New Amex statement credits

[liamsal]

Were you anticipating Hertz to match the Avis offer after the AmEx credit?

Nope, have more trips coming up so would've been handy to know for future bookings if they price matched

 

[SydneySwan]

Alice McCall - 500 / 100

 

[JohnK]

Anyone use Amex travel for hotel bookings? Awful is about as good as I can describe it.

Found hotel in Chiang Mai for 2 nights end November. Unable to book. Call with issue and asked to try again. Cannot book. New issue. Inventory not available as what you see has not been updated.

Ok. Same hotel for 2 nights end of March. Sorry seems to be the same issue. Try booking another hotel. Oh dear.

With Pattaya there is very limited availability of hotels and if I search for any hotels I pay the $250 now and get the $75 cashback but all that does is bring the price back to what I would pay in 3-6 months time but locking in a rate that could potentially drop.

Where is Amex Travel beneficial? High end hotels?

 

[QF WP]

Finally boomed on the Winestar offer (150/50) before it expired. Nice to buy $303.88 worth of wine with $50 off.

Order Summary
Qty x SKU Product Price Subtotal
2x 10913 Heemskerk Pinot Noir 2016 $39.99 $79.98
2x 19586 Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2016 $19.99 $39.98
2x 10368 Deep Woods Cabernet Merlot 2014 $27.99 $55.98
2x 10946 Redman Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 $24.99 $49.98
2x 10941 De Bortoli Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 (Dozen Deal) $19.99 $39.98
2x 10927 Alkoomi Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 $18.99 $37.98

Now had better look at the Winedirect (100/30) to add anything else I need

 

[zenyattamondatta]

Nice to buy $303.88 worth of wine with $50 off.

That order was screaming for a second Amex.

 

[QF WP]

I know but my second Amex got cut up a couple of years ago.

Also about to boom on the Winedirect 100/30 with this selection: No One Will Order This v16.0

$127.50 with delivery fee to less than $100.

 

[lilkid28]

Finally boomed on the Winestar offer (150/50) before it expired. Nice to buy $303.88 worth of wine with $50 off.

Order Summary
Qty x SKU Product Price Subtotal
2x 10913 Heemskerk Pinot Noir 2016 $39.99 $79.98
2x 19586 Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2016 $19.99 $39.98
2x 10368 Deep Woods Cabernet Merlot 2014 $27.99 $55.98
2x 10946 Redman Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 $24.99 $49.98
2x 10941 De Bortoli Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 (Dozen Deal) $19.99 $39.98
2x 10927 Alkoomi Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 $18.99 $37.98

Now had better look at the Winedirect (100/30) to add anything else I need

Did you buy $303.88 worth of wine with only $50 off (1 Amex card) or $100 off (2 Amex card)? Hopefully the latter one.

I bought $1200 worth, am going to claim tax refund on an overseas trip soon, minus $400 cashback, should work about to be about $500 out of pocket.

 

[QF WP]

The former - as indicated in post above replying to @zenyattamondatta, only have 1 Amex card .

 

[blackcat20]

We picked up a great Baker's dozen from wine direct, with two discounts came to around $14 a bottle. Pity that bundle isnt available still.

Wines in this pack


1 x Rusden Christine’s Vineyard Grenache 2015
1 x Kangarilla Road McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
1 x Erin Eyes Ballycapple Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
1 x The Hidden Sea Cabernet Shiraz 2015
1 x Rusden Good Shepherd Malbec Cabernet 2014
1 x Zonte's Footstep Lake Doctor Shiraz 2014
1 x Monterra McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016
1 x Monterra Barossa Shiraz 2016
1 x Jericho Single Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz 2015
1 x Rolf Binder Heysen Shiraz 2012
1 x Richard Hamilton Centurion Shiraz 2017
1 x Martins Vineyard Limited McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016
1 x Turkey Flat Butchers Block Shiraz 2016

 

[Happy Dude]

Did you buy $303.88 worth of wine with only $50 off (1 Amex card) or $100 off (2 Amex card)? Hopefully the latter one.

I bought $1200 worth, am going to claim tax refund on an overseas trip soon, minus $400 cashback, should work about to be about $500 out of pocket.

Won't you have to take the $1200 of wine out of the country? I realise that for some, this may only be a bottle or two.....

 

[Happy Dude]

Anyone use Amex travel for hotel bookings? Awful is about as good as I can describe it.

Found hotel in Chiang Mai for 2 nights end November. Unable to book. Call with issue and asked to try again. Cannot book. New issue. Inventory not available as what you see has not been updated.

Ok. Same hotel for 2 nights end of March. Sorry seems to be the same issue. Try booking another hotel. Oh dear.

