The HfP chat thread – Monday 14th December

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• Chris K says:

  14 Dec14 December 10:11

  Morning all.

  I’ve lost track of the latest changes. What still works for paying Self Assessment with Bendy, please?

• Tmw says:

  14 Dec14 December 10:19

  Still no sign of my BA First class blanket even though they said on the 5th Dec it was on its way and gave me a DPD tracker number for an item showing as delivered on Nov 26 to a postcode that doesnt match to mine. Is it time to raise a case with Amex / Paypal?

  • Nick says:

    14 Dec14 December 10:32

    If you paid with PayPal, contacting Amex is a waste of time as they can’t do anything – as far as they’re concerned the merchant (the one they see) did everything they promised to do. You’ll have to go through the PP process in this case.

    • RussellH says:

      14 Dec14 December 10:52

      Not true in my experience.
      I paid for something on 1 Feb 2018 with Amex, via the seller’s PayPal gateway – no other option.
      I will not bore people with what happened next, but a week or so later I complained to Amex that I had cancelled the order, but the seller had not refunded me.
      Amex refunded within 24 hours and that was the end of the matter as far as they were concerned. Transaction amt. £46.91, so S75 not applicable.

  • Rhys says:

    14 Dec14 December 10:55

    Sounds like a misdelivery if postcode is wrong?!

    • Tmw says:

      14 Dec14 December 16:22

      I complained on Dec 5th. They gave me a new reference for a parcel ( that was delivered in Nov) and said we are sending a duplicate. I dont trust their word at all.

      • Tmw says:

        14 Dec14 December 16:30

        And now the reference given today is not valid on the dpd site. Im calling this now as a non delivery and sending as a claim – to PP.

• Nick says:

  14 Dec14 December 10:57

  Best part of London for a SS blitz? Thinking of stocking filler gifts / stocking up at home kind of places, not high end boutiques. Going to try to see how many I can get in one day!

  • Lady London says:

    14 Dec14 December 11:18

    I would take a bet on Chiswick with Hammersmith as overflow, Hounslow if you are very high.street or Westfield Shepherds Bush near enough to these for better shops

  • sloth says:

    14 Dec14 December 11:26

    depends on what you want, but I usually aim around sw/w up to central. loads along kings road, Sloane sq/fulham and then into central

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    14 Dec14 December 11:50

    I had a very pleasant morning at borough market on the weekend

  • mr_jetlag says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:35

    Bermondsey Street, borough market and the area around it is rich pickings. Also great for the post shop pubs (at least five in the area).

    • Jonathan says:

      14 Dec14 December 12:48

      Tier 3 might scupper that!

• DJ says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:16

  Re Amex Platinum Card Upgrade, just phoned the number presented in the upgrade page to upgrade my Amex Gold Charge Card, I was told that there was no option for the operator to upgrade my card.

  Has anyone managed to phone Amex and upgrade?

  I did downgrade around July time due to the lack of travel, I wonder if I’m banned from upgrading again 😅

  • Optimus Prime says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:47

    If you downgraded in summer, are you sure you have a Gold Charge card instead of the Gold Credit card? The latter can’t be upgraded to Platinum.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      14 Dec14 December 12:53

      The cant downgrade you from a platinum charge to a gold credit, you get a gold charge.

• Stanley says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:17

  data point – Selfridges/Amex – £30 off/£100 spend, that should have worked online only…… I used it instore….. I called to say it hadn’t triggered on my spend. The agent apologised and said she would manually add it…. So might be worth a call if anyone else in same boat….

• KBuffett says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:22

  No new AmEx offers this today……

  • Andrew says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:54

    I was thinking the same – normally Monday is a good day for Amex offers. Maybe whilst Shop Small is on they aren’t loading others.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Dec14 December 13:33

    Haven’t been any good ones for a few weeks.

• KBuffett says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:35

  Has anyone stayed at Marriott Park Lane. It looks swish on the photos on their website. Having enjoyed my stay at JW Grosvenor House this weekend, I think I may chase the six nights I need to get Suite Night Awards.

  Also, does anyone know if Marriott Status runs on the same year for everyone (i.e. upto 31/12)?

  • DB2020 says:

    14 Dec14 December 11:58

    My last stay at the Marriott Park Lane Hotel was in October 2019. The rooms have been refurbished since my previous stay in 2011-12.

