This Credit Card Benefit Got Me $450 in Perks on My Last Hotel Stay. Here's How

I like luxury. I like it even better when it's discounted.

As a longstanding rewards card enthusiast, I've had my fair share of wins. I've even had a few of those massive travel rewards redemptions that you hear about on social media. But most of the big wins also come with hours of research and planning.

Not this time. A weekend splurge trip to a luxury hotel we took last month was not only a killer score in terms of value, but it was all so remarkably easy. No, really. All I had to do was book the stay, and everything else came with it.

The key to this success? The Platinum Card® from American Express. We took full advantage of the Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) program, and wound up with over $550 in value from the perks. Here's a breakdown of what we got.

$200 back for the booking

First things first: the $200 hotel credit. Platinum cardholders receive an annual $200 hotel credit for prepaid FHR or Hotel Collection (HC) bookings. All I had to do was book the room through FHR and use my Platinum card to pay for it. Boom, $200 statement credit within the week (though it can take longer, YMMV).

What if I had wanted to pay with points, you ask? Simple. I would have paid for all of the booking minus $200 with my points. Then I could pay the remaining $200 balance with my Platinum card to score the statement credit.

I'll be honest, that $200 credit was a big part of why we decided to splurge on this trip and stay somewhere really fancy. The hotel room had a price tag of $500. Ridiculous, right? Well, that credit meant we really paid $300 for that $500 room -- a much more reasonable splurge for a couple on a budget.

$150 room upgrade

Of course, the room we booked wasn't where we ended up. FHR bookings are also eligible for (space available) upgrades. While we would have been happy with simply getting a better view, the wonderful woman at check-in made our stay by giving us an even better upgrade: a one-bedroom suite.

The room we wound up in was two levels above what we booked in terms of cost, with a $650 price tag. That was a $150 upgrade.

In other words, absolutely not within our budget, even for a splurge. But I have to admit, after having stayed there, I can see why you'd want to fork over the extra cash. We not only had a wonderful bedroom, but a living room, a dining room, and a bathroom the size of our kitchen at home.

$175 in food credits

Last -- but most assuredly not least -- there were the credits. Each FHR booking comes with some sort of "experience credit" worth a minimum of $100.

In our case, we received a $100 food and beverage credit that we could use at any of the hotel's half-dozen restaurants, as well as room service. We put that to good use on a very nice dinner that we enjoyed immensely.

And then there's breakfast. FHR bookings come with breakfast for two each morning of your stay. We received ours in the form of a $75 credit good at the hotel's mid-tier restaurant, which served a delicious breakfast. The credit was enough for two meals and our drinks.

There's also one more credit to mention. Since we stayed at a Hilton property, my Gold Status meant we also received a $50 food and beverage credit on top of the FHR credits. The Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders receive Hilton Gold status as a card benefit, so I thought about including this credit in my total.

However, I've heard mixed reviews on whether hotels will stack your status benefits on top of FHR benefits -- some hotels apparently won't do this at all. Plus, while it's a cardholder benefit, it's not strictly an FHR benefit. In the end, I decided to leave it out of the final calculation.

Late checkout: priceless

There's one final perk I really must mention, though it's honestly hard to put a monetary value on: the late checkout. FHR bookings come with guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout. This extra time is extremely valuable, especially when you're only staying for one night.

Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to be sure we used our breakfast credits, we were able to sleep in. We had a wonderful breakfast, then relaxed in our upgraded room for a couple hours before enjoying a nice lunch (paid for with our Hilton Gold credit).

When you crunch all of the numbers, our $500 booking returned $550 in perks and credits. Even if you don't count the upgrade against the cost of the room -- we wouldn't have spent that money in the first place -- we spent 24 hours in a luxury hotel, had three delicious meals at on-site restaurants, and only paid $300 out of pocket. How's that for value?