With Pattaya there is very limited availability of hotels and if I search for any hotels I pay the $250 now and get the $75 cashback but all that does is bring the price back to what I would pay in 3-6 months time but locking in a rate that could potentially drop.

Where is Amex Travel beneficial? High end hotels?

I've used it recently JohnK, with the 250/75 AmEx deal. It is indeed an awful site to use. No better for airfares (can't select fare class - only the lowest type available) or car hire either.

I cross-referenced prices with Trivago and the hotels own website and found the Amex site to be more expensive on all accounts, often by a decent margin, and often missed out on freebie items like brekky or something on arrival. Even more annoying was the use of a different description of the room type making a simple comparison more difficult. Also, as you've noted, the selection of hotels is very limited too. Or that could just be Adelaide?

I did find a deal that made it worthwhile to use the Amex credit on this occasion. Some reports here of good pricing though and I saw that some places in Bali (where I booked) were part of a special group that you had to contact to get the price. Even with the 40% deal that finishes today, it wasn't a better price.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Anyone use Amex travel for hotel bookings? Awful is about as good as I can describe it.

Found hotel in Chiang Mai for 2 nights end November. Unable to book. Call with issue and asked to try again. Cannot book. New issue. Inventory not available as what you see has not been updated.

Ok. Same hotel for 2 nights end of March. Sorry seems to be the same issue. Try booking another hotel. Oh dear.

With Pattaya there is very limited availability of hotels and if I search for any hotels I pay the $250 now and get the $75 cashback but all that does is bring the price back to what I would pay in 3-6 months time but locking in a rate that could potentially drop.

Where is Amex Travel beneficial? High end hotels?

Agree the site is painful


Limited use : mainly to use up my ravel Credits that come with the card and/or to make use of Amex Cashbacks. However I have found value, but yes you do have to search for value and know your prices.

Note that Amex have some hotels reduced on a temporary basis, and that other booking engines do not always have these same temporary reductions.

Manly
Just used the $75 cash back deal today. Was able to book 2 nights in Manly, NSW within a couple of $ of the usual booking sites. So $73 in front. Though deduct a few more % off that if you use cashrewards or similar.

Koh Samui
Last year in Koh Sumiu I found while it was often more expensive that it also had some properties the same or cheaper. Where it became excellent value was that Amex had an offer at the time of 4th night free. as I was staying at 3 different o cations I was able to get two on that deal at two different beaches and so saved a good margin.

PRO-TIP: Look to use your vouchers and or cashbacks on Amex reduced fares or bonus night deals.

Airport Transfer: Our first location was at the far end of the island and I noticed that the airport minivan transfer offered through the site was a flat rate irrespective of where you stayed. So was cheap for us. I also rationalised that as most people would be staying at the popular northern and NW beaches and our arriving jet was a small one that our minivan was unlikely to be crowded. Sure enough we were the only two on it and so it turned out to be a private transfer at fraction of the cost.


Singapore
Used it for one night as the Crowne Plaza. Price was the same as other sites for the day I wanted.


Dublin and London

I used it to book 3 walking tours at the same price as if I has gone direct. Did this to get two of my $400 vouchers up to this amount so that I extracted full value.

 

[lilkid28]

Won't you have to take the $1200 of wine out of the country? I realise that for some, this may only be a bottle or two.....

3 bottles

 

[Daver6]

Did you buy $303.88 worth of wine with only $50 off (1 Amex card) or $100 off (2 Amex card)? Hopefully the latter one.

I bought $1200 worth, am going to claim tax refund on an overseas trip soon, minus $400 cashback, should work about to be about $500 out of pocket.

Can you claim the WET back as well as the GST on wine?

 

[lilkid28]

Can you claim the WET back as well as the GST on wine?

Yes I believe so. Works out to be about 24-25% (GST+WET) of the invoice amount. Only for champagne, red and white wines. Not for other alcohol I believe.

 

[Happy Dude]

3 bottles

You bought cooking wine?

 

[SydneySwan]

Forever New - 75 / 15
Merivale Restaurants - spend $200 for 2000 Velocity Points

Merivale offer is very poor compared to last November's spend 40 for 20 back.

 

[mitchsaunders]

Agoda.com - Up to 12% off Agoda hotel bookings with American Express just popped up on my QFF Discovery.

Also on AMEX Offers - Get a massive 37% discount off your Electricity with Globird Energy (https://www.americanexpress.com/au/...37-percent-discount-off-your-electricity.html)

 

[SydneySwan]

Also on AMEX Offers - Get a massive 37% discount off your Electricity with Globird Energy (https://www.americanexpress.com/au/...37-percent-discount-off-your-electricity.html)

Globird is south of the border (Victoria) only.

 

[unfunkable]

3 bottles

Can I ask what you bought? I'm looking at buying a few exxy bottles, as I got plenty of quaffers already