The HfP chat thread – Friday 13th November

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• TripRep says:

  13 Nov13 November 09:17

  Bit of Friday humour referencing a popular Hotelier and a recent Hotel brand mix up… 🙂

  https://god.dailydot.com/chris-evans-four-seasons/

  • Aston100 says:

    13 Nov13 November 09:52

    “It’s over. You lost. If you don’t like it, take it all the way to the Supreme Courtyard Marriott.”

    That’s hilarious.

• mart says:

  13 Nov13 November 09:56

  Just checked i have the Morrisons 8 points offer this morning,i deleted all my cards yesterday and it appeared today not sure if that was anything to do with it .could be worth a try.

• Aston100 says:

  13 Nov13 November 10:01

  Revolutionaries question.
  I’ve setup my Speedy Yanks account to take direct debits (in full) from the Revolutionaries.
  Just want to check this doesn’t cause the Revolutionaries to get annoyed, considering all money going into my Revolutionaries account is entirely from cc topups.

  Is this safer than using Revolutionaries debit card to pay those Speedy Yanks?

  Thanks.

  • Harry T says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:07

    Don’t think it’s safer. I’d be wary of keeping any significant money in the bank vaults of the Revolution, so probably top up immediately prior to DD going out.

    • Lady London says:

      13 Nov13 November 12:57

      100%. The Revolutionaries are highly risky and have a habit of suddenly locking your money up in the castle without any particular reason. Currently they want me to re-provide them all ID – no reason as I avoid using them and only used them for one totally legit small retailer payment transaction involving a bank account not even a credit card. So clearly their systems have lost my ID or something. Too busy to satisfy them now so luckily they’ve only locked about £20 left in there after that transaction. I would say “avoid them” but am keeping the account open only in case of needing to use them for an emergency – but no faith whatsoever their shenanigans and ridiculous demands and idiot systems and impossibiliy to communicate with, would not stop me using them when I need to.

      They can go to the birds (much better and a proper bank) as far as I am concerned.

  • The Urbanite says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:11

    I’ll stick my neck out here and say that I was warned off paying credit cards with the card and bank transfer, but nothing said about Direct Debit.

    • The Urbanite says:

      13 Nov13 November 10:13

      You may be ok if you use the account ‘normally’ and only make one payment per month. If the payments are too regular they will pick up on it.

      • Aston100 says:

        13 Nov13 November 10:33

        Hi, yes I’m using this as a normal bank account now. The Speedy Yanks direct debit would be automatic (once a month?).
        I’m a tad nervous as this would require me to hold a few K with the Revolution, and I wouldn’t want the guillotine brought forth unexpectedly.

        Thanks.

        • Harry T says:

          13 Nov13 November 10:45

          I wouldn’t leave a few k in there. They have no FSCS protection, terrible customer service, and close accounts on a whim.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          13 Nov13 November 11:06

          They do warn you first before freezing accounts not like Monese.

        • 747_Brat says:

          13 Nov13 November 12:33

          Monese is a joke!
          I am closely watching the outcome of @HarryT case against them in FOS.

        • Lady London says:

          13 Nov13 November 12:59

          Listen to @Harry T.

• Nick says:

  13 Nov13 November 10:17

  Now corridors have opened up thinking of a Dubai trip, the Atlantis Palm has been recommended wonder if anyone else has any they have tried and loved

  • Stanley says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:48

    Ritz Carlton. Superb, and on the mainland. Atlantis is a Vegas-esque mega resort.

    • meta says:

      13 Nov13 November 11:02

      Not near Palm, but I really like Renaissance Dubai Downtown. Spa is superb (Six Senses), lounge is decent. They have several restaurants (Italian, Middle Eastern, Japanese). Even regular rooms are spacious and newish(hotel opened 2017). Views are great too. It’s also not far from Dubai Mall (5-10 min by taxi or 20-25 minute walk). I got a decent rate last year.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        13 Nov13 November 12:47

        Agree on the Ren the six sense is brilliant but if you like beach its probably not for you. was some nearby construction (as always in Dubai) but couldn’t hear it from the room.

    • Sukes says:

      13 Nov13 November 11:31

      The Palace Downtown. I’ve never experienced a breakfast like it. Otherwise the ritz Carlton Dubai at the marina (there is also a ritz Carlton at the Dubai financial district).

  • mart says:

    13 Nov13 November 11:17

    our teenagers loved atlantis loads to do.Imperial club worth it depending on price

    • Nick says:

      13 Nov13 November 11:29

      Thinking of a split between Atlantis Imperial Club as I have been told its unreal, and the Waldorf Astoria Palm where I get a great discount via work!

• MrD says:

  13 Nov13 November 10:28

  Not sure if this has already been discussed but HMRC seem to have added a surcharge to Mastercard Debit i.e. Curve payments which were previously free, just went to sort PAYE and noticed the addition.

  You no longer select a card it autofills the card type, the charge however only appears to be 0.1% so it still works out fine:

  Amount – £2651.05
  Surcharge amount – £2.65

  Thought it was worth mentioning though, anyone else can confirm they are seeing the same? Only tried PAYE so far but would assume this also applies to VAT etc.

  • Rob says:

    13 Nov13 November 11:46

    This was announced back in Spring and we covered it, came into effect 1/11.

    • MrD says:

      13 Nov13 November 12:04

      Ah right must have missed that one, thanks for confirming!

