The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 15th December

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• Aston100 says:

  15 Dec15 December 12:24

  Hi, I had an email from a Crowne Plaza (abroad) that I had booked the other day for a stay next year.
  It stated that my rate is non-refundable (this is not true) and that they want full payment within 3 days, by bank transfer as apparently their ‘Personal Data Protection Law’ doesn’t allow for “withdraw money using your card information by mail order method”.
  Alternatively, I can pay a bank account online, using credit cards.

  The email is genuinely from the CP and has the correct email address and header/footers inc address & contact numbers.
  I contacted IHG customer service via live chat to query whether this is fraud. After some initial confusion where they told me to contact the hotel directly (i.e. reply to the email), they advised that it is OK for IHG properties to ask for bank transfers.

  This seems really odd to me, and in conjunction with the erroneous statement about a non refundable rate, and also given they’ve hugely lowered their prices, it sounds to me like a dodgy cash grab before closing down permanently.

  Anyone have any similar experience of IHG hotels asking for bank transfers, despite having booked online through the IHG site and having already provided the card details there?

  Thanks.

  • Lady London says:

    15 Dec15 December 12:52

    dont do it, it was not part of the conditions of your rate.

    It seems IHG Head Office is as much use as a chocolate teapot.

    I would respond to the hotel pointing out that your booking conditions do not require prepayment and therefore you will not be making prepayment.

    If they cancel on you then likely it would have ended as you suspect

  • The real John says:

    15 Dec15 December 12:57

    Some European hotels, not necessarily IHG, will send you a link asking you to pay a 3rd party website.

    This could be because their merchant account has been suspended, or they often get chargebacks from prepaid rates, as there is no user authentication when the hotel takes payment by “mail order method” i.e. cardholder not present transactions

    I would be cancelling my stay if I received a message falsely stating the rate is non-refundable. I would reveal the property name.

    • Anna says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:05

      Agreed, I would not be giving them anything up front (I never have a valid credit card attached to a hotel account in case of this kind of thing!), and make people aware of which hotel this is.

  • Charlieface says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:32

    Quite right to check for fraud, it may be an employee trying to get money off you.

• Sandra says:

  15 Dec15 December 12:58

  As Lady London says I wouldn’t do it. Never been asked for any IHG booking to be paid by bank transfer either here or overseas (including MENA countries). Email as she says, but do not bank transfer, if anything goes wrong you’ll probably lose your cash!

• The real John says:

  15 Dec15 December 12:58

  Curve is the only way, revolut would work in theory, but they will not let you bank transfer out a CC top up of £15000 unless you are a longstanding customer which has already made them a lot of money.

  • FH says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:22

    A couple of people have mentioned Curve so think I need to explore this avenue. I do also have a Revolut card, but have not used it massively so don’t think I’d be able to use that in this case.

    • Lady London says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:59

      not Rev. too many incidents of them suspending accounts in without notice and for no good reason then they are impossible to get communication going with them to get it sorted. Meanwhile your money can be tied up with them for literally months.

      I suggest you get yourself a beer and settle down to parsing this thread each day’s for 1 week ( will give you enough) or one month ( if you want to be a specialist

      Lots of HfP readers had the time in lockdown to post and respond in more detail than would normally be posted.

      can also use as inspiration to think around what else might work. What’s posted here is by no means all that can be done

      • Harrier25 says:

        15 Dec15 December 15:16

        My account has been under review with Revolut since the middle of October. I haven’t been over the top funding it and submitted proof of income the day they requested it, but has been stuck at “we are still reviewing your income, thank you for your patience” ever since. I have since started using the debit card for some day to day purchases instead of using Curve and then going back in time to my Creation IHG card, which I think may have instigated the review in the first place.

      • FH says:

        15 Dec15 December 15:32

        I don’t drink alcohol but I’ll take the point onboard about reading the comments to get more clued on what may be the best way.

• Monty says:

  15 Dec15 December 13:12

  Advice please.
  I have noticed some payments i have made to creation have gone out my bank account via debit card payments, yet not showing on my creation account. This is going back over 2 weeks. Who best to talk to?

  • Genghis says:

    15 Dec15 December 13:38

    Erm – Creation?

    • Peter K says:

      15 Dec15 December 15:00

      Definitely creation. Your bank has paid them out. The only reason to contact your bank is if your need to query the account/sort code/reference on the payments sent.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:59

    I made one on Friday which is still not showing on my Creation account, usually it is much quicker than this.

• Chris H says:

  15 Dec15 December 13:32

  The student loan gets written off after 30 years anyway – so might be better to keep paying the minimum repayments and invest the funds elsewhere if you haven’t already considered.

  Saying this as I started to pay off in the same manner due to the interest + fact it is debt, but wasn’t aware that it got written off – this led me to stop giving them a penny more outside of the repayments.

  • Anna says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:07

    One of the TV finance gurus (possibly Simon Calder!) offers great insight on how to manage a student loan (I was fortunate enough to leave uni in 1992 with minimal debt but in a few years my son won’t be so lucky).

    • Genghis says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:16

      Is Simon Calder a finance guru? He barely knows anything about travel!

      • Anna says:

        15 Dec15 December 14:25

        Might have been Martin Lewis – I can remember exactly what the advice was but not who was giving it 🤣

        • Rhys says:

          15 Dec15 December 14:59

          Yes, Martin Lewis did it

      • Crafty says:

        16 Dec16 December 08:41

        I certainly hope nobody sensible sees Simon Calder as any kind of “guru”.

