The HfP chat thread – Sunday 7th March

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• Anon says:

  7 Mar7 March 06:18

  When is the return to UK £210 test going to be scrapped?

  • Andrew says:

    7 Mar7 March 07:04

    Mid 2022 I would think.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Mar7 March 10:20

    Post May 17th from some destinations I imagine.

    • Nik says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:00

      Seems that it would be even more incentive to keep it post May 17th with more people travelling to more destinations?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Mar7 March 13:14

        At some point some destinations will have to stop. If the idea is to encourage business then forcing people to buy a day 8 @ £100 they will never use and possibly another £100 for a day 2 test they won’t need won’t encourage that.

      • Track says:

        7 Mar7 March 13:50

        As travel increases post May 17th, there will be a glut in processing, missing tests in post and the usual shambles.

    • C says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:18

      Logical would be for the testing requirement to remain for some time, but the isolation period for some destinations to be dropped. Otherwise, 17 May will be of limited value for most. Or perhaps they’ll just introduce a negative test + 14 day hotel quarantine requirement for all destinations from that date, as that would be in line with the inconsistent policy approach to date.

      • Lady London says:

        7 Mar7 March 11:26

        over £200? for tests that would cost no more than £100 and sometimes less in other countries?

        When is the UK government (and their friends) going to give that up?

        • Callum says:

          7 Mar7 March 11:47

          When a company chooses to offer a comparable service at a cheaper price. Is that not how capitalism is meant to work?

        • Yorkieflyer says:

          7 Mar7 March 12:43

          Callum, I think it’s the compulsory HMG £210 being discussed

        • Callum says:

          7 Mar7 March 14:24

          Sorry you’re completely right, they were referring to it.

          Though that’s not comparable given it includes genomic sequencing.

  • C says:

    7 Mar7 March 11:21

    I think we’ll see testing entry requirements for many destinations for a long time to come, but with much faster and less expensive screening tests (lateral flow or antigen, rather than PCR).

    • TGLoyalty says:

      7 Mar7 March 13:20

      I agree on testing to enter all types are already accepted for UK doesn’t have to be PCR (PCR, Lateral flow and LAMP are all antigen tests)

      But the whole point of these day 2 & 8 PCR tests is they are being analysed for new variants of concern while the local at risk population is still being vaccinated and travel is very low

      • Lady London says:

        7 Mar7 March 14:16

        so visitors must fund Boris’s data collection program and be charged for the privilege at more than 2-4x market rates in comparable countries? It’s a pisstake

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Mar7 March 14:53

          Right now that’s the cost of travelling as it’s higher risk.

          It can’t continue though.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          7 Mar7 March 19:32

          It’s not even close to the most corrupt thing going on either – but fully agree with you it is shocking

        • Callum says:

          7 Mar7 March 20:21

          Just out of curiosity, have the variety of people outraged at the pricing actually researched how much it costs to provide? (And no, a comparison to seemingly similar but actually very different tests in other countries doesn’t count!)

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Mar7 March 22:00

          The cost of PCR tests of exactly the same kind are much cheaper elsewhere due to regulation.

          There are some shocking prices out there if you don’t shop around.

          Expresstest @ £80 isn’t that bad at all but if you google Covid test + your town/city you’ll see websites charging £150-250

• SwissJim says:

  7 Mar7 March 06:40

  The Dubai Mariott article made me think. Is it worth doing an article on family friendly, points bookable, suites (2+ rooms) with kitchens across the various loyalty schemes? We’re awash with points (few earned with hotel stays.!) but the issue for us sometimes is having to eat out 3 times a day 7 days a week with relatively young kids. Not the money but the experience!

  Of course it may have been done before and I may have missed it.

  • gareth says:

    7 Mar7 March 06:41

    +1 I would also appreciate an article such as this if you had the scope

    • Froggee says:

      7 Mar7 March 06:49

      +2 – somehow a “family room” doesn’t cut it for us. We need a wall with a door in it between our kids and us.

