The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 26th May

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• trader363 says:

  26 May26 May 12:12

  Booked Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi for Jan 2022 for 5 nights (570k points). Have estimated around $2,500 for F&B and $1,600 for the yacht transfer.

  Does anyone know if there are additional benefits to being Platinum vs Gold? I’m gold but may try and see if there’s a cost effective way to complete the platinum challenge (wife’s account) if it’s worth it.

  I emailed the resort but they didn’t confirm (just kept stating the gold benefits):

  · Complimentary Wi-Fi

  · Complimentary late check-out (subject to availability)

  · Complimentary two bottles of water daily

  · In-villa VIP welcome Champagne and sweet amenities

  · Complimentary selection of beverages crafted by our mixologist or selected by our sommelier from 4.00 PM to 5.00 PM at Peacock Alley.

  · 50% savings on selected refreshments at Peacock Alley from 10 PM – 11.30 PM

  • Harry T says:

    26 May26 May 12:22

    Do you mean Hilton Diamond? There’s no Platinum in the HH programme.

  • roberto says:

    26 May26 May 12:23

    I presume you mean Diamond, and no, no real benefits other than an invite to a Diamond gathering with some free drinks one night a week.

    • meta says:

      26 May26 May 13:10

      Suspiciously free breakfast is missing from the above list. Did they forget or they know the change will be worldwide from next year?

      • Lady London says:

        26 May26 May 13:13

        This is serious. I hope you respond to the hotel correcting this due your status. Definitely not one to let go.

  • trader363 says:

    26 May26 May 13:25

    Sorry yes I meant Diamond!

    They did confirm in their email that breakfast is included (although noted that if I wanted it in the villa on a floating tray in the pool that it’s $150++!!)

    Thanks all, will stick to my Gold Elite status (and utilise the happy hour at 4pm every day!)

  • Optimus Prime says:

    26 May26 May 14:00

    $500/day on F&B? How many guests?

    • Jonathan says:

      26 May26 May 14:27

      Look at their website: $30 +tax & service (~$42 all in) for some nachos…

    • Rob says:

      26 May26 May 14:40

      Let’s face reality – you’d spend $500 at a 4-star Crowne Plaza in Birmingham if 2 people paid for breakfast, a big lunch, a full evening meal with wine plus a few cocktails in the afternoon, a couple of coffees at the pool and a chaser before bed.

      I was at the Indigo in Bath last night. The five main courses on the menu were £26, £25, £30, £32 and £29. Starters £11-£13. Desserts £10-£13. Throw in £30 for some wine and £10 for coffee plus 12.5% service and you’ve spent £175 – and this is just a 4-star in Bath. Hitting $500 in a day would be a doddle.

      • meta says:

        26 May26 May 17:04

        I think there is some kind of expectation in this country that when you go on holiday it has to be cheaper than in the UK and when its on par or only slightly more expensive, everyone complains.

      • Aston100 says:

        26 May26 May 20:57

        Who on earth would spend $500 per day at the crowne plaza in Brum?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 May26 May 21:40

          I could spend £350 a day for a couple in brum but not at the CP as I’d be bored as hell by day 2.

          As Rob says eating 3 meals and having drinks isn’t cheap in the U.K.

    • Babyg says:

      26 May26 May 18:03

      $500 per couple F&B / per day is a tight budget for the WA, you will need to pack some pot noodles or skip meals… eg beach dinners are $300++(taxes/tips/) per person…

    • trader363 says:

      27 May27 May 01:25

      Just two of us – but everything costs an arm and a leg though!

  • BJ says:

    26 May26 May 14:19

    I seriously doubt you would recoup the cost of obtaining Diamond on a five night stay, even in the Maldives. The best high tier benefits in any scheme are generally realised at midrange hotels, not the popular high end hotels because the best rooms and suites in those are usually fully booked for cash. Besides, even where they are not, Lifetime Diamond will still be ahead of you for any upgrades, and just because a room is empty there is no guarantee a hotel will give it to you. I have also learned recently that at one Hilton I have stayed at frequently, repeat visits trump status when it comes to upgrades. Thus, unless you want Fiamond for the longer term I wouldn’t focus spend on achieving it.

