The HfP chat thread – Monday 15th February

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

• ant says:

  15 Feb15 February 10:39

  Managed to book 5 CW flights to Joburg using 2 companion vouchers & a Lloyds voucher yesterday for December. Hopefully we will all be vaccinated & can travel by then. If i book the internal flights on BA website are the Comair flights covered by the same “Travel with confidence” so I can get an FTV or change flights same way as I can with BA flights?

• Tony says:

  15 Feb15 February 10:51

  Are there any strategies for generating points when paying off beardy?

  • Jonathan says:

    15 Feb15 February 10:54

    The routes seem to be disappearing. Credit cycling also probably the worst form of MS when you get rumbled.

  • ashish says:

    15 Feb15 February 14:12

    Try HSBC

• Anna says:

  15 Feb15 February 10:59

  IHG points prices going stratospheric over the Easter period (despite the doom and gloom from some ministers!) Indigo Leicester Sq charging the same number of points (60k) pn as the IC Park Lane!

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:04

    Booked our Easter break a while ago. 12,500 points per night for a “suite” in Rotherham (for the Peak District).

    Hoping hotels open before April 1st (and not Good Friday itself) as that’s when we’re due to drive up north after work!

    • Rob says:

      15 Feb15 February 11:23

      I’ve stayed in a suite at HI Rotherham J33, in fact I spent Christmas in it many years ago. I think it was £99 for cash! Nice pool at that hotel.

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        15 Feb15 February 11:53

        This is the one.

        Stayed there twice last year too. Not the best suites in the world (it looks like two rooms shoved together?) but it does the job if you just want a place to sleep. Not checked out the pool!

        Close enough to the Peak District and you do get good value from your points!

        • Rob says:

          15 Feb15 February 12:43

          If you visit the drive-through McDonald’s down the road you will probably see my brother picking something up 🙂

          Bizarrely Yorkshire’s biggest ‘adult emporium’ is also about 30 seconds drive down the road too.

        • Sandra says:

          15 Feb15 February 13:10

          Did this used to be advertised as HI Doncaster but not actually in Doncaster (I know Rotherham and Donny aren’t that far apart)?! If it’s the same we stayed a couple of times and I remember it as being quite nice and also fairly quiet around it.

    • Anna says:

      15 Feb15 February 11:48

      I’m hoping as well as I’ve locked in some good prices which are long gone! Not looking too hopeful now, though with ministers saying we might be allowed to eat and drink outside by then (do they know about the British weather?!!).
      Personally I can’t see an issue with socially-distanced hotel stays with your family bubble, like we had last summer. Infection rates stayed more or less flat right until the kids went back to school.

  • xcalx says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:24

    Indigo LS 60000 is the normal rate. IC is 10K cheaper at Easter than Midweek early June.

    • Anna says:

      15 Feb15 February 11:44

      The first week in June is half term so prices will be high then anyway.

      • xcalx says:

        15 Feb15 February 13:52

        OK. Indego 60K all year

  • Rob says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:26

    Not sure I’d want to stay irrespective of price although I assume it is quieter than it was. 4th April is possible a little optimistic for a hotel stay.

    If the ban on repossessing commercial premises ends on 31st March, a lot of hotels will have been taken over by the bailiffs by 4th April anyway …..

    • Sam says:

      15 Feb15 February 13:05

      Currently talk of that ban being extended….wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case…

  • Yuff says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:34

    Just booked 2 rooms for 2 nights ( 70k a night) in July, well I’d already used a voucher for 1 night, cash prices £686 night
    IC park lane
    Will renew my expired ambassador membership closer to the booking and hope for an upgrade similar to our stay in 2019………😀

    • Blair says:

      15 Feb15 February 11:51

      IIRC there was news/rumoured news that Indigo Leicester Square had been co-opted to house those in need. It’s always been massively overpriced though, on points and cash rates. When it first opened and hovered around £170-200 it seemed reasonable for a hotel with a non-existent lobby and windowless entry level rooms. Now the pricing is just way out.

• Gavin says:

  15 Feb15 February 11:11

  Does anyone know what happens if a flight booked with a FTV is subsequently cancelled? Can you get a refund to the original payment method, or does it get refunded back to the FTV?

