The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 6th October

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• Chadders says:

  6 Oct6 October 03:18

  Is anybody else having the issue that I am with the bendy one with regards to seagulls? The damn thing is getting very dirty scooping things up at the moment. It’s turned my wallet into a right mess.

  • @mkcol says:

    6 Oct6 October 16:15

    No I can pay AMEX fine with Curve.

• Sina says:

  6 Oct6 October 04:45

  I’m flying CE to Istanbul this week, and was wondering what are my options for the lounge in T5? I usually fly Economy so never seen BA lounges, mostly go to Premium plaza, which one is better atm?

  • BJ says:

    6 Oct6 October 06:10

    The BA lounges are reportedly improved atthe moment due to table service. Since you have not tried it before why not give it a go and then head to Plaza which I presume is open although I don’t recall recent comments.

  • Sukes says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:35

    Not been into BA recently but in T5 plaza prem twice recently and v gd. They are very stringent about clearing tables and serving food and drinks to your table, although you can go up to the bar. Food offering almost same as normal, just that salads now come in prepacked boxes.

  • Sina says:

    6 Oct6 October 17:49

    Thanks both!

• Linda says:

  6 Oct6 October 07:00

  Has any one else found it impossible to book to the USA through Avios.com. I tried to rebook my Lloyds voucher last week and was told their system was not accepting bookings to the US, they would ring me back when they could.

  Nothing yet, its very frustrating. I am sure the main BA site is still excepting new bookings and thought Avios was a subsidiary of them alll working off the same systems. I would not be using them as its only because of the voucher I have to.

• Wollhouse says:

  6 Oct6 October 07:09

  I had 2 business flights EDI-LHR-BKK return, booked with a BAPP 241 and Avios. BA cancelled all flights and I took a voucher as it gave me an extension on the 241 expiry which I needed. I’m now rebooking. However… my friend that was previously flying will not have a son at Edinburgh uni when we fly so whilst I will still need edi-Lhr-bkk she will only need lhr-bkk. The original booking, which my understanding BA has to “replace” at no extra charge included the edi-Lhr and the return legs for 2. The new 241 booking requires both passengers to travel together. If I book Lhr-bkk return for two, do you think I might be able to argue that they have to use the “leftover” voucher for my single ticket to get me from/to Edinburgh?? I suspect they’ll fight and want me to pay (extra Avios or cash) so just wondered if there was anything I could use to argue my case?

  • Sean says:

    6 Oct6 October 07:34

    you accepted a voucher for an extended 2-4-1 some avios and cash. BA do NOT need to “replace” the legs, you now book what ever is available, under the terms and rules of the voucher that you willingly accepted. 241 rules don’t allow for a single journey.

  • Jonathan says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:51

    You both have to fly exactly the same itinerary to use a 241 I’m afraid, no exceptions. Either your friend starts in EDI with you or you get yourself to LHR.

    • Jonathan says:

      6 Oct6 October 08:53

      There won’t be any spare Avios left on voucher as connection from EDI is free in Avios terms, there may be a small cash refund though as you do pay additional charges for the EDI-LHR sectors.

  • Dave says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:52

    Why not get your friend to fly up to Edinburgh to start the trip? Then on the way back they can just get off at London.

  • Wollhouse says:

    6 Oct6 October 14:00

    Thanks all. Think I’ll try and convince her and then all the bookings are linkedz

• Mr. AC says:

