American Express Travel

I've loved the Platinum card perks for a few years now, but recent trips have been pretty nightmarish. We booked a couple of hotels on this recent September 2021 trip to Portugal. Both 5 stars, really loved early check in / late check out, and the hotel credits.

For hotel 2, we had to make some changes simply because we wanted to - admittedly no emergencies or travel interruptions. One was well within the restriction, one just inside of it.

The last point above is relevant in that neither situation was more simple.
1) changes cannot be made by the hotel, only through Amex
2) Amex chat reps / boys cannot make any changes either
3) Only phone calls to a 1-800 number work, this means activating your cell phone plan to make only one call while abroad
4) this is where it gets fun- for call #1, I spend 40 minutes on the phone with a person who struggled a bit with English. Something that doesn't particularly bother me but when it is late local time and you're dealing with hotel accommodations things need to be precise. This person assured me three times that although she'd only booked 3 nights, the 4th would show up later…somehow…well it didn't. Luckily I called the hotel and they did not have the reso. So, another 40 minutes on the line with someone else to get the 4th night booked.
5) then, we decided to extend our current stay out by the coast by one night, and reduce the next hotel stay by one night. 15 seconds on the line with the hotel manager and he was aligned, but again needed Amex to make the change.
…2 45 minute calls later, where I actually called the manager again while on hold to do the folks from Amex's job and we were rebooked…only we weren't
6) it's now the day of my original reservation start and the reservation reflects no changes
7) chat says it starts at 6a EDT, it is currently 7a and not working

In summ: if you want to book really nice places, get a great points bump and perks, the Stevie is great.

If you want to be able to make reasonable changes and have flexibility, ditch Amex completely and book directly through the hotel. The frustration won't be worth the points.

So many times i travel in american express and i am satisfied with their service. Tremendous service provide from them and amazing facility to every travellers.

I stayed here during some work in Pune with family. I booked non a. C room for three during the month of February and I found the non AC room suitable for that month. More

No wonder American Express Travel is one of the world largest and most successful travel online supplier, I went to my vacations last month and everything was perfect.

Closing the American Express office in Paris may be the dumbest business decision after New Coke (of the entire 20th C).

Every famous American writer, including Hemingway, included the Paris office in stories. For more than 50 years it was an obligatory stop for American tourists in Europe.

Then they closed the American Express office in La Jolla and Cannes and everywhere else.

Concierge service on the internet is not the same as the old concierge service at American Express offices, face-to-face.

A couple walks into the La Jolla American Express office and half hour later walk out having spent $80,000 for an around the world cruise. This is not the sort of thing that can be replicated online.

American Express the card and the Travel Offices had a monopoly of the business of American upper-middle class tourism and they threw it away for no good reason.