucher or some sort.
(UPDATE: Shangri-La has sent out an email:
Stay one qualifying night or spend on one qualifying experience – whether it’s a cup of coffee or a feast at any of our restaurants and bars
Looks like any spend at a Shangri-La restaurant or bar will count.)
There isn’t a landing page for this offer, but it seems to apply to all members. If your Shangri-La status means anything to you, you may want to go for the challenge.
Afternoon tea at the Ting restaurant, Shangri-La the Shard
I accrued a lot of cheap Shangri-La points when The Economist had a great deal, but sadly didn’t have much chance to burn them. I spent some of them on a buffet in Beijing a few years back, but am still left with a stash of 2,500 points. Before the devaluation kicked in, I converted all into vouchers for Shangri-La the Shard, London.
A friend is visiting, which reminds me of redeeming those vouchers. Being in the Shard, the Shangri-La possesses an advantage that no other five-star hotels in London can ever compete.
It has four restaurants: Bar 31 and Sky Lounge are more like bars, whereas Ting and Gong are proper restaurants. I’ve got a few friends who’ve had an afternoon tea at the Ting, and I will follow them for the experience although I don’t like afternoon teas that much.
Coming out of the London Bridge station you can’t possibly miss the Shard.
The building has three entrances and the middle one is for the hotel.
The receptionist checks our reservation and then show us the lift, which leads straight to the 35th floor.
The hotel reception.
Our reservation is checked again when entering the Ting restaurant.
The restaurant is not as busy as I thought on a Sunday, as there are still a few window seats available.
There’s a theme for the Queen’s Jubilee.
Live music from a band:
Pick your tea from an iPad, otherwise the set is the same for everyone.
Savouries are served first. I don’t quite remember what they are except for the duck cake, but they are all pretty good.
Followed by the scones and cakes. I don’t have sweet teeth so won’t comment 😛
This Shard-like chocolate dessert is obviously their signature dish, and was created for the sake of Instagram. The chocolate exterior is fine, but the raspberry filling is way too sour for my taste. It’s probably more an art work than food.
Great view from the table.
And from the bathroom too.
The afternoon tea is priced at £65 pp, or £75 with a glass of Prosecco, and service charge is 12.5% on top. The Shangri-La voucher is in USD and they converted it at the rate of 0.8, which isn’t terrible.
Remember to book your table with OpenTable or SquareMeal to earn some IHG / Virgin points or cashback. I got 100 Virgin points from the reservation.
My friends had a very bad experience when they visited before in terms of service, but it’s quite a positive one for us. It’s a very expensive afternoon tea, but spending your Shangri-La points here isn’t a bad idea considering how limited their footprint is outside Asia.
Free cocktail monthly at Shangri-La restaurants
Back in 2020, Marriott started the concept of monthly member day in China, and it didn’t take long for Hyatt and IHG to follow suit. Shangri-La has finally joined the party too, and also expanded the idea globally.
The monthly event is called Six Times The Fun, and you can read more on their offer page. It’s mostly about exclusive hotel packages that offer breakfast and dining credit etc, which also earns you 6x Golden Circle points. More interestingly, all Shangri-La Circle members can have a freebie each month.
You can read about This Round is on Us here. Basically you can enjoy one complimentary cocktail at participating Shangri-La restaurants and bars on the 6th of every month.
There are about 20 restaurants available, which isn’t many. However, the Ting Lounge at Shangri-La London is included.
I don’t think you need an accompanying meal to redeem the free cocktail, but for many venues, including the Ting Lounge, mandatory reservation is required to attend.
This is not a life-changing benefit, but if you’ve got Circle points or vouchers you may turn up in one of the restaurants anyway. I just used my voucher towards an afternoon tea in the Ting restaurant recently, and a free cocktail wouldn’t hurt.
Earn up to 1,800 points ($120) with Shangri-la
Shangri-la’s new program has officially launched today, and I hope you had converted your points into vouchers before the devaluation kicked in. Anyway, to celebrate the program refresh Shangri-la has started an Unlock Your Rewards promotion.
- Offer ends July 31
- New members receive 300 points ($20) after one qualifying transaction
- All members receive
- 600 points ($30) for three qualifying transactions, or
- 900 points ($60) for four qualifying transactions, or
- 1,500 points ($100) for five or more qualifying transactions
So if you create a new account now and make at least five transactions by July 31, you’ll earn a total of 1,800 points which is equivalent to $120. Existing members can earn 1,500 points at most, which isn’t bad either.
A qualifying transaction is to spend at least $20 or 300 points on room stay, dining, spa or the Shangri-la boutique. You can earn maximum two qualifying transactions per day.
It’s unclear whether our converted vouchers count – my gut feeling is no, but if you pay an additional $20 for the meal it should be fine. If you have a few of those vouchers at hand, might as well spend them by July 31 to bag a few more Shangri-la points.
Turn your Shangri-la points into voucher now to avoid devaluation
Shangri-la Golden Circle is launching its refreshed program on April 28th. Most importantly, the way to redeem points is reforming: whether to spend points on reward nights, dining or spa, they will have the same value: 15 points = $1.
There are different takes on this change. On the one hand, Shangri-la’s reward night pricing at most hotels was unrealistically high, so the new fixed-value redemption is an improvement. On the other hand, dining reward gets much worse, as you were able to exchange 10 points for $1 ($1.25 for Jade and Diamond) instead.
If you prefer to spend your points on dining, there’s a workaround to save them from devaluation, via Non-Room Awards.
You can access the page here. The feature allows you to exchange your points to a dining or spa voucher, which is valid at a specific hotel.
Three types of voucher are available:
- $50 Restaurant & Bar Voucher
- $100 Restaurant & Bar Voucher
- $100 Chi The Spa Voucher
Redemptions are at the rate of 10 points = $1. Note that some hotel restaurants and dates are excluded.
The catch is the voucher is only valid for six months, and you must spend it at the designated hotel. However, if you know for sure that you can use it within the validity period, you should consider exchanging your points now.
Amex Cutting Tie with Shangri-La Golden Circle
Amex Platinum comes with substantial status benefits with certain hotel groups, which unfortunately has been shrinking over the last years. One more partner is biting the dust sadly.
As you can view on Amex’s page, the partnership is ending on April 1st. If you are an Amex Platinum cardholder and hasn’t linked your account yet, remember to do so by the end of March. Whether you have already linked your account or not, your Jade status should be valid until December 2021 at least, if not longer.
Shangri-la doesn’t have many properties in the UK or Europe, but if you ever visit Asia it offers decent choices, and Jade status comes with free breakfast and welcome amenity. Failing that, Jade offers 25% more value when you redeem points for dining, at the Shard London for example.
It’s a bigger disappointment than you think – Shangri-La Jade also enjoy reciprocal benefits with Taj Hotels and Singapore Airlines, which has been an indirect privilege for Amex Platinum cardholders.
Shangri-la 50% bonus on point purchase (31% off dining)
Shangri-la has recently launched a sale on point purchases – as far as I’m aware, this is the first time ever Shangri-la runs a promotion like this, so you can see how badly the hospitality sector is hit by Covid-19.
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