    • xcalx says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:31

      TV finance gurus (possibly Simon Calder!) Didn’t see that one coming . Calling him a Travel guru is a stretch too.

    • Lady London says:

      15 Dec15 December 15:01

      it will be MSE Martin Lewis

      • Anna says:

        15 Dec15 December 15:55

        These middle aged blokes are so forgettable 🤣

    • Peter North says:

      15 Dec15 December 15:03

      It gets written off so pay minimum, but hey he might nor make university anyway.

      • Anna says:

        15 Dec15 December 15:58

        He has to go to university, he needs a totally geeky job where he doesn’t require any people skills. Fortunately he’s unlikely to leave home which will save us a fortune in rent.

    • Michael C says:

      15 Dec15 December 15:24

      I’ll certainly look into v decent options that cost (next to) nothing, such as Maastricht or Buenos Aires!

  • FH says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:15

    I know it gets written off but I’d rather clear it sooner than later. I hope to work towards a higher salary and in the long term if you think that may be the case (never a guarantee) then, for me, it makes more financial sense to clear the loan now.

    • Stagger Lee says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:54

      I’ve heard Martin Lewis talk about this loads of times and his consitent advice is not to pay it off. Circumstances can change and you might wish you hadn’t.

      The full advice is here

      https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-repay/

      • Tiff says:

        15 Dec15 December 14:59

        Paying it off is usually a bad idea. It’s not a “loan” in the usual meaning of the word.

    • AndyW says:

      15 Dec15 December 15:50

      A few years back now when I paid mine off I couldn’t find any good ways, but then curve wasn’t around, I assume this would work. Made sense for me to get rid of mine because I was lucky enough to be in a position where I was never going to get any written off, and the interest rate was criminal vs the market at the time. Not looked if it still is but if still inflation rather than base linked, I suspect still a little painful.

• Alan says:

  15 Dec15 December 13:50

  With London moving into tier 3 are there still opportunities to use the marriott platinum credit? Are hotels still open for work related stays? Any word on it being extended further?

  • Rob says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:22

    Unlikely to be extended.

    Hotels remain open for work stays or for various other allowed reasons (eg someone in your house is isolating).

    • Matt says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:56

      I am(was) booked into W-Hotel this week on 17th to use the £400 Plat offer. Organised a big birthday/xmas night out for the other half, including using my credits around the corner in Soho at a members club. Typical that this will now all fall through. I’m not complaining about the need for the health restrictions, just having a sulk that I will miss out on the generous £400 cash back.
      Is Amex likely to make any gesture to those that weren’t able to use the offer, or its just another offer in their eyes, either you use it, or lose it?

      • Peter K says:

        15 Dec15 December 15:03

        Use it or lose it. It’s a gift from them and as others have had a chance to arrange their affairs to use it is just unfortunate you haven’t been able to but they can happily say it’s not their fault either.

        • Matt says:

          15 Dec15 December 15:14

          Such a pain and kicking myself for not booking it before. Anyway, I think it just brings a focus to me that having the Plat & BA Premium in these times of non-travel don’t add up, so the Waitrose (I didn’t get Harrods) and the Marriot offers sort of made up the fees a bit.

        • Andrew says:

          15 Dec15 December 16:13

          And MANY of us Platinum members didn’t get the offer, so even more reason for no gesture of compensation to those that had it and didn’t use it.

  • Alex M says:

    15 Dec15 December 14:35

    23-27 Dec restaurants, hotels etc will be open – that’s when i plan to hit the road.

    • Brian says:

      15 Dec15 December 14:46

      Are they? I thought it was just travel “restrictions” etc that were being lifted?

      • Brian says:

        15 Dec15 December 14:46

        I was referring to restaurants rather than hotels

        • Andrew says:

          15 Dec15 December 15:48

          There is no change to the hospitality rules over the 23-27 Dec period. Restaurants in T3 will still be closed. Hotels, which decide to remain open, may allow you to stay for family socialising reasons, ie the home you are visiting doesn’t have bed space. But generally the easing of restrictions between 23-27 Dec is for household mixing at home to celebrate Christmas. And even that is under review now…

    • TGLoyalty says:

      15 Dec15 December 19:56

      It’s been specifically mentioned that the bubble rules are only for homes and not public venues. All tier restrictions stand.

• xcalx says:

  15 Dec15 December 14:09

  Virgin 2for1/upgrade voucher
  I have just noticed I have one of these vouchers in my account awarded on 7 December. Achieved via CC spend. Is there anyway to check the start/end date for the 12 month CC spend period as I don’t know which month in 2019 I got the card and statements go back to 14 December 2019 would this be the date I got the card or do statements only go back 12 month. Thanks

• Travel Strong says:

  15 Dec15 December 14:20

  Virgin Atlantic sale email arrived, including the following gibberish:

  “Free Virgin Atlantic Covid-19 Cover for every passenger travelling up to 30th April 2021, we’ve got you covered.
  Travelling after 30th April 2021? Our comprehensive travel insurance also includes Virgin Atlantic Covid-19 Cover for complete peace of mind”

  Righto!

  All I can think is that there is an intention to also sell the same cover for trips after 30th April… but that is not advertised or readily available on the site from what I can see – unless it is only offered when booking.

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