American Express Rewards

[WDWorBUST]

Does anyone who is a member of american express rewards know if the National car rental certificates are a good deal? In comparison to traveler's cheques of "Be Our Guest" cards it is more value for less points. But is there a better value out there that can be used in conjunction with a Disney Vacation?

Thanks!

 

[Gillian]

I'm sorry, I didn't look into the car rental deals. We didn't think anything was a great deal, but we did get the breakfast certs. It felt like a free meal! We had so many points anyway, even after getting our flights for free, that it really didn't matter.

Now that i'm not working & DH is travelling a lot less, I don't think we are going to do the rewards program anymore.

 

[WDWorBUST]

I can't find the breakfast certificates anymore....I think they may have discontinued them. I was looking at doing those. Anyone else?

Thanks Gillian!

 

[cindyfan]

We use the AmerEx rewards to cover the cost of the rental car at National Car Rental every time we go to WDW.
I think it is a great deal.
We use the DC to get a discount on the rental rate, then use the AmerEx vouchers to pay for the rental. The voucher can not be used to cover the tax, so that we do have to pay.

I had one gentleman from AmerEx Rewards give me a hard time about using the DC discount and vouchers together. This was after I had already done this like 4 times with no issues. At first he would not issue the voucher until I told National Car Rental I was using the voucher. I called National, and they kinda just said "yea, whatever" and still gave me the discount.

It works out that for every 1,000 pts you get $10 rental voucher.
Last June we got a full size car for about $360 plus tax etc. for 12 days. So we used 35000 pts to cover the $350.
I think it is a good rate. It fairs out about the same if you converted the pts to airline pts.
Sometimes we will convert the AmerEx pts to Continental pts and it is one for one. And if booked early enough and at off peak we can get a flight for 25000 pts, where as the flight usually costs between $250 and $300.

We have never used the "Be Our Guest" traveler's cheques, but I have heard they are not as good a value.

 

[WDWorBUST]

How exactly do you go about getting the vouchers? And I am guessing from him giving you a hard time you have to tell National in advance you are using them?

 

[pinky]

cindyfan...did you make your National ressie or did AMEX? I booked back in April and have a darn good rate. It's gone up quite a bit (it's during President's week) and don't feel like using twice as many points having AMEX book it. Thanks for your help.

WDWorBUST...the breakfast vouchers are still there (I looked about an hour ago). Their site has been quite temperamental lately.

Speaking of temperamental...what happened to my countdown clock????!!!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Where did you find the breakfast vouchers? I looked under Disney and dining and can't find them. The only thing under Disney I find is the Golf package thing.

Thanks!

 

[Debbie7452]

I ordered Breakfast vouchers over the phone. It was fast and easy. They worked great at CRT.

 

[pinky]

WDWorBUST,
On their homepage screen (under Personal, then Cards) I click on Membership Rewards, under "redeem points now" I pick Disney and for point ranges I keep it at all point ranges. Once you hit go, it brings up all WDW and Disneyland rewards.

 

[WDWorBUST]

I just called National because the Amex site says to call them to tell them you are using a rewards voucher before getting it. They wanted to change my rate using the Amex discount which raised my rate from $177.09 to $216 I told her that was silly that I didn't want to do that I was entitled to the other discount why should I have to use the amex discount to use my membership rewards. Anyway....I got NO help at all. So Cindyfan - how have you done it in the past to get to use your DC Discount?

 

[cindyfan]

I've always made the reservations myself by calling National.
Didn't tell them I planned on using the vouchers. I'm not sure if you are really supposed to, but I didn't. I've always done this first because I need to know the amount. Actually the first couple times, we weren't sure we were going to use the AmerEx vouchers for the rental car until we had our flights and didn't need the pts for that. So we actually had the rental car reservation for about 2 months before we called AmerEx.

Then I called AmerEx and asked for the vouchers. We have used these at least 7 times and only once did they question it. That was the time the man gave me a hard time.
The first time we used them we were told we should make our own reservations with National so that we get the dates correct and the right type of car....no middle man to mess things up. But we already had the reservation anyway.

We would just take the vouchers with us when we picked up the car. And we have NEVER had anyone question the rate when we give them the vouchers.

pinky....just keep the reservation you have and call AmerEx and ask for the vouchers. You should be fine.

I've never thought we had to let National know ahead of time, since they never questioned our rate when we picked up the car.

 

[pinky]

Thanks cindyfan. I'm going for it!!!

I do have a couple more questions. I found a $15 off weekly rental coupon and applied it about 3 weeks ago. I'm thinking this is "double discounting" and I should remove it. Do you agree? And you can still go to the EA and bypass the counter?

Thanks for your help!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Pinky -
I'm not cindyfan but I do believe that there is no problem in using your DC discount and a coupon together. I have done that several times without any problems whatsoever. And the vouchers should not effect that - they aren't a discount or a coupon.

 

[jgates]

If there is anyone that can give me an AmEx for dummies lesson please do so. Points you receive per $ spent? Point necessary for breakfast coupons, Nat'l Car Rental, travelers cheques and any other good Disney type rewards.

If it is not supposed to be posted, you can PM me.

All in all is Amex Rewards a good deal? I currently use chase I card for Webcertificates.

 

[poohlvr]

- I just called AMEX membership rewards and was able to receive certificates for Character Breakfast (3500 pts), the rep did allow that they were good thru May 2003 (I think) when in the past, I thought they were good for a year. This must be due to the fact that Disney is ending it's relationship with AMEX for the new VISA. I'll really miss being able to redeem Membership Rewards for Disney breakfast certificates!

JGATES: AMEX has a customer loyality program called "Membership Rewards". You earn one point for each dollar spent (and paid for), then you can redeem points for many things ranging from electronics, to travel, to jewlery. It's a good program if you are an AMEX user.

to find out rewards, and points needed to redeem, you can log onto Americanexpress.com and click on "Membership Rewards" this should explain the program and let you view the rewards.

 

[jgates]

Thanks! Although at 1 point per $, I guess I might as well just stick with my chase Icard. Unless they have good bonus offers periodically?

 

[poohlvr]

JGates

I don't recall them ever having bonus offers on redemption, however you can earn double and triple points for some purchases over the year...a great way to earn extra points.... for example, currently, I believe all purchases at Supermarkets, Gas Stations, and a few other "everyday" places earn double points....not bad... .... I got hooked on the program when I was working at a company that provided me with a Corp Amex card for all my business travel.... part of the perk was that I could keep the points for myself, even though the travel was for work. And I was flying all around the country, and spending much time in Hotels. I managed to rack up quite a hefty number of points over the years

 

[jgates]

Thanks pooh....I guess for now I'll stick with what I got. I only travel maybe 2x per year for work and normally only for a couple of days (4 at most). 1 of those is drive, not fly also.

So its up to me to spend that money for those points...................

 

[pinky]

Thanks WDWorBUST.

Speaking of bonuses...I got 10 points for every $ spent at FTD (if you go through AmEx's link). I think it goes through next March of 2003.

 

[m&m's mom]

I posted a similar question on this a couple of months ago.
I had always used the points for character breakfasts. I called Am Ex to find out if the vouchers were good for the Storybook Breakfast and between Disney and Am Ex they had me bouncing back quite a bit. Both said it was up to the other group to detrmine the "participating" restaurant and I could never get a straight answer.
Any hoo, someone suggested the best use of points is for gift certificates. I got a $100.00 gift cert to Lands End for 10000 points. The breakfast would have been 14000 points (4x3500) and the value would have been for less than $100.00.
I followed their advice and got some great stuff to take to WDW.
Something to think about!