      • Anna says:

        7 Mar7 March 07:58

        Agree – when our son was small we used to mainly stay in apartments where there was an extra bedroom for him or at least a sofa bed, nowadays we book him his own room (another great use for points!) which he thinks is great, especially as he stays up much later than we do these days 🤣.
        (Hilton) Homewood Suites (mainly in the US I think) are excellent properties for families, one or two bedroom suites plus sofa bed with well-equipped kitchens but also hotel amenities like free breakfast, all day coffee in the lobby, and a pool. We stayed in one near Washington DC a couple of years ago and really liked it.

  • BJ says:

    7 Mar7 March 06:58

    Just search likes of Staybridge Suites, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn etc. There are thousands, if not millions of hotel reviews on the web already.

  • IanM says:

    7 Mar7 March 07:36

    There’s a site called Tripadvisor you might find useful

    • Crafty says:

      7 Mar7 March 08:27

      Ian and BJ, the difference is that other websites aren’t targeted towards points. Trawling through to find points-bookable family rooms or suites is arduous, which is probably why Rob and team haven’t done it; but on the other hand that is the opportunity for them; better for one to trawl, write and publish, than for many to ineffectively trawl.

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        7 Mar7 March 08:52

        Ian and BJ should also note that HfP devoted considerable space in 2020 to hotel reviews. The request for something family related with a focus on points is hardly outlandish. Although, perhaps not easy.

      • ChrisC says:

        7 Mar7 March 09:32

        It’s not only a lot of work to produce in the first place but also to maintain it.

        Then there is the calculation Rob has to make of ‘is it worth our time to do this and what would we get out of it in terms of potential new readers and (more importantly) advertisers?’

        It’s the same reason why Rob does not cover indepth other FF schemes here apart from BA and VS because the cost-benefit does not work out.

        • BJ says:

          7 Mar7 March 10:32

          Exactly, I think Rob mentioned before these articles are very labour-intensive. That’s why I suggested below more reader reviews could address the issue. But in the Internet age it is hardly difficult for readers to do their own research on the issue.

        • Rob says:

          7 Mar7 March 12:52

          If people one and tell me about it, we’ll write about it. That is about the best we can do.

      • BJ says:

        7 Mar7 March 10:23

        I wasn’t suggesting that. All the major hotel schemes offer points redemptions so I was suggesting a quick search of the suite properties would show the options. Likewise, a search for specified adults, children, number of beds etc will also throw up options. Reviews on the options of interest can then be searched online. Let’s face it, there will be hundreds of them so the value of doing so will easily outstrip the value of the odd hotel review here and there on HfP. I’ve always had misgivings on value of devoting articles to hotel reviews on HfP but happy to admit too that I have found some useful, and I did enjoy the readers favourite hotel series. Perhaps that could be repeated for family orientated hotel reviews from readers?

        • Crafty says:

          7 Mar7 March 11:30

          BJ, the problem is that most major chains aren’t properly set up to search points options for families. Entering 2 adults, 2 children in the search box tends to filter out almost all room options, whereas in reality some of these properties are absolutely fine for 2 adults and 2 children in the basic points redemption room. It’s inconsistent from property to property and chain to chain, which is what makes it hard to research, and therefore lends itself to a central rather than distributed approach. This is another way of saying “there is a market for this”; I would pay for it.

        • BJ says:

          7 Mar7 March 13:00

          @Crafty, ok I hear you but you are still left with the problem that what any given hotel offers may vary from one day to the next so that in itself limits the value of any reviews. I agree it is a problem that should be addressed and fixed but absent that it would seem to me that the best solution in the meantime is just to book the best room(s) or suite at the hotel you most want to stay at and then negotiate directly with the hotel by email regarding your needs. If they cannot address your needs then you can always cancel the redemption. I know all that’s a hassle but I see little alternative given reported experiences of you and others. On the plus side, the personal touch might son
          Metimes yield great results that might leave you feeling it was worthwhile, and equally might reduce any angst before the trip and disappointment on arrival.

