Romania will quickly develop into the seventieth nation I’ve visited, and I need to make it memorable.
To take action, I mixed two precious bank card perks to e-book a keep on the metropolis’s highest-rated lodge. I used the as much as $300 biannual lodge assertion credit score* from my American Categorical Platinum Card® to e-book and prepay three nights by American Categorical Wonderful Resorts + Resorts; then, I added a fourth evening utilizing my annual free evening certificates from an IHG bank card.
I am making the journey to Bucharest this winter and can spend the 4 nights with an in depth good friend. We plan to see a $35 symphonic live performance, unwind on the huge Therme spa complicated and luxuriate in a refined lodge keep with out spending a fortune.
By stacking these perks, I turned what might have been a easy weekend getaway into one in all my best-value journeys but.
*Enrollment required
Reserving the InterContinental Bucharest by Wonderful Resorts + Resorts
I booked a three-night keep on the InterContinental Athenee Palace Bucharest, a historic IHG property within the coronary heart of town. It is at the moment ranked the highest lodge in Bucharest out of almost 200 properties on TripAdvisor, making it a becoming alternative for this milestone journey.
My whole for 3 nights got here to $441. That fee already included a third-night-free promotion, among the best ongoing gives within the Wonderful Resorts + Resorts program. These free-night offers are particularly widespread for offseason journey and might stretch your {dollars} a lot additional at luxurious properties.
After paying with my Platinum Card, I obtained the $300 pay as you go lodge assertion credit score inside three days, dropping my precise out-of-pocket value to simply $141.
Associated: Resort reserving selections: When to pay with money, factors, miles, a free evening award or a bank card profit
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Advantages included with my keep
By way of FHR, I will take pleasure in:
- Midday check-in (when obtainable)
- Room improve (when obtainable)
- Assured 4 p.m. late checkout
- Day by day breakfast for 2 (good for me and my good friend)
- A $100 meals and beverage credit score to make use of through the keep (which we’ll use this for dinner and drinks one evening)
These perks can simply add lots of of {dollars} in worth, elevating a typical reserving into a very premium expertise.
Associated: Our favourite American Categorical Wonderful Resorts + Resorts properties the place you may get elite perks
Incomes Amex factors
As a result of FHR bookings code as pay as you go lodge purchases, my reserving earned 5 Membership Rewards factors per greenback spent on the $441 cost, for a complete of two,205 factors.
At TPG’s November 2025 valuation of Amex factors at 2 cents every, that is roughly $44 in rewards worth.
Including a free evening by IHG
To make it a four-night keep, I redeemed my annual free evening certificates from my IHG One Rewards Choose Credit score Card. The certificates covers stays as much as 40,000 factors, and since rooms throughout my dates have been priced at 36,000 factors per evening, it was a great use.
The knowledge for the IHG One Rewards Choose Credit score Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Whereas the IHG Choose Card is now not obtainable to new candidates, the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit score Card (see charges and charges) and IHG One Rewards Premier Enterprise Credit score Card (see charges and charges) each supply related annual free evening certificates.
Associated: How my IHG One Rewards Premier Credit score Card pays for itself every year
Complete worth obtained
Between the Amex Platinum advantages, the FHR promotion and my IHG certificates, this four-night keep delivered distinctive worth for little or no out-of-pocket value.
| Profit | Worth |
|---|---|
| Free third evening (FHR promo) | $147 (roughly) |
| Free fourth evening (free evening certificates) | $147 (roughly) |
| Day by day breakfast for 2 (three days) | $180 (roughly) |
| $100 eating credit score | $100 |
| Membership Rewards points-earning | $44 |
| Complete estimated worth | $618 |
This does not even account for a possible room improve or midday check-in, or the assured 4 p.m. late checkout.
My out-of-pocket value for this keep was simply $141; nonetheless, I pay an $895 annual price for my Amex Platinum (see charges and charges; renewed at $695 in September) and $49 for the IHG Choose Card.
Even so, the worth I obtain from each playing cards far exceeds what I pay every year. The Platinum’s journey and way of life advantages, paired with IHG Choose’s annual free evening certificates, proceed to justify their annual charges — and this Bucharest keep alone coated a large chunk of that.
Associated: How I scored a $35 per evening Hilton keep in Portugal with two Amex playing cards
Backside line
For $141 out of pocket, I will spend 4 nights at Bucharest’s top-rated lodge, full with every day breakfast, a $100 eating credit score, and the possibility of a room improve — all whereas incomes precious Amex Membership Rewards factors.
Even with annual charges, this journey reveals how a lot real-world worth journey rewards playing cards can ship when used strategically. By pairing Amex’s Wonderful Resorts + Resorts program with an IHG free evening, I’ve turned normal card advantages right into a memorable, high-value expertise.
For me, this journey is the proper instance of how the factors recreation can remodel on a regular basis card perks right into a luxurious expertise shared with a beloved one.
To study extra, learn our full assessment of the American Categorical Platinum Card.
Associated: 10 lodges the place your Amex Platinum lodge credit score covers half (or extra) of your keep
For charges and charges of the Amex Platinum Card, click on right here.
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