The HfP chat thread – Thursday 8th April

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

Brighton Belle says:

8 Apr8 April 18:41

Prepare to get a grumpy message from the revolutionary people for recycling funds. Withdrawing to a bank in your name will spotted by the bots and action taken to stop you or shut you down.
- Aston100 says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 18:43
  
  Not really a surprise I suppose.
- Genghis says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 18:50
  
  ‘‘Twas ever thus
- Anna says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 18:59
  
  That’s what joint accounts are for.
  - avstar says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 20:24
    
    they are smart to this, esp now with bank account name verification in place
    - Andrew says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 23:02
      
      How though?
      
      Payment is sent to “Ms Anna Joint”, this is what is checked for verification. The host bank doesn’t reply and say… “Oi, didn’t you know she’s shacked up with a bloke too.”
      - John says:
        
        9 Apr9 April 06:45
        
        Not all accounts have name verification…
- Roy says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 19:12
  
  What, they’re going to ban withdrawing to your own bank account? So any funds in Revolut are stuck there?
  
  Is that even legal for them to prevent people withdrawing their own money?
  - Aston100 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 19:15
    
    This is where terms & conditions (that one agreed to when signing up) are important.
    
    I don’t think legality comes into it. They don’t have to accept you as a customer.
    - Roy says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 19:17
      
      But I am a customer. If they are planning to change the terms and conditions to prevent withdrawals of funds (which sounds unlikely) then I would obviously want to close my account before that happens, rather than have my funds stuck there.
      - Genghis says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:22
        
        You’ll get your money transferred. Just also likely get your account closed (after initial warning).
      - Anna says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:23
        
        It’s probably more about where the funds have come from than where they’re going. A few people have reported frozen accounts for blatant MS, they get the money back eventually but there’s a bit of a tortuous process to go to and then Che will probably cancel your party membership.
      - Roy says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:31
        
        I’m sure there are many things that will get you in trouble. But the idea that withdrawing your own money is one of them is laughable. They’re hardly going to make the product significantly less useful to their entire customer base just to stop whatever ruse it is that we’re discussing here. They’re trying to pretend to be a current account, after all, not just some cheap and nasty prepaid card.
      - John says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:40
        
        Current accounts don’t let you add funds by credit card.
      - Roy says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:44
        
        tbh I didn’t realise Revolut did, either. I thought you had to use a debit card.
      - Aston100 says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 19:52
        
        Roy. Sounds like you’ve got nothing to worry about.
      - Anna says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 20:14
        
        Clue is in the original comment – recycling.
      - AMC says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 21:40
        
        If I top up using a debit card (one that is issued by a bank, not curve) and then withdraw to a bank account, there shouldn’t be any issues, right?
- Harrier25 says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 20:22
  
  @ Brighton Belle…and the proof to back up your post is where??? 🙄
  - avstar says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 20:30
    
    she’s not exaggerating
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 20:30
    
    Anyway, anyone who funds their account and transfers it all straight out is asking for trouble. If you fund account, let some trickle out over the month and leave some in then no Bot will have an issue. I get fed up with all the scare mongering on here, surely people have better things to do with their day!
  - Aston100 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 20:31
    
    Completely plausible given some of us have been warned for being a bit… ahem… Creative.
  - Brighton Belle says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:07
    
    Harrier25. .. Plenty of guidance in the comments history. If you’re cleverer than Che’s transaction bots then fill yer boots.
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 22:31
      
      No need to be cleverer, you just need to be sensible. Run it like a bank account and don’t get greedy because greed breeds stupidity.
YC says:

8 Apr8 April 20:05

Assuming I will get 5k sup card bonus even if applied directly on application?
- Harry T says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 20:20
  
  No, you need to apply after you have applied and the account is opened.
  - YC says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 20:24
    
    Ah… My mind is not working today. Oh well just 5k
    - Harry T says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 21:05
      
      We’ve all done it. If it’s a platinum card, you’re entitled to five supplementary cards, including one platinum and four golds. Try adding another free supp when you get the account opened and see if you get 5k! Sometimes you get lucky; I have before.
      - YC says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 21:16
        
        Yup. Its the low rate of churning since the 2yr rule came in which results in a lot of rust when doing new apps
Aston100 says:

8 Apr8 April 21:41

IHG new ‘dynamic’ pricing.

