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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 22nd September

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Comments (252)

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

  • Matthew says:
    22 Sep22 September 04:50

    I haven’t recieved any Amex offers on any of my cards for around 9 months now, including all 3 of my cards (Plat, BAPP, AERC) and all supplementary cards (incl. cards not under my name). I know there was word of some “IT issues” that were affecting offers for some people a little while ago but I would’ve expected those to be resolved by now. The last time I tried talking to an Amex support rep, the only thing they told me was that “offers are targeted and don’t appear on all cards” even though offers like Shop Small (which to my knowledge are basically available to all direct Amex issued cards) did not show up for me. I managed to have them add Shop Small to one of my three cards for me on their backend but that was the only exception. Do you think it may be worthwhile to try and hassle Amex again about offers just being outright broken and not appearing on my account? I don’t want to get another generic answer back saying “offers are targeted” when I know myself from past experiences that this most likely an issue on their end. Any advice on how I may be able to get Amex to further investigate the issue rather than just shutting it down straight away with the generic response?

    • Andrew says:
      22 Sep22 September 06:27

      You didn’t even get the £100 of everyday spend offer for Platinum a few months ago? That was offered for all. Ring up and speak to Brighton – doesn’t sound right.

      • Matthew says:
        22 Sep22 September 06:42

        @Andrew I did not get the special COVID Platinum offer either. I tried ringing up Brighton who just told me the same thing: “it’s targeted”

        • Andrew says:
          22 Sep22 September 07:04

          Then they lied. An email was sent to everyone about it.

          • meta says:
            22 Sep22 September 08:03

            If you don’t have marketing preferences set up correctly, then you won’t receive any emails.

            I had same issues now what nearly 2 years ago. Solved by cancelling card and taking it out again within a week. (ping on credit rating though!) Formal complaint got me only £25. I also created a separate account for each of my cards. Then after a month offers started appearing back normally. No problem since then!

        • Rob says:
          22 Sep22 September 08:59

          No it wasn’t.

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      22 Sep22 September 06:35

      I have the same, there are a couple of other factors on my account- they reduced the limit on a couple of my cards without being asked a while back and before that, I may have been a little shall we say enthusiastic about an offer a couple years back

      Whether connected or not I don’t know

    • John says:
      22 Sep22 September 07:15

      Just say you want to make a formal complaint and if this goes nowhere you make a formal complaint about their complaints process (may need to be by letter if keep getting fobbed off but it shouldn’t be that bad!)

    • Sina says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:48

      I’ve had the same issue, had them check my account a couple of times and complained but they told me offers are not a core benefit of the card, so did not uphold the complaint! I think as @meta says, your best bet is to cancel and re-apply!

    • Connor says:
      22 Sep22 September 10:19

      Same issue on my BA card. No offers for 6 months after my credit limit was cut by more than half. Been consistently been putting through 10k a month of genuine purchases and they still won’t budge on the limit and get the same ridiculous response of offers being “targeted”.

      • Charlieface says:
        22 Sep22 September 14:10

        Have you tried removing the card from the online account then re-adding it?

        • Connor says:
          22 Sep22 September 18:02

          Just tried it with no immediate difference. Will wait a few days to see if anything changes. Also something slightly more concerning is that Amex is saying my account is ineligible to refer people. Very strange.

  • Vit says:
    22 Sep22 September 07:09

    Morning, just paid for my HFP subscription fee through Rob’s referral code. 😉

    Joking aside, is there any specific essential reasons to get the physical card on top of paying using GPay. I normally carry only a few (neccesary) card and don’t wanna add any unnecessities to my small card holder.

    Cheers.

  • Harry T says:
    22 Sep22 September 07:40

    So out of my last four Marriott Bonvoy stays, one of them has credited properly. Two haven’t credited at all, and one has been posted with only the points for food and beverage spend, rather than including the room rate. Not sure what point I’m trying to make, but the level of IT incompetence here is actually impressive!

    • KS says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:37

      They easily have one of the worst IT infrastructure amongst major chains. I have to call them up to be enrolled into any promotions. However, unlike you I benefited from their incompetence by getting double the bonus points.

    • Sina says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:50

      @Harry T – O/T are you by any chance in film production?

    • Lev441 says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:33

      My stay for the Parklane Cyprus last week has yet to give me any points/nights… how long does it normally take for these things to post?

      • Harry T says:
        22 Sep22 September 09:44

        In my experience, it normally posts in a couple of days post stay, or it doesn’t post. But I seem uniquely unlucky.

        • YC says:
          22 Sep22 September 10:57

          Yup couple of days. Definitely not good track record for points posting accurately. Quick phone call once I have a couple of stays to discuss fixes most of them but it’s an inconvenience that we have to double check Marriott’s work. Hilton much faster and better on this

        • DB2020 says:
          22 Sep22 September 11:20

          Harry T,

          Similar situation as you. Think I will have to call today as my email has not been responded to by the hotel, despite the fact that I received an email from the GM thanking me for the business and offering their services for anything I need especially for future stays!