  • Wally1976 says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:11

    The problem we have is that our two daughters, 12 and 9 are still ok sharing a room with us but they won’t share a bed meaning that rooms with 2 doubles or a double and a double sofa bed don’t really work for us.

    We find it really difficult (outside of Travelodge and Premier Inn} to find rooms with a double and 2 singles. A few US hotels do seem to offer this from research I’ve done. We don’t really have the resources to book an extra room or pay extra for a suite. We wouldn’t dream of paying €200 a night in total never mind in addition to the normal price (as per Rob’s Venice example).

    • Anna says:

      7 Mar7 March 08:24

      We have this issue as in normal time we often take my son’s cousin away with us and they need a bed each – Homewood Suites and a couple of others offer 2 bedroom suites where the second bedroom has 2 doubles, which is obviously ideal for a family of 4.
      Another option is to book a room with 2 double beds and ask for a rollaway for your younger daughter. A lot of hotels are fine with this, especially if you’re not exceeding the 4 person capacity for the room.
      There are also a few hotels which have rooms with 2 doubles plus a sofa bed – Holiday Inns quite often have these and are a very good budget option (especially HIE where you get breakfast included). I’ve also seen this set up in a few Hiltons and CPs.
      I find that if you search for 2 people you sometimes get betters options coming up as you’ll see all the available rooms. The CP Stratford Upon Avon, for example, has rooms with a double and 2 sofa beds, but these don’t come up on a search for 4 people, for some reason!

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        7 Mar7 March 08:47

        I’d agree that an article or series on family friendly points redemptions would be well received. Regular sites or Tripadvisor don’t tend to focus on the particular points issues of whether connecting base rooms or base rooms with multiple beds can keep you away from the poor points value of premium room categories. Hilton also often has the same issue Anna describes here where searching for two people will reveal options obviously suitable for 4 which don’t show if you search for that number. Exactly the sort of useful info HfP articles can highlight…

        • Rob says:

          7 Mar7 March 10:00

          The problem is that they come and go. In quiet times, a hotel may put suites or bigger rooms into the redemption pool because it makes it easier to attract reward bookings. It is never permanent.

          The Marriott buy-ups do seem to be more permanent, although the actual price required seems to move.

      • Lady London says:

        7 Mar7 March 11:28

        actually searching for 2 also works if travelling singly. A lot of things including some promotions are not always loaded for singles.

        • BJ says:

          7 Mar7 March 13:06

          +1, I always book for 2 when travelling solo. Booking for one often also runs the risk of getting worse rooms. Often travelling for work back in the day I often invited colleagues for breakfast meetings which was usually well received too.

      • Wally1976 says:

        7 Mar7 March 20:27

        Some great suggestions there Anna, thank you 🙂

    • Sandra says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:36

      Sorry, maybe I’m a harsh parent but at that age and same sex if an extra roll out bed couldn’t be put/wouldn’t fit in the room, or I didn’t want to pay for 2 rooms they wouldn’t be given a choice. If you want to travel sometimes you have to compromise therefore you and your sister will have to share a bed. Different sex children is obviously a different matter, once we got to that point with our two for a couple of years it was son shared with dad and daughter with me if 2 rooms were much too expensive or on the odd occasion we couldn’t get a sofa bed. But as someone else said there comes a point when you want a wall between you and your kids and you have to bite the bullet and just pay up.

      • Lady London says:

        7 Mar7 March 12:26

        Maybe top and tail? could keep 2 of same gender willing to tolerate for fractionally longer.

      • Wally1976 says:

        7 Mar7 March 20:41

        I do take your point and we do do that for short breaks but our younger daughter moves around so much in the night she really is a pain to sleep with so I don’t blame our older daughter for refusing!

        When my wife goes back to working full-time in a couple of years we’ll afford 2 rooms (although it’ll still pain me to pay it).

  • Kevin C says:

    7 Mar7 March 09:43

    I’m always interested in HFP hotel content and would enjoy something about family redemption.

    One thing I’ve learnt is that you can’t rely on requests for connecting rooms being met in hotels. Sometimes they do it and sometimes they don’t. Our kids are old enough now for it not to be a big problem but we do insist on being on the same floor.

