American Express Pay With Points

Not all American Express agencies are created equal.


American Express  Representative Travel Agency of the Year for 2010


Only a few can accept your American Express Points as payment, and my agency is one of those select few. You can use your points to book air, hotels, tours and...yes...even cruises through me.

Then again, not all American Express Cards are created equal, either.

It must be a consumer card that earns American Express points and be registered at http://www.membershiprewards.com. A co-branded American Express Card may not qualify. For example, Costco Amex cards don't earn membership points.

Holland America frequently features Mariner's Club Sailings

If you have a genuine American Express Card, however, there are actually some special cruises and vacation deals on which you can earn Double Points when you book through me, making it a double sweet deal when it comes time to cash them in. Keep in mind that you don't earn Points when you Pay With Points. But you do earn points for any purchases you make anywhere using your American Express Card.

Once you've earned Points, you can spend them booking travel with me, or you can use Points Transfer to apply them to any Membership Rewards Partner, like an airline to use in their sky miles program. Or you can shop for dining, entertainment and retail items online at http://www.shopamex.com.

However, the key point is that all you have to do to book travel with your points is book with me using your American Express card. I will be happy to have American Express apply your points toward the purchase at the appropriate American Express conversion rate upon request by you at or before final payment. It is as simple as that. Keep in mind that you can Pay With Points for your deposit, but because it can only be used once for any given booking, you would not then be able to use points for final payment, so you're better off waiting until you can use as many as you have. A minimum of 5,000 points is required. Also, once the points have been converted, they cannot be redeposited as points, although you do receive the cash value back onto your card.

Imagine a free day at Trunk Bay in the US Virgin Islands

Remember, the Pay With Points program applies only to American Express consumer cards, but that includes Open Small Business Business Executive cards. Beyond that, Pay With Points is combineable with the different American Express Card reward programs such as Gold Card Destinations and Platinum Cruise Privileges Program.

And, there's even more. As an American Express agency, I can hook you up with special group amenities and Mariner Club sailings, but that's a story for another day. Get your American Express Card today at AmericanExpress.com. By the way, Pay With Points is not combineable with the Delta Skymiles program card at that site, because it is a co-branded card.

Click here to read how you might make up the annual cost of your American Express card by saying no to car rental insurance.