One thing that has become very clear in the Year of the Ultra Premium Credit Card is that credit card issuers want your hotel booking business. Every major issuer offers bonuses for booking through their own credit card portal. In an effort to attract the luxury travel / jet set crowd (or to encourage cardholders to spend as though they belong in that circle), each issuer offers a special luxury hotel booking platform that includes extra perks. Some issuers offer credits when booking through these platforms to encourage you to build the habit of using them. In this post, I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison using a handful of randomly-selected cities and dates to see how each of these tools stack up. Understand that this is a random sampling and that on different dates or in different cities, the landscape may change. I simply wanted to get a lay of the land in terms of the comparison between these programs through some real-world searches.
Basic comparison
Each of the major credit card luxury booking platforms offers roughly similar benefits for a select group of customers.
The following programs are compared in this post:
- Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. Access this program by having an Amex Platinum card (consumer or business)
- Bilt Home Away from Home. Access this program by having Bilt Gold status or higher.
- The Edit by Chase Travel. Access this program by having a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card.
- The Reserve by Citi. Access this program by having a Citi Strata Elite card.
- Capital One Premier Collection. Access this program by having a Capital One Venture X card.
Each of the programs noted above shares several core booking benefits:
- Complimentary daily breakfast for 2
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Some sort of credit worth around $100 (note that this can be a dining credit, a spa credit, or some other type of property credit depending on the property).
- Possible Early check-in
- Possible Late check-out.
- Room upgrades subject to availability.
Note that Amex, Citi, and Capital One each have a second separate program (The Hotel Collection, Hotel Collection, and Lifestyle Collection, respectively) that offers fewer benefits. I did not include those here.
Some key things to know about these programs:
- There is considerable variance in the level of detail provided regarding benefits. For instance, Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Edit by Chase Travel offer some detail about the ~$100 credit offered at participating hotels (for instance describing whether it is a dining credit or spa credit), whereas The Reserve by Citi Travel and Capital One’s Premier Collection refer to it as an “experience credit” that is up to the hotel to provide (The Reserve suggests that you should contact the hotel directly to find out what is included). Bilt provides the most detail, in some cases describing the specific restaurants where the credit will be used and how complimentary breakfast will be provided (such as through a dining credit or whether it is available via room service).
- Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts offers a guaranteed 4pm checkout. Other programs offer this based on availability, although I did find one example from another program where a specific hotel included a guaranteed 3pm late check-out.
- Complimentary breakfast for 2 is sometimes offered in the form of a dining credit. This is especially common in mega-resort destinations like Las Vegas, where many properties offer a $60 credit since there isn’t really a set “breakfast” place. Again, Bilt had the most extensive explanations here.
My quick, unscientific comparison methodology
I fully admit that this comparison is completely unscientific. If you change dates and cities, your results may vary considerably.
That said, I chose cities and dates here somewhat intentionally despite being mostly sort of random:
- I picked 5 cities that I know from past travel experience have numerous reasonably-priced luxury hotels at least during some of the year. I wanted to choose cities where I know that luxury hotels are a bit more economical since I know that many readers will likely be looking to use credit card travel credits in markets where those credits can go a long way toward mitigating cost.
- I picked a mixture of dates:
- A low-season weekday for Las Vegas a couple of months in advance during a popular travel week (Thanksgiving week)
- A close-in weekday for Orlando (less than a week in advance)
- A shoulder season weekend (Saturday night) in Dubai
- A US holiday / peak summer travel date in Bangkok (4th of July). Note that this is the early rainy season in Bangkok, so I knew that prices should be reasonable, but it is a popular time for Americans to travel with kids out of school and the US holiday.
- A spring weekend date in a major US city (Chicago)
Is that a perfect slice of cities/dates? Absolutely not. I arguably cherry-picked times when I thought that room rates would be low, but I didn’t take the time to hunt around for whether the first weekend of April or the second weekend of April would be cheaper in Chicago (for example). I just tried to pick some places where I thought I might hunt for luxury booking platform deals if I were a cardholder looking to use these benefits / associated hotel credits.
I then tried to pick out either the cheapest properties in each location for the example date or properties that I expected to find or found via more than one platform in order to be able to both price-compare and compare the most economical use of the program in each location.
The results follow. Prices shown are all-in and the ~$100 amenity is described in as much detail as was given through the corresponding platform.
Las Vegas
Example date: November 25-26, 2025
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
Remember that 4pm late checkout is guaranteed. So is breakfast for 2.
- Total properties: 6
- Cheapest:
- The Palazzo at The Venetian: $206. $100 food & beverage credit.
