The HfP chat thread – Monday 5th April

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

• Aston100 says:

  5 Apr5 April 14:16

  Could someone kindly confirm I’ve understood this correctly?
  My free Curve allows upto £500 of foreign currency spend per rolling month.
  My underlying card is the free IHG white card.
  If I go ahead and book just under £500 worth of US hotel stays through the IHG site, I should not incur any FX charges; I should receive at least 2 points per pound (due to IHG card usage on IHG site) but possibly 3 points per pound due to foreign currency transaction?

  I ask because I’ve not used Curve for purchases in foreign currencies before. I am also unsure if IHG treat the purchase as foreign currency and as spend on their own hotels, especially as it is being passed through Curve – which then makes me ask why I’m not being hit with a foreign currency fee if there is a chance of double points for foreign currency spend.

  Thanks in advance.

  • Sean says:

    5 Apr5 April 14:43

    i think the transaction will be recognised as crv… and so you will only get 1 point – you are not using an IHG card on the IHG site you are using a curve debit card. Curve does the fx translation for you and charges your card in GBP.

  • Yorkie Aid says:

    5 Apr5 April 15:39

    Although it appears counterintuitive, I have always received the double points on the IHG credit card when paying for hotels via Curve. Even non-IHG hotels! You don’t get anything extra for the FX though because that is handled by Curve.

    • Genghis says:

      5 Apr5 April 15:44

      +1

    • Aston100 says:

      5 Apr5 April 16:24

      Thanks chaps.
      Its a book now, pay later rate.
      I don’t have a physical Curve card. I wonder if the US hotel will get awkward about showing them my virtual card on my phone app when checking out?

      • Yorkie Aid says:

        5 Apr5 April 17:27

        I think for the sake of a fiver I’d get the physical card just in case. The US is notoriously behind with a lot of these things (I live there half the year – in normal times).

        • AnotherUser says:

          5 Apr5 April 20:39

          @Aston100 pay the fiver for the physical curve card if you’ll want to use it in the US. Unless things have massively advanced since Covid, some places will still want to see the physical card (and it’s just not worth the hassle to save a fiver). Worth taking something like a Halifax Clarity card too in case of problems with Curve, or if you don’t fancy paying the fiver – free (though you won’t earn points) and gives you fee-free spending in $s.

• mark says:

  5 Apr5 April 14:40

  Has anyone with the black IHG card received the free night from 2020 yet?
  After 10k spend I was due a free night that didn’t shoe up in my account so I complained and received 150 quid in compensation, the free night should still have been credited but it’s still not arrived.
  Very poor from IHG/Creation and im not sure what to do next.

  • mark says:

    5 Apr5 April 14:42

    Shoe up=show up.. predictive text.😭

  • Chris K says:

    5 Apr5 April 15:10

    I got mine card anniversary month (the month annual fee is charged) without problem, last year and this year. But yours isn’t the first comment I’ve seen about this, so you’re probably not alone.

    Maybe keep trying and then threaten to escalate to ombudsman if still no joy. The cash price of a nice IHG hotel (even on a night with rewards availability) will be more than £150 so I’d be requesting £300 odd if I wasn’t able to get my voucher.

    • Anna says:

      5 Apr5 April 15:18

      +1, claim for the free night at the IC Maldives you weren’t able to book!
      OH and I both got our vouchers just after the card anniversary, as with all things IHG it seems very hit and miss!

      • r* says:

        5 Apr5 April 17:43

        Im at the point where it was escalated with creation and the response was that the escalation team now have no line of contact to IHG lols, so the only option was to raise a complaint. If that goes nowhere it will probably have to go to the ombudsman.

        I cant believe that between creation and ihg theres not someone that can just click a flag to add a voucher ffs.

        • Anna says:

          5 Apr5 April 17:59

          It must be an IT issue if some people are getting them and some not – similar to the issues with the Lloyds avios back in the day (which worked out so well for some of us!). Has it been referred to the relevant department to look at?

        • Sandra says:

          5 Apr5 April 18:53

          Never had a problem with voucher crediting but Creation customer service is generally awful. Not long after we took out the card (at the launch so 2017?) we had issues with Creation refusing payment for no reason on several occasions and the final straw was in a IC hotel lobby with a $5000 hotel bill which is not good especially after Creation had been warned in advance to expect it! In the end I complained directly to the UK MD/CEO of IHG at the time asking him if he really wanted to be associated with a company that provided such poor customer service. It soon got sorted and no issues since.

