The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 12th May

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Jovanna says:

12 May12 May 13:57

What do BA require for placing you Executive Account on hold during mayernity leave? Website says:

You will simply need to email a letter from your doctor, a birth certificate or documentation relating to the adoption or paternity leave to ba.com, along with your name and Executive Club membership number.

All three or just one of the above?
- Jay says:
  
  12 May12 May 14:36
  
  Just one.
Jason says:

12 May12 May 14:07

Come on Marriott where is your hotel offer on Amex!
- Anna says:
  
  12 May12 May 14:53
  
  And IHG!
  - Andrew says:
    
    12 May12 May 15:11
    
    I expectantly check every morning hoping for an IHG £200/£50 offer. And Selfridges too now that Harrods and Harvey Nics have done the same offer of £200/£50, I’m sure they will too.
    - mark2 says:
      
      12 May12 May 15:31
      
      I am hoping for another spend £175 at Waitrose and get £175 back!
      - Andrew says:
        
        12 May12 May 15:58
        
        And I’m also hoping for another double points double value promotion.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        12 May12 May 17:59
        
        You’ll be waiting a while.
- Babyg says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:36
  
  yes Marriott! come one!
Mark says:

12 May12 May 14:12

Stupid question but where do I find the benefits section (hotel scheme registration, dell credit etc) on the plat business card. Every time I click on My account->benefits&help->welcome centre. It takes me to the web page just advertising the different types of cards with an option to log in to my account. If I log in then it takes me back to my account so I’ve just been going around in circles
- Mark says:
  
  12 May12 May 14:13
  
  Ignore me I found it
  - Sam says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:02
    
    I’ve been looking for it too! Any tips?
    - Mark says:
      
      12 May12 May 21:46
      
      Ignore the second log in prompt and scroll down
      - Sam says:
        
        12 May12 May 21:55
        
        Thanks firstly for coming back to your question and secondly for the tip. Found it, hardly intuitive!
        
        Getting this though 🙂
        “Sorry, our systems are not responding”
        
        Will give it a spin in the morning
      - Sam says:
        
        12 May12 May 21:56
        
        Actually says I’ve enrolled anyway….
mutley says:

12 May12 May 14:20

I know Clydesdale issue virgin money credit cards, who issues the Virgin Atlantic credit cards?
- Jay says:
  
  12 May12 May 14:22
  
  Clydesdale… they use the Virgin Money brand as a trading name and issue the VA cards.
небоход says:

12 May12 May 14:47

Hello – has anyone used Capital on Tap with Billhop? If so, does it treat it as a cash advance or a debit card transaction?

Thanks in advance
- небоход says:
  
  12 May12 May 14:50
  
  (I would ordinarily use an Amex but apparently Amex payments take 7 days to clear)
  - Erico1875 says:
    
    12 May12 May 17:10
    
    Last time I used Amex it was clear day 3.
Ed says:

12 May12 May 15:34

DP – just received an email from the Sheraton Grand Park Lane re: last months error rate politely downgrading us from the Grand Suite to the Park View Grand Suite. Still better than a cancellation and not a bad return on £217!
- meta says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:02
  
  I would be requesting to honour their contract given that they have already taken the money or otherwise compensate me substantially.
  - Lady London says:
    
    12 May12 May 17:16
    
    +1
    Not an error rate.
    I was always sure they put it out there with the intention of doing this if bookings picked up.
    
    For them to use this excuse it would have had to have been obviously an error rate from the start. It wasn’t. Plus they should have corrected it imnediately and contacted anyone booking it, practically immediatelty to repudiate.
    
    The rate was quite reasonably taken as a promotional rate. Especially during Covid when every day we’re seeing even top end hotels offering exceptional deals and this pricing was not out of line.
    
    Tell them where to go on it – they’re only trying to cancel you now because they have hopes of doing better. I firmly believe this was in their plan and I would not accept being bumped nor any change in terms. TBH it’s not actually that great a hotel amongst its peers.
    - Anuj says:
      
      12 May12 May 18:13
      
      Considering the shard could (maybe still can haven’t checked) be had for £350 per night I don’t think £217 is much of an error price
    - Ed says:
      
      12 May12 May 18:38
      
      @ladylondon – well put. I’ve emailed to kick up a fuss!
- Jack says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:16
  
  I am awaiting my email then, looks good so far. Given the amount of time that has passed and payment has been taken, I will be heavily contesting this too.
- Harry T says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:19
  
  That sounds like an upgrade, although I assume it’s a terminology error.
  - Lady London says:
    
    12 May12 May 17:21
    
    Actually @Ed @Jack :@HarryT could be right. Check the website before you squeal.
  - Joanne says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:01
    
    Looking at the website for November when both suites available:
    
    Grand Suite: £1568 per night
    
    Grand Park View Suite £666 per night
    
    Still think the rate is problematic: a mistake can void a contract. We need them to tell someone it is a mistake in writing and then we could challenge if they didn’t act on their knowledge and cancel everyone else.
    
    Just because money has been taken does not mean you are entitled to it in law if there is a mistake. Many cases on this!!
    - meta says:
      
      12 May12 May 19:52
      
      Even if it was a mistake fare, they must contact by law immediately (within a week), it’s been a month now that they’ve had our money! I doubt that they didn’t do an audit for a month to not notice this and contact all customers at once. Not one by one.
    - Lady London says:
      
      13 May13 May 07:28
      
      @Joanne they haven’t got a hope legally.
      
      It was not at all an obviously error rate and they have not corrected promptly after the reservations they now claim, a very long time after the reservation was made in good faith, and signifcantly only when market conditions have changed such that they would not offer this promotional rate at this time.
      