- Comparison:
- Fontainebleau Las Vegas: $243.77. $100 food and beverage credit
- Four Seasons: $351. $150 spa credit.
- Other notables:
- Wynn Las Vegas. $283. $150 spa services credit.
Bilt Home Away from Home
- Total properties:Â 8
- Cheapest:
- The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas: $266.44. $100 USD Food & Beverage credit to be utilized during stay, not applicable at the following venues: Marquee Dayclub & Nightclub, Beauty & Essex, Zuma and Juice Standard.
- Comparison:
- Wynn Las Vegas: $283.85. $100 USD Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized in the Salon or Spa, once per stay.
The Edit by Chase Travel
- Total properties: 6
- Cheapest
- Bellagio Hotel and Casino: $211. $100 dining credit & breakfast.
- Comparison
- Fontainebleau Las Vegas: $238. $100 property credit & breakfast.
- Four Seasons: $351. $100 property credit.
The Reserve by Citi Travel
- Total properties: 2
- Cheapest:
- Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa: $262.16. $100 experience credit. Note: Actually in Summerlin, NV
- Other notable:
- Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa Casino (actually in Henderson, NV). $297.88. $100 experience credit.
Capital One Premier Collection
- Total Properties: 0
Orlando
Example date: September 2-3, 2025
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
- Total properties: 7
- Comparison:
- JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa: $392. $150 spa credit.
- Waldorf Astoria Orlando – An Official Walt Disney World® Hotel: $393. $100 property credit.
Bilt Home Away From Home
- Total properties: 5
- Comparison:
- Waldorf Astoria Orlando – An Official Walt Disney World® Hotel: $404.17. $100 USD equivalent Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay.
- Lake Nona Wave Hotel: $259.92. $100 USD equivalent Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay.
The Edit by Chase Travel
- Total properties: 4
- Comparison:
- JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa. $393. $100 property credit
- Other notable:
- JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes. $421. $100 property credit. Note that I included this property as I am currently staying here and I love it. I’d be very happy to come back assuming The Edit benefits and Chase Points Boost at $0.02 per point.
The Reserve by Citi Travel
- Total properties: 0
Premier Collection
- Total properties: 2
- Cheapest:
- Lake Nona Wave Hotel. $259.92. $100 experience credit.
- Other notable:
- ette hotel. $393.28. $100 experience credit
Dubai
Example date: September 13-14, 2025.
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
- Total properties: 30
- Cheapest:
- Al Habtoor Palace: $165. $100 food and beverage credit.
- Other notable:
- Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah: $335. $100 property credit. I included this property in part because I stayed here during our 3 Cards 3 Continents challenge. I don’t love the Palm, but the hotel was very nice.
- Ajman Saray, a Luxury Collection Resort, Ajman: $186. $100 property credit
Bilt Home Away From Home
- Total properties:Â 13
- Cheapest:
- Raffles Dubai: $240.60. $100 USD equivalent Hotel Credit to be utilized during stay, that includes Food & Beverage, applicable at hotel managed restaurants and bars, Raffles Spa treatments (excludes retail and Salon services. Not combinable, not valid on room rate, no cash value if not redeemed in full)
The Edit by Chase Travel
- Total properties: 11
- Cheapest:
- SO/ Uptown Dubai: $128. $100 property credit
- Other notable:
- InterContinental Residences Dubai Business Bay by IHG. $238. $100 property credit
The Reserve by Citi Travel
- Total properties: 0
Capital One Premier Collection
- Total properties: 11
- Cheapest
- SIRO One Za’abeel: $266.86. $100 experience credit.
Bangkok
Example date: July 4-5, 2026.
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
- Total properties: 14
- Comparison:
- Park Hyatt Bangkok: $290. $100 food and beverage credit
- Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok by IHG: $345. $100 property credit.
Bilt Home Away From Home
- Total properties:Â 8
- Comparison properties:
- Park Hyatt Bangkok: $289.55. $100 USD equivalent Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay
- The St. Regis Bangkok: $363.69. $100 USD equivalent Food & Beverage credit to be utilized during stay (excludes Zuma Restaurant.
The Edit by Chase Travel
- Total properties: 7
- Comparison:
- Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok by IHG: $341. $100 property credit. 3pm guaranteed late check-out
- The St. Regis Bangkok. $359. $100 property credit.
The Reserve by Citi Travel
- Total properties: 0
Capital One Premier Collection
- Total properties: 2
- Cheapest:
- InterContinental Bangkok by IHG: $344.15. $100 experience credit.
Chicago
Example date: April 4-5, 2026.
Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
- Total properties: 9
- Comparison:
- Pendry Chicago: $446. $100 food and beverage credit.
- Park Hyatt Chicago: $569. $100 property credit.
Bilt Home Away From Home
- Total properties:Â 8
- Cheapest:
- Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile: $345. $100 USD equivalent Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay.
- Comparison:
- Pendry Chicago: $498.95. $100 USD Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay
The Edit by Chase Travel
- Total properties: 5
- Comparison:
- Pendry Chicago: $411. $100 food and beverage credit. (Oddly, this showed up between The Edit properties and had The Edit branding one time I clicked and not the other).
- Park Hyatt Chicago: $569. $100 property credit
The Reserve by Citi Travel
- Total properties: 1
- InterContinental Hotel Chicago By IHG: $465.21. $100 experience credit.
Capital One Premier Collection
- Total properties: 4
- Comparison:
- Pendry Chicago: $446.12. $100 experience credit.
What do the results mean?
On the surface, these search results are highly anecdotal and don’t mean all that much.
However, taking from them what we can:
- Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts tends to have more participating properties in the cities listed. That completely matched my expectations based on my own anecdotal searches: I tend to find that Amex has more options.
- The Edit tended to have slightly better pricing when another program had access to the same hotel. In some cases, it was very close. In at least one case, it was a ~$50 margin.
- While The Edit generally advertises late checkout based on availability, one Kimpton listed here guaranteed a 3pm late checkout through The Edit, but that is still an hour sooner than the guaranteed 4pm late checkout offered at the same property by Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
- Capital One was the most likely to only have hotels I didn’t find elsewhere, though they weren’t necessarily the only program with hotels I didn’t find through other tools. I do find that Capital One often has properties that I haven’t seen through other similar platforms, though as you can see above they tend to have many fewer properties overall.
- The Reserve by Citi seems to have very few properties available so far. Far more Hotel Collection properties show up, but the few I’ve checked only offer a $50 property credit and no complimentayr breakfast.
Overall, I came away unspurprised that Amex appears to have the most robust offering overall, between the number of participating properties and the guaranteed 4pm late checkout.
However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Bilt including significant detail (in some cases) about how breakfast is provided (whether by a credit or buffet, whether room service is an option, etc) and what inclusions/exclusions apply to the $100 credit (though this part varied).
I was also pleasantly surprised by The Edit. I see some real potential there given that The Edit often included a more reasonably priced property or two, tended to have the same or better pricing, and the $0.02 per point Points Boost offered for Sapphire Reserve cardholders is very intriguing. Writing this post made me more interested than I previously was in earning Ultimate Rewards points (even at a rate of 1.5 points per dollar spent) since I see a number of instances where I’d be happy to redeem them at a value of $0.02 per point toward The Edit bookings based on these searches.
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I’ve been looking at hotels on The Edit. The two night minimum for credit to trigger combined with the high costs of qualifying properties usually means that you will be spending an additional $500+ in order to make use of $250. Is there a way to pay with points and still trigger the credit?
The restaurant credit is not much better.
The Sapphire Reserve refresh has to be up for a Bonvoy award. They advertise up to $2700 in coupons and I’m not even sure I can make use of enough to justify the annual fee.
The Visa Luxury Hotel Collection is also a good source of hotel offerings with similar benefits. Also, a Virtuoso affiliated travel agent will have access to a very similar hotels with similar benefits. Both of these overlap the reviewed programs with the same hotels on offer, with Virtuoso offering the most properties overall.
I recently used the Citi Travel portal with my Strata Premier to book a Six Senses property. Oddly enough it was not via “The Reserve” but included free breakfast. The all-in price was about 5% cheaper than other options (i.e. AMEX, Hotel.com, Chase and IHG direct). Cancellation policy same as IHG. My annual $100 Strat Premier benefit was applied too. Booked the room I wanted so upgrades won’t matter (peak season so upgrades are not realistic expectation even with IHG status).
Last year I booked a Belmond property via Capital One’s Premier Collection and got all the standard benefits and the 10x Capital One points. Actually got a room upgrade too.
I’m inclined to take 10-12x transferable points over hotel points except perhaps in the case of Hyatt. If the Citi booking goes smoothly I’d say the Strata Elite 12x TYPs with transfer to AA really moves the needle for me.
I also find Citi’s Hotel availability lacking. Hoping it improves and that AMEX improves upon their 5X MRs (i.e. 7X MRs and 4X WoH would be nice) as these banks get serious with their portals as a source of revenue from the CC customers.
