American Express Travel added more than 350 new properties to Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) and The Hotel Collection on August 12, 2026, pushing the combined portfolio past 3,400 hotels in 116 countries. If you hold the Platinum Card and haven’t booked a hotel through Amex Travel lately, it’s worth checking whether one of the new additions fits your next trip before you book somewhere else.
What Changed
The expansion lands as Fine Hotels + Resorts marks its 35th anniversary. New properties span North America, the Caribbean and Central America, Europe, and Asia and Australia, with a mix of beach resorts, city hotels, and wellness-focused stays. Notable new additions include:
- One&Only Moonlight Basin (Big Sky, Montana), the brand’s first US property
- Cameo Beverly Hills, LXR Hotels & Resorts (Los Angeles, California)
- The Lake Como EDITION (Cadenabbia, Italy)
- Six Senses London (London, England)
- Park Hyatt Cabo del Sol (Cabo San Lucas, Mexico)
- Windjammer Landing Resort & Residences (Saint Lucia)
Most of the new properties are bookable immediately on AmexTravel.com. Amex says a small number will appear over the following days as listings finish loading.
How the Credit Actually Works
Booking through Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection isn’t just about the perks at the property, it’s what unlocks the Platinum Card’s built-in hotel credit. Platinum Card members get up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually, for up to $600 total per calendar year, on prepaid bookings made through Amex Travel (last verified 2026-07-09). The credit applies automatically. There’s no separate enrollment step, though a 2-night minimum stay applies to trigger it on most bookings.
That’s on top of the per-stay perks both programs are built around:
- Room upgrade upon arrival, when available
- Complimentary daily breakfast for two
- Noon check-in and 4pm check-out, when available
- A property-specific benefit, commonly a $100 experience credit toward dining, spa, or resort activities
Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection share the same perk structure, but they’re not identical. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum 2-night stay to unlock the room upgrade, breakfast, and late checkout, while Fine Hotels + Resorts extends those perks on stays of any length; the 2-night minimum only applies when you’re trying to trigger the statement credit itself. Both programs are booked the same way, through Amex Travel rather than directly with the hotel, and both draw from the same combined pool of more than 3,400 properties, so in practice most cardholders don’t need to think about which bucket a given hotel falls into.
Is the Credit Worth More Than the Annual Fee Increase?
Amex raised the Platinum Card’s annual fee from $695 to $895 at renewal starting January 2, 2026, a $200 jump that drew plenty of complaints when it landed. The FHR/Hotel Collection credit alone doesn’t close that gap for someone who travels once or twice a year, but it’s one piece of a fee offset that adds up faster than it looks at first glance. Between the $600 hotel credit, the $200 Uber Cash, the $400 Resy dining credit, and the $200 airline incidental credit, a cardholder who actually uses four core benefits is already past $1,400 in credits against an $895 fee, before touching lounge access or the Membership Rewards earned on travel spend. The catch, as always, is that credits only offset the fee if you were going to spend that money anyway. Booking a hotel through Amex Travel specifically to capture the $300 credit, when you’d have picked a different, cheaper property otherwise, isn’t a win. Booking a hotel you were already planning to book, and discovering it’s now in the FHR network after this expansion, is.
Where It Fits If You’re Not on Personal Platinum
The Business Platinum Card carries its own version of Fine Hotels + Resorts and Hotel Collection access, structured similarly around a semi-annual statement credit, though the exact dollar figure and terms can differ from the personal Platinum Card’s and are worth confirming directly with Amex before booking. If you hold Business Platinum, check your current benefit terms rather than assuming the personal card’s $300/$300 split applies automatically.
Amex Gold Card and Green Card holders don’t have Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection access at all. Those two programs are Platinum-tier benefits specifically, not a broader Membership Rewards perk.
How This Compares to Other Premium Travel Cards’ Hotel Credits
Amex isn’t the only issuer that bundles a hotel credit into a premium travel card, and the structures are different enough to matter if you’re deciding between cards or wondering whether to add a second one.
| Card | Hotel Credit | Booking Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum | $300 semi-annually ($600/yr) | Amex Travel, FHR or Hotel Collection property, 2-night minimum |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve | The Edit hotel credit, up to $500/yr | Chase Travel, The Edit collection only |
| Citi Strata Premier | $100 off a single stay of $500+, once per year | Citi Travel portal |
| Capital One Venture X | $300 general travel credit (not hotel-specific) | Capital One Travel portal, any travel category |
The practical difference: Amex’s $600 is the largest dollar figure of the four, but it’s also the most restrictive, tied specifically to a curated hotel list rather than any hotel booked through the portal. Chase’s Sapphire Reserve credit works the same way (tied to The Edit’s curated list), while Citi and Capital One’s credits apply more broadly to portal bookings generally. If you already gravitate toward boutique and luxury independent properties rather than major chain hotels, Amex and Chase’s curated-collection model tends to fit that pattern better than a generic portal credit. If you mostly book major chain hotels for status and points, a broader portal credit like Capital One’s is easier to actually use every year.
How to Actually Find the New Hotels
The fastest way to check whether a specific property or destination now has Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection coverage is to search directly on AmexTravel.com rather than relying on Amex’s own announcement list or third-party roundups, which won’t necessarily reflect every new addition yet. Search by destination, then look for the Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection badge on the property listing; that badge is what confirms the perks and credit eligibility, a hotel showing up in a general Amex Travel search without that badge won’t trigger the benefit. If you have a specific trip already planned, it’s worth doing this check now rather than after booking elsewhere, since rebooking to capture the credit after the fact isn’t always possible depending on the original booking’s cancellation terms.
Bottom Line
If you hold the American Express Platinum Card and have a trip coming up, check AmexTravel.com for Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection availability before booking a hotel elsewhere. The $600 annual credit only applies to bookings made through Amex Travel at a badge-eligible property, so the same room at the same rate booked directly with the hotel won’t trigger it.
FAQ
Q: Do I need to enroll to get the Fine Hotels + Resorts credit?
A: No. The Platinum Card’s hotel credit applies automatically to qualifying prepaid bookings made through Amex Travel. No enrollment step is required.
Q: What’s the difference between Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection?
A: Both offer the same core perks (room upgrade when available, breakfast for two, late checkout, a property credit), but The Hotel Collection requires a minimum 2-night stay to unlock those perks, while Fine Hotels + Resorts extends them on stays of any length.
Q: Does the credit cover the full cost of a stay?
A: No. It’s a statement credit of up to $300 per booking period (semi-annual), not a discount applied at booking. You pay the prepaid rate, then the credit posts to your statement afterward.
Q: Can I use points instead of paying cash to book through Amex Travel and still get the credit?
A: The credit applies to prepaid bookings on Amex Travel. Check current terms on your specific redemption method before booking, since point redemptions can be structured differently from cash bookings.
Q: Is this expansion permanent, or could hotels be removed later?
A: Amex doesn’t guarantee any property stays in the program indefinitely. Portfolios like this are periodically refreshed, so treat any specific hotel’s availability as current as of the date you check it, not as a permanent guarantee.