The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 12th May

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• Anna says:

  12 May12 May 11:14

  Has anyone stayed at the Doubletree Tower of London? It looks very nice indeed for the price, am I missing something?!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 May12 May 11:17

    I have a few years ago. It was ok the rooms are a little dated. But it’s well located to explore London

    Had a decent rooftop spot to take in the sights and a drink.

    • Anna says:

      12 May12 May 11:22

      Thanks – it’s currently £104 pn in August which seems good value as we’d also get free breakfast.

  • Anna says:

    12 May12 May 11:21

    Or alternatively, to avoid driving into London as we’ll be in the car, is there a decent Hilton just outside London with public transport links into the city? Considering tacking a visit onto the end of our Plan B holiday to use the Amex Hilton offer.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      12 May12 May 11:27

      There’s DT Greenwich – 5min walk to a DLR station.

      • Anna says:

        12 May12 May 11:37

        Fantastic – thanks OP. That definitely ticks the boxes – £68 pn, reasonable parking rate and OH will be very intrigued that it’s a former police station!

        • Peggerz says:

          12 May12 May 12:40

          I have stayed at DT Greenwich in the last year and heading down in a couple of weeks, all being well. It is a former Police building (I thought it was a Section House?) and is a great location as my daughter is at Goldsmiths Coll. nearby. I thought it was a nice hotel for the price. Staff good.
          Enough shops/resto’s/pubs within walking distance, small Co-op Asda and Tesco nearby too. DLR and Overground within reasonable walking distance too.

        • Optimus Prime says:

          12 May12 May 12:55

          @Peggerz – indeed. Also lots of takeaway places nearby such as Golden Chippy and the Turkish place on Greenwich High Road. And of course the food stalls at Greenwich Market (15 min walk), more independent restaurants & pubs plus the usual chains – Pizza Express, GBK, etc.

    • Anna says:

      12 May12 May 11:28

      Would Syon Park tick these boxes?

      • The Lord says:

        12 May12 May 12:09

        Looks good but not super close to public transport

      • pauldb says:

        12 May12 May 12:10

        Not very convenient for getting into London. The DT Chelsea is nondescript but always looked a useful location: just outside the Congestion Charge and you can use the river boats into town?

        • Rob says:

          12 May12 May 12:22

          DT Chelsea (not in Chelsea) is 30 seconds from Imperial Wharf overground station so more convenient than people think. Not a lot in the area unless you have little kids, in which case the Gambado soft play centre next door will keep them busy for days.

    • Harrier25 says:

      12 May12 May 12:56

      The Crowne Plaza Kings Cross is an excellent hotel and was fully refurbished a few years back. Free access to Executive Lounge for Spire Elite members.

    • Neil Spellings says:

      12 May12 May 13:43

      There is a Hampton in East Croydon…trains from there to London (Thameslink to London Bridge, Blackfriars etc or Southern to Victoria) are regular and take 12-20 minutes.

    • Igloo says:

      12 May12 May 16:47

      Hilton Wembley isn’t a bad shout for transport links into London

      • IanM says:

        12 May12 May 18:39

        Hilton Wembley is excellent and 20 mins on Metropolitan line. Main attractive Exec lounge which is shut right now, and you can’t see the stadium for flats!

  • Chris says:

    12 May12 May 11:27

    I’ve stayed a number of times and it’s absolutely fine. Some lovely views of Tower of London and London Bridge with a nice rooftop bar

    lounge is tiny, and pretty standard European style lounge

  • Memesweeper says:

    12 May12 May 11:36

    I stayed and liked it. Thanks to the lack of business travel it’s a bargain now. Upstairs bar is definitely worth a visit.

    The Greenwich one is a bit too remote for me: there is public transport but it’s too slow/irregular for a tourist. Not in the centre of Greenwich.

  • DarrenS says:

    12 May12 May 11:36

    Stayed there a couple of years ago and just booked for this July as the rates are currently low. Good location, but the lounge is nothing to write home about. Rooftop bar v good, as mentioned by others,.

  • The Lord says:

    12 May12 May 11:44

    Stayed twice, once for business and once for leisure. On leisure stay got a more modern room, lots of light etc. On business stay was all the way down the end of the corridor in wheelchair friendly room. Room was huge but felt a bit drab and in need of an update. Lounge is average, lobby decent. Surrounding area very quiet on weekends (and probably in the week now too). Transport links very good though and a good place to stay if the price is right.

  • Venturelog says:

    12 May12 May 13:05

    If this is the one opposite Four Seasons, then having stayed there do not expect anything special from the rooms. The lobby & seating area is very grand. The hotel & rooms are very spacious. I went in Dec 20 and breakfast was a bag pickup.

    • BP says:

      12 May12 May 13:35

      There’s upgraded room that are modern and older rooms. The updated rooms are nice enough. The nearby Novotel is decent too.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 May12 May 14:51

        was that the old Happy Mondays bargain?