My experience with Citi has shown that The Reserve property rates are more expensive than the lowest rate. Usually by an amount that makes the free breakfast and property credit not worth the effort. I hope they fix that issue (and add a decent amount of properties) before I downgrade to double cash next year.
Thanks Nick, very useful analysis. Personally I love Amex FHR and use it frequently. I recently got a CSR and after spending a few days searching hotels on The Edit, I was was very disappointed.
I was mostly looking for overseas hotels and I found The Edit on average had much fewer options that FHR, frequently just 1-2 hotels and they were considerably more expensive than the cheapest offered by FHR. The hotel was often a Four Seasons and we all know FS rates are some of the highest.. I was hoping to use The Edit a lot thanks to the 2x $250 USD credits and the generous 8x multiplier but it was a big miss for me. Las Vegas does have some good The Edit options, maybe I’ll leverage it there. We’ll see.
Thanks for the The Reserve and Premier Collection info, I’m going to raincheck getting their respective prem cards as I was hoping their lux hotel options would be extensive.
I seem to recall that The Edit allows you to earn and use elite status at the various chains. Is that true? Still true? True for some of the chains?
The only benefit that matters is the guaranteed 4pm late check out. Comes in handy when I’m not able to stay at a Hyatt property
This.
“Subject to availability” translates to “not a benefit” since the value of a late stay is infinitely higher when you can plan around it.
Exactly I already get enough games played by Hilton and Marriott. I stay at the Crockfords Las Vegas and with Diamond I never get 4pm with FHR I always get it. Sad that a random credit card program can deliver better benefits than top tier status.
That is one of the biggest benefits of Amex FHR is the 4pm check-out is guaranteed.
Thanks Nick!
When doing the comparison, were these refundable or non refundable? I assume that you had the same criteria for each. It would be helpful to see what the “rack rate” is when booking directly with a hotel (or, rather, the least expensive generally available rate, such as “member” rate when membership is free). One of my frustrations with these portals is that often, the price is inflated and even with the credit, it still costs more than booking directly. I realize that the goal was to compare portals, but it is hard to evaluate whether you are getting any value from booking through a portal unless you know what the “real” cost of the room is.
Also — what does “comparison” mean in your summary blurbs? Comparison to what?
You’ll notice that properties listed under “comparison” are available via at least one of the other portals.
Rates through these platforms are almost always the “standard” rate for the hotel. There will almost always be a slightly better rate available — whether the rate for members of the hotel’s loyalty program or a AAA rate or a prepaid rate through a small OTA, etc. It’s hard to provide the perfect price comparison to your “elsewhere” rate, but you are right that it is worth comparing. It isn’t always a deal. That said, it isn’t always more expensive, either (it is more likely that you’ll find a cheaper rate like a “Marriott Bonvoy Member” rate at a Marriott-affiliated property, whereas if you’re booking a Four Seasons, it is less likely that you’ll find a different price for that brand elsewhere.
There are times when I don’t mind the rate being a little bit higher. I’d obviously prefer them to be as low as possible, but if I could pay an extra $20 or $30 for a $100 hotel credit, I’d sometimes be happy to take that. For instance, I am typing this comment from the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. Last night, we cut time at the pool / waterslides a little short so that we could go back to the room, dry up, and change to go get dinner off-property since on-property prices are resort-inflated. But if I had booked via The Edit and had the $100 hotel credit to use, we’d have probably grabbed something at the poolside restaurant and played in the water for another hour or two. I’m not regretful that we got a great meal off-property, but neither would I have been unhappy to get a little extra time at the pool without feeling like I spent $14 on a grilled cheese sandwich, know what I mean? And there are times when the restaurant in the hotel is actually really good, so I might be happy to eat there.
But there are also times when I don’t book through one of these platforms because it still doesn’t feel like a deal. In fact, I’ve recently had that several times where the FHR options I looked at were $400-$500 per night, but I could find nearby hotels for around $100-$150 that would suffice. That’s going to vary based on your situation and desires of course, but you are right to consider that carefully before deciding how much to value coupons at these places.
I think the $200 FHR (soon $3-600?), $250×2 Chase Edit Credits, etc can essentially wipe out the “premium” over other booking channels you are paying, such that the benefits become meaningful. IE FHR rate is $350/night, direct booking is $250/nt – so a 2-night stay is $700 through FHR vs. $500 direct. After the $200 credit, the cost is the same, but the FHR booking includes free breakfast, 4 pm checkout, etc.
As Nick pointed out, the $0.02 value for UR through Edit properties makes them even more valuable. Even if the inflated Edit rate means you only get ~$0.018/UR value, that’s still good, and becomes even better if you can apply a $250 credit. I appreciate that the $0.02 UR value for Edit properties applies to ever single room type, so you can book a nicer room at the same good value.
