The HfP chat thread – Monday 21st September

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General

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Aston100 says:

21 Sep21 September 09:05

I’m curious what would compel a chain hotel to upgrade a status member.
Are they audited by the parent organisation? Do they have to upgrade x number of members every so often?
- Rob says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:48
  
  It’s the rules you sign up when you join the chain.
  
  The other thing, that 99% of people ignore, is that most hotels NEED to upgrade. I have never seen a business travel policy which allows you to book anything more expensive than a base room. Midweek a hotel is likely to oversell its base rooms and so MUST upgrade some people. Giving the upgrades to status members kills two birds with one stone.
  
  Weekends are a bit different as leisure travellers are more likely to pay extra for more space or views.
  - Alex M says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 09:59
    
    My company never had problems with me booking higher class room as long as the price is reasonable.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:55
  
  You may give an upgrade to a status member because you know they use the brand often, you hope they will then come back in the future or recommend it to like minded elites and the marginal cost of the upgrade is probably a couple bottles of water and an extra 10 mins cleaning.
  - meta says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 09:59
    
    Hotels also pay marketing fee portion of which is participation in the loyalty programme.
Anna says:

21 Sep21 September 09:08

Do Amex know more than they should? I’ve got every hotel offer imaginable across my cards except the IC/Kimpton one. My only stays before the end of the year are IC and Kimpton!
- Andrew says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:19
  
  That’s how Amazon are so successful – they know what we want to buy before we even do.
- DJ says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:23
  
  Yep .. it’s like they are deliberately not giving you the offer you want/need.
  
  I was lucky to have someone at Amex to add the Marriott offer manually to my Marriott card, whilst I was on a call with them about another issue.
  - Spk says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 09:43
    
    Thats the whole point of an offer. To provide incentive to spend on things you wouldnt have spent on.
- Nick says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:23
  
  Well I have all the offers except Hilton… one guess which I would be most likely to use. Hey ho.
- Harry T says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 13:09
  
  I didn’t get an IC offer, and I have paid for an IC stay this year already. I haven’t stayed at an Indigo and I have an offer for that.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 13:19
    
    I haven’t paid for either on any of my Amex and only got the Indigo.
    
    Guess there’s really related retailers who they have decided would be an IC customer and not offered it to them. Or it’s being rolled out slowly …
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      21 Sep21 September 13:20
      
      Ignore the really.
Keely says:

21 Sep21 September 09:15

Quick question please- I’m applying for the BAPP as am nearing 10k spend On the free card – I know I have to apply online as a new application – as can’t upgrade online.
My son has gold Amex – can he refer me for this card – or won’t this count as it’ll be done as an upgrade ….? (Or should I just give it a whirl anyway…?i know I won’t get bonus but he could possibly get the referral points….)
- mark2 says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:57
  
  You now have to ring to upgrade.
  No points for referral.
  - Keely says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 12:04
    
    Ok thanks 🙁
KD says:

21 Sep21 September 09:33

Can anybody recommend any decent hotels in central London (ish) where the parking isn’t astronomical or do parking rates?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 09:57
  
  All of them charge a fortune however Try JustPark or AppyParking for cheaper alternatives nearby.
- Nick_C says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 12:22
  
  Worth checking Q Park at Tower Bridge for the Tower Bridge Hilton.
  
  £58 for three days.
stevenhp1987 says:

21 Sep21 September 10:06

Curve: just upgraded to Metal. Limit was reset to £1,000 per year… It was £100,000 per year!
- memesweeper says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 13:33
  
  oh dear! yo might want to complain about that …
- Lady London says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 18:02
  
  So were all these people getting £500,000 per year actually meant to get only £5,000 but someone allocating limits didn’t realise the last 2 digits weren’t pence? 🙂
Benilyn says:

21 Sep21 September 10:21

So someone posted about Creation accepting credit card as payments for their balance. Anyone tried this? Would your credit card co charge, I guess they should but anyone found one that doesn’t?
- Rob says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 10:27
  
  None of them charge AFAIK.
  - Benilyn says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 11:06
    
    Wow really? I would have thought they see it as a cash advance or payment to financials…
  - Vit says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 11:49
    
    I thought they would charge as well. I have upcoming balance ~£3k to clear. Thinking if I can make the payment using my amex blue / gold or virgin card.
    - Connor says:
      
      21 Sep21 September 12:10
      
      They don’t take Amex. Virgin works fine though.
      - Vit says:
        
        21 Sep21 September 12:45
        
        Thanks Connor. And no charge incurred from paying another credit card? I never know that. Got some more home renovation to do — could do with some virgin points!
- Anna says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 12:40
  
  If you’ve got the HH visa, this is the gift that keeps on giving!
  Maybe do it in chunks rather than all in one go, though I don’t actually know if this causes any problems at either end.
  - Bob says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 13:47
    
    Sorry being slow here! Does HH visa also accept payment via CC at no charge ? thanks
Lady L says:

21 Sep21 September 10:41

I’m right handed and keep accidentally pressing Reply when I scroll. So big Reply Box and all its appendages open up.

When genuinely replying, since the new website I keep finding myself transferred to the data protection page when entering Name as the Click Here is right below that and huge.

Could Reply button be nudged inwards from right hand margin? could the data protection with its link be smaller?

Or do I need less fat fingers and a bigger phone than 6.1″?
- Rhys says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 10:53
  
  The problem is – frustratingly – with ‘Core’ Wordpress functionality. We are hoping it is fixed fairly soon.
  - Rob says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 10:53
    
    The Data Protection box doesn’t show if you are logged in. Just click ‘save my details’ and you won’t see it again.
- Reney says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 20:42
  
  I’m right handed but scroll with my left hand to give the right a break. I click the reply button by accident all the time!!! Looking forward to the fix.
Terry says:

21 Sep21 September 10:45

Spent 8x on Small shops, only got credits for 5 spends, do I need to chase or will they eventually get credited?
- FFoxSake says:
  
  21 Sep21 September 10:55
  
  Ditto here. Just spoke to Amex CS about cancelling a card and mentions shop small. They agree it’s frustrating for customers. Some merchants have systems which immediately post to Amex, others go via a more manual and meandering route. All they can do is verbally validate that the missing ones are eligible but then you still have to wait up to 90 days.
  - Polly says:
    
    21 Sep21 September 20:22
    
    We got several refunded manually when l did chat, which was a result.