  6 Oct6 October 07:12

  We stayed at the Indigo Bath this weekend on a points booking – managed to snag one Premium room for one day and the “King Suite Vault” for another, both for 30k points. I jumped on it last Wednesday when Rob ran the article about it.
  To get it out of the way, the Suite redemption wasn’t honoured – according to the hotel, those rooms aren’t actually ready yet (and it seems you can’t book them for cash until November too).
  However, the Premium room was quite good as well – we’ll be back, and won’t be chasing the Suite in the future. Overall the hotel is almost shockingly good.
  The best thing about it turned out to be the hotel restaurant – “The Elder”. It’s miles ahead of the average posh hotel restaurant, for sure better than Ting at the Shard, and arguably better than Cedar at The Langley. Absolutely smashing breakfast as well, best we’ve had in the UK. Dinner reservations is a must, hotel is far from full but no space at the restaurants in the evening. Tip: you can have “room service” in the lounge on the ground floor.
  The staff are so great that it’s either that they’ve been all just hired off the street so are welcoming and warm simply because having guests is still genuinely exiting, or (more likely) they’re all highly trained, seasoned veterans hand-picked from other top hotels.
  The only complaint we had was that the bed base was made up from 2 sections with a king mattress on top, which led to a somewhat noticeable depression in the middle. We were given a choice of 2 other rooms to move to for the second night (which we took).
  Thank you Rob for this redemption opportunity specifically and for the blog in general (since it enabled me to earn the points needed in the last Accelerate).

  • Anna says:

    6 Oct6 October 07:36

    That’s all very good to know, thanks! I did notice on the website that it said that the vault rooms are still under construction so the recent points offers must have been a real mess-up somewhere along the line. Hopefully they’ll be ready for our stay in May.

  • Harry T says:

    6 Oct6 October 07:38

    I suppose at least they honoured the Premium room on points!

    • Mr. AC says:

      6 Oct6 October 07:46

      Actually I’m not really sure that’s what happened – on check-in the bloke at reception tried to charge me for the booking, and he tried to charge 167 GBP, which is about what the base rate was this weekend. He was visibly confused when I explained that I had a pre-paid points booking! I may have been the first person staying at the hotel on points…
      So it’s possible they actually thought I booked a “standard room” but upgraded us due to me being Spire Elite (which does happen in empty-ish hotels).

      • Anna says:

        6 Oct6 October 07:56

        Surely your booking confirmation showed the type of room and the number of points paid? I think we’ll all be saving our screenshots anyway!

        • Mr. AC says:

          6 Oct6 October 08:01

          It did, but I never had to show it since we were already in (upgraded to?) the top category.
          However, based on experience of people in the Wednesday thread on other IHG hotels, if the hotel doesn’t want to honour what the confirmation is saying, they just don’t honour it and say it’s a mistake (which is kind of what they did with my Suite booking – they couldn’t honor it because it was, in fact, a mistake!)

        • memesweeper says:

          6 Oct6 October 08:04

          I’ve got my suite confirmed for next year. I hope it’s honoured but I won’t loose any sleep if it isn’t.

      • BJ says:

        6 Oct6 October 08:28

        I get that you seem not to bothered and were happy with your stay overall BUT the fact is you did not get what you paid for. I’m surprised you did not or are not pushing that with the hotel and/or IHG. I definitely would be.

        • Harry T says:

          6 Oct6 October 08:47

          Yes, it’s dishonest of the hotel to offer a room type for booking and then not provide the room purchased. At the very least, they should have thrown in some compensation.

        • Mr. AC says:

          6 Oct6 October 09:01

          I think it was blatantly obvious that the it was a mistake rate – have you seen many cases where the base room is priced the same way as a suite? I’m pretty happy with the outcome and I’ll save my kerfuffle energy for cases where it’s actually warranted.

        • Rob says:

          6 Oct6 October 09:20

          Not unknown. We’ve actually run articles in the past called ‘IHG hotels which let you redeem for a suite’! As I’ve mentioned numerous times, HI Camden Lock in London offered its penthouse suites for YEARS for points.

          Generally happens at new hotels or hotels where the points category doesn’t reflect low cash rates so the hotel offers better rooms to encourage more redemptions.

        • meta says:

          6 Oct6 October 09:09

          @Mr. Ac Yes, hotels discount suites all the time and are sometimes even the same price as standard room even for cash bookings. I have seen this many times. I have actually booked such rates and hotels never even mentioned it, just gave me the room I booked.

        • Jonathan says:

          6 Oct6 October 09:21

          Really?! It’s clearly a genuine error by what is essentially a small business (not faceless, mega corp IHG). He got an upgraded room & a great stay at a bargain price so why bring conflict & negativity into the equation? Personally can’t see the attraction of a large basement room with no windows just because it’s called a “suite” anyway!

