The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 1st July

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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/2020/07/01/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-wednesday-1st-july/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.

Sonic says:

1 Jul1 July 09:47

Help! Decided to have a long weekend in London in a couple of weeks. Looking for a nice hotel which is walkable to town, About £250 per night. Hold amex plat so have hotel status from that. Trying to impress! Any great finds?
- Sonic says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:30
  
  Thanks Rob. Will give it a go.
- memesweeper says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 11:42
  
  One of the nicer rooms at the Kimpton should be suitably impressive. ‘Fine hotels’ or Emyr might have an offer too if you’re planning to pay money.
Venturelog says:

1 Jul1 July 09:52

Does anyone know if the Hilton’s Status extension policy will apply to new joiners? If i join and upgrade my status using Amex Plat card to Gold? Will it be extended until 2022 with Gold?
- Andrew says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:40
  
  As long as you keep the Platinum card it’s lifetime gold anyway
  - Venturelog says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 11:30
    
    Thanks, but i was probably going to cancel it soon. And was hoping Hilton apply the extension to new joiners.
DTB says:

1 Jul1 July 10:07

Virgin money refunding £40 of £160 annual fee on Virgin atlantic credit card because we’ve not been able to use flying club rewards in usual way.

Flying club status extended by 6 months, vouchers extended by 6 months and miles no longer expire
EvilGazebo says:

1 Jul1 July 10:08

Arthouse film fans: email from Amex this morning with an offer of 3 months free BFI Player subscription. Code is AMEXOFFER.

Website seems to be struggling a bit but gets there in the end.
- Rhys says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:17
  
  Excellent!
- Lady London says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 16:40
  
  Thankyou
YH says:

1 Jul1 July 10:11

I booked BA408 on 20th July in ET a few days ago. I was comparing the upgrade costs to CE against the selling price of CE and noticed the entire ET cabin is unavailable for sale. I checked the EF seat map and only a handful of the ET seats have been booked.

Just curious – does anyone know what this means?
- roberto says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:58
  
  looks like its gonna get cancelled..
  - YH says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 11:36
    
    They are still selling CE seats though? Only the ET cabin is unavailable to purchase.
    - AndyGWP says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 13:42
      
      Maybe it means you’ll be sat in ET surrounded by boxes of cargo? lol 😉
      - Lady London says:
        
        1 Jul1 July 16:43
        
        do they have some kind of dog barrier like in a car, between freight lashed down in ET and passengers in J ?
Fred S says:

1 Jul1 July 10:13

If I upgrade to Curve Metal, can I start using on transactions that would normally require curve fronted without incurring the curve applied transaction fee? Or do I need to wait for the actual card?
- Genghis says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:17
  
  Your old card works . It’s what the app says, i.e. “Metal”, that’s the driver.
  - Sam says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 10:28
    
    I asked them and they said I’d get a new card number which is a PITA. Is that not the reality?
    - John says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 10:54
      
      The old card works but as the gimmick is a metal card you will get a metal card with a new number. If you never activate the metal card the old card will continue to work
      - Sam says:
        
        1 Jul1 July 11:23
        
        Ta. Can’t be fussed with changing the card number everywhere, one of the main reasons I have Curve
      - Don says:
        
        1 Jul1 July 12:40
        
        Do both work?
      - Genghis says:
        
        1 Jul1 July 13:50
        
        Activating the metal card deactivates the old card.
Anna says:

1 Jul1 July 10:26

IHG is offering 3 nights for the price of 2 at the moment, fully refundable with no deposit required. I’ve just booked a junior suite with club access at the IC Vienna for February half term, comes out at 223 euros per night and they’ve emailed me to say we will be upgraded to a king executive suite as IC Ambassador (which has a separate living room where the teenager can sleep, yay!). With the recent reduced points promotion IHG is coming out the best for special offers recently.
- Anna says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:27
  
  Should say fully cancellable, they can’t really refund money you haven’t paid!
  - Lady London says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 16:55
    
    some hotels seem to be asking fully flexible / refundable bookings to be paid when booking now.
    
    This makes me uncomfortable in case they prove impossible to get my refund from, or in case they go bust before my stay. I usually book months ahead, so would be exposed to these risks for longer.
    
    Are others finding this too? so far I’m not making the bookings I’m thinking about.
    
    As in the days @RussellH might remember, I would be prepared to hand over a 10% deposit that the hotel can keep if I cancel which seems fair. I’m prepared to lose 100% for late cancellation or no-show too. But I’m not prepared to let a hotel use my money for free for 3 – 9 months and take the risk of losing it 100%.
    
    What do others think?
- Grant says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:42
  
  That was my reading of the offer too. Dates can be amended up to 48 hours prior.
- Anna says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:51
  
  There seems to be something odd going on with IHG’s IT at the moment.
  I saw that a couple of days ago, but whenever I’ve logged in since I’ve had the no deposit, fully cancellable offer pop up and that’s certainly what my reservation says.
  I’m not 100% sure but rates in the app might be showing differently to those on a laptop or desktop so try a different device.
  - Anna says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 10:56
    
    Though I’ve just checked again on the app and the only charge mentioned is the first night IF you fail to show or cancel within 24 hours of the first night. So I don’t know but keep trying. (Could it be different offers for different status? I am currently Platinum and IC Ambassador).
    - Anna says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 10:59
      
      I’ve just clicked on Blindman’s link, this is where the problem might lie. Don’t book via this page, just use the normal IHG booking system and you may not be charged for the first night!
    - Anna says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 12:07
      
      Ok. Just had a look for a booking in December and there is a requirement to pay the first night deposit. Go to February and the 3 for 2 night is still there (actually stated as 34% off but effectively same thing), but no deposit is required and it’s fully cancellable. So it looks as though it’s date sensitive – possibly the cut off is the end of 2020, I haven’t checked any more dates. So if you want to use the offer for 2021, get searching!
  - Grant says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 11:24
    
    Very odd. I’ve tried to recreate your booking for myself and the headline bullet points for the ‘Get a Night on us’ does indeed say you can cancel up to 6pm on the day prior to staying, but the description underneath has the standard terms:
    
    ‘Book 3 or more nights to get 34% off each night of your stay. A non-refundable deposit for the first night of the stay will be taken upon booking. Stay dates may be changed up to 48 hours before arrival by contacting the hotel directly. The new dates are subject to availability and rate change.’
    
    This is different to my experience when looking at dates in August at the Kimpton in Edinburgh where the first bullet under the offer rate makes it clear that a one-night non-refundable deposit is required.
    - Jane says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 11:47
      
      I’m also looking at this offer for a UK hotel, first bullet is non refundable first night deposit. I wonder what is going on.
    - Anna says:
      
      1 Jul1 July 12:08
      
      Try 2021.
  - Anna says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 12:07
    
    But see my comment above about how all this relates to different dates!
Anna says:

1 Jul1 July 10:44

Another data point. If you have a Marriott cancellation and are told you will need extra points to re-book, don’t argue the point, just wait and see how it appears in your account once the dates have changed. I think the first rule of fight club needs to be adhered to here so nobody is prompted to enact any “admin” adjustments..
- Anna says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 10:45
  
  I should add, I have had this “officially” confirmed, but I shall say it only once, for obvious reasons!
- Harry T says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 13:01
  
  Thanks, this may be relevant to my booking for the W Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the dates are going to change. To their credit, the hotel already said they would move my booking.