The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 17th June

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• Jamie says:

  17 Jun17 June 13:55

  Hi Rob,
  your articles have helped me hugely being able to travel in ways i never thought i would be able to afford.

  Now i have a small child, im looking ahead to travel for next year, but im having difficulty working out which hotels will accept points bookings for 2 people travelling with a small child. (under 2)

  It seems that the moment you add the child, the points options disappear in a lot of cases. any suggestions?

  Thanks

  • Nadeshka says:

    17 Jun17 June 14:07

    Which chains are you looking at?
    I have booked standard rewards at some Hilton hotels but not others – the issue is with regards to room capacity rather than anything else. Most chains only have good value rewards on standard rooms (i.e. twin/double) and these often have a strict capacity of two people, no matter how small the 3rd or if they come with their own bed! Hilton was better for me than Marriot in terms of having available rooms accepting 3 people.
    I’ve had it suggested to me in comments here to book the 2 person room and then call up to explain the toddler will be coming with their own cot.
    Beware also extra charges for the hotel providing a cot – one wanted to charge £50 a night on a rewards booking, I can buy a travel bed for just one night’s cost!

  • Dave says:

    17 Jun17 June 14:25

    If I’ve found during the booking (points or cash) a big difference for adding our toddler son, I just book the room for 2 adults. Never had a problem and I doubt hotels really care.

  • Rob says:

    17 Jun17 June 14:28

    As per the other comments, if all you need is a cot then just book for 2 adults and in the notes put ‘cot needed’.

  • Anna says:

    17 Jun17 June 15:44

    Hi Jamie, welcome to the family travel experience! As someone said, you’re usually fine if you’re brining your own travel cot, but make sure the hotel is aware in case they have fire or insurance regulations about the number of people allowed in a particular room (I have noticed that some hotels state on their website that a 3rd guest will not be accommodated, even if it’s an infant). If you have status, contact them and ask nicely if they can move you to a better room which will accommodate your child (The George in Edinburgh has kindly agreed to do this for our teenager in December).

    If you need the hotel to supply the cot or rollaway bed, charges can vary from nothing (which seems more likely if you have status) to £50 or more, which is outrageous as Nadeshka points out! This also applies to breakfast for kids, often hotels will waive the charge (I have found Hilton brilliant for this), some will charge the full rate when the child has a piece of toast and a glass of milk!!

    You’ll find a lot of useful tips for travelling with children on HFP.

  • Crafty says:

    18 Jun18 June 01:01

    Don’t add the child. Book for two adults, then email and very openly ask about a cot. 9 times out of 10 they’ll say they’ll provide a cot (and often other goodies), which means you have proof that they know the baby is coming.

• Jose says:

  17 Jun17 June 13:55

  Hello I’m in Philipines now and planing to return to london in August, so if I use avios to fly Cathay Pacific and then decide to cancel, will the cost still be 35 pounds as it is in BA?
  Thanks

  • Andrew says:

    17 Jun17 June 14:00

    Yes, although they are waiving that too at the moment, under the book with confidence guarantee.

• MadeUpName says:

  17 Jun17 June 16:42

  Hi, if the spend tracker towards a sign up bonus appears on a new amex card does that mean I qualify for the bonus? As I wasn’t expecting to get it based on the cards I’ve had recently…

  • Jonathan says:

    17 Jun17 June 17:03

    Short answer: No.

  • Travel Strong says:

    17 Jun17 June 18:00

    Longer Answer: Maybe. Only way to find out is to do the spend.

    • Peter K says:

      17 Jun17 June 18:46

      +1

      • MadeUpName says:

        17 Jun17 June 19:55

        Thanks, will give it a go and see what happens.

• Baji Nahid says:

  17 Jun17 June 16:46

  So, I’m writing to British Airways to complain about their e store and how crappy it is (don’t get me started on why) , and I was actually wondering if anyone would like to help me out if they don’t mind leaving some anonymous quotes on here about why they find the service really poor or bad, so that I can submit the 5 page letter to them with improvements on how to ensure that people are getting their avios and not having a third party responsible for such a diabolical service.

