Deal has expired, view more Fairmont deals by clicking here.
[Offer is now live at this link.]
The Offer
- Fairmont Hotels runs a sale on their gift cards a couple of times each year, and they have one running on for Mother’s day starting Friday May 10th. From 2-5PM EDT only:
- Get a 20% bonus e-card on gift cards purchased.
The Fine Print
- Valid 2 pm EDT – 5 pm EDT on May 10th, 2019
- Maximum $5,000 in purchases is eligible for the bonus
Our Verdict
Nice deal for those who find themselves paying cash for Fairmont stays. Keep in mind it’s not a 20% discount, more like a 16% discount. Be sure to buy everything you want in a single checkout since each person is only eligible for one bonus card.
Can you combine Fairmont GC or use multiple of them on a reservation? I’m afraid the bonus GC may become an orphan GC that’s hard to use.
I used multiple cards in conjunction with Amex fhr reservation before. Worked just fine.
Anyone know how this codes? E.g. will CSR and Citi Prestige earn 3x on it?
I think the last time on Amex it coded as a non-bonused spend category.
16.66% discount, to be more accurate.
Come to think of it, it should be illegal to advertise a “20% bonus” that only equates to 16.66% discount.
They should only be able to advertise the discount rate. Either that, or they could simply sell a $500 gift card, for $400. That’s 20%.
There’s no such 20%, selling a $600 gift card for $500. They would need to give $625 for $500, for it to be a 20% spread.
I don’t see a good reason why anyone can legally obfuscate simple numbers like this. Advertising gift bonuses should be required to be in dollars, not in bogus percentages.
This is why consumers need protections, because companies don’t advertise correctly unless policy forces them to be transparent. For savvy consumers, we can figure it out. But, 20% should always be 20%.
They are offering a 20% bonus, not a 20% discount. This isn’t misleading at all IMO
They’re essentially selling $600 in gift cards for $500. It’s not difficult to grasp the true percentage for people that frequent travel sites. But, there’s no good reason to advertise it as a 20% bonus, other than to deliberately be misleading, and to make it seem like the offer is better than it actually is.
Another one of my pet peeves, is the, “get 2 pizzas for $8 each,” ads. That doesn’t even make sense. It should be get 2 pizzas for $16. But, by only quoting the lowest price, and then conflating it with a combined offer, it subliminally confuses the average consumer into thinking the deal is better than what it actually is.
I’m not saying that people are too dumb to figure it out. I’m saying that regulation should prevent companies from treating people like they’re stupid.
Advertising should be transparent. The percentage deal should not be based on a fallacy, created only by semantics. Add the word “bonus” and get to take away discount points? That doesn’t make sense. Advertising needs to be consistent, based on a standard.
Otherwise, if advertising is based on creating constructs to make numbers fit any dialogue… than you could say outlandish things, like:
“Get 100% off your first $100, when you purchase a $600 gift card.”
It’s no more or less legit than calling it a 20% bonus, while they’re both technically correct… based solely on their own semantics. They’re still both 16.66%… off.
@ doc, perhaps you should broaden your horizons a bit.
Fortunately for the rest of us, the fact that you don’t like something and/or it’s a “pet peeve’ is not a reason to render something illegal.
But I should thank you for the comedic fodder, as the screenshots made it has way into our group text about “Karen” who always wants to speak with the Manager…
I’m glad you got a laugh out of it.
The fact is, changing the wording of the offer — doesn’t make the actual discount any different, at the end of the day. So, it shouldn’t be acceptable advertising, in my opinion.
You shouldn’t get to inflate the percentage of the deal, just by calling it a bonus.
Is there an “official” source for this? Nothing against you, doc, but I’d like to point my friend to to the link, as apparently reading is hard for him… and he’ll just be confused by the lack of verbiage and otherwise forget about it by tomorrow.
Should be on the FB page, the gift card page will reflect it when it goes live as well
Ahh… nothing live yet. I guess it’ll be me that has to remember tomorrow!
Does anyone know if we can use the Fairmont Gift Cards as a part payment during Amex FHR stays?
I have been wondering the same thing for years. Hoping you can use one for *part* of a stay, and use an Amex for the rest.
Yes. I have done that multiple times =)