The HfP chat thread – Monday 12th October

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• Yuff says:

  12 Oct12 October 09:41

  Has anyone stayed at either the Conrad st James or Waldorf Hilton, as a diamond, over the past couple of months.
  which hotel is less affected by covid restrictions.
  From their websites the lounge is closed at the Waldorf and open with restrictions at the Conrad.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 Oct12 October 09:55

    I know the Conrad is doing breakfast and evening drinks in the restaurant / bar.

    They are also running 3 nights for 2 at the moment at very good rates.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      12 Oct12 October 09:55

      Should add via FHR or Emyr etc

  • venturelog says:

    12 Oct12 October 10:12

    Probably no help. But I’ve stayed at both recently, as Gold, but got an upgrade at Waldorf. The lounge is closed at the Waldorf, but the bar and Afternoon tea are open. We got Afternoon Tea included in ours. Breakfast is a cold buffet and hot meal order (limited selection). You have to book Breakfast slot.
    Conrad, i’m not sure about the lounge. Breakfast you don’t need to book & is ordered from table.

  • Michael C says:

    12 Oct12 October 10:13

    Stayed at the Conrad (as a nobody!) and v lovely: instead of lounge, happy hour in the lovely bar with any drinks you wanted, along with appetisers served tto your table. B/fast was anything á la carte, delicious.

    • Yuff says:

      12 Oct12 October 14:42

      Thanks everyone, useful info to help make the decision.

• Barry says:

  12 Oct12 October 09:51

  I now appear to have 2 Virgin 241 vouchers on my flying club account. This is what happened:
  – Jun 2019 Signed up to VS Rewards+ card
  – Dec 2019 Spent £10k and earned a 241 voucher
  – Jun 2020 Closed card just before anniversary to avoid paying another fee
  – Jul 2020 Refund (for cancelled flights) posted to card, called up to have this transferred to me. They had to reopen my account and then close it again to do this.
  – Jul 2020 New 241 voucher for spending £10k is added to my account.

  Messaged VS customer services to confirm expiry date on vouchers and they both expire in 2022! Now I just need to be able to use them….

• Rahaney says:

  12 Oct12 October 09:57

  Can you overpay Creation at all?
  Ta

  • Anna says:

    12 Oct12 October 09:59

    Presume you mean IHG MC? Yes if you make a second (or third) payment before the first one clears. You can only pay up to your outstanding balance each time though.

    • Rahaney says:

      12 Oct12 October 10:11

      Great,
      Thanks Anna!
      R

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      12 Oct12 October 10:45

      You can overpay if you go direct to the payment portal site… Just bookmark it 🙂

      • Rahaney says:

        12 Oct12 October 15:12

        Cheers!

    • RussellH says:

      12 Oct12 October 12:36

      My partner inadvertantly managed to overpay by a factor of 10 a couple of months ago. Went through with no problem at all.

      • Rahaney says:

        12 Oct12 October 15:13

        Good to know!

• Nick says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:11

  Morning all. Re Amex Hilton offer £50 off £200, is this a one off or cumulative?

  Thanks Nick

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 10:19

    Historically Hilton / Amex offers have been cumulative.

  • Ikaz says:

    12 Oct12 October 18:35

    Cumulative spend worked for me.

• SK says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:21

  I wonder if someone can help clarify Marriott points expiry date. My last point activity is 12th Oct 2018 and I got a notice from Award Wallet that the points will expire today as it has been 24 months since the last activity. When I checked out Marriott website it says points expiration is paused until Feb 2021. Does it mean that my points will not expire till Feb 2021? I tried to call Marriott on 020 7949 3010 and the number seems invalid. Does anyone have a working phone number? Thanks.

  • Nick says:

    12 Oct12 October 12:00

    AW doesn’t use an ‘expiry date’ as there isn’t one, it uses a database of ‘rules’ to interpret when miles will expire. It’s entirely possible that they haven’t kept up to date with recent changes being made by hotel chains.

  • Anna says:

    12 Oct12 October 12:03

    If you’re really worried I think there’s a 50% points buying bonus at the moment, but it’s been reported a few times that expiry has now been extended to Feb 21.

• Dave says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:24

  Does anyone know the Hilton Honors free-phone number when calling from the UK?

  • Dave says:

    12 Oct12 October 14:08

    There is an international free phone number +800 4445 8667. Obviously double check yourself on the Hilton website.

    • Dave says:

      12 Oct12 October 21:10

      Thanks. That’s the one I had used before but got charged premium rate.

• Hugh says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:30

  If normal times ever return am contemplating a round the world post retirement trip and wondering if it is possible to use a 241 Voucher to do an open jaw LHR > YVR and then return HND > LHR. If I understand the Open Jaw rules the difference between the end point of outbound and start point of return (4708 Miles according to GCM) must be less than the shortest leg (4723 according to GCM), so it would just qualify. BUT, I understand BA don’t use GCM mileage so I am fairly sure they will tell me it won’t qualify. Has anyone ever tried this? Or can anyone see any other combination of locations that would work?

  • Lammy52 says:

    12 Oct12 October 11:26

    Hugh

    I have just booked this exact routing last week for 2021.

    • Hugh says:

      12 Oct12 October 13:44

      Thanks Lammy, that is fantastic news! Gives me something to think about during the long winter ahead!

  • Louie says:

    13 Oct13 October 01:52

    No, they don’t use GCM mileage. If in doubt about whether something is allowed, usually you can check BA’s view of the mileage by checking the Avios you would earn on a 100% Avios earning fare bucket. LHR – YVR is 4,713 miles for example.

    In this instance this doesn’t work though for the open jaw YVR – HND as no OneWorld airlines fly the route! YVR – NRT would be 4,681 miles per BA versus 4,674 per GCM and HND is (per GCM) 34 miles further from YVR than NRT so say 4,715 miles. Very tight! You might have been lucky Lammy. Or maybe they use GCM if their internal system doesn’t have the distance?

    • Hugh says:

      13 Oct13 October 18:06

      Thanks Louie, thats really interesting, I was thinking about something like LHR > YVR > SYD > MEL > HND > LHR but actually having investigated a bit more I think using the Multi Partner Chart actually looks like it might be a slightly better option than using the 241 voucher after all.

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:33

  IHG web page offers the choice of “include taxes and fees” when showing the price.
  At Kimpton in California, there is a resort fee + 14% tax on resort fee – about $40.
  The room rate varies by that $40 when looking at cash prices with the “include taxes and fees” box checked and unchecked.
  But the points per night stay the same – and have the message: includes taxes and fees.
  However, the final booking page then wants about the resort fee!
  So do reward booking have to pay it, or not?
  Asking here because Rule 1 is: do not phone!

  • Anna says:

    12 Oct12 October 11:30

    I think it’s up to the hotel to decide whether they charge it. The Kimpton Seafire in Grand Cayman insists on charging the full $75 per night on reward bookings so it might be Kimpton policy across the board. I can only see this practice becoming more widespread as the economic downturn gets worse.

    • Anna says:

      12 Oct12 October 11:32

      It’s worth seeing if there’s a thread on your hotel on Flyertalk – they normally state whether you need to pay charges like this and if anyone’s been successful in having them removed at checkout etc.

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