    • Rob says:

      7 Mar7 March 09:56

      Could not agree more with this – check out this report: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2014/12/22/my-review-of-the-hotel-amigo-brussels/

      • Freddy says:

        7 Mar7 March 10:48

        I have tended to book more with air BnB or similar due to these issues. Prefer to have an entire house compared to two cramped rooms at opposite side of a building.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        7 Mar7 March 12:34

        Thanks an interesting read re: Brussels. Given the diverse backgrounds of hotel staff anywhere, the main very useful thing I learned from the comments section is never ask for an “interconnecting room” as this may not be understood correctly if English is not a first language. Not sure how to phrase thee request though. “Two rooms with an internal door connecting them” is just as confusing. Suggestions anyone….?

• S879 says:

  7 Mar7 March 06:59

  +1. Yes, we have 2 kids too so often struggle with a redemption. Perhaps an article on hotel for people with slightly older kids too re activities. The Ras Al Khaimah one is beyond our reach but some others around the world would be good.

• jil says:

  7 Mar7 March 08:11

  has nectar->avios transfer bonus been posted? I see nothing in my account

  • Andrew says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:16

    Not due until mid-March.

• Ryan Gill says:

  7 Mar7 March 08:14

  Airtime Rewards members can get 20% towards their mobile phone bill this weekend from 1st spend with registered Mastercard at Laithwaites. Can get nectar too.

• Amar says:

  7 Mar7 March 08:33

  Does anyone have tips on monitoring availability for the new Singapore Airlines suites? I’ve taken out the business plat and will have around 127k Krisflyer miles when I hit the £10k spend

  • Memesweeper says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:56

    Unhelpfully I have none at all. However the guys running seat spy are interested in what airlines to add to their search tool next, so why not drop them a mail?

    • Amar says:

      7 Mar7 March 10:21

      Good shout, thanks Memesweeper

    • meta says:

      7 Mar7 March 10:27

      ExpertFlyer will show whether it’s 12 seat or 6 seat F. This will tell you whether it’s new Suites or not (6 seats). On points you can mainly get old Suites. However, depending on how refurbishment programme goes they might put more newly refurbished A380s next year on the London route.

      There is also the added problem that you will probably need to waitlist and to do that you would need to transfer from Amex and if the waitlist doesn’t clear, which can be anytime up to two weeks before the flight, your stuck with points which have hard expiry. I admit there is a less of a problem with waitlists and award availability now than before.

      • Sam G says:

        7 Mar7 March 15:54

        12 seat F is dead – they’re refurbishing the last of the old config and dumping the rest. So F seats will be very hard to come by. Traditionally Zurich has been easier and Frankfurt may come back on the A380 eventually as well so could be an option.

        • meta says:

          7 Mar7 March 16:43

          It will take at least 3 more years for the full fleet refit. Probably more. Remember they said they’ll do the full refit by end of 2020 and weren’t even on track for that before pandemic. Only 9 out 19 have been refurbished… I also wouldn’t be surprised they decide to use A380 once a day on London route and don’t release F seats at all for that flight as is the case now for one of the flights.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    7 Mar7 March 17:08

    https://milelion.com/2018/05/27/turbo-charge-your-singapore-airlines-award-search-with-the-award-flights-plugin/
    Old article but might work. Remember that this requires user id and pwd. So create a dummy account.

  • Amar Dattani says:

    7 Mar7 March 21:58

    Thanks all! Will check it out

• Craig says:

  7 Mar7 March 08:36

  For those interested the vaccine volunteering continues, as has been mentioned a few times over the last few days we are moving down the age groups and into the 55+ bracket now. Supply has been a bit limited and we are heading towards doing almost entirely Ox/Az now with any Pfizer being reserved for second doses which have started. Of particular note yesterday was that we hit a new practice record of 611 in one day with only one dose wasted, this was caused by somebody refusing it during a home visit. Considering there were only five consulting rooms this was one hell of an achievement.

