The HfP chat thread – Sunday 6th December

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MilesOnPoint says:

6 Dec6 December 09:47

Off to The Langley today on the Amex Plat/Quintessential Luxury rate gravy train 🚂🍾. Has anyone stayed already since lockdown ended? Interested to know what breakfast / dinner in Cedar is like with current set up.
- N says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 13:25
  
  Checking out in half an hour!
  
  Cedar feels busy. Service can be anything between scrappy and excellent depending on who you get. Hotel feels a bit rough round the edges, but they’ve been only been open for a few nights…
  - MilesOnPoint says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 15:35
    
    Thank you for the reply 🙂
    
    Just had a wonderful session in the spa, delighted that has opened. Hopefully our dinner at Cedar will be closer to the excellent end of your scale haha
Optimus Prime says:

6 Dec6 December 09:49

IHG doing a 3×2 promotion for stays until 31 March 2021. Book by 30th December.
Titus Adduxas says:

6 Dec6 December 10:32

As Tesco are stopping their link with Avios in January, which credit cards could I use to link with Curve that do give Avios where Amex isn’t accepted?
- DJ says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 10:42
  
  HSBC Premier Credit Card, or the legacy Lloyds Avios card, these are the only two cards I know..
  
  I did read that you can also convert NatWest reward points to Avios as well, in which case any of their cash back credit cards would be good.
  - guesswho2000 says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 12:19
    
    And the hotel cards, indirectly (IHG/Hilton) and at a terrible rate.
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 14:26
    
    For into, natwest rewards account (debit or credit card) gives 1170 avios per £1000 supermarket spend, so not bad at 1.17p per £.
    (1% cb converted with bonus when reaching £10 of rewards). However most other places it only gives a quarter of that rate (1170 avios per £4000) – generally making it more lucrative to curve to IHG or Virgin.
- The Urbanite says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 16:41
  
  Capital on Tap, 1 Avios per £1 of spend.
Patrick says:

6 Dec6 December 10:43

Quick question, is it possible to pay the taxes and fees with avios as well if you use a companion voucher? (I know not necessarily the best use of avios but I am quite avios rich…)
- Titus Adduxas says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 10:54
  
  Taxes and fees can’t be paid with Avios. It’s probably where they make most of their money!
  - Patrick says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 10:55
    
    it’s what I thought, though you can pay some of them via normal bookings now (with the avios discount scheme)
  - Genghis says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 13:16
    
    Well – they can though. Just not on a 241 and not at a good rate.
MilesOnPoint says:

6 Dec6 December 10:52

Off to The Langley today on the Amex Plat/Quintessential Luxury rate gravy train. Has anyone stayed already since lockdown ended? Interested to know what breakfast / dinner in Cedar is like with current set up and which champagne is comped? Thanks in advance
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 12:23
  
  I’ve used that rate before sure it tells you it’s Yellow label VC
  - meta says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 12:41
    
    It says on the rate Moet champagne currently.
    - MilesOnPoint says:
      
      6 Dec6 December 15:37
      
      Thanks both, should find out shortly. Sorry for the double post, the first one was left pending for quite a while so I resubmitted
RussellH says:

6 Dec6 December 11:47

Perhaps a point of interest about Amex not letting all cardholders sign up for Shop Small as soon as it was announced…
Following the announcement here, we talked to a family member who runs a pub in North Oxfordshire and did Shop Small during the summer, and was very pleased with the extra business it seemed to have brought in.
Turns out that Amex never invited her to sign up for SS this time. NOt deliberate, just incompetence – they signed her up as soon as she got on the phone to her.
She is on the map now, though that could be a hold-over from the summer.
- ankomonkey says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 12:45
  
  A number of the better merchants near me who were on in the summer are not on this time, possibly for the same reason. Instead, I have a couple of doctor’s surgeries, a couple of dentists, a few b&bs (I have a house here and we’re in Tier 3) and a fabric shop that shut several years ago!
- Will says:
  
  7 Dec7 December 01:34
  
  Not being offered Shop Small on a recent supp card. No reason given other than ‘we are rolling it out gradually’. Well it only lasts 2 weeks and you are sending the ads to the card just not the offer button. Try another agent or suck it up?
RussellH says:

6 Dec6 December 11:54

Rather less likely to be correct than most of the places on our local map is one of our local Housing Associations. It is the office, not the shop by the retail park where you can donate used furniture and white goods, which they refurbish and then sell.
I just cannot see people on minimim wage or UC going into the office and paying their rent with an Amex card…
- ChrisC says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 12:54
  
  Might it not depend on the address the shop uses with Amex?
  
  Does it use its own address or the office address for correspondance etc
  
  If the latter then it would explain why Amex have listed the office address.
  
  And if the shop has to sign up to the scheme then it’s possible the person filling in the form put the office address instead of the shop
- Andrew says:
  
  6 Dec6 December 13:24
  
  Some housing associations have more than just homes to rent.
  
  The local one here has various sports or community halls, along with office space to hire.
  - the_real_a says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 15:27
    
    We often used to rent the conference room of the local sports place for meetings pre-covid – all owned by the LHA. Also many associations have found that flats in prime areas are better used to rent to working people at market rates, and then use this money to help more people in less prime areas. So certain customers are quite affluent.
Mike says:

6 Dec6 December 12:30

Booked a trip on BA CE to IST in the sale 2 months ago. Changes are free as far as I understand, but is there a limit to how many times I can change given how things are quite fluid atm?