The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 11th June

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• Jordan D says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:49

  Recently made a booking for a Marriott property for early (Apr) 2021. It is for an event that was pushed out from this year. At the time of making the booking, the reservation was listed as cancelable up until 2 days before arrival.

  The hotel has now come back to me to say that due to the event happening, they are changing the booking to non-cancelable, non-refundable in 10 days time and that I have until then to make any changes I want.

  Is that something they can unilaterally do? Seems a bit off to be able to do that after having made a (effectively) fully cancelable/changeable booking reservation …

  • E says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:14

    I had something similar with a Marriott property earlier this year. Booked with 48 hour cancellation then property emailed me to say they were changing that to 1 month before arrival. I objected and took it to Marriott customer services who sided with the hotel and said they OK to change the cancellation terms as they’d informed me. I think that’s against contract law but I didn’t want the hassle if that was their approach, so I cancelled the booking and booked somewhere else.

    • memesweeper says:

      11 Jun11 June 21:12

      A contract requires an offer, accepted, and consideration. A cancellable booking may or may not create a binding contract. Without reading the T&Cs we won’t know. Probably not worth the fight.

  • Rhys says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:14

    No idea, but Marriott’s ‘flexible booking policy’ does allow hotels to make exemptions and it’s not clear how/when.

    Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean they can pull the rug from under you and change the terms after you have booked! I’d definitely try fighting this.

  • Pat the Postie says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:14

    Unless its in writing, someone could argue that it was never received ‘in writing’

• Richard says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:50

  Hi, my Aegean flights have been cancelled so I’ve applied for a cash refund. The wait time is 45-60 days though. Can I do a charge back instead as the wait time is too long? Flights were paid for with Curve if that makes a difference

  • Vit says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:26

    Richard, I don’t use Curve so no idea on that but if I were you, I would wait out for that 45-60 days. However, I would also try to get that aforementioned wait-time written in an email or some sort as well as if you are going to raise a chargeback later, you will indeed be asked by your card provider for supporting documents/evidences. In that case, with your written wait-time from airline, you have a good point as why raising chargeback, etc. Good luck.

    • Richard says:

      11 Jun11 June 09:31

      Thanks Vit and I have the 45-60 days in writing.

      • Vit says:

        11 Jun11 June 09:37

        That’s good. I know for the fact that most travel agency declines to provide this in writing as they know that will be used against them in the future but I believe most airlines are (at least) more professional.

• C says:

  11 Jun11 June 09:06

  Can anyone advise on the best way of satisfying the ‘investment/protection product’ criteria for HSBC Premier with minimal outlay? I currently have the Advance account and am wanting to upgrade now I meet the salary requirements for the travel insurance etc (for next year!) and Premier CC. Thanks

  • Richard says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:13

    I went with £500 in GIC account ( a mutual fund). Not an ISA as I’d used that elsewhere.

    • Pat the Postie says:

      11 Jun11 June 09:15

      Instead of £50k lol

      • C says:

        11 Jun11 June 09:28

        Ah thank you, I’ll have a look at this – at a quick glance it looks like the minimum is £100 so that’s good

        • Genghis says:

          11 Jun11 June 10:09

          Assuming you use ISA elsewhere, a GIA as discussed is best.
          Remember that in theory this is subject to:
          – capital gains tax when sell (if exceed limits in tax year)
          – income tax on real and notional dividends+excess reportable income (if applicable) if classified as equity fund and exceed dividend allowance in tax year
          – income tax on real and notional interest income + ERI (if applicable) if classified as bond fund and exceed interest allowance in tax year.

          Outside of tax shelters, I advise buying income funds to avoid the nasty calculations of splitting out notional dividends / interest income from capital movements.

          In short though, if you have no other investments / don’t use allowances elsewhere, you’ll be fine.

  • the_real_a says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:47

    Well… you dont need one, only the inclination to have one. For example i had the required funds in a HSBC savings account and pointed out to them that i would not be investing until i received the enhanced rates as premier. This was accepted as reasonable and i was approved.