      • YC says:
        22 Sep22 September 11:04

        An aside – Found Parklane to be a very good hotel. Great service and recognition with upgrade to junior suite which has free minibar and free 200ml bottles of spirits. One reason I tend to prefer Marriott over Hilton (even with points posting problem)

  • Anna says:
    22 Sep22 September 07:53

    IHG seem to have dropped their prices overnight – not sure if this is linked to the latest loackdown measures?! Some amazing bargains for October half term – e.g. the Crowne Plaza Harrogate is £50 pn.

    • Harry T says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:05

      When is October half term?

      • Grant says:
        22 Sep22 September 08:11

        Some regional variations I expect, but generally w/c 26 Oct

        • Anna says:
          22 Sep22 September 08:52

          Ours is then but I think some schools have the week before. Possibly some private schools have both!

          • RussellH says:
            22 Sep22 September 11:03

            Beginning of October in Scotland, though it is not “half term”. Scottish schools do not have half terms, but have four terms, which is a linguistic nonsense.

            And we got the first two weeks in October (previously just one week) after the Scottish School year was cut by one week, at the same tim it was increased by one week in England. Some parts of Scotland (notably Angus) always had two weeks in October – there were a lot of potatoes to pick!

            Just one, or sometimes two days in February, and nothing in May, which is exam time.

          • Chris says:
            22 Sep22 September 12:31

            I hate people making sweeping statements as if they’re fact.

            @RussellH that just isn’t true and there are regional variations. For example Edinburgh and Lothians all have a week in February

            as for October they range from October 9th right through to 26th

          • RussellH says:
            22 Sep22 September 13:01

            Chris,

            Sorry if things have changed, but that was how it was throughout my 20+ years in Scottish schools.
            As an EIS rep for some of the time, I can imagine there being pressure for a break in February in our area if there had been one elsewhere in the country.

        • Rob says:
          22 Sep22 September 08:55

          19th for private schools, who get 2 weeks.

          • RH says:
            22 Sep22 September 19:08

            They have shortened at my sons school due to Covid so I only get 9 days away and not 2 weeks this year. 1st world problem! 😀

      • Anna says:
        22 Sep22 September 08:53

        Harry T – obviously even cheaper outside the school holiday weeks so avoid them if you don’t have to travel then. We’re still stuck with it at the moment.

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:07

      I was there in August!
      Nice hotel but barely any status recognition (for Platinum anyway).
      The upgraded room had a shower rather than a bath tub.
      Would stay again though.

  • Andrew says:
    22 Sep22 September 08:01

    I would imagine so. To be told yesterday that by October half term could be 50,000 cases, reservations will be being cancelled left, right and centre.

    • Rob says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:56

      You need to be a bit of a mug to believe that graph though. Another few weeks on the same log scale and there would be a few billion in the UK with it ….

      • Charlieface says:
        22 Sep22 September 09:09

        It’s a long way from 50,000 to any significant fraction of the population of the UK though.

      • Peter K says:
        22 Sep22 September 11:55

        50k x 30 days is only 1.5M. even taking into account the exponential side of things and simplifying it a bit:

        (25k x 7)+(50k x7)+(100k x7)+(200k x7)= ~2.6M in a month. That is feasible as it’s only 4% of the UK population.

  • Peggers says:
    22 Sep22 September 08:05

    Good morning.
    I’m coming down to London later this week to help my daughter settle in at Goldsmiths. I am staying at the Doubletree nearby (thanks to those who suggested). I’m now asking for recommendations for a decent pub for a bite to eat near/at New Cross. Hopefully restrictions to be announced today will allow 😎.

    • memesweeper says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:17

      Historic Greenwich is walkable from your hotel and a bus ride from the Uni so I’d treat your daughter to a meal there.

      Spotify recommendation: “Only Living Boy in New Cross” for the journey down.

    • Matty says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:28

      I popped in to the Royal Albert when I stayed in the Doubletree. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the hotel, along New Cross Road, back towards New Cross station. It’s on the left.

    • Frankie says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:02

      I lived in New Cross for 15 years and can recommend the Fat Walrus for a decent pub and good bite to eat. Right beside Goldsmiths. And Goldsmith Cafe do a great cheap and cheerful fry up if you don’t have breakfast booked at the Doubletree.

