The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 23rd June

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• Rossy says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:20

  I received my IHG statement today and had a larger than expected “interest on cash” charge on my account. I generally try to cover any cash-like transactions on the same day by making payments to my card. However, as has been reported by other users recently, a few of these payments have been delayed from showing on my account by around a week, so it appears I’ve been accruing interest on the cash payments because of the lag. Any else had similar experiences in the last few weeks?

  • Brighton Belle says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:52

    Yes, I get some interest despite paying off the charge within 60 seconds and the debit and credit showing they hit my account same day. Haven’t figured out what they’re doing in the background to generate the interest charge. I don’t really mind too much as not reasonable to gain points without giving something back… and they’re costing way less than Rob’s valuation

    • Lady London says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:26

      IHG appears to have been possibly manually posting things manually as of this week as people are reporting 5 day and up delays on their payments to tge card posting even if they do seem to be eventually posting with the correct value date.

      I’d challenge them on this for interest charges as their change to slow posting is not your fault if you in paid an amount back into the card almost immediately. Depends how much of that you’re doing though 🙂

      • Crafty says:

        23 Jun23 June 23:08

        I really don’t think it would be a good idea for readers to start speaking to Creation about any of this.

  • Anna says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:57

    Yes, I’ve got £6.50 in interest this month, I think it’s because it’s been taking so long for payments to go through. But I’ve put nearly £6k through (which is a bit on the high side) so it’s not the end of the world.

    • AlexT says:

      23 Jun23 June 13:55

      Where exactly in your card statement do you see your interest charges?

      • Rossy says:

        23 Jun23 June 14:28

        It comes up as the final transaction prior to the statement being issued.
        To be honest, it’s only a few pounds, which is negligible compared to the value of points I’ve earned, so I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it, but it does sound like they’re having some sort of back end issue with their payment processing.

      • The Urbanite says:

        23 Jun23 June 14:55

        The interest posts once a month on the statement date which is around this time of month.

        Creation officially advise that you should allow up to three working days for payments to go through – https://www.creation.co.uk/contact-us/ways-to-pay

        For those hoping to get the interest payment cancelled, it may have taken a couple of days longer this time but is it worth drawing attention to what you’re doing to get a few pounds refunded?

        • Crafty says:

          23 Jun23 June 23:08

          Exactly. Please don’t.

• Graham says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:21

  Have a friend who is in Siem Riep Cambodia who needs to get back to Switzerland asap for medical reasons. He can get himself to Phnom Penh or Vietnam to fly from but is being quoted ridiculous sums. He is also concerned and heard stories some airlines accept a booking then cancel the flight. Is there any source which is reliable to find out which airlines are definitely flying out from Cambodia/Vietman into Europe (Switzerland is his final destination but Germany/France he could transit from) – thanks in advance for any suggestions

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:26

    Is he looking at prices for a one way or return flight?

    Tip: buy a return and dump the return leg if you don’t want it.

    • Peter K says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:12

      +1
      A few years ago I looked at a one way to LA before I found HfP and understood flying a bit more. It was much cheaper to get a return then one way.

      • WaynedP says:

        23 Jun23 June 16:40

        How do you dump the return leg without incurring a no-show fee, or any other fee ?

        Or do you have no choice but to weigh up the excess of the single vs return cost, against an unavoidable fee of some description ?

        Pardon my ignorance on this.

    • Lady London says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:18

      or book it as far out as possible just in case you find a use for it if there’s the option to pay a change fee.

  • Lady London says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:16

    Qatar Airways has been running flights they said they would do far as I know.

    I would check out a few destinations in Europe with them as if ground transport is still available on the route needed back to CH or if shorthaul flight can be found it might turn out to be a lot cheaper to land in some Eur destinations than others.

    Sorry about your friend and I hope they make it back.

    • Lady London says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:40

      Air Asia / Air Asia X is often mentioned by peopke who know Asia on here as a good way of connecting within Asia in conjunction with a long haul flight from a hub. Be sure the flight is going though as they started out ok but have since been retaining people’s money.

