The new HFP chat thread – Friday 19th June

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article. If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/06/19/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-friday-19th-june/comment-page-1. The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working. Let’s see how it goes. Take care!

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Vit says:

19 Jun19 June 14:44

haha! I know. English is not my mother-tongue and I’ve got this bad habit of clicking submit then start proof-reading what I just wrote. 😛
- BJ says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 17:24
  
  Mai pen rai, sabai dee mai?
  - Vit says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 21:13
    
    hahaha! sabai deee krub. lae Khun BJ laa? Actually I am originally from Cambodia but married to a Thai and now living Scotland. c’est la vie!
    - BJ says:
      
      19 Jun19 June 22:16
      
      Wasn’t far away then, I sort of guessed from previous comments 🙂
      - BJ says:
        
        19 Jun19 June 22:28
        
        And I’m fine too, thanks.
Binks says:

19 Jun19 June 14:57

Has anyone had any issues with receiving Amex referral bonus? I referred my wife and brother and received the points the next day. I referred my neohew and his application was approved about 4 days later however it has been almost a week since the approval and no points posted. Appreciate it states up to 10 weeks in the t and cams for points to post, however they have posted next day for my last four referrals. Any comments / experiences that can be shared would be appreciated.
- Michael says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 15:03
  
  There’s a similar comment to your’s on the first page.
  - Binks says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 15:09
    
    Thanks – will take a look 🥳
  - BJ says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 17:19
    
    Thanks Michael, just posted same question…the peril of working through comments from the end and not the start. @Binks, yes, my dad too as per my comment later.
Paul says:

19 Jun19 June 16:10

For those that have taken out pet insurance policies with Tesco under the recent offer, beyond the initial first page coming through from MSE, was there any other mention during the application process of the Clubcard points incentive?
- E says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 19:37
  
  Not for me, no. Hope it does credit.
Paul says:

19 Jun19 June 16:35

Does anyone know if the double Membership Rewards points on ALL spending until 20th July also applies to new platinum applications?
- Platguy says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 17:47
  
  It does for me. In fact for some reason I am getting 3 points per £
  ESTEE LAUDER COSMETICS FAREHAM £57.60 57 114 171 Total points
  - BJ says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 18:57
    
    I hope that was for your OH as she might be reading this.
- Benj says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 21:10
  
  Yes, I upgraded this week and getting double points.
BJ says:

19 Jun19 June 17:13

Anybody experienced delays with amex referral bonuses posting this week? My dad is still waiting for one after referring me for Nectar on Monday. Seems like something is amiss as they have posted very fast of late.
- Craig says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 19:53
  
  Quite a few comments over the last few pages, seems to be a bit of a theme!
  - BJ says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 20:07
    
    I’m a bit backwards as you will see in my reply to Michael 🙂
    - Craig says:
      
      19 Jun19 June 20:31
      
      Not with regards to budget accommodation.
      - BJ says:
        
        19 Jun19 June 21:21
        
        Budget? You could stay 6 months in one of the Four Seasons in Cairo for the price of a Nu Venture.
Gormlesstraveller says:

19 Jun19 June 18:01

Apparently Revolut use Wirecard.
Does anyone know if money in Revolut is covered by the £85,000 Government compensation scheme?
- Rob says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 18:41
  
  Revolut uses a Lithuanian banking licence. You need to claim that that Government.
  - Genghis says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 19:59
    
    Not sure if even that is possible. It’s not covered by FSCS and they’ve not taken the decision to work to passport their banking licence from Lithuania.
    Money is in a segregated client money account with two banks IIRC, but no full protection if they go under.
Ron says:

19 Jun19 June 18:02

Got an email from Hilton at Gatwick yesterday saying our booking for August has been cancelled, as the hotel is not opened. Does that mean they are not planning to reopened in August then?
- Travel Strong says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 19:37
  
  From the look of the booking calendar, it looks to me like Hilton is consolidating to the Hampton property at LGW and keeping the Hilton property closed for now.
  No doubt they will be monitoring bookings at the Hampton and reconsidering opening dates for the Hilton based on that.
  
  My conflict is whether to book the Hampton (£100) or the Premier Inn (£65), both prices inc breakfast… but will Hampton be doing a proper breakfast service?
  And will the gym be open at the Hampton?
  - @mkcol says:
    
    20 Jun20 June 09:20
    
    I’d go Premier Inn as £35 looks like an expensive breakfast.
Lee says:

19 Jun19 June 20:50

IHG seems increased its dynamic pricing across the board. Costs a lot more points now. They looks to have realised that some of the initial dynamic pricing was valuing points “too highly”. Booked Osaka IC for 30k,now 55k with same cash price.
- Craig says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 21:02
  
  I’ve noticed the same, grabbed some bargains though.
- Andrew says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 22:04
  
  Yes we got some bargains last weekend – IC Singapore booked for 4 nights in Feb for 87,000, now back to more normal levels at 150,000
- BJ says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 22:13
  
  Ah too bad, thanks for poosting. I was hoping we would see these prices for another 2 or 3 weeks, also for a Japan trip.
- ChrisC says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 22:28
  
  or perhaps they have rooms available at a number rates and like flights when the lower points rates have gone you move onto the higher ones and so on.
  - Lee says:
    
    19 Jun19 June 22:30
    
    Points increased for all dates, more like IHG adjusted their values.
    - Andrew says:
      
      19 Jun19 June 22:53
      
      It did seem like the rates/values were set a bit too low – an IC for 22k is a bit ridiculous.
- memesweeper says:
  
  19 Jun19 June 22:41
  
  Not across the board. Still some bargains in Europe.
  - Harry T says:
    
    20 Jun20 June 02:40
    
    In Amsterdam, the Kimpton is still showing some favourable dynamic pricing but it appears that the IC Amstel is now always 60k a night. I’m glad I booked a couple of weekends at the Amstel when it 40-50k a night instead.
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Jun20 June 07:16
      
      Still looks like a very mixed bag, definitely depends on the days we choose to book
      Possibly it is more complex and the number of bookings at certain rates also has an impact. This could explain the disappearance of the best rates at some of the most desirable hotels on some dates but not others, and between different hotels on the same day.