        • BJ says:

          6 Oct6 October 09:27

          @Mr. AC, my experience is consistent with that of @Meta so I cannot consider it a blatantly obvious mistake. The closest point of reference that immediatdly springs to mind was Indigo Kensington. Same thing happened when they launched, and they honoured the suites without complaint. It is also not unusual for hotels to take bookings prior to opening or for rooms pisted refurbishment.

  • Peter K says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:25

    Nice little review thank you. Very helpful.

• Harry T says:

  6 Oct6 October 07:41

  There’s a cracking BA deal to multiple US cities from Luxembourg and returning to Brussels, with availability up until the end of next August (not a good idea to book September because of then book with confidence ends). The cheapest Club World fares are found by routing LUX-LHR-BOS-LHR-BRU. I booked flights next August for €750 each. Unfortunately you can’t make flights from LUX into a BA holiday but this is possible departing from BRU (more expensive though).

  • BJ says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:40

    Might require up to 4x Covid tests per pax. Who knows where this will all end.

    • Harry T says:

      6 Oct6 October 08:48

      I hear you, but I think we will be okay. At the very least, it’s covered by Book with Confidence.

      • BJ says:

        6 Oct6 October 09:37

        Have same issues with our trip to Asia next summer. Some noises about Japan starting to reopen April but the prospect of getting there and the costs if we then get stuck there with Japan prices put a dampener on the whole thing.

        • Harry T says:

          6 Oct6 October 13:53

          Oh goodness me, yes, Japan is pricey! I think the US is one of the countries most likely to open up to the UK. Japan may well stay closed for a very long time.

  • ChrisC says:

    6 Oct6 October 13:54

    I did manage to get LUX to price up as a BA holiday (flights + 1 night hotel) but it wanted payment in full whereas BRU allows a deposit.

• Egara says:

  6 Oct6 October 07:45

  Hello, my partner has held the BA Amex PP for years with me as supplementary cardholder. We have Gold and Bronze status with BA and 2 companion vouchers to use. It doesn’t look either of us will be travelling for a while and the renewal of the card is due now. Any recommendations on what we should do to avoid paying the approx. £160 fee without losing the companion vouchers, avios, etc? Many thanks

  • Rob says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:29

    Irrespective of what Amex tells you on the phone, you can cancel. Avios and vouchers are safe. Don’t believe any rep who tells you otherwise.

    You WILL need AN Amex to pay taxes when you use the 241. Any Amex will do, doesn’t need to be yours.

  • BJ says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:37

    You will not lose companion vouchers or avios as those are sent to your BA account and are unaffected by cancellation. However, you need to keep an amex card or have access to one when you want to use the voucher because you have to pay with an amex card. Any free amex will do, it does not need to be a BA amex.

  • Egara says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:58

    Thank you both

• Anna says:

  6 Oct6 October 08:00

  Harry T – I don’t know if you saw yesterday but I put a brief mention of our excellent stay at the Kimpton Clocktower this weekend. Well worth a trip to Manchester. Someone asked about the breakfast as well – the hotel breakfast was £18.50 but they also serve brunch in a separate area from 10 am which is cheaper if you just want to order one dish and a drink (including cocktails!). £10 each for Eggs Benedict and a latte.

  • Sarah says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:23

    I would also highly recommend the Kimpton Edinburgh. Both restaurants were really good too.

    • Anna says:

      6 Oct6 October 09:05

      Thanks Sarah, this is my Plan B if The George is still closed by December!

  • Harry T says:

    6 Oct6 October 08:49

    Thank you, both.

    • Harry T says:

      6 Oct6 October 08:49

      @Anna walked past the George this weekend and the signage doesn’t give a planned opening date.

      • Anna says:

        6 Oct6 October 08:54

        Thanks – the latest date on the website is October 14th I think. They’ve offered me a very decent deal on a suite upgrade so I’m assuming they are at least intending to be open by December!

  • Crafty says:

    6 Oct6 October 18:31

    Thanks Anna, it was me that asked. I can add breakfast to a booking for £8pp. I will do so if it’s a proper hotel breakfast, but some places are doing a bagel in a paper bag at the moment!

    It sounds like you didn’t have it though?

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