  • Andrew says:

    17 Jun17 June 16:49

    I would generally say about 1 in 5 transactions track and even when they do the Avios are always about half of what is advertised to be the rate. Not a fan, still use it, but never factor the Avios into the cost of the item I’m buying as the likelihood of getting what you’re expecting or anything at all are slim.

    • Anna says:

      17 Jun17 June 18:00

      You don’t get them on any tax element of the purchase, or sometimes on sale or special offer items, which can make it look as though you’re not getting the full amount.

  • TonyG says:

    17 Jun17 June 16:56

    I generally find them OK. Probably 4 out of 5 times they post almost all the Avios which is fine for me.
    Clear cookies once in a while or before big purchase

    • Baji Nahid says:

      17 Jun17 June 17:24

      Thanks for the messages so far, I’ve has such a bad experience with them, 5 different browsers, cleared cookies, shopped in private/incognito mode, used 5 different devises, screen grabbed my shopping process, still refuse to pay out points. Had enough and grinds my gears!

      • Anna says:

        17 Jun17 June 17:59

        I’ve never had an issue with the avios being posted but there was a spate last year of stores clawing back avios (wrongly) which really wound me up! I challenged a couple and got them reinstated but it was a lot of effort. Interestingly I’ve found the system extremely efficient in the past few months, been getting confirmation emails as soon as the spend has gone through which never used to happen!

  • BJ says:

    17 Jun17 June 18:54

    I always used the avios variant and I’ve never had any issues except with Hikton but even those were sorted after chasing.

  • GaryC says:

    17 Jun17 June 23:23

    I’ve generally found them good, despite an awful lot of purchases. I’ve only had a headache with one, a large purchase unfortunately worth around 10k bonus avios, which the retailer initially refused to honour because my last click on their site had come from somewhere else, despite me navigating and then filling up the basket from the BA store. In the end I had to threaten to send all the goods back under distance selling regs, pointing out that was in no ones interests, and they paid up.

  • Paul74 says:

    17 Jun17 June 23:56

    I used to use it a lot but found that the avios were generally slow posting or they needed reminding. Haven’t bothered with it for ages but if I did use it again, similar to what someone else has said here, it would be on the basis that the avios are a bonus. Not to be relied upon.

• The Paw says:

  17 Jun17 June 16:53

  Hi. Apologies if this has been covered before.

  I received my Qatar status match to gold today. In my dashboard, it’s saying that I’ll need 270 points to renew gold, which is the normal renewal rate. It was my understanding that I would need 150 Qpoints to renew (1/2 the regular rate) Has anyone else had this issue – is it manually adjusted by Privilege Club later or should I contact them to fix this?

  Thanks in advance for any info/advice and stay healthy…..

  • Baji Nahid says:

    17 Jun17 June 17:25

    I remember reading that its a manual thing and you’ve to call them and they will fix it for you.

• Michael says:

  17 Jun17 June 17:12

  Can I refer from the Amex business gold for personal AMEX cards and is the bonus also 9000 MR points per referral?

• Munch says:

  17 Jun17 June 18:26

  When does the additional 10,000 point bonus post on the IHG Basic card offer? I completed the £500 spend on 1st May. Statement payment is due on the 15th June.

  • BJ says:

    17 Jun17 June 18:45

    Have you checked your IHG account for it? It posts directly there and I think most of us go t it within a month of spending £500.

    • Munch says:

      17 Jun17 June 19:33

      the 1st 10,000 posted but not the bonus 10,000. Do I contact IHG or Creation?

      • Crafty says:

        18 Jun18 June 01:07

        Taking ages for me too. I think it’s IHG we should contact, but I’ve not done it yet

  • Vit says:

    17 Jun17 June 21:44

    When did you apply for the card? I have been waiting for about 6 weeks now.

• Rahaney says:

  17 Jun17 June 18:29

  Anyone had issues paying off John Lewis Mcard with curve?? Worked initially but giving errors now. Cheers

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