The HfP chat thread – Friday 11th September

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• Michael says:

  11 Sep11 September 07:18

  I’m pretty sure the answer is yes but can I just confirm that hotel status benefits are determined from when you stay irregardless of what status you had when you booked. Since booking the Marriott in Copenhagen my status match to Platinum was approved. Is is worth cancelling my existing booking and rebooking now as Plat?

  • Luckyjim says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:46

    Room upgrades are only allocated at check in so no advantage in rebooking.

    • BP says:

      11 Sep11 September 10:39

      Use the app to send a message asking politely for a Platinum upgrade to a larger room. During these quiet times it may be granted before arrival.

  • Michael C says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:13

    Don’t know if you’ve been before, Michael, but we had a great stay there in Feb.!

    • Michael says:

      11 Sep11 September 10:21

      Thanks Michael, that’s great to hear. I’m going to visit my brother who lives in Copenhagen but I’ve not stayed in the Marriott before.

  • Genghis says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:20

    When stay not book.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:27

    It can’t hurt to email the hotel and check that they have it correctly on their systems.

  • Steve says:

    11 Sep11 September 19:45

    Just to chuck in the mix that in my personal experience, I know that Radisson’s systems don’t catch that you’ve moved up a tier between booking and arrival.
    So do remind them.

• Ant says:

  11 Sep11 September 07:44

  Looking to book a Melia hotel in Ibiza. I am not v familiar with Melia but I have some points to use following the black friday offer which we were originally going to use for NY.

  Anyone has any opinion which one is the best between the ME and Innside Ibiza?
  Comparing prices the Aura (standard) room B&B at ME is €970 vs 144,000points for 4 nights. Is points a good use?

  I have Gold level via Amex Platinum, though not sure what this gets us.

  • ChrisBCN says:

    11 Sep11 September 09:34

    I don’t know the answer to your question, but do check the price in their app as it is usually x% cheaper than the web (I think 5%).

  • Sean says:

    11 Sep11 September 09:38

    As you can buy melia points in the current sale for about 0.36c then that is equivalent to €560 so better value. (3 separate uses)

    As a gold however – you should have 3 20% off vouchers in your account. Other than that you get a “free birthday upgrade” (valid for 12 months) if you check in on-line within 48 hours. You also get BOGOF breakfast.

    • Sean says:

      11 Sep11 September 09:39

      (3 separate uses) – should be after 20% off vouchers

  • Felix says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:23

    Had a booking for ME Ibiza for end of sept, very cheap cash price with the current sale and the 20% discount from gold from amex platinum, easiest is to call. However they decided to close all their hotels in Ibiza from this week..

• Moody says:

  11 Sep11 September 08:11

  Check promotions tab in your melia account/app as with a gold status you might have 20% off offer waiting there or a free upgrade to the next room category if you pre-check in 72 hours before arrival.

  Gold status gives you late check out, some welcome amenities and a bottle of water. For in hotel spend you are better off using (cheaply purchased) points rather than cash.

  Booking itself on points is a bit of a risk as Melia tends to close hotels at a short notice or rebook around to squeeze everyone into one hotel rather than keep a few poorly occupied open in the area. All about keeping running costs down. This leads to difficulties in getting a refund (quite a few reports on this site) and fights with customer service to get points reinstated. At least with a credit card you can get a chargeback, getting points back from Melia is like trying to get a EU compensation from Iberia. Generic emails in confusing English, ignored requests, no way to get anyone’s name, basically a tactic of wearing a customer down so they give up or use their own travel insurance.

• ChrisA says:

  11 Sep11 September 08:12

  Well, just made my final Tesco groceries order to benefit from the extra 2/£ on the BAPP. This has been a brilliant offer – fingers crossed for more.

  • M Baldrick says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:25

    I agree, I have used the offer quite a lot. I do hope they run it or similar again soon.

    • Andrew says:

      11 Sep11 September 08:54

      I hope something is coming for Platinum card too – it’s been a couple of months now and other (much cheaper) cards seem to be doing better with extra earning offers and higher burn rates. Perhaps once Shop Small ends of Sunday there will be something of note.

  • Wollhouse says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:32

    Yep, Amazon gift cards AND a new mountain bike….The local bike shop did Shop Small so I saved a fiver on a part I needed. But….having bought that, as I was leaving, they put a second hand bike, in mint condition, on the floor. Too good to resist…So the email advising I’d just got unexpected extra Avios was a nice bonus. I only went in for an inner tube!

  • Andrew says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:29

    +1. I’ve gone to Waitrose to buy some Waitrose/JL gift cards that I can then take off our next few online grocery orders…

  • Lashious says:

    11 Sep11 September 19:49

    dont they charge you when they deliver? So will it go through as the same date you shop on? I’ve completely missed this, guess I’ll head to waitrose instead

• Mark says:

  11 Sep11 September 08:24

  Hi Rob, any update on when we will hear more about the new Barclays Premier and Avios tie up?

  • Rob says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:43

    Not yet. We are chasing.

    • Mark says:

      11 Sep11 September 09:06

      Thanks!

  • Nick says:

    11 Sep11 September 09:50

    There’s a much bigger Barclays tie-up coming, hence the delay.

    • Genghis says:

      11 Sep11 September 12:04

      Care to share?

• Matthew says:

  11 Sep11 September 08:26

  Just a heads up re BA Holidays bookings. If you have a booking like mine, made before 3 March for a trip after 30 Sep (therefore outside scope of FTV) and FCO advice is in place preventing travel to the country at 3 weeks before (day balance due) then you can phone up and get a full refund. Flipping shame though as this was the Monaco trip with free heli transfers :-(. Another time perhaps…

  • Jody says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:54

    That’s useful to know, thanks Matthew. Our balance is due 16th October, but I doubt anything will change by then.

