Best Western sale (plus earn Avios, get a Best Western status match and earn a £20 voucher)

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• Kevin says:

  18 Aug18 August 12:21

  O/T HSBC Premier credit cards. I got an email about the 25% Avios bonus yesterday. I don’t think it’s targeted.

  It’s not as easy as it could be to get the bonus. The airline page on HSBC counts as a pop up so can be blocked from opening (the other rewards aren’t). I’ve tried twice now to transfer 100,000 avios across and they transfer 10,000 instead. There might be a limit on transfers or I might be doing something really stupid.

  • Sam says:

    18 Aug18 August 13:30

    I spoke to them yesterday and had confirmation that all I needed to do was transfer the points and the 25% uplift would be applied later.
    Lets wait and see what happens..

    • Kevin says:

      18 Aug18 August 14:41

      I’ve done two transfers so far and I get the uplift at the same time.

      The only problem is they transfer 10% of the points I request.

  • New Card says:

    18 Aug18 August 14:50

    This is a long term issue with 6 figure transfers from HSBC to any airline. Solution is to keep your transfers within 5 figures, so do one for 99,998 and another for the remainder. It’s annoying. But a straight forward workaround.

  • N says:

    18 Aug18 August 14:50

    They auto apply the bonus. Transferred 250 avios worth and got 250+25%. Did the rest when that confirmed and I got the 25% too. They come through as a separate line on your BAEC statement.

• Optimus Prime says:

  18 Aug18 August 14:06

  OT – is it just me or the Avios.com reward flights search doesn’t work for one way flights using the Lloyds voucher?

  • BJ says:

    18 Aug18 August 21:33

    It is supposed to be possible but based on previous reports and your own comment it seems ig is still not. Aviis agents on the phone are very competent and helpful though.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      18 Aug18 August 23:15

      Thanks.

  • guesswho2000 says:

    19 Aug19 August 12:08

    It’s a fault with the website, same I’d you don’t want to book for two people, if you download the webpage source (search.do, or something), and change a line in it, then login and start the process as normal on Avios.com, then load the edited version of the webpage you’ve just downloaded, it’ll work.

    This is ridiculously long winded, and I had time in my hands, so probably easier to call them.

• Chris says:

  18 Aug18 August 16:11

  Question about the spg changes. I’ve got 36000 spg points in my amex account which will transfer over to spg soon. Will these devalue once transferred?

  • Rob says:

    18 Aug18 August 16:37

    No, they will be adjusted. Transactions post 1 August are already adjusted and earning 3 per £1.

    • Chris says:

      18 Aug18 August 16:50

      Brilliant, thanks Rob

• Peter K says:

  18 Aug18 August 17:51

  OT Anyone have problems with linking a free night from the IHG card with a points booking into one booking at a hotel.
  At the NEC crowne plaza and when I rang in advance they said they couldn’t do it. When arrived they did they said they could…but then the cleaner two days running had said we are down as checking out.
  The key card then stopped working. Had a word with reception who this time again said it’s not possible for the two stays to be linked and we had been put for a no show for the second booking.
  Is reception just being rubbish or is it not possible? I’ve two more free night vouchers to use and it’d be worth knowing.

  • Mark2 says:

    18 Aug18 August 18:48

    I have used consecutive bookings at Hilton and had to check in again for each.

    • Leo says:

      18 Aug18 August 23:06

      Similar – card has always stopped working both at ICs and Hiltons when I’ve linked paid and redemptions.

  • Lyn says:

    19 Aug19 August 21:49

    We’ve done this with IHG at HIs (in Madrid and Toulouse) and the IC Le Grand more than once and haven’t needed to check in again – both combining a free IHG card night with points nights and combining my points nights with my husband’s. But I do think they were very, very careful when they issued our room cards.

• New Card says:

  18 Aug18 August 20:58

  Marriott Travel Package conversion details have been released. No points refund.

  • BJ says:

    18 Aug18 August 21:50

    OUCH, going to be a lot of unhappy bunnies out there. The ‘smart’ money was on upgrading cat 1-5 to 6 or 8. Turns out that these (along with Tier packages) are the losers as conversions apear to be based on peak nightly rates.

    1-5 becones 1-4
    6 becomes 1-4
    7, 8 become 5
    9, T1-3 becomes 6
    T4-5 becomes 7

    • Ian M says:

      18 Aug18 August 22:11

      I’m disgusted by this. Marriott clearly knew what they were planning to do and didn’t tell us. More than one Marriott customer service team told me they would map over like for like. Cat 6 would be new cat 6 etc..

      I was told when I booked that I could upgraded at the time of booking a hotel if I wanted a higher cat. Now it seems that is no longer the case but there seems to have been no official announcement? They should have emailed everyone who held a TP and given a fair notice period.