    • Neil says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:57

      The New Cross Inn is a great little pub which does some excellent food. They also have a brilliant Covid one way system in place which I really like. The secret gem however is the Thai place right opposite the university called Thailand Newcross. It’s the best Thai I have found since leaving Australia and if your daughter has a student card, the prices are incredible! Enjoy

      • Danny says:
        22 Sep22 September 10:46

        I would echo the two recommendations by Neil. Also try the Walpole on New Cross Road, near New Cross Station so a short walk from the campus; there are some good deals for this place on Groupon at the moment. A bit nearer to the hotel on Deptford Broadway is Tila, opened earlier this year; the quality of the food and service are very good.

    • Peggers says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:18

      Thanks for the replies.

  • GaryC says:
    22 Sep22 September 08:33

    I’m interested to see what valuation people are putting on avios at the current time. The old “1p/avios” general rule seems increasingly optimistic, given the very aggressive sale pricing on cash tickets, the lack of opportunities for travel, and the generally uncertain future outlook.

    • Rob says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:53

      There is no aggressive long haul premium pricing. It’s the opposite – only ‘desperate’ people are flying and the airlines know they will pay up.

      Availability, medium term, should also be better than it has been for years.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:55

      Does that change the valuation or does that change the way you use and how much effort you put into collecting them?

      As they can still be worth 1p to redeem a smallish amount against cash flights I’ll stick to 1p.

      However, my focus is on convertible points like Marriott and Amex MR’s.

    • Colin MacKinnon says:
      22 Sep22 September 08:56

      Or more than 1p based on the value of being able to cancel for £35 up to 24 hours before departure?

      Used to book our big winter holiday long time in advance and noting was going to stop us going – so becoming happy with a cheap ex-EU ticket.

      But now, flexibility is supreme!

      • TGLoyalty says:
        22 Sep22 September 12:00

        Agree to some extent but technically things like FTVs have added flexibility to non-refundable cash fares

    • Worzel says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:02

      GaryC-my valuation, having collected for many years is 0.56p/Avios.

      • Charlieface says:
        22 Sep22 September 09:10

        I use 0.8p and I almost exclusively fly economy with Avios. Stil works out if you only use them at peak times/ last minute / one-ways

        • Lady London says:
          22 Sep22 September 10:23

          Mine’s 0.7 per avios. That has kept pace with the changesbin cash fares.

          To use @BJ’s immortal expression, anyone with a commitment to avios should be “making out like a bandit” booking the shorthaul cash fares in Club as announced in Rob’s article a couple of days ago. We’ll not see another avios and tier point opportunity like this for a very long time.

          • Zumodenaranja says:
            22 Sep22 September 18:48

            Well, that does rather assume that BA TPs will continue to have value beyond next year.

            The way things are going, they could end up worth as much as Woolworth vouchers!!!

      • Freddy says:
        22 Sep22 September 10:22

        If you are only achieving 56p per avios you may aswell get the amex CB card which pays 1p per pound and use that cash for flights

      • TGLoyalty says:
        22 Sep22 September 11:59

        a c$shback car giving 1-1.25% would be cash in your pocket.

      • Worzel says:
        22 Sep22 September 16:51

        * We have about 380k Avios and 2x 2-4-1s. The Avios should return 0.56p. We’ve had past returns of up to 3p/Avios. Nothing is guaranteed of course, so I value them at 0.56p . We’ve had flights in Club class along with family-something we wouldn’t have done without involvement in the hobby and Robs’ insight. If it all went down the pan, it would be disappointing, but wouldn’t hurt; as Brian Conley might say- “It’s a Hobby” ! 🙂 .

    • memesweeper says:
      22 Sep22 September 12:49

      … the lack of opportunities for travel …

      And this is the rub. I’ve spent virtually all my Avios this year — a few European trips this summer, and a big-bang family event at Xmas. The latter may not happen. If it does, I’ll get > 5p each value from my Avios. But if it doesn’t I’m left with a potentially very hard to spend FTV or Avios back in the account. In the past, or at least since regularly reading HfP, I’ve refused to spend Avios unless I’m exceeding 1p each; I won’t buy for more than 0.8p.

      As it stands, I’m making very little effort to earn Avios, and have almost zero in BAEC. I won’t be tempted to buy for much more than 0.5p. I’ll still try and extract more than a penny each from them… so what are they worth to me? 0.8p?

      • Aston100 says:
        22 Sep22 September 16:10

        Me on the other hand, I struggle to earn Avios.
        Got a BAPP and just use that for all my spend (where Amex is accepted anyway).
        Think I earnt about 250k Avios in 18 months, which I’m going to struggle to replicate as some of this was due to referrals and supplementary cards.

        I have no idea how others manage to earn more. I presume sort kind of MS, but not sure given Curve doesn’t work with Amex and the churning opportunities apparently no long exist.

    • GaryC says:
      22 Sep22 September 19:05

      Interesting variety of responses. I like wine, so 0.5p/avios redeeming with Laithwaites is probably the floor value for me. Right now if I could sell my stash for 0.7p/avios I’d seriously consider it, as I am struggling to see how I’m going to use them. And if and when I can start flying again regularly, I’m likely to need to favour cash tickets to have any hope of retaining status for 2022.

