I got my Amex platinum travel card in 2020. And have reached the 4L milestone in 2020, 21 and 22. In between Amex had some monthly spend based offers on my wife's Gold charge card which we scrubbed. So I've 50k worth of Taj vouchers. I've not used the vouchers before so wanted to ask if there were any hidden terms and conditions and how I can go about the booking?
For example, if I want to use the vouchers for a 3 night stay in Taj Mahal Palace, New Delhi
1. Can I use multiple vouchers for stay of multiple nights?
2. Few vouchers on my card and few on my wife's card. Is that fine?
3. Anything apart from stay is covered with these vouchers?
4. Are there any minimum charges we need to bear like GST etc we need to bear?
5. Should I inform the hotel that I'll pay using vouchers upfront?
6. Anything else I should know of based on your experiences.
Please share your thoughts. Thanks in advance!
Hi,
As someone who has redeemed a lot of taj vouchers.
I can answer this for you point by point :
1) Yes, you can use n number of vouchers to settle your bill. For instance I had used around (20 vouchers) vouchers at Taj exotica Goa in one invoice.
2) That won’t be a problem.
3) You can settle the final invoice by the vouchers ie Room rent plus All F & B, spa and miscellaneous charges can be settled via vouchers.
4) No, these are no nonsense vouchers. Just keep in mind that you have to stay at a taj property to redeem them ie you can’t go and redeem them for just a dinner or a spa. Else these vouchers work like a charm. So, if your invoice is say 50k and you have 45k vouchers then you have to pay 5k out of your pocket through your preferred method.
5) Optional, you can inform or ignore. It’s better to inform while making a reservation.
6) Yes, Some pro tips are as follows:
1) These vouchers are redeemable against all public rates only. So, when informing the Taj hotels about the vouchers at the time of reserving a discounted price, you will be told that the Amex vouchers won’t be accepted but don’t be disheartened. I for one have redeemed vouchers even when the reservation was made at a flat 50%off for gold and platinum taj members. It varies from property to property some will say no to vouchers at the time of check out some will accept it without even flinching. Like taj lake palace Udaipur didn’t accept the vouchers but Rambagh palace Jaipur did. Taj SeleQtions Chikmagalur didn’t accept the vouchers but Umaid Bhawan palace did. Most of the taj properties are very welcoming and accept the vouchers but some are very strict (these that don’t are usually the ones where the property owners have a seat at the table ie the owner of the property is a part of the management)
2) Also, a tip to save some time at checkout, I usually call the front desk an hour before the check out and ask them for their email. I then forward the vouchers to them and ask them to keep the invoice ready. That way the billing usually takes 10 mins max instead of a good 30-40 mins which could become an issue if you have a flight to catch.
Hope this helps
🙂