    Like you, we were really looking forward to the free helicopter transfers. Hopefully it”s an offer they’ll do at another time.

    • Matthew says:

      11 Sep11 September 11:23

      Yes they’ve run it in previous years so hopefully again soon. Just make sure you call on the day balance is due. 0800 is the best time, BA Hols say lines get busy from 0815 onwards until about 1945. Operation hours are 0800-2000.

• TripRep says:

  11 Sep11 September 08:48

  Qatar denied boarding making the news.

  https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-family-including-infant-stranded-at-london-airport-for-days-20200907-p55szz.html

  • Andrew says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:58

    Qatar always do treat business class passengers very favourably – the fact that economy have to wear masks and face shields throughout the flight but business class only need to wear them for boarding and disembarkation is excellent and will certainly make me fly with them when I next go to Asia – 12 hours with a facemask on doesn’t sound very appealing.

    • Polly says:

      11 Sep11 September 09:26

      Yes we have a Malaysia trip with them in Nov, now not happening of course, but v helpful chat with QR yesterday regarding options. Plenty there, v flexible. If Thailand gets their act together, could possibly change destination to HKT, with hotel of choice for 1st 2 weeks.
      However, OH reluctant to travel even in J. Q suits in 2 sectors, no mask, even tho think we would still wear one when not eating.
      QR are managing very well during these ever changing times.

      • IG says:

        11 Sep11 September 11:15

        Posted this late last night.. just checking in case anyone missed it..

        HSBC WE / Rev – these now accrue interest but has anyone gotten charged the 2.99% “Cash Fee”? Can you pay it off same day to avoid interest?

        • IG says:

          11 Sep11 September 11:19

          Don’t know why this appeared here, sorry! Wasn’t meant to be a reply.

        • Paul says:

          11 Sep11 September 12:06

          That explains the random £4.91 interest on my latest statement then after @£6k of Revolut transfers last month that I needed to do. Based on statement not a 2.99% rate though.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:36

    Ex EU duty of care applies.

    I’d be reminding Qatar of their duty to put my in a hotel for a week and if that’s still better than selling business class tickets.

  • Lady London says:

    11 Sep11 September 12:40

    Was this too good a story for the reporter writing it not to ensure someone told them Qatar Airways was obliged to guve them a hotel immediately and pay for transport to and from the hotel, phone calls/internet plus all meals till QR could fly them or arrange another airline to fly them

    EU261 all airlines departing from UK or Europe must do this regardless of whether they are European airlines or not.

    I wish QR would try this on me. I’d enjoy sorting them out and my first call would be to The Daily Mail.

  • Anna says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:43

    Surely they are entitled to duty of care as their journey is starting in London!

    • Anna says:

      11 Sep11 September 13:45

      Sorry, just seen LL’s more extended response! Clearly EU261 message not generally out there.

      • meta says:

        11 Sep11 September 14:00

        Yes and airlines are blatantly disregarding EC261. I bet even if the person mentioned it, they would just laugh and say sue us if you want. Not many people know how to actually take an airline to MCOL. And non specialist journalists are just as clueless.

        • Lady London says:

          11 Sep11 September 19:41

          She for sure would get every penny back, at MCOL if necessary, even if only the Sofitel wae easily reachable for them.

          I normally travel on a shoestring and my worry would be for people caught in this situation may not have the readies especially if they’ve had a long trip, to pay out then sue those miserable b’s at Qatar.

          Does she have to pay for quarantine in Oz, or is their government funding for Australian nationals?

        • Louie says:

          11 Sep11 September 23:45

          Yes. A$4,200 (c£2,400) for one adult and two over 6yo in WA, unless she qualifies for a waiver on hardship grounds.

      • Lady London says:

        11 Sep11 September 19:35

        They’re Australians and I’ve been shocked to read during Covid things that show Australia really has poor consumer protection.

        • Louie says:

          11 Sep11 September 23:47

          Ditto – and I live here! I’ll definitely be using a UK credit card for airline bookings in future.

• Aston100 says:

  11 Sep11 September 09:31

  Trying to work out the value per avios on my reward booking the other day.
  245000 avios + £1252 in taxes/charges
  Cash ticket on the BA website at that time was £6142.30

  Should I factor in the charges, or just divide the cash price by the 245k avios (which I believe gives a value of 2.5p per avios)?

  Thanks.

  • Andrew Mc says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:11

    In my view, the starting point should be how much cash you would have been prepared to spend for your flights. If £6,142.30, then that is the right figure. If less, then the lower figure. You certainly then have to deduct the taxes / charges paid to arrive at the cash saved (vs the cash you were prepared to spend). Then divide by your 245,000 to get effective £ value per avios.

    • Genghis says:

      11 Sep11 September 12:07

      👍🏻 Like I posted the other day, I’d say the more savvy you are with money and travel, the lower “pence per point” you generally get.

  • Anna says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:47

    There’s a lot to factor in. I generally think of it as getting £XXXXX amount of value for the price of the taxes and the BAPP fee. I don’t agree with the view that the value depends on whether you’d pay the full cash price, if that was true sale shopping would be no fun whatsoever!

    • Genghis says:

      11 Sep11 September 15:07

      What about the other opportunity costs I mentioned elsewhere? Points don’t exist in isolation to cash. To ignore the link risks getting a bad deal.

      • Anna says:

        11 Sep11 September 20:58

        You CAN overthink it 😂. I stop short of spreadsheets.

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