  • memesweeper says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:49

    Cash flights may be expensive but there are awards available too, and they can work great for one-ways. Check Cathay via Hong Kong for instance, Qatar and JAL all bookable with Avios. Picking a random date 10 Jul Qatar have availability from SGN to FRA in economy; JAL have some in business via Tokyo from SGN and HAN.

  • Vit says:

    23 Jun23 June 13:01

    Graham, a few insight from people back home is that Cambodian government is trying to set up a bubble corridor with Vietnam and Thailand as currently there is very limited flight between these countries, except chartered flights. QR which normally fly into PNH via SGN from DOH won’t be flying that route anytime soon till the airspace and demand starts picking up again I reckon.

    Your best bet at the moment is via a few city in China and S Korea from PNH as REP is mostly closed to commercial flight as well or if your friend can wait, hopefully, a travel bubble should start between Cambodia / Thailand / Vietnam as early as July and then he/she can transit through BKK or SGN which I believe offer more option.

    https://pnh.cambodia-airports.aero/en/flight/information-arrivals-and-departures

    Best of luck and stay strong!

  • BJ says:

    23 Jun23 June 15:11

    Isn’t, there a QR flight operating from PP?

    • BJ says:

      23 Jun23 June 15:13

      Just seen message from Vit so QR obviously not an option.

• Stu N says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:23

  The £35pp is a change fee – we have usually been charged this when upgrading Avios bookings.

  It’s separate to the offline service fee that is charged for phone bookings or changes that could be made online.

  • Lady London says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:21

    Well done on getting your First seats @Linda!

  • Callum says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:36

    Unless it’s changed recently, the fee is only meant to be waived for something that you are normally able to do online but can’t. Some agents agree to waive it anyway as that did used to be the policy a long time ago, but I’ve had many who (correctly) refused.

• Rich says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:24

  Forgive me. It’s been a while since I tried.

  Can I fund Revolut from Creation without charges these days? Either direct or via Curve (so I can GBIT). I used to use Virgin but I think that’s dead now

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:27

    You can top up and pay off your balance straight away (you may incur a small interest charge if it’s not paid off as soon as it hits.

    Using curve makes no difference as it passes through the MCC

    • Rich says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:12

      Many thanks.

      Only reason for using Curve would be the ability to GBIT abs switch tu a debit card if I hit problems.

    • The Urbanite says:

      23 Jun23 June 14:13

      Even if you pay it off straight away you still get charged. I incurred £22.50 of interest this month. I would not recommend it as a free way to generate points.

  • Anna says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:46

    Creation have made this quite difficult this month by being so slow to update accounts. I’ve ended up incurring £6.50 in interest because it was taking so long to make a payment. That said, it was a spendy month and I put through nearly £6k so it’s not the end of the world.

• Cat says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:45

  Oh, the joys of a quick trip to Borough Market during Shop Small!

  • Genghis says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:05

    Is Artisan du Chocolat open and participating? Normally go there for SS but no plans to head to the office soon.

    • Cat says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:17

      Ooh, I don’t know. If it was and I failed to go there, that was a massive oversight! I’ll check next time. Two out of three of Ginger Pig, the fishmonger closest to Ginger Pig and the massive veg stall triggered emails though. Sadly my favourite French cheese and saucisson vendor doesn’t take AMEX.

      • Nick_C says:

        23 Jun23 June 13:52

        Ginger Pig makes the best sausage rolls.

        • Cat says:

          23 Jun23 June 19:23

          …and their scotch eggs are incredible. They used to do an incredible pigs cheek pate too, but they seem to have stopped now.

  • Chuck says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:02

    Hi Kat … did you notice if Mrs Kings Pies was open ?

    • Cat says:

      23 Jun23 June 12:06

      Oh no! I need to do better next time! I may walk around with a gopro and put it up on YouTube!

      • BJ says:

        23 Jun23 June 15:17

        All these comments making me hungry. Any recommendations for good chocolate online?

        • Anna says:

          23 Jun23 June 15:23

          Thornton’s deliver free over £35 but I doubt they’re in Shop Small!