  • Rhys says:

    12 May12 May 13:08

    Reviewed it last year: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/12/07/review-doubletree-tower-of-london/

• Chas says:

  12 May12 May 11:16

  I have 510 Club Eurostar points expiring next month. Would a transfer of MR points stop them expiring and reset the clock? The rules state “To keep all of your points, you need to *earn* at least 1 point over the course of two years”, so I’m not sure that they would, but keen to hear of real-life experiences.

  Alternatively, I think I’d have to get my wife to set up an account, and transfer her 500 points (multiples of 100 only), and lose just 10 points unless anyone has any other bright ideas?

  • Genghis says:

    12 May12 May 11:24

    1) yes. I transfer to reset expiry.

    • Chas says:

      12 May12 May 12:10

      Perfect – thank you.

  • PJJ says:

    12 May12 May 13:53

    @Chas
    I had an email mid February to say that my Eurostar points that are due to expire on the 31st May are being extended to the 30th December

    • Chas says:

      12 May12 May 14:08

      Thanks PJJ – I’ve just searched my e-mails and found that e-mail too (same extended expiry date). Unfortunately I’ve already initiated the transfer 😩. It’s a shame that Reward Wallet’s points expiry notification e-mails don’t appear to be able to take such an extension into account…

• HeadingForNoPoints says:

  12 May12 May 11:24

  Does any know if curve works ok with funding binance? I’ve got a few card refunds coming from Trading212 (withdrawing trading profits and they go back onto original funding card), have a feeling they will go back as curve cash, underlying is lloyds and tsb credit cards, not sure if there will be hassles with large refunds going back onto credit cards and I don’t want to raise any flags so want to withdraw the curve cash safely…

  • Erico1875 says:

    12 May12 May 14:37

    I’ve just done a withdrawal from Etoro. They ask for alternative bank details as they can always guarantee to send to debit card and may do bank transfer instead

  • @mkcol says:

    12 May12 May 21:54

    Happened to ask this later on today & didn’t see this Q while sleeping off a nightshift

    https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/05/12/the-hfp-chat-thread-wednesday-12th-may/comment-page-7/#comment-625720

• Amy says:

  12 May12 May 11:27

  Can someone who received the 10k Nectar sign-up bonus from Sainsbury’s credit card, confirm if the bonus is triggered on purchase of £400 worth of gift cards? Thanks.

  • mark2 says:

    12 May12 May 13:35

    Yes, points just received.

• C says:

  12 May12 May 11:33

  Does anyone know if virgin run a credit check if you ask for a limit increase? Thanks

  • Ste Cox says:

    12 May12 May 11:50

    I have never had an alert on my report when i have requested one – never managed to get an increase either though

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 11:54

    It will probably depend on your relationship with them and the time since the last check.

    I took out a new £25K car loan with LBG in April, no credit check (soft or hard) and so far no notification to Equifax or Experian that it’s been drawn down.

  • Venturelog says:

    12 May12 May 13:07

    Not that I experienced. Mind you, like others mine was rejected. 1.5 year down the line and they haven’t offered to increase it…

    • John says:

      12 May12 May 14:11

      As stated before, awarded £25000 limit when card was first introduced some years ago. Spend limit most months and repay in full.
      Cant remember how many times I have been turned down to increase my limit!!

• Kevin D says:

  12 May12 May 11:36

  I’m due a mobile phone contract upgrade. Does anyone know any deals where Avios is offered as an incentive??

  • Travel Strong says:

    12 May12 May 12:11

    Check all of the shopping portals, the ones that cannot be named and the airline ones – there are usually some good deals. I got £36 for taking up the same contract I already have at a £2 per month discount on what I was already paying.

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 12:26

    Check your employee offers portal – there can’t be many major employers that don’t have a partnership with EE or Vodafone for a 20% discount – which will be better than any Avios offer.

    • Anuj says:

      12 May12 May 18:23

      Vodafone are currently offer £10pm for 100gb if you add it as an additional plan. You can do this before requesting a pac code, then transfer the old contract out to a payg sim then back to the vodafone ‘additional’ contract

• Chris says:

  12 May12 May 11:37

  Can someone confirm that Amex Plat Fine Hotel Collection bookings are still eligible for hotel loyalty points/benefits?

  • Stu N says:

    12 May12 May 11:53

    Yes, always got points and benefits.

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 12:09

    And as you pay at the hotel, also combinable with any Amex offers for the hotels (but not the Amex travel offer).

• M says:

  12 May12 May 11:39

  Does anyone know a points blog/forum/community focused on Poland (in Polish would be fine)?

  Probably a long shot, but does not hurt asking 🙂

  • John says:

    12 May12 May 14:17

    Fly4Free.pl

    • kitten says:

      12 May12 May 14:27

      redirecting to booking.com

      • M says:

        12 May12 May 16:48

        Yup that’s a good shout. Search on a main page might redirect to booking.com, but the forum seems lively.

        Thanks

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