The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 14th April

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• Andrew says:

  14 Apr14 April 13:46

  Data point on spending Nectar with Viking – the voucher is applied to the price pre-VAT so is actually worth more than the voucher value when applied to the VAT inclusive price (a £10 voucher is applied as a £12 voucher). Of course other retailers will get their tax accountants to do this and pay less VAT to HMRC but charge the consumer VAT on the full price of the item before applying a voucher code, thus reducing the price of the item and the VAT due on it.

• Bob says:

  14 Apr14 April 14:06

  Can road / vehicle tax be paid with Amex at all? Website doesn’t accept but I notice Post Office is an option… Thanks

  • sloth says:

    14 Apr14 April 14:20

    yes can at the p o

• David D says:

  14 Apr14 April 14:06

  Interesting that Barclaycard have slashed credit limits substantially for existing customers with decent history.
  https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-9466801/Barclaycard-cuts-customers-spending-limits-80.html

  • Andrew says:

    14 Apr14 April 14:27

    Just been reading that. There’s an awful lot of people out there who don’t understand credit risk.

    The little old lady who borrows £100 from the Provvie and repays £7.50 a week without fail over 20 weeks, has a better credit history than the man with no mortgage, owns his car, and never borrows.

• Optimus Prime says:

  14 Apr14 April 14:38

  Looks like in the US you can now earn Bonvoy points through Uber and Uber Eats. Any chance we can have that in the UK too?

  • Rob says:

    14 Apr14 April 14:58

    Seems not, at least for now.

  • Yorkie Aid says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:01

    And also at thousands of restaurants by registering your cards with Eat Around Town. Same organisation also offers Hilton points for restaurants so you can’t register the same cards with both schemes. Works with UK registered cards too.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:13

      Didn’t know about that, thanks!

  • Andrew says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:11

    There was some tie up with SPG and Uber years ago I seem to remember.

    • Rob says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:17

      Yes, worked well but you needed 1 Starwood stay per year before Uber points started to credit.

  • Rhys says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:29

    Sadly it doesn’t look like it.

  • Jonathan says:

    14 Apr14 April 17:21

    Tenuous link but I saw on Instagram today that a restaurant in Cambridge is embarking on a PR war with Deliveroo. They’ve posted their Statement from December showing total sales of £6,104 & total Deliveroo deductions of £3,269 ie. 46%.

    There’s an explanation of how they reach this which includes things like charging the 30% commission on VAT, full order value even if a discount or promo is applied & even double charging commission if there’s a problem with delivery that results in new order being sent out.

    Clearly they signed up to it so an element of tough luck (though they maintain many of the above issues aren’t clear in T&C’s) but the fact Deliveroo is still miles off profitability with those commission rates shows they’ve got no hope long term.

    Restaurant is called theolivegrovecambridge on Instagram if you want to look.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      14 Apr14 April 18:38

      no idea about deliveroo fees etc etc

      They probably squeeze the little man and get squeezed by the big boys (KFC etc) like everyone else.

      However, the restaurant does very good food if you ever visit the university arms.

    • Martin Short says:

      14 Apr14 April 19:44

      Deliveroo is 35% commission.
      Just Eat & Uber Eats 30%.
      +vat
      ..from my clients’ statements.

• Tim says:

  14 Apr14 April 14:43

  My wife had to travel to Belfast today for work, flying home this evening.
  Does anyone have experience of domestic arrivals during the pandemic? I assume the delays are at the border which you avoid if on a domestic arrival?

  • Rob says:

    14 Apr14 April 14:58

    Common Travel Area so straight in

• Pete M says:

  14 Apr14 April 15:18

  It crossed my mind that we’ve been talking about how all the testing requirements will affect people from the UK going on holiday, but not really the other way round.

  I imagine there won’t be many people rushing to visit, even from green-list countries and with reduced testing costs? It may end up being another disastrous year, especially for hotels in cities and London?

  • Rhys says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:24

    Quite.

    • Rob says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:38

      Surely the “British way” is to insist that we have the right to impose ourselves on other countries whilst not allowing them to come here 🙂

      • Pete M says:

        14 Apr14 April 15:40

        But we are *special*, d’oh?! 🙂

        Certainly glad I don’t work for Merlin Entertainments anymore!

  • Jenny says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:29

    Another tax on something popular (tobacco, alcohol, sugar etc)

    • Rob says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:37

      Only 14% of adults in England smoke – not exactly ‘popular’.

      1/3rd of adults under 25 don’t drink either – partly for lifestyle grounds, partly on religious grounds.

      Teenagers are quite impressive these days, having got one. They are substantially more concerned about what they put into their bodies than we were at that age.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        14 Apr14 April 16:48

        It’s like I always say, a piece of GM lettuce in a Big Mac a day, keeps the doctor away. Lol

      • Anuj says:

        14 Apr14 April 17:03

        A lot of people still smoke ‘socially’ at uni

      • Aston100 says:

        14 Apr14 April 17:30

        “1/3rd of adults under 25 don’t drink either”
        I find this hard to believe. Where is the data from?

        • Patrick Cold says:

          14 Apr14 April 17:59

          I`m surprised it`s that low.

  • The real John says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:51

    But may be made up in part by domestic tourism

    • Pete M says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:58

      Into cities though? I have a feeling a lot of people still have this idea of London/big city = Covid cesspool? I’d like to be wrong, though!

  • Anna says:

    14 Apr14 April 17:19

    Yet London hotels have racked up their prices (especially for points bookings) for the rest of the year!
    Surely better to have someone on a points booking spending money in the restaurants etc than empty rooms?

    • Yuff says:

      14 Apr14 April 18:46

      Ic park lane is now 100k per night for our July booking, cash price has dropped £10 a night to a ridiculous £625 a night
      Booked at the old 70k a night rate

  • Kevin C says:

    14 Apr14 April 22:10

    I hope things pick up for British hotels. I also hope for the return of the £400 Marriott offer.

• Mike1 says:

  14 Apr14 April 15:24

  As a new IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card customer, you’re entitled to 0% balance transfers for the first 12 months* from opening your account.

  What exactly is balance transfer?

  • Andrew says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:33

    When you transfer an existing debt from another credit card and it sits on your new card at a rate of 0% interest for the period of the offer and you make the minimum monthly payment (or more if you prefer) and then anything left usually reverts to the standard rate of interest until repaid.

    • Benilyn says:

      14 Apr14 April 15:50

      Be careful of balance transfer fees, usually a few %

• Tom says:

  14 Apr14 April 15:42

  Re. AMEX referrals. I took out my first Platinum last week and, similar to others on here, found that I was unable to refer from my new card. I had queried this over chat with no joy or hint as to whether and when this would be reviewed, but the option to refer w/ enhanced bonus rates has now appeared. I’ve spent roughly £150 on the card across 5 or 6 transactions, so perhaps they want to see some activity before giving you the privilege.

  • Aston100 says:

    14 Apr14 April 16:36

    Tom.
    I was unable to refer from a new Plat for 5 days after activation (the option did come up briefly on day 4, but didn’t work and caused an error).
    I didn’t spend a penny but the ability to refer finally came up by itself on day 5 and worked. No idea why.

    • YC says:

      14 Apr14 April 16:43

      Yes day 5. seems from comments its just platinum issue

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