Amex Just Added 350+ Hotels to Fine Hotels + Resorts & Hotel Collection — Here's How to Actually Use It

Amex Just Added 350+ Hotels to Fine Hotels + Resorts & Hotel Collection

If you've got an Amex Platinum sitting in a drawer because the annual fee makes you wince, this one's for you. American Express just gave two of its best (and most underused) perks a serious glow-up.

On August 12, 2026, Amex Travel announced it's adding more than 350 new hotels to Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection, pushing the combined lineup past 3,400 properties in 116 countries. The timing is a birthday present of sorts: Fine Hotels + Resorts just turned 35, having launched back in 1991 with a grand total of 120 hotels that fit in a single printed booklet.

Let's unpack what these programs actually are, what the perks are worth, and how to make the credits do the heavy lifting.

First, what are these two programs?

Both are luxury hotel booking programs you access through AmexTravel.com — think of them as Amex's version of a fancy travel agent that tacks free perks onto your stay.

Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) is the premium tier. Book any FHR property and you get a room upgrade when available, daily breakfast for two, noon check-in, a guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout, free Wi-Fi, and a property amenity worth $100 (usually a spa or dining credit). The best part: there's no minimum stay, so you collect all of that even on a single night.

The Hotel Collection (THC) is the step-down tier. You still get a $100 property credit, a room upgrade when available, plus noon check-in and late checkout — but it requires a 2-night minimum to qualify.

The full details on both, including the eight headline new properties, are laid out at Amex Press Release.

A few of the new additions worth a look

Amex says it picked the new properties to match its 2026 travel trends. A few standouts:

• Selman Marrakech (Morocco) — a luxury equestrian retreat built for milestone trips.

• ESPACIO Nagoya Castle (Japan) — right next to the 17th-century Nagoya Castle, in one of the country's best food cities.

• ROKI Collection Queenstown (New Zealand) — on Lake Wakatipu with heli-skiing, hiking, and the Southern Alps at your doorstep.

• Casa Lucia (Buenos Aires, on the Hotel Collection side) — in the Retiro neighborhood, steps from steakhouses and wine bars.

With properties spread across 116 countries, you probably won't notice a flood of new options in any one city — but it's a good excuse to re-check the map before your next trip.

The real reason to care: up to $600 in credits

Here's where it gets practical. If you carry the Amex Platinum or the Amex Business Platinum, you get up to $600 per calendar year in prepaid hotel credits when you book FHR or The Hotel Collection through AmexTravel.com.

One catch worth understanding: that $600 is split into two separate credits of up to $300 each — one for January through June, and one for July through December. You can't slam the whole $600 onto a single reservation, but two well-timed stays a year will scoop up the full amount.

The one booking detail that trips people up

To trigger the credit, you have to book the prepaid rate (where you pay up front through Amex Travel), not the "pay at hotel" rate. Prepaid bookings also earn 5x points on these cards, so you're double-dipping. And don't let "prepaid" scare you — most of these rates are still fully refundable, so you're not locking yourself into anything.

Amex also bumped these credits from $200 to $300 each during last year's Platinum refresh, which has made it much easier to find properties where the credit covers most of the room. If you want help hunting for stays where the credit does the most work, the community tool MaxFHR is built exactly for that.

The honest take

Let's be clear-eyed: FHR is fantastic if you were already going to pay cash for a nice hotel. A one-night FHR stay where the $300 credit knocks most of the room off, plus free breakfast for two and a 4 p.m. checkout, is a genuinely great deal.

But it's a "pay cash for luxury" program, not a "use your points" program. If your goal is to stretch points as far as possible, transfer partners and award nights will usually beat this. FHR shines when you'd have spent the money anyway — it just makes the splurge sting a lot less.

What this means for you

If you're already paying a Platinum annual fee, treat these credits as money you've pre-paid and haven't collected yet. Book one FHR or Hotel Collection stay before June 30 and another after July 1, use the prepaid rate, and you'll claw back up to $600 while enjoying breakfast, upgrades, and a late checkout on top.

And if you've been eyeing a premium Amex specifically for perks like this, the Amex Business Platinum carries the same up-to-$600 FHR credit and is currently offering a welcome bonus as high as 300,000 points. Just make sure the credits and perks match how you actually travel before you commit to the fee.