The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 4th November

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Brighton Belle says:

4 Nov4 November 09:10

Latest HFP site agro…, I’m reading a section and a new ad loads higher at the top of the thread. My placeholder jumps to the ad space and I get forced to look at the ad. These happens repeatedly so I stop reading. This only started in the last day.
- Brighton Belle says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 09:14
  
  On mobile site
  - Rob says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 09:51
    
    This will be fixed. It does not happen when ads are sold by us. It only happens when we ask Google to sell the ad – it changes the order the page is built in.
Mutley says:

4 Nov4 November 09:21

Having brekkie in the JW Park Lane, great suite upgrade paid £356 as I am bonvoy platinum. Hotel almost empty, sadly majority of staff on furlough until end of lockdown. Mrs mutley happy with 10% and £100 credit at Harrods yesterday. Thanks rob and hfp team for highlighting. Amex plat promos
- Chris says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 09:44
  
  Not wanting to sound like a stalker but I’m in the same breakfast room as you right now availing the plat offer!
- Harry T says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 10:24
  
  As a fellow Bonvoy Plat, I am delighted for you. Please could you tell me what they upgraded you to, and from?
  - mutley says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 19:21
    
    Upgrade was from Deluxe King selling at £356 to Executive Suite which sells at circa £900 per night, so all in all a result! also got late check out at 16.00
    - Harry T says:
      
      4 Nov4 November 22:59
      
      @Mutley
      Bloody good upgrade! Hope it was as good as it sounds 😊
- Tariq says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 12:02
  
  Nice, was due to stay there next weekend, now cancelled. Annoying as had booked the basic Queen room and used SNAs – upgrade had been confirmed last Sat morning to a £900/night Executive Suite!
  - Harry T says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 13:40
    
    Sorry to hear about your cancellation. If it’s any consolation, it’s easy to get a suite upgrade in London as Platinum or above right now, as hotels are very empty. You probably won’t even need to use your SNAs if you stay after lockdown. At the Sheraton Grand Park Lane, the lady at check in commented that lots of people had been using their SNAs recently, so it was lucky that they still had a Park View Suite available time give me as a complimentary upgrade. I’ve been upgraded to suites at W London, Marriott Lane and Sheraton GPL recently.
  - Tri87 says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 13:44
    
    Did the hotel cancel your booking or did you cancel it?
    - Tariq says:
      
      4 Nov4 November 17:03
      
      No, I cancelled it.
Mutley says:

4 Nov4 November 09:54

Come and say hello😀
- mr_jetlag says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 11:17
  
  awww…
- Chris says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 17:35
  
  Great breakfast I thought, the room was excellent. JW steakhouse a little focussed on quantity over quality I felt.
Optimus Prime says:

4 Nov4 November 10:44

The Star Alliance companion fares seem to be back with availability up to October 2021. For example ARN-SIN £925 in business class.
- Vit says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 11:39
  
  Found AMS – BKK returned in Sept 2021 for less than £900. Considering using my existing lastminutedotcom GC to be expired June 2021 (purchased pre-covid) since I won’t get it back in cash anyway.
Chrisasaurus says:

4 Nov4 November 10:54

Sounds nice, was 5 days about the right length of stay?
Lucy says:

4 Nov4 November 11:37

Might someone more informed than me be able to assist: I just received the gold Amex card in the post this morning. Activated but no ‘20,000 point’ promotion bar. Looking over the HFP site, I presume this is because I already hold the Marriott Bonvoy card? And which means I now scupper the chance of a bonus on the platinum card until I do not apply until 24 months after closing the gold card? Also: I was recommended by my father for the gold card, which is not showing in his account either. Should it be? Finally, the BA Platinum card – if I close Marriott [which I was intending to do] and then apply for BA Platinum in 2021 will I still be eiligilbe for the Avios bonus?
- Rob says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 11:43
  
  Correct – you won’t get the Gold bonus and you can’t get Platinum either now unless you cancel and wait 24 months.
  
  Your father should have had the bonus. This is not dependant on you receiving your bonus. Amex tracking has been a bit rubbish recently though.
  
  BA Premium Plus – yes, you get the bonus on that as long as you haven’t had either BA Amex in the past 24 months.
  - Lucy says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 11:55
    
    Many thanks for your help Rob. On the upside I will add my partner as additional card holder plus Shop Small [if it returns in December], which will still be 9,000 plus 6,000 plus circa £100. So not a completely wasted endeavour. I just need to ensure I spend all the Amex points to set the clock ticking. And to be fair, I was finding it hard to justify the platinum card at the moment anyway. Thanks again for your help.
- InfrastructureDebt says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 11:44
  
  I don’t see a progress bar for my new platinum card that was upgraded from green!
  - DK says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 11:57
    
    Were you invited to upgrade via email/post?
  - mark2 says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 12:04
    
    I have just done the same and do not expect to see a progress bar from previous similar wheezes.
  - AD says:
    
    4 Nov4 November 12:06
    
    Hi InfrastructureDebt, how long did it took for your card to change to platinum, after applying for the platinum upgrade please?
    - InfrastructureDebt says:
      
      4 Nov4 November 12:18
      
      Applied Monday afternoon and it went through on Thursday morning with card received on Friday
      - AD says:
        
        4 Nov4 November 14:46
        
        Many thanks
InfrastructureDebt says:

4 Nov4 November 11:39

Is anyone else blinded by the updated AMEX iOS app, it’s all white now …. classic why change something that isn’t broken
- Andrew says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 11:53
  
  Android has changed too, although it’s more grey and white.
- Nomad says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 13:04
  
  The previous amex blue was perfectly fine, this white/grey is so jarring especially if you don’t have many cards to break it up.
  Also Google changing the Gmail icon is making my eye twitch. Don’t know why companies mess with things that work!
- David says:
  
  4 Nov4 November 19:24
  
  indeed, needs a dark more
meta says:

4 Nov4 November 11:44

W London shutting down till 2 Dec. Just received a call. Moved dates to mid-December and they’ll honour my original all inclusive rate for £435 no longer available to book. Still undecided about whether to do Langley or W for Amex offer.