    • Harry T says:

      26 May26 May 14:50

      @BJ
      Do Lifetime Diamond really get priority for upgrades above Diamond? Completely agree about repeat visitors getting treated the best.

      I’m Diamond now due to work stays – any particular Hilton hotels you would recommend?

      • BJ says:

        26 May26 May 21:05

        @Harry T … ask me next year 🙂 It would be my guess but in my own case it will be hard to tell as I have done very well as Diamond over the years. That, however, might be because I focus on midrange hotels as opposed to the high end hotels you favour. BTW, did you see my recommendation for Gkenapp Castle in yesterday’s R&C bits? I think it would be right up your street.

  • YC says:

    26 May26 May 15:28

    Could you add on a half board option?

  • Ali M says:

    26 May26 May 19:04

    free breakfast kept being missing on my recurrent enquiries and finally got them to agree in writing that it’s included.🥴 not sure whether there was need for to and from

• Ian_H says:

  26 May26 May 12:29

  Is there any chance do we think that VS may do the necessary T work to allow us to see CC vouchers in our Flying Club accounts ala BA? its a proper PITA of an otherwise great product, especially as with all the recent extensions its nigh on impossible to correlate expiry from issue date.

  • Travel Strong says:

    26 May26 May 14:13

    I hope not. The current murky systems have given rise to many reports on here of unexpected extra vouchers available or not consumed as expected! I appear to have benefited myself in a way which I imagine would not have happened with a coded voucher ala BA!

    • BP says:

      27 May27 May 00:21

      I have previously got double vouchers from BA 🙂

• Milly says:

  26 May26 May 12:43

  Couple of newbie questions

  Trying to extend my Feb 2022 Amex companion voucher via FTV.
  1) if I book economy, does it lock in that class or can I change to club after?
  2) Do I have to wait a few days before requesting an FTV?

  • SteveJ says:

    26 May26 May 12:45

    1) no it doesn’t lock in the class. What it does lock in is the passenger names
    2) allow for the 24 cooling off period to lapse

  • Craig says:

    26 May26 May 12:58

    See my post on the previous page, booked MAN-LHR return and cancelled two days later, FTV arrived within the hour.

• Bill says:

  26 May26 May 13:16

  Am I correct in that if I fly back to UK from Portugal on a Tuesday evening I can do a PCR in Portugal any time on a Saturday?

  From reading gov.uk it says anytime in the 3 days preceding the day of departure.

  I fear the check in agent at FAO may not interpret it that way.

  Thanks

  • TGLoyalty says:

    26 May26 May 13:20

    Yes.

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    26 May26 May 13:23

    I would play it safe as it depends on the wording etc. Late Saturday eve would be fine providing it is 72 hours before the arrival time of your flight (to cover all bases)

    • Pete M says:

      26 May26 May 13:43

      Remember it doesn’t need to be a PCR to come back to the UK, lateral flow is also fine and a lot cheaper.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      26 May26 May 14:55

      There’s no 72 hrs rule for U.K. just within 3 days on the flight. It’s very clear on that aspect.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        26 May26 May 16:21

        3 full days is 72 hours?

        • Yorkieflyer says:

          26 May26 May 19:00

          I think it’s pretty clear that it’s any time on the day 3 days before your flight departs the overseas airport

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 May26 May 19:37

          No because if you fly Thursday you can take it anytime on Monday which is more than 72hrs.

    • Yorkieflyer says:

      26 May26 May 19:00

      Departure, not arrival date

• Alan S says:

  26 May26 May 13:21

  Usual dance around getting BA to play ball with EU261/APR re-routing rules to a date at my convenience, rather than their own ‘1 year from date of purchase’ etc.