  • roberto says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:32

    Refunds in this case are in cash back onto your card

• Amar says:

  15 Feb15 February 11:26

  Has anyone not had their Morrisons/VS offer from November confirmed? Still waiting for my points move from pending to approved on the portal

  • Yuff says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:35

    Some of the points have already arrived by the looks of it.

  • ChrisA says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:03

    Mine went from pending to approved on schedule, but then seemed to go missing for a period of time i.e. weren’t in my Flying Club account. I emailed, the in-store email address and the points appeared within 24 hours.

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  15 Feb15 February 11:37

  Lululemon is back on Amex. Not that I’ll use it but I know there’s a lot of fans out there

  Spend £100, get £20 back

  Amex offers a pile of **** again this week, apart from that bonus points offer last week

  • Andrew says:

    15 Feb15 February 11:48

    Yeah the offers continue to be worthless (to me anyway) and the bonus points offer wasn’t even on the Platinum card.

    • Anna says:

      15 Feb15 February 11:57

      The only offer I’ve used recently has been multiple £5 rebates from Holland and Barrett orders stocking up on vitamin d, essential oils and other bits, but I have ended up saving quite a lot with the regular sale offers H & B runs.

      • BLG says:

        15 Feb15 February 13:55

        You believe H & B have sales.

    • Blair says:

      15 Feb15 February 12:18

      It’s more the utter randomness of them. No sense of any smart business mulling what Plat holders generally spend discretionary on, and seeking to grab share from competitors. Plat offers from say Ethiopian or Turkish would make sense – grabbing share from Euro legacy carriers. But it’s just all so random and frankly one-off type of things.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      15 Feb15 February 16:08

      If your platinum, I wouldnt really be complaining about the offers you’ve had. You’ve had it good including them effectively paying a lot of your card fees for the year

  • Louise K says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:10

    Not on any of my cards unfortunately. Disappointed as I have been delaying a purchase until an offer came up.

  • Andrew says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:18

    There’s a spend £600, get £100 at Net-a-porter one but again, no use to me as they don’t sell menswear.

  • Pangolin says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:54

    The Amex offers have been so bad for so long that I’ve stopped checking.

    If anything decent ever shows up it will be mentioned here anyway.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      15 Feb15 February 16:09

      I used to check most days but now only really on a Monday and when board 🙃

  • Harry T says:

    15 Feb15 February 15:20

    Thanks, got this on four of our cards and we both buy a lot of clothes from LLL. Didn’t get it on the cards I’ve used to buy clothes there before.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      15 Feb15 February 16:10

      Could you please explain the appeal of LLL?

      I dont get it

      • Harry T says:

        15 Feb15 February 17:58

        I find their stuff fits me very well and is comfortable for both work and exercise. I have an athletic build and find most trousers very uncomfortable and a lot of t shirts fit oddly (the large and XL will have loads of space around the waist but I need the extra space to accommodate shoulders, chest etc).

        Their chinos/more formal trousers are the most comfortable trousers I’ve ever worn and look smart enough to wear for most jobs. The material they use has a lot of stretch in it and is specifically designed to not crush your Crown Jewels – I can attest to the design working well. I haven’t had much luck with their formal shirts fitting me but this isn’t a surprise as most of their models are emaciated. T shirts have good stretch in them so fit well a lot of the time. Boxers shorts also very comfortable. Essentially the cut and material works very well for my body type with most of their garments. I am not someone who likes to wear clothes with flashy labels on them or is particularly swayed by marketing around brands. Most LLL is understated and comfortable, which suits me.

        Girlfriend finds their leggings very comfortable for training and working from home. She also likes their underwear and tops.

        Essentially it will depend on your figure as to whether you find LLL a godsend or not. We are both athletic and find the brand fits better than any other clothes we have worn.

      • Wollhouse says:

        15 Feb15 February 19:55

        I think it’s expensive but good quality so I’ll only buy it with my teachers discount and on sale. But, all the guys I know that practice yoga with lots of handstands etc that sweat A LOT swear by lll. all say they like it because when they wash it, it comes up smelling fresh again whereas other brands retain an old sweat odour. Also, they say it lasts well. I am talking guys that create a swimming pool of sweat on their mats;)

• maccymac says:

  15 Feb15 February 12:07

  Does anyone know of Esso nectar offers stack?

