Family Travels: Vancouver with American Express
We’d been talking about taking a family trip to Vancouver for such a long time and with the busy few months we’ve had we knew it was time to have a little getaway with the kids and just spend some quality time together and Craig and the kids had never been to BC so what a perfect adventure! We’ve been going through our American Express Platinum Travel booklets for a while, reading over all of the amazing perks and getting excited for more & more travel plans. So, BC is where we started and the Platinum Concierge team helped us plan an amazing 10 day trip to Vancouver for the 5 of us! It was my husband Craig, myself, the two kids and my mum. The perks of being an AMEX Platinum cardmember honestly started before we even boarded the plane, we had been in such a rush to get to the airport on time that we had barely had any breakfast or a coffee (not cool, not cool lol). After getting through security we went right for the Plaza Amex Lounge at the pearson airport and enjoyed complimentary coffee, juices and breakfast in a comfortable setting for all of us. I was even able to plug in my phone, hook into the free wifi and get some work done before the flight. Such a great start to our vaca!
I’d been to Vancouver plenty of times before but Travelling with Amex and your Platinum Concierge allowed for unique experiences as a family as I visited both new and true-and-tried places around the city– it felt like me and my family were experiencing Vancouver in a whole new light. American Express premium service makes you feel like more than just a customer. They truly cared to make our family vacation one for the books! If you followed along on Instagram stories you’ll know, the rooms were all incredible and the food was enough to make me gain about 5lbs since haha! As a busy mom of 2 and we both work full time jobs as well, having the platinum team coordinate our trip details for us was such a huge help!!!! It relieved so much stress from the table and they made sure to book us into our favourite hotels, I had been to Vancouver a few months back so I knew exactly where we wanted to stay and these hotels were part of The Fine Hotels program we had access to as Platinum Card members. What’s even better? Each of these hotels we were booked into gave us a room upgrade, complimentary breakfast for 2 adults & the kids and a $100 dining voucher!!!! Seriously, we were so excited! Breakfast bills can really add up, especially with two hungry toddlers in tow that each just about as much as we do and at our first stop in Vancouver, The Fairmont Pacific Rim I became borderline obsessed with their real pumpkin spice latte that the $100 in room dining credit came in handy…no joke.
Another great thing about having the concierge take care of our trip planning details, they sent me a full itinerary to my email after we booked every thing and they even updated it along the way as we added in more details! It was like having a personal assistant to handle all of the behind the scenes work for our trip, how luxurious right!! While staying in downtown Vancouver I really wanted to take my mom out for a thank you lunch, she helps me out so much so that I can do all of this and we were so thankful she joined along on the trip to be our built-in “nanny” lol – it was time to spoil her for an afternoon! I contacted the concierge team and told them how much she loved oysters and they booked us for a beautiful lunch at the Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster bar, such a beautiful place!!! When we arrived they sat us in the prettiest spot in the restaurant and gave us complimentary Amuse Bouche for being American Express cardholders! Oh the meal was delicious and the perks are endless with the Platinum card if you are a seasoned jet setter, seriously.
When we booked we were able to give the concierge team specific requests like our budgets, where we would all prefer to be seated on the plane, what times we wanted to fly and direct of course, what kind of amenities we wanted from our hotel, which hotels we wanted and special requests for our rooms. Creating content for my blog is always on my mind so I requested a room with a great “instagrammable view” and that we wanted a big king size bed for us and the kids since we all like to cuddle together on trips. We were also able to book my mom into an adjoining room in each of the hotels so she could have her privacy while still being there to help us out with the kids! We were lucky enough to get the best upgrades as AMEX cardmembers and that even got us special amenities in each room! When we checked into the Fairmont Chateau Whistler they had champagne on ice for the adults and chocolate milk & cookies for the kids and even upgraded us to GOLD – we were all in heaven! At this hotel we used our $100 voucher on breakfast in bed one morning and for hot chocolates by the fireplace another night – pure bliss. We were all so pampered and stress free thanks to the Platinum Concierge team, we decided last minute while in downtown Vancouver that we wanted to drive to Whistler for the second part of our trip instead of taking a shuttle bus. The concierge team handled all of the details, they found us the best deal on a rental car, made sure it could fit all of us and our ridiculous amount of luggage ha ha AND made sure there were 2 infant car seats too! If you have travelled with kids before you KNOW finding car seats with rental cars can be such an awful pain, this is why most people travel with their car seats but there was absolutely no way we were lugging those around and all of our luggage. We knew we could could on the Platinum concierge team to set every thing up and they sure did! We drove a beautiful brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee (one of my favourite vehicles) to Whistler and back and all within our travel budget! On our second day in Whistler the concierge team booked all of us on a Peak-to-Peak gondola right up Whistler mountain and across to Blackcomb, all I can say is WOW!!! We were so luck to still have sunshine during our trip, the views were incredible and the kids weren’t even scared! My husband was in awe and capturing every second on the go-pro, he rarely gets excited and he was like a little kid!!! It made me so happy to see every one having a great time, smiling with eyes full of amazement. We needed this vacation, I’ll never forget any of it. This trip was every thing we’d imagined, we came back with so many amazing memories and a determination to travel even more and booking through the concierge team. They truly take the time to listen and make every detail perfect all I really had to do was tell them what we wanted and then print my itinerary after it was done! We can’t wait to book our next trip with the Platinum team and to see what kind of amazing perks we get in the next places we visit, travel is about to take over our lives in 2017 I think!
Many Cardmembers start out on the GRC because it allows you to earn two points for every $1 in eligible everyday purchases and you can learn more about the breadth of Amex’s offerings and the benefits of being an Amex Cardmember by visiting www.amex.ca/goldrewards
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Such magical memories- love Bc, and Fairmont !!
http://www.citystyleandliving.com/editors-notebook-travel-style
Great memories. Love BC- and fairmont hotel!
http://www.citystyleandliving.com/editors-notebook-travel-style