    • MrD says:

      13 Nov13 November 12:14

      Rob,

      Is it this article?: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/07/02/hmrc-changes-its-rules-for-payment-by-business-debit-card/

      “Off the top of my head, cards used by HFP readers to generate miles from HMRC are not business debit cards. If anyone thinks otherwise, please let us know.”

      Appears Curve is classed as business debit by HMRC as it was charged.

      • Chas says:

        13 Nov13 November 13:57

        If your card has “commercial” on the back you have the business version. If you explain to them that you mainly use the card for personal use now, they will swap it for a new card which works fee-free on HMRC. Also handily resets your limits too.

        • MrD says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:45

          Great, thanks for the explanation I’ll have a word with them.

        • Genghis says:

          13 Nov13 November 17:11

          But from reports on here you risk having your limits reduced. YMMV

  • RH says:

    13 Nov13 November 22:19

    I used my metal curve today. Will check my statement in a few days and advise.

• 747_Brat says:

  13 Nov13 November 10:38

  How long does it take for in-store transactions (specifically Morrisons) to appear on Virgin shopping portal?

  • Tom says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:52

    Somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks is normal.

    • 747_Brat says:

      13 Nov13 November 12:35

      Cheers, thanks Tom.

• Graeme says:

  13 Nov13 November 10:39

  Being reported in twitter that Aer Lingus are looking at basing 4 aircraft at MAN next year for JFK, BOS, ORD and MCO to put pressure on Virgin and replace old Thomas Cook routes. UK AOC has been sought. Interesting I feel true for OW flyers!

  • Harry T says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:46

    That’s great news! An opportunity to burn Avios too.

  • marcw says:

    13 Nov13 November 11:34

    well, Aer Lingus is not in OW. Might be a good use for Avios though. Anyway, any new route announcement is just fantastic news in current times.

    • Anna says:

      13 Nov13 November 13:22

      +1 and direct flights to BOS plus competition for the other routes can only be a good thing. I could probably even cope with MAN-BOS in economy, especially on the return leg!

• Rhys says:

  13 Nov13 November 11:01

  Does anyone know if IHG charge a cash advance on bendy->ernie?

  • Jane says:

    13 Nov13 November 11:08

    nope

    • Rhys says:

      13 Nov13 November 11:11

      Excellent, thanks!

  • James says:

    13 Nov13 November 11:52

    Please can you elaborate or what “bendy” and “Ernie” are? I see them mentioned a lot.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      13 Nov13 November 12:07

      For Ernie Google it. The institute that uses it are who they’re referring too. Haven’t to be careful otherwise they become aware.

      Bendy, its a card. Think about it

      • ChrisBCN says:

        13 Nov13 November 12:44

        Ernie is the name of the computer that picks premium bonds! Bendy refers to the curve card.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          13 Nov13 November 13:07

          You realise the whole point of not saying it directly is to avoid the companies automated searches picking it up?!

        • Crafty says:

          13 Nov13 November 13:37

          …which makes the continued usage of “Revolutionaries”, above, *completely* pointless.

        • Chas says:

          13 Nov13 November 13:41

          @ChrisBCN 🤦🏻‍♂️🤯🤦🏻‍♂️

        • ChrisBCN says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:09

          To think that the companies that are smart enough to have automated searches aren’t smart enough to also search for related terms, nicknames, etc etc is ludicrous. Any social/forum text search tool will know related terms, go research Brandwatch, Crimson Hexagon, Sysomos…. The only people you are fooling by talking in codewords are yourselves!

        • Chas says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:29

          @ Chris BCN – as Lady London points out below, it’s not necessarily about preventing the main company from finding out, because if it currently works it’s probably because it’s at a low enough level that they have decided to tolerate. Once it gets out more widely (which using real names instead of code names facilitates) then the growth rate becomes much higher, tolerances are breached, and things get shut down permanently.

      • ChrisBCN says:

        13 Nov13 November 14:34

        Hi Chas, I understand the point, but the HfP chat thread isn’t quite the MSE front page.

        • Chas says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:38

          Of course not, but search engines make it very easy to find the comments if real names are used, and it only takes one “bright” spark to post it on MSE, and then *boom*!

        • ChrisBCN says:

          13 Nov13 November 15:06

          I’m not sure what you think people are searching for that would land them on this page! That’s not quite how search works… Try it.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          13 Nov13 November 17:30

          @crafty I’ve said it before, they only search for whole words, chances or revolutionaries being a wide spread nickname is virtually nill.

          @ChrisBCN as well as tolerances, its about using such a come word that you get bombarded with useless stuff so becomes more effort to search thru it than its worth. Also human error, easy to miss something with such a common word.

        • David says:

          14 Nov14 November 11:23

          @ChrisBCN – this site is far more popular than you believe. Also easy to follow instructions rapidly increase the uptake of things – as easy instructions can be linked to from, e.g. MSE forum, etc.

        • Rob says:

          14 Nov14 November 12:13

          We’ll do 19 million page views this year. It’s rare you find anyone who works for a credit card or loyalty company in the UK that doesn’t read it.

          (Although David may remember a conversation he and I had with that guy from Hyatt in the VIP terminal of …. whichever airport was it?!)

        • David says:

          14 Nov14 November 13:35

          @Rob – I think we were actually on a bus at the time, but I do remember it!

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