    As a Bonvoy Gold, I was upgraded to a one bedroom suite with views of Oxford Street. Excellent room, double glazing was very effective, fantastic bathroom with separate bathtub and shower. My original booking was for a standard room. My friends who were visiting from Denmark, with their teenage daughter in tow, were upgraded to a two bedroom suite (or a larger one bedroom suite with a sofa bed, not sure which). Both rooms were booked in my name, as my friends did not have Bonvoy Gold.

    I used the room service for a late night meal as I was hungry after early dinner pre-theatre and having skipped lunch during the day. Great steak and fries with grilled vegetables on the side.

    They offered us a late check out, 3 PM if I recall correctly, but we did not require it. Good service throughout and the front office team were excellent.

    In summary, I would stay again if I had the opportunity to do so.

  • YC says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:28

    Highly recommend especially if you have status. Service is excellent and rooms are refurbished. Indoor pool is very peaceful as well. Little to say on F&B but arguably the best marriott in London in my opinion.

    Yup u have to hit 50 nights be 31/12 to get your SNAs

  • Harry T says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:46

    I stayed at Marriott Park Lane in October. They upgraded me to a massive executive suite which was absolutely gorgeous. One of my favourite suites I’ve experienced. Includes a Toto washlet too! The food was okay in the restaurant. Service was a bit hit and miss – we booked to use the pool but they allowed a family of four to use it so that we couldn’t access it at the time. That was very frustrating after getting into swim wear and wearing dressing gowns to come downstairs. Service recovery was non existent aside from an apology. Not really acceptable at that price point. The restaurant/lounge staff initially thought we should be charged for breakfast but I was Plat and in a room with executive access.

    So, a mixed stay. One of the best upgrades I’ve had but patchy service. 4pm checkout and breakfast benefit was honoured without quibble. Limited alternative lounge service offered in restaurant. I would go back and give them another chance.

    I’ve also stayed at Sheraton Grand Park Lane, the London EDITION, W London recently, so happy to answer questions about alternatives. I would rank the suite at MPL as better than all the other properties, apart form perhaps SGPL but all of the others had much better service. If you want to stay in the Park Lane area, I would choose the Sheraton over Marriott, providing both upgraded me to similar rooms. I also had a massive suite at SGPL.

  • Michael C says:

    14 Dec14 December 13:42

    Stayed around this week last year for our Xmas w/end. Suitably lovely – upgraded not due to status but (funnily enough, reading Harry’s post!) due to a pool mix-up: I’d been writing saying how excited our young one was about the pool. When we arrived, there was a big sign saying Closed, and it apparently had been for some days…
    That apart, the lounge offerings were excellent, location of course excellent for central things (and Winter Wonderland, normally).

    • xcalx says:

      14 Dec14 December 15:33

      “I’d been writing saying how excited our young one was about the pool.”
      Sreious question. Why?

      • Lady London says:

        14 Dec14 December 19:20

        To put a polite subtle reminder to the hotel that certain amenities were being relied on by this guest party to be present at the time of the stay.

        In other words : a subtle challenge to the hotel to fess up if any amenity wasn’t going to be available.

        The hotel failed. Worse, hotels are not stupid at that level. The message was received loud and clear ahead of the stay, and the hotel didn’t want to lose the stay so they pretended not to hear.

        The clear reaction to that is most people would make a polite fuss, a serious gesture of service recovery would be expected because everyone would know the message was received or the hotel was incompetent, and other hotels would be considered for future stays.

        @Harry T it may have taken aa little as £10 to get a family of 4 into the pool in your slot.

        • xcalx says:

          15 Dec15 December 08:15

          I see . I didn’t read that he knew the pool was closed. If his son was so excited to use the pool maybe he should have rebooked a hotel with a functioning pool so as not to cause further upset. Unless the son story was just a cover to get something for nothing.

        • Lady London says:

          15 Dec15 December 13:00

          no @xcalx he didn’t know the pool was closed. Writing as he did was a polite and subtle way of making sure.

          Dealing with a top end hotel is done in different ways than, say, a HIX if they’re any good.

• Peter Ould says:

  14 Dec14 December 11:48

  Looking to see if anyone has any wisdom / insight.

  BA flights for Innsbruck in August cancelled. Can easily rebook to MUC or SZG, but it looks like the entire route has been pulled. Does anyone know if BA are cancelling this summer route, or just taking time to decide?

  FWIW, I plan to check again end of January as by then it might be more certain, just would love some insight now.

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