        • BJ says:

          23 Jun23 June 17:36

          Also want something a bit more exotic than Thorntons Anna, not that I would look a gift horse in the mouth and their toffee is excellent 🙂

        • Cat says:

          23 Jun23 June 19:27

          Hotel Chocolat or Godiva perhaps? I doubt they’re on shop small either!

        • BJ says:

          23 Jun23 June 19:43

          Looking for shop small Cat. I’ll check out Leonidas as I like those.

• Diydegsy says:

  23 Jun23 June 11:09

  The Langley. Just had an email from the hotel to say our.2 night break in July booked on points has been cancelled. They also say they may not be open until” November” if we want to rebook. Anyone else had a cancellation? Really November!!
  “Please note that the hotel may only re-open in November 2020 and should you wish to postpone your reservation, we would recommend selecting a date in November or later.”

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:18

    Weird. I looked the other day for a weekend in July and it was happily selling rooms for cash, albeit no reward nights.

    • Jonathan says:

      23 Jun23 June 11:34

      Also had the e-mail this morning for a points stay in early July. I had looked at booking another night for cash around 10 days ago & they had availability from around the 15th July. Looked again over weekend & saw nothing till next year so was expecting cancellation.

      • Gtellez says:

        23 Jun23 June 11:52

        They cancelled my booking too, it was for July 4.

        • Lady London says:

          23 Jun23 June 12:02

          Do you think The Langley could be dumping reward bookings because they will overwrite them with cash bookings from others instead? If occupancy is very low is IHG only giving them 20% or something.

        • Rob says:

          23 Jun23 June 12:08

          Possible. They refused to rebook me because I paid 35k and the current price is higher. This makes no sense because Marriott pays them the same price regardless, unless occupancy hits 95%. I get a feeling they don’t want to offer more reward nights than they are contractually obliged to.

        • marcw says:

          23 Jun23 June 12:09

          Some hotels, especially the luxury ones, are not opening until the winter season; the demand isn’t there.

        • Lady London says:

          23 Jun23 June 12:21

          Who’s going to be brave and call Marriott to complain then? sounds like it needs doing and promptly.

          If The Langley is open now then there’s no reason why they wouldnt give the summer season more if a try. But are they closed now? a realistic reopening time would be end of Nov / early Dec to catch Christmad shoppers and Christmas if so.

    • Nick G says:

      23 Jun23 June 12:26

      I was looking last night and it had availability in August on points

      • Anna says:

        23 Jun23 June 12:50

        Not heard anything about our August points stay as yet (re-booked from July). With so many people opting for staycations you’d think they would want people there this summer.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          23 Jun23 June 13:57

          Perhaps things will change after today’s announcements

      • E says:

        23 Jun23 June 13:00

        There is no cash availability now till the start of November so it’s not just points stayed which must have been cancelled.

        • Anna says:

          23 Jun23 June 13:26

          I think we’re destined never to go there…

• onlysuites says:

  23 Jun23 June 11:18

  Anyone had their Plat Business Dell credit post yet? I used mine within days of its launch and it hasn’t posted yet. Dell split the order in two for dispatch and charged me separately too. I have a feeling this is why it hasn’t posted but Amex asking me to wait 90 days to investigate.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:17

    You are the 2nd person to tell me this. Dell is splitting up charging of multiple items and it does not trigger the credit.

• NorskSaint says:

  23 Jun23 June 11:19

  Just want to say thanks to this blog, been a long-time reader but never needed to post, however thought it worthwhile mentioning that as I was researching hotels for a short break in Oman at the end of the year, I came across the additional 30% offer at Anantara Resorts via this blog.

  Have now managed to book one of their resorts using not only the deal but also a non-refundable early booking rate which they claim isn’t normally allowed. Managed to save in excess of $600 by purchasing the gift card and then booking a non-refundable rate.

  If you want to make use of it, you do have to email with them rather than booking online.

  • Pablo says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:21

    You’re either very brave or very rich booking non-refundable hotels with vouchers in current climate.

  • marcw says:

    23 Jun23 June 13:24

    Now, Oman ONLY needs to open up their borders…

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