      Great way to launch the new combined program Marriott, leg over your best customers

      • New Card says:

        18 Aug18 August 22:15

        Agree – terrible way for them to launch the combined program, by screwing over those most likely to be loyal.

      • BJ says:

        18 Aug18 August 22:32

        The numbers of people involved are probably small so, unfortunately, they might get away with it. However, they might be forced to be more accommodating if the threat of class action arises. Agree though, it sucks. Also very stupid when considering it might encourage many high value defections to Hilton via status match.

      • MarkH says:

        18 Aug18 August 23:52

        Somehow I’m not surprised.

        I’m mainly annoyed because I was going to upgrade to cat 9 but was told specifically not to bother by the CS rep as the categories were going to map directly across and new cat 9 wouldn’t exist so there was no point. And it seems many others were told similar things.

        Of course I know it was up to me to listen to the CS rep or not but to map down to cat 5 based on peak pricing and no points refund is harsh.

        Direct mapping always seemed unlikely but i think either cat 6 or cat 5 plus some points back would have been fair.

      • Alan says:

        19 Aug19 August 01:27

        I suspect the class action lawyers will already be rubbing their hands, I can’t see the American members standing for this!

    • Alan says:

      19 Aug19 August 01:26

      What they’ve come up with is frankly ludicrous. At the very least they need to offer the difference between old 1-5 and old 6 given they’ve mapped them to the same thing. My planned SPG redemption (if there had been availability) now up in smoke as cat 5 (new).

  • BJ says:

    18 Aug18 August 21:59

    My reply to New Card listing conversions has not posted. Cats 6 and 8 lose out becoming cats 1-4 and 5 respectively.

    • Rob says:

      18 Aug18 August 22:02

      Has now, not sure what the issue was.

      • BJ says:

        18 Aug18 August 22:08

        Happens sometimes, not often. Only when using reply option. I have seen others report similar issue but again only rarely.

    • Alan says:

      19 Aug19 August 01:28

      Normally only an issue if 2 or more links or you’ve made lots of posts within a short timescale (I was hit by this yesterday).

      • Rob says:

        19 Aug19 August 08:20

        The spam system seems to have changed its algorithm – I am having to unblock more than usual and have even emailed a couple of people to apologise (should have sent you one too).

  • New Card says:

    18 Aug18 August 22:08

    It seems to be received wisdom (though I haven’t seen anything official saying it) that it’s no longer possible to use a certificate for one category on a stay in a different category by paying the additional points required. The loss of that flexibility itself, if true, is a serious devaluation. It also means I was misled by the Marriott telephone operator when I purchased my TP.

    • BJ says:

      18 Aug18 August 22:22

      I was very fortunate. My partner and I had a cat 1-4 each and I was left with only 72k points so I upgraded mine to a cat 7. The latter becomes a cat 5 allowing me to redeem on Paris Republique which was what I hoped for. Many options with the cat 1-4 at decent properties in Asia.

  • Scallder says:

    18 Aug18 August 22:40

    Where have you seen this?

    I took a category 8 back at start of July and the operator said they would map 1:1 which many recently have been told too. I knew it was a long shot but the fact that I’ve lost 30k Marriott points as I could have got a category 7 is the thing that has annoyed me more.

    However given the operator specifically said they would map across is clearly not on as I bought a category 8 rather than a category q-6 on that advice…

    • Alan says:

      19 Aug19 August 01:29

      See post from Marriott staff member –

      https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30097942-post5529.html

  • Alex W says:

    18 Aug18 August 22:44

    There are no winners here, though with my gamble on a Cat 9 cert I feel slightly less legged over than others. I still hope there will be some way of upgrading, though, as there doesn’t seem to beany particularly desirable Cat 6 hotels. What’s more, virtually all of the decent Cat 6’s seem to the ones which have just gone up in points price.

    • Peter K says:

      18 Aug18 August 22:59

      I think your comment on it being a gamble is maybe the point here. A number of people were hoping for a bonanza, when it hasn’t happened they are hurt as “loyal customers”. I’m not saying Stine weren’t genuine losers but for the others “You pay your money, you make your choice”.

      • Alex W says:

        18 Aug18 August 23:07

        Interesting point. For me the gamble was whether I could get a decent enough hotel with my certificate. Compared to the new pricing, though, it was not a gamble at all. For the same price I would get 20k fewer miles and a lower category hotel.

      • Alan says:

        19 Aug19 August 01:30

        I knew it was a slight gamble, but they should be providing the difference between original categories when mapping down.

      • BJ says:

        19 Aug19 August 07:28

        It is ludicrous that people paid 30k more for a cat 6 or an 8 than for a 1-4 and 7 respectively but end up with the lower category without a 30k refund.

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