  On the nectar app, I got offered 5x nectar on Esso supreme fuel last week that expires tomorrow and now have just got offered 10x on first Esso fuel purchase that expires in 12 days.

  • Chrism20 says:

    15 Feb15 February 14:11

    Looking at the T&Cs of my 5 offer No4 says “Where multiple Esso offers are loaded to the card, bonus points will be awarded for qualifying transactions in order of first saved” so if you need fuel and only want to use one of them wait till Wednesday if possible I would say

    • maccymac says:

      15 Feb15 February 18:18

      Thanks. You’re right its right there at the bottom. I missed it when I skimmed through. Will def wait till Wednesday.

• Ash Raj says:

  15 Feb15 February 12:17

  Wanted to provide an update and get some advice on booking the Royal Suite at Park Hyatt in the Relocate offer. The hotel team are sticking to their guns it seems not offering much of an incentive for their error

  “We are very sorry again for the inconvenience caused and for disappointing you.
  Kindly be advised as my colleague Flora mentioned in her below email that we have only one Royal Suite in our hotel.
  The reason is why we are not able to accommodate this booking because the Suite is already occupied by one of Park Hyatt Dubai resident on yearly basis and due to the system glitch you were able to book it.
  We highly appreciate your kind understanding and cooperation in this matter since this is something out of our hands and we will not be able to accommodate your reservation due to non-availability of the Royal Suite.
  Once again, thank you very much and we will look forward to receiving your positive response.”

  Any advice on how to handle this is appreciated.

  • BP says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:36

    I missed this glitch. How much did you pay and how long did you book it for? Assume there’s a suite one category below that’s still very grand that you could ask for instead?

  • Rob says:

    15 Feb15 February 12:41

    Even under UK law (and this contract is under Dubai law, so good luck with that) it wouldn’t stick because it is an ‘obvious’ mistake.

    If this were me, I would have booked this knowing that a) I had zero chance of getting it but b) I would have a good chance of negotiating a better room than I would have got had they not messed up.

    Note that I read somewhere that PH has just contracted out the lagoon to a beach club operator that will be running pumping dance music all day and all night, so you may want to avoid those rooms anyway – although the new Dubai lockdown rules may have stopped this for a while..

    • John says:

      15 Feb15 February 12:58

      As Rob said this is Dubai where not only an obvious mistake but would be taken that you were not being “honest” and “acting in good faith” as you would have known rate was obviously incorrect.
      Unlike UK, a duty of good faith is implied in all Dubai contracts.

    • Simon says:

      15 Feb15 February 19:36

      Yep- you’re right Rob- the lagoon is contracted out to “Cantine du Faubourg” – who also run an excellent restaurant in Jumeriah Towers. We were there early January- no dance music (!) but very expensive – £15 for a basic glass of house white. You have to pay for everything now- even a lounger- even if your a Park guest. The best option if you’re resident is to sit by the gorgeous pool which now has minimal people there as they’re all at the lagoon!

  • Lady London says:

    15 Feb15 February 14:22

    Still not sure it’s true… I just dont believe if that suite was booked it would have shown up as available in any functioning computer system.
    The hotel is either running 2 sets of books – 1 for Park Hyaty, the other their own or someone’s operation (possibly for cash) or they’ve booted you out once a better paying customer came along. However the aim was surely to get them to make you an offer to smooth this.

    Such as comp meals, drinks, transport to and from airport ir just possibly, their nearest available level of suite along with a minor sweetener.

    The fact that they have offered, literally, nothing at this level of hotel is very concerning. The IT excuse simply doesnt cut it. Service recovery is what’s required regardless at this level of hotel. I simply don’t believe this hotel is operating to the standards of a true luxury market. So I would only want to stay there now if I have written assurances that my stay will be made nicer.

    Alongside Rob’s advice about the beach party I would research their now available range of better rooms and express your request for service recovery to be provided to your stay at no less than [mid-level suite] with breakfast included daily particularly as you have been advised about the beach club opening up from which you would also wish to be away from the noise.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.