The HfP chat thread – Thursday 15th 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.

MattB says:

15 Apr15 April 13:40

With the wife and I just having our 1st jabs earlier than expected thanks to the speedy progress in Wales, it got me marginally more optimistic of travel later in the year……

Anyway I was curious what thoughts are of the Hilton LXR brand? It’s not normally the type of place we could afford to pay cash for but we have enough points. In particular I was looking at Santa Monica LXR at 95k per night but with the 5th night free as gold. So would be 380k for 5 nights Vs cash price of between £2.5k and £3k, is that generally a fair redemption value?

Interestingly I’ve noticed points bookings prices have shot up, I assume the vaccine effect. A placeholder booking I made that I’m not keen on now is 50% more expensive than when I booked a couple of months ago.
- Rob says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 13:55
  
  The brand is, so far, primarily conversions. This makes it hard to get a handle for what Hilton actually wants from it and how it differs from a Conrad / Waldorf. The Dubai one, for eg, looks like a St Regis because it was built as a St Regis, art deco and all. Hilton needs to get a grip on it.
  - NC says:
    
    15 Apr15 April 14:12
    
    The Dubai one still serves breakfast on St Regis-branded crockery…
- memesweeper says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:14
  
  Can’t comment on the brand. Trip advisor rates it at the best hotel in Santa Monica.
  
  Seems to be a good use of points — outsized value in fact. Enjoy 🙂
- MattB says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:15
  
  Ok
  - MattB says:
    
    15 Apr15 April 14:17
    
    Not sure what happened to that reply lol, but thanks for the comments. Just found some before photos and it does look substantially nicer now, just wasn’t sure if it was still worth that level of redemption. I’ll run it by the wife later.
John Caribbean says:

15 Apr15 April 13:41

IHG just emailed about Ambassador. I assume a reward night doesn’t count as the 1 night required to get the free night voucher?
- Rob says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 13:53
  
  No.
HeadingForNoPoints says:

15 Apr15 April 13:45

All my airtime rewards at Morrisons are payable now… I stacked with 7% natwest.

Just over a month of waiting vs the expected 90 days.
Jonathan says:

15 Apr15 April 13:50

I’ve only had 2 out of about 5/6 transactions track, one of these was done using Apple Pay the others were done with chip and pin (weird that the Apple Pay transaction tracked, and some of the chip and pin transactions didn’t do so, I’m saying this as I know that Apple Pay uses phantom card numbers). I didn’t put the expiry date in when I registered my card.

I would try and chase the missing VPs but I brought gift cards, so it’s best I keep quiet to them !
- Jonathan says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:47
  
  I thought I’d posted this as a response to Secret Squirrel on the other page of comments !
Ali M says:

15 Apr15 April 14:09

Am I right in assuming that Apple gift card (store) / Amazon gift cards etc spend not excluded from spend bonuses on Amex ?
- Benilyn says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:38
  
  You are correct.
  - Ali M says:
    
    15 Apr15 April 14:43
    
    Thank you
Eric the Half a Bee says:

15 Apr15 April 14:10

GSTP reporting that Plaza Premium are ending free access for PP/Lounge Club members. Presumably LHR T5 unaffected (no access currently) but bad news for T2.
- Rob says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:12
  
  They leaked that to Exec Traveller. We had it as an exclusive for tomorrow.
  - Eric the Half a Bee says:
    
    15 Apr15 April 14:16
    
    Looks like ET got the ‘exclusive’ too…
    - Rob says:
      
      15 Apr15 April 14:27
      
      We have spent all week putting this together from scratch based on a vague rumour. We have spoken to Plaza, Collinson, No1 Lounges and DragonPass. The quote that ET has was written for HfP – and only for HfP – by the Plaza press office last night. Note that we have a Collinson quote too.
      
      The only reason we sat on it is that there is something else going on alongside this involving another party and we were hoping we’d get confirmation of that today. ET only has half the story.
      - Youllnever says:
        
        15 Apr15 April 15:36
        
        I’m assuming LoungeKey will be affected as well?
      - Rob says:
        
        15 Apr15 April 15:42
        
        Yes
- Andrew says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 14:36
  
  I hope Plaza Premium will still be accessible for Amex Platinum members.
  - Eric the Half a Bee says:
    
    15 Apr15 April 14:55
    
    +1
Reney says:

15 Apr15 April 14:54

I have 2 nectar esso offers. One is 10x point on first fill, another is 1000 point on first fill. The latter is more beneficial to me. The t&c seems to suggest they won’t stack, and you get the first offer you saved. just wanted to check what are people’s experience?
- Chas says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 15:42
  
  I had 2 Esso offers in my Nectar app a few weeks ago (not as generous as yours), and I think I hit “save all offers” or similar. Both offers tracked from the one transaction.
Alan says:

15 Apr15 April 15:01

Can anyone tell me if there is a Paypoint in the croydon area that accepts Amex.
- Pete M says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 20:21
  
  If there’s Co-Ops that do Paypoint around then yes – have a look on the Paypoint website.