• Genghis says:

  5 Apr5 April 15:06

  Fees way too high. Put those numbers into an investment calculator eg http://www.candidmoney.com/calculators/investment-charges-impact-calculator

• bafan says:

  5 Apr5 April 15:35

  Maybe too nice for a UK points site, but American Airlines have launched a website to celebrate their 40th anniversary and it’s some sweepstakes deal but they offer instant miles prizes for playing a ‘spin the globe’ game. I got 200 miles from playing. Not particularly useful for travel in itself but useful for people looking to extend their points expiry date etc.

  Log in with your usual AA.com details here:

  https://www.aadvantage40th.com

  • bafan says:

    5 Apr5 April 15:38

    niche* damn it

    • Mike says:

      5 Apr5 April 16:54

      Bfan – I preferred it being too “nice”

  • Liam says:

    5 Apr5 April 15:45

    You do have to tick a box confirming you’re a US resident to enter. As it happens, I am. Four spins got me two sets of 400 miles and two free Main Cabin Extra upgrades (which are useless for me because I have AA Platinum and so get them for free on each ticket anyway). Still, not a bad return for a minute’s clicking.

    • meta says:

      5 Apr5 April 15:52

      I got 800 Miles over two spins. A new spin every day, so could be nice earner.

      • meta says:

        5 Apr5 April 16:00

        Scrap that. I realised there are more spins available to me. So now had 9 spins in total, with 8 x 400 miles plus Avis complimentary upgrade. 3200 miles is not to be sniffed at. It’s also daily, so could do really well out of it if they continue giving out.

        • bafan says:

          5 Apr5 April 16:02

          Wow you need much better than me! If prizes like that are on offer I’ll make sure I keep up with it.

        • bafan says:

          5 Apr5 April 16:02

          did* FML my autocorrect today…

        • meta says:

          5 Apr5 April 16:13

          @bafan max. award in miles is 4000 miles and there are 35k of those to be won. There 230k awards of 400 miles to be won. Also discount of 20% at Hyatt, 2 nights in MGM property in Las Vegas in the last week as well.

  • dragonfly says:

    5 Apr5 April 16:15

    But this only is only for US residents? Other countries cannot enter?

    • meta says:

      5 Apr5 April 16:28

      Yes, but haven’t you learned anything on this site?

      • bafan says:

        5 Apr5 April 19:03

        Quite ;).

        • Louie says:

          6 Apr6 April 08:42

          What am I doing wrong? 5 spins, no prizes 🙁

        • Louie says:

          6 Apr6 April 09:33

          Make that 10 spins, no prizes.

          Given everyone above’s success, I’m disappointed.

• Baji Nahid says:

  5 Apr5 April 15:39

  BJ, i think this is for you, i just reached out to LNER twitter and they’ve extended my vouchers for another year. So do get in touch with them just now as the guy on twitter knows what he is doing

• hypuk says:

  5 Apr5 April 16:11

  How is the situation in the Heathrow arrival zone nowadays? My friend is arriving tomorrow and I wonder if it is allowed for non-passengers to enter the airport or is it better to wait in the car park? Thanks

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Apr5 April 16:47

    No one enforced the no none passengers allowed.

• Anna says:

  5 Apr5 April 16:15

  https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/thousands-of-tourists-let-into-the-uk-as-brits-are-told-to-staycation/ar-BB1fjggK?ocid=msedgntp

  What are tourists finding to do here just now? Grocery shopping?

  • Blair says:

    5 Apr5 April 19:20

    Yes mostly. Tesco Express at Westminster Station is full of them.

• Diydegsy says:

  5 Apr5 April 16:20

  Hi anyone know what number for Marriott to transfer points to another account please?

  • John says:

    5 Apr5 April 16:27

    This is number previously given on this forum:
    0203 564 6335

  • Grant says:

    5 Apr5 April 16:28

    020 3564 6335 usually works for me

    • Diydegsy says:

      5 Apr5 April 16:48

      Thanks John and Grant.

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