The problem I have with all these platforms is that they often charge higher rates than booking without the perks, so the $100 credit and free breakfast aren’t completely free. When you add in that hotel food is rarely worth the price the net value can be meager. (And even worse if the $100 is for a ridiculously overpriced spa.) Most of the time when I look at these platforms I end up finding a property in a better location for a much cheaper price. And I actually get out of the hotel to eat and usually find much better food.
See my comment above about the rates. You’re not wrong, there are just times when I’d be happy to have the credit. There are also times when I’d prefer to have a cheaper place and a great local meal.
Yeah, it isn’t necessarily a simple decision. I am much more likely to value credits when I am in transit (e.g., the night before a flight) because in those cases I just want something to eat quick. And of course late checkout can be worth a lot in certain situations. My main point was that you don’t necessarily get as much value as you might think because the hotels are often taking money out of one pocket while they put credits in the other.
For that reason it would be great to annotate these results (in some similar, future article) with the lowest “similar” (in terms of cancellation, room type, etc, but not benefits) from the hotel, as well as the rate available through one of the “advisor” programs that offer similar benefits.
Hey Nick & FM Community,
If the Amex Plat adds $300 / semi-annual for FHR on refresh next month, do you think we can make a booking right away to use that?
E.g., last December, when they announced the $50/quarter Hilton credit, you could use it immediately.
Or will we have to wait until after the start of 2026 to be able to use the credit on a booking?
I think everyone assumes it will be available right away. In fact, a lot of folks think you’ll be able to use your $200 credit now, and then the $300 credit again in the same year, as that’s been the case in the past when adding/improving credits with Amex.
Nobody knows for sure, but tyson said what I would say: it is likely that if you’ve already used the $200 before the $300 launches, you will likely get another $300 that you could use by the end of the year. I plan to use our $200 credits in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks Nick and Tyson. We each have a business Platinum. So we have never had a fine hotels and resorts credit. But if we get one and can use it this year for booking next year, we will right away. I’ve never used fine hotels and resorts before.
Hi. It would have been great if you had added Reknowned Hotels and Resorts for Chase United card holders, as the Explorer card offers a $150 annual credit and the Club card offers $200 off. I have no idea why Chase is running two simultaneous FHR-esque luxury hotel booking platforms.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any access to that portal.
Quest $150 also.
to me this highlights how useful the Edit is, since none of these other programs have a way to book these hotels at a strong fixed rate with points. It really changes my entire philosophy/process as far as hotel bookings.
The edit is weak it does not offer 4pm and requires 2 nights. If you were going to book regardless it would make sense but not if you would be spending more than you wanted to. Strong redemption doesn’t matter if you always have to spend more than you were going to as that translates into redeeming for more points than you wanted to.
i thought the 2 night requirement was only to get the $250 credit? I’m talking about just redeeming points for 2cpp via Points Boost. Is that a 2 night requirement as well? Haven’t seen that
It’s just the $250 Edit credit that requires 2 nights; aside from that, you don’t have to book 2 nights. It’s not like, say, Amex THC.
Thats what I thought so then yeah I still think 2cpp for the Edit properties is an insanely good value. I don’t have high status with any hotels so the ability to stay at a StR/Ritz/Park Hyatt/etc. for 2cpp and have breakfast/property credit/potentially earn hotel points is crazy good
Nick,
Fantastic post as always.
I did not use my FHR credit once in 20 years. I wasn’t interested in Vegas on a weeknight off-season, and I’m happy to stay at a Holiday Inn express (where I happen to be working on my medical degree anyway, if you remember the old TV commercials) instead of being $400 out of pocket for a fancy place.
Thanks to FM, I finally found a stay that worked and now I’m hooked. Definitely worth jumping through some hoops and MIGHT even do it again without the $200 credit – except I have to use up all the other program credits first now!
Keep up the great stuff
The FHR credit hasn’t been around for 20 years.
ok, but it sure seems like it’s been that long to me. My Amex account shows a card member since 1985, so shoot me.
In any event, I never used the FHR credit until I found a sub $300 hotel that I was going to use anyway
Does the Chase Ritz card allow use of any hotel programs?
Technically, yes. But, only base earn rate at non-Marriott hotels. Not the best card for those.
If you update the article, could you please include Tokyo and a few cities in Europe? Thanks for the consideration.
It would be good to know which programs will afford *potential* loyalty program credit.
With Bilt, while it will have access to loyalty program member rates, will that also include AAA rates?
Thanks again.