      They don’t have a chance. A robust defence is appropriate here. A hotel that was actually quality and class would honour it (and with good grace) even if they had made a genuine error. Which they didn’t.
      - Rob says:
        
        13 May13 May 09:20
        
        I doubt you’d want to take the risk of showing up at the hotel if you’d had to take them to court to get your room confirmed …. I certainly wouldn’t be touching any freebies left in the room.
      - Lady London says:
        
        13 May13 May 13:44
        
        Nah Rob (if it’s Rob, sometimes I think you’ve been hijacked) if it went that far then what you’d be claiming would be the cost of staying in equivalent accommodation at another hotel.
        
        I would also check in a little early too on the day. This is not one to resolve on a late arrival with no management around if you get any problems.
- Si says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:39
  
  When are you due to be staying??
  
  I’m meant to be staying for 2 nights in 3 weeks but no email yet.
  
  App still says Grand Suite for me…
  - Lady London says:
    
    13 May13 May 07:43
    
    Even worse. If they haven’t emailed everyone who booked that rate in one sweep, then that makes it look like the hotel is doing “one out, one on”, ejecting one existing reservation at a time, as things recover and they think they can get a relatively higher rate.
    
    Apart from them trying to cancel far, far too late even if this was a genuine error, not cancelling everyone who booked that rate at the same time once they’ve “realised” their mistake is a sure indicator.
    
    They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too using your money.
    
    Partners and anyone you might host with you tend to be impressed when you bring them to a very high end suite. You made your plans in good faith and may have been relying on what you booked for a special occasion. It’s tacky of them to even try this and it’s not legally defensible especially the way they’re doing it.
    
    Can anyone that gets this type of treatment from The Sheraton Grand Park Lane please report here.
- BSI1978 says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:49
  
  Will be interested in when you are/were due to be staying Ed; have a couple of bookings myself but yet to receive anything suggesting a downgrade or change…albeit don’t imagine they would send them en masse.
  
  In 2 minds about whether I’ll kick up a fuss, albeit they have had my £ for a while now….
- Toppcat says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:51
  
  Would be keen to hear how people get in challenging this.
  
  No email for me yet for a stay in August.
- Tracy says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:53
  
  i’m waiting to see what happens with everyone elses bookings as mine isn’t until march 2022….
- Benilyn says:
  
  12 May12 May 17:52
  
  Class action lawsuit pending, hfp special
  - Ed says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:05
    
    We are staying 21st May. Extract from the email:
    
    “I am reaching out to you since I have noticed you have booked with us our Grand Suite from the 21st of May to the 22nd of May 2021. I kindly inform that the room category you booked is not available during your nights of stay due to a glitch in our system. Therefore I am happy to upgrade our stay to our Grand Park View Suite where you can enjoy the comfort of having two separated areas, one living room and separated bedroom and a wonderful view all over Green Park.”
    
    Using some test dates next week the Grand Park View Suite is coming in at £568 and the Grand Suite £1,250. So, while their CS rep states she is “happy to upgrade”, I still assume this is a downgrade?
    - BSI1978 says:
      
      12 May12 May 18:26
      
      Yup, a quick glance of their rooms would support that assumption. That in itself presents you with a fairly swift and initial means of rebuttal/challenge…
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      12 May12 May 20:19
      
      Perhaps suggest it looks like a downgrade are they offering anything else? I don’t know if the rate included breakfast in restaurant (the lounge offer is meh) or perhaps some complementary aperitifs in the bar rather than lounge fuel …
      
      Though honestly that’s a very keen price for a very nice suite with a nice view. I’d probably just accept I got a little less of a bargain.
    - APB says:
      
      12 May12 May 20:20
      
      Yes definitely a downgrade – very interested to see how they respond to your email back.
    - Lady London says:
      
      13 May13 May 07:55
      
      Don’t accept it. They really can’t make this stand up. Especially the way they’re doing it.
      
      Who knows they may even be reviewing these on a rolling 10-21 day basis and cancelling existing bookings one by one.
      
      If I was a hotelier then as soon as I spotted a customer had booked at what could be an error rate, the first thing I’d do would be a dump of all rates booked ahead by room rate overall and also rates ahead for each room type to detect all errors and correct them immediately.
      
      Not that every time a reservation is made, the system wouldn’t have sent a specific email to reservations/revenue management or that nightly or at least weekly reportd wouldn’t have picked it up.
  - BSI1978 says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:30
    
    Ha!
    
    As class actions go, not one that I envisage will gain much popular traction……
  - Jamie says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:52
    
    Sad
Tw33ty says:

12 May12 May 15:51

I seen Amex small shop being advertised on London tube station today
- Rhys says:
  
  12 May12 May 15:56
  
  A lot of tube stations still have old advertising from last year. No official announcement yet….
  - Sundar says:
    
    12 May12 May 18:39
    
    I thought I saw some note somewhere about June month with 5/15 offer ? Had made a mental note, am I dreaming ?
    - Peter K says:
      
      12 May12 May 19:02
      
      It was on HfP. A whole article on it.
- The Streets says:
  
  12 May12 May 23:26
  
  I saw it at Heathrow Airport last month
Tom says:

12 May12 May 15:54

Does anyone know when the 3 month clock for spending X amount on your shiny new Amex starts; e.g. the day you’re approved, the you activate the card, etc?
- roberto says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:30
  
  Pass, but I look at the bar graph that says spend £10,000 by whatever day next year and use that to work back to a start date bearing in mind that’s 12 months hence. Take off 11 months and Robert is your mother’s brother.
- Steve says:
  
  12 May12 May 16:46
  
  Personal experience is it’s card activation date. YMMV
- 747_Brat says:
  
  12 May12 May 18:11
  
  IME it is the day the card approval email is received. I recently tested it with my newly approved cards.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    12 May12 May 19:22
    
    Yup