• Sam says:

  11 Jun11 June 10:06

  Applied for a supp card for myself a few days ago but nothing showing in the system, the relationship I chose was obviously ‘other’

  Anything to be worried about?

  • Genghis says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:12

    “Nothing” being referral points? Was this your second supp / entitled to a bonus?
    Nothing else would show until card received and registered in online acct

    • Sam says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:22

      If you go to Statement -> Your card activity, under ‘Activity By Cardmember’ the additional user will show as soon as supp card is approved (even before receiving in post)

      I did it as a test on the platinum yes.

    • Sam says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:26

      Applied for platinum supp when the £100 offer went live (was approved same day, 5k points posted same day)

      This would be first gold supp (second supp overall)

  • Jonathan44t says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:29

    I applied for one for my spouse recently, takes 2 or 3 days and will appear in your “My Points” statement without any formal notification or e-mail of approval.

    Are people self-referring then? Any ideas on how to use up the other 2 free supp cards? Am wondering how risky I should get with this. E.g. if I apply for sibling who lives close by and uncheck the “same address?” box, would that raise flags?

    • Sandgrounder says:

      11 Jun11 June 13:06

      My sibling had no problem with me issuing a supp in their name, as I gifted them free travel insurance for the family.

      You are allowed to have a supp in your own name as far as I know, its great for work expenditure you claim back as you dont need to ever produce a full statement with all your other spend on it if asked. There is some talk of a separate ‘additional card’ process for yourself but I have never seen the details. I don’t know if anybody else knows?

• Harry T says:

  11 Jun11 June 10:15

  So legacy Marriott Bonvoy amex cardholders were told that we would be informed in June of the reduction in earnings rate – has anyone received any further communication? I’m still receiving 3 Bonvoy per pound on normal spend. I’m hoping amex forget to do anything about it, with all the covid pandemonium.

  In related news, has anyone recently tried to cancel a Bonvoy amex and received a retention offer?

• AJA says:

  11 Jun11 June 10:26

  Data point. Following cancellation of my Israel trip I logged on to Expedia last week to cancel the hotels. Fortunately one of them was book now pay later so easily cancelled but the other was a prepaid booking so I thought I’d be in for a battle. Had a message saying the hotel had cancelled the reservation and would refund. Logged on to Amex today and refund has been processed. Well done to Expedia and the hotel (a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World) If I rebook for next year (I hope to) I will be happy to use the hotel and Expedia again. I feel lucky compared to some of the experiences reported here.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:32

    Great result, pleased for you. I think we tend to encounter the times where hotels etc aren’t reasonable in the comments here. I’ve personally had excellent customer service across the board.

    • AJA says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:51

      Thanks! I agree that we usually only hear about bad treatment. Good customer service should be the standard, unfortunately it seems to be the opposite.

  • Travel Strong says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:56

    On this theme, I’ve had excellent refund performance from:-

    Premier Inn
    Heathrow Official Parking
    Bristol Airport Official Parking
    Your Parking Space

    Hotels.com and ATG Tickets refunded with a slight delay, but nothing substantial.

    Half of the above were bookings which would have been non-refundable in normal circumstances.

• Simon D says:

  11 Jun11 June 10:50

  It appears that I have exactly 10,500 Miles & More points, which will be expiring in a few months. Realistically I don’t think that I am going to be able to put them towards of a flight, so has anyone found anything more interesting or better value than a £25 Amazon voucher?

  • Rob says:

    11 Jun11 June 11:13

    Check the Heathrow Rewards credit, although it won’t be a lot more than £25.

• Sarah says:

  11 Jun11 June 10:50

  My partner has just received an email from BA extending his silver status by a year and have decreased the amount of tier points needed by 25% to retain silver after that time.

  • Rhys says:

    11 Jun11 June 11:03

    Yep – we have an article about it!

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