  • Louise K says:
    22 Sep22 September 09:10

    Looking to use a free IHG night before it expires by the end of the year.

    Looking at York – would the Principal or the Indigo. Any preferences.

    • Doug M says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:14

      Expiry is book by, not stay by.

    • Darren says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:31

      The Indigo is nice but on the small side and in a good area for food and drink. I’ve never stayed at The Principal but I understand that this is much bigger with more facilities (if they are available) and is right on the train station if you’re using this.

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:32

      Stayed at the York Indigo last month.
      Was nice and quaint.
      Customer Service was a bit lacking though.
      Rooms tiny, as you’d expect in a boutique hotel.
      Principal is better located, but seems to be getting a lot of negative reviews this year.

      • Aston100 says:
        22 Sep22 September 10:26

        Sorry, when I say quaint, I meant ‘quirky’.
        But possibly quaint too.

      • Rob says:
        22 Sep22 September 12:22

        I didn’t review Principal but we had a messy stay. I spoke to the manager afterwards who told me that her biggest problem is that people think it’s a luxury hotel but it isn’t. (To which my response would be – don’t spend £10m+ refurbishing your public areas to Savoy / Ritz standards then!). The rooms are dreadful. Great place to pop in to eat or have afternoon tea though.

        • Anna says:
          22 Sep22 September 13:06

          That’s possibly due to the prices. York does seem to be consistently more expensive than, say, Durham or Harrogate, even though it’s very much on a par with both as a destination!

          • Aston100 says:
            22 Sep22 September 16:12

            Not been to Durham, but I would argue York is superior to Harrogate as a tourist destination. By far.

          • John says:
            22 Sep22 September 20:21

            I would say Harrogate is a day trip to do from York. Also it was a bit underwhelming when I went (didn’t go for tea but went past to have a look inside)

        • GaryC says:
          22 Sep22 September 18:55

          I would concur with Rob on the Principal. Stayed there in August (on an IHG voucher), and the standard rooms are very small and cramped (though the bathroom was ok). A key factor for me was having a decent sized on-site car park (90 spaces), which other central hotels lack. In the event I ended up having to park in the station long stay as the car park was full to over flowing, due to non-residents paying the £25 fee to park there. I would not rush back.

          • John says:
            22 Sep22 September 20:23

            Interesting. There is a short section of road 5 mins walk from the Principal / station with no parking restrictions at all. I park there every time I visit York, most recently mid-August and there has always been a free space when I arrived…

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        22 Sep22 September 16:07

        I live near York. The Principal is a Victorian building and an old British Rail hotel until the ’80s with all the quirks you would expect from both. It’s always had a reputation locally for a typcial faded glory hotel verging strongly towards dumpiness, and the refurb downstairs seems more of a sticking plaster than a cure. They seem to have thrown their hands up in horror at the cost of refurbing the eccentric room portfolio and not really tried. It would be almost bottom of my advice list if someone asked where to stay in York for cash.

        General advice: if you’re staying centrally then you are 15 minutes walk or less away from everything else central (York is a small town pretending to be a city) so precise location is really not that important.

    • Anna says:
      22 Sep22 September 09:57

      A bit further north but the Indigo Durham is gorgeous, we had 2 nights there in July and were very impressed. However, I would be tempted to find somewhere more expensive to use a free night certificate, though obviously you’re then limited to IC/Kimpton London/Glasgow/Edinburgh so it depends how far you want to travel.

      • Anna says:
        22 Sep22 September 09:58

        Durham rooms are massive – we also stayed at the Indigo Newcastle and there was no comparison.

        • RussellH says:
          22 Sep22 September 11:09

          Did you get breakfast in cluded at the Newcastle Indigo?
          Been there three times, always on room only / cheapest non-refundable rate.
          Always told at check-in that breakfast was included.
          And cooked to order.

          • Aston100 says:
            22 Sep22 September 11:23

            Are you Spire?

          • Anna says:
            22 Sep22 September 13:03

            It wasn’t included but we booked on the recent bogof offer which was so cheap we wouldn’t have expected it to be! The (limited) breakfast menu was very good though, bacon/sausage butty, coffee and juice for £5.99 I think.

          • RussellH says:
            22 Sep22 September 16:29

            No, Gold!

          • John says:
            22 Sep22 September 20:24

            Interesting. One to try next time I get up there especially since the Crowne Plaza decided that Spires don’t get lounge any more

    • Louise K says:
      22 Sep22 September 18:01

      Thank, I will have a think again.

      We want to have a meander round the Christmas market if it’s going ahead so keen on York since neither of us have been for years.

      We also have an Ivy gift voucher to use from last Christmas so this working out a very cheap break!

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