I booked 10 nights in NYC on points the other day.
Checked today and the many of the days have changed price, both and down, but down overall. A couple of the nights had halved in price and others had gone up or down a little bit.
Cancelled and have tediously rebooked each night as a single booking, as suggested yesterday.
Saved about 5% (which is more than you might think since it is 10 nights worth).
More importantly, I can now cancel and rebook individual nights as and when further price changes occur, rather than block cancelling all 10 nights together as I just had to do tonight.
Going to have to keep an eye on prices every day!
As someone else said the other day, I wish there was a seatspy equivalent!
- Craig says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 21:54
  
  Yep, all quite odd. Every booking for me now single night and checking every day or so. The nights I have booked in Singapore have all gone up significantly and that is for next Feb!
  - Craig says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:11
    
    No sooner had I said that the price dropped and I’ve saved 5k points!!
  - tom1 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:12
    
    Who is going to be the first to write a hotel reward night alert system where it alerts you if the nights you have booked go down in price? Think seat spy have this covered?
    - Craig says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 22:14
      
      I’d pay!
    - Amo says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 22:25
      
      I’ve got a few weeks of downtime coming up and could put something together. What are you thinking; add your booking dates and rates into a system for a given room type at a property and be notified if the price goes down?
      - Craig says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 22:29
        
        A shilling a day?
      - Aston100 says:
        
        8 Apr8 April 22:35
        
        I’ll see your shilling and raise you a farthing
      - John says:
        
        9 Apr9 April 06:47
        
        How would you get the info? Screen scraping may get you blocked
      - Tom1 says:
        
        9 Apr9 April 07:30
        
        Yes exactly that.
  - Polly says:
    
    9 Apr9 April 06:59
    
    Chinese New Year? Sudden rush of bookings ?
- Craig says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 22:16
  
  The most frustrating point is having to delete and recreate the TripIt reservations so the confirmation numbers match, the pain of holiday planning OCD!
- Andrew says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 22:16
  
  Points rates seem to have settled back to closer to what they were a couple of weeks, from the ridiculousness since 1 April.
- BP says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 22:18
  
  I saved 500 points by rebooking. Most of my booked nights have went up, some by 47500 points a night!!!
  - Aston100 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:29
    
    500 points you say?
    Go you!
  - meta says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:31
    
    This is all becoming ridiculous. I just checked my reward booking for IC Ljubljana in July and the price in cash has gone up by 30%, but points price went down by 2k, so rebooked.
Dan says:

8 Apr8 April 22:02

Anyone think Amex will roll out a new personal card to the market. Been following Amex in other countries and over the course of the last year and recently a couple of weeks ago they launched the Amex Explorer card in Canada, Australia and Hong Kong…
- Jonathan says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 22:34
  
  With the uncertainty of the BA Amex cards being subject to the law on interchange fees, don’t get optimistic, they know the credit card market doesn’t really have much to offer, so it puts Amex at a very advantage, so a new card on the market means that they’ll be competing with themselves
  - Youllnever says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 22:48
    
    Actually, that could be the exact reason for releasing a non-cobranded Amex card and discontinuing those cards.
    - Dan says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 22:50
      
      In Hong Kong, they decommissioned both versions of the Cathay Pacific cards and replaced it with the Explorer card. Different markets – but still interesting
- Aston100 says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 23:15
  
  Sounds like a nice card
- Harry T says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 23:28
  
  I had an Explorer in Australia a few years back. Great looking card with a travel credit that offset the fee. I was fortunate enough to get it when there was still a massive sign up bonus and the transfers to airlines hadn’t been devalued.
  - Aston100 says:
    
    8 Apr8 April 23:40
    
    For a 29 year old, you sure seem to have been around a long time!
    - Harry T says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 23:45
      
      Alas I turned 30 in January! 😂
      - Polly says:
        
        9 Apr9 April 07:05
        
        Oz in gap yr or after qualifying? You seem like a born traveller!