  • KBuffett says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:40

    I’m frontline and managed to get a Pfizer dose early January as a ‘spare’ end of day dose. There was no ‘official’ system for our cohort at the time. I’m finding it impossible to find a route to book a second Pfizer dose. Online the system says no, 119 says they are only booking AZ. Any ideas how I can get the second dose booked?

    • Craig says:

      7 Mar7 March 08:45

      You should have been registered into Pinnacle as having had a first dose, this should update your NHS records. Try downloading the NHS app and viewing your GP health record, it can be a bit cumbersome registering etc. Once there providing the first dose is registered correctly then you should get called for the second. If not then the site hasn’t registered it correctly and you can either go back and make a request or wait for your cohort and explain the situation.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      7 Mar7 March 09:07

      Call your doctor they should be able to get the second dose appointment sorted.

      • GaryE says:

        7 Mar7 March 13:00

        We have been told that as the pfizer vaccine cannot be stored for more than 3 days, and they are unsure as to the distribution of stock, that the vaccination hubs will only contact patients for the second dose a couple of weeks prior to your 12 week due date. The AZ vaccine can be stored and 2nd appoitnment can be booked online via NHS page.

  • KBuffett says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:42

    Amazing figures. We have had our vaccine deliveries increased by 50% from next week, with the same number of vaccinators.

    • Roger W says:

      7 Mar7 March 09:01

      Pretty impressive particularly as they have not utilised the nursing workforce to do the vaccinations. My wife applied end November to vaccinate for the princely sum of £12 an hour and is still jumping hoops. I have offered at a few GP practices where I locum (as a nurse practitioner) at a greatly reduced hourly rate but no demand. I know of practice nurses who have offered to do it as extras but have been declined. Even my neighbour who is a St John vaccinator has only had one shift.

      • Craig says:

        7 Mar7 March 09:08

        It’s predominately the nurses at the surgery that are giving the vaccines.

  • Darren says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:50

    Great work, well done.
    The new group is 56+ pedantic I know but of interest to anyone aged 55 (not me btw) who got a computer says no message today.

    • Craig says:

      7 Mar7 March 08:57

      Interesting because the official JCVI documentation states:

      8. all those 55 years of age and over

      • Andrew says:

        7 Mar7 March 09:38

        It’s definitely only 56+ they are taking bookings for and this is what the media is advising too.

    • Kevin C says:

      7 Mar7 March 09:53

      You can always see what the current age range is at the NHS book your vaccine website. It ticked down to fifty-six and above around midnight on Friday night/ Saturday morning.

  • Tracey says:

    7 Mar7 March 10:24

    Local GP led clinic is now in the range 50-54 from most surgeries. This centre is run by volunteer GPs (mainly retired) and other medical professionals volunteering, stewarding is all by volunteers. Only paid staff are 2 managers and the data entry people. 8 stations open for 12 hours get through 1500 on an AZ day and about 1000 on a Pfizer day. Only managing to get enough vaccines to open 1-2 days a week at the moment.
    I also volunteered at a local mass vac centre this week. All vacinnators were paid nurses alongside paid data entry people, paid security and paid marshalls. Open daily 8-4 and processing consistently around 500 a day. They were taking the 60-64s and social care and health care workers.

    • Lady London says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:02

      is the UK taking the Moderna vaccine?

      • Dave B says:

        7 Mar7 March 11:15

        Moderna due April ( from the leaked Scottish data)

  • BJ says:

    7 Mar7 March 13:13

    How many refusals do you get and what are the main reasons given?

• Secret Squirrel says:

  7 Mar7 March 08:37

  Using a Virgin Atlantic CC upgrade voucher – if I use points to book a RTN ticket in PE, using a voucher to upgrade to UC does the voucher upgrade apply both outbound & inbound?

  • Sarah says:

    7 Mar7 March 08:58

    It applies to the return flight too

  • Alex says:

    7 Mar7 March 11:16

    Return for 1 person or one-way for two people. It may be worth looking at cash prices, as you can pay cash for PE and use the voucher to upgrade to upper. I did this to NYC and it was better value than paying with points

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