  Small quirk in my own situation, in that BA have never got round to taking the further tax/surcharge payments and so the booking apparently only holds the required Avios and £35 that was rolled over from an FTV.

  Presumably that changes nothing because it’s on BA to charge me for those, be it in the last 7/8 months or before I fly? The booking is still the booking and the re-routing rules are still the same?

  I’ve got written confirmation from them in that they won’t re-route under my rights, so no doubt it’s an MCOL claim to follow.

  • Tariq says:

    26 May26 May 16:04

    I have the same situation. I think the EU261 wording is ‘reservation’ rather than ‘ticket’ or suchlike. Therefore it should be fine that they haven’t taken full payment and ticketed, but prepared for pushback in my own case.

    • meta says:

      26 May26 May 20:24

      Confirmed reservation! So unless you’re ticketed or received e-ticket email, no rights.

      On that note, I wonder whether BA started doing it deliberately with FTV bookings?

      • Alan S says:

        26 May26 May 21:32

        Is that right? I mean I have a booking reference, BA You First talk about ‘my booking’ in their recent emails to me and they have my Avios/some cash since October last year.

        It seems a little unfair that I wouldn’t have any rights on the booking due to their tardiness in processing the additional payment etc.

        • meta says:

          26 May26 May 22:03

          Yes, purely by UK261, you have no right. You don’t have a ticket nor confirmed reservation.

          Are you able to confirm/select the seat on the flight from MMB? Second, do you have a reservation email (one generated by the system, not email sent by CS or YouFirst) ? If you have either, then you have a confirmed reservation.

      • Alan S says:

        26 May26 May 22:12

        I have the option to choose a seat on any of the flights in the booking via the app, but it automatically takes me to the cancellation options when trying to do so.

        • meta says:

          26 May26 May 22:57

          Sorry another follow up question. Have you managed to select the seats prior to the latest cancellation and did you do it?

      • Alan S says:

        26 May26 May 23:02

        Can’t recall if I had the option or not before the first cancellation. Pretty sure I did because the flights were first class and so I could select for free.

  • Asim says:

    26 May26 May 21:07

    So they never actually ticketed you for the routing at all? In my case, they ticketed me. I then did a voluntary date change which they never ticketed (only sent a reservation confirmation). 3 days later the flight on the new date was cancelled and I got the usual emails etc .

    When I tried to rebook months later under EU261 I was told it couldn’t be done as the new date booking was never ticketed. I called again a third time, and he made the change to a date of my choice without any fuss at all.

    • meta says:

      26 May26 May 22:10

      You were lucky that the third agent did that for you. Technically he could have said no and just issue a refund.

      This is a major downside of FTV and why I try to avoid them at all costs after having a huge ordeal last summer where I had to chase them for days to be ticketed. It was only done 48h before the flight.

• Reney says:

  26 May26 May 14:25

  Data point: A couple weeks ago I mentioned I did a GBIT transaction on Curve and it never appeared. It has turned up 25 days later.

  • Memesweeper says:

    26 May26 May 15:41

    👍

• Ben says:

  26 May26 May 14:29

  If I paid in £9k to Rev in one go from ihg, am I likely to raise eyebrows if I send it back out to another account not in my name?

  Maximum I normally send to them is 2k

  Thanks

  • 747_Brat says:

    26 May26 May 14:52

    I did £5k yesterday and my IHG card immediately got blocked and I received a call from IHG fraud team to check if I was the one doing this transaction.

    They went through various account transactions with me on the call including the ones where I have paid the Seagulls and Ernie. Although they seemed pretty nonchalant about it.

    Just like you, I used to do a max £2k transactions earlier, and that’s what I am going to stick to in future to fly under the radar! Hope that helps.

    • 747_Brat says:

      26 May26 May 14:56

      Also, Rev could cause an issue too if they see a large amount leaving the account as soon as you topup. So tread with caution! If I were you, I would do small amounts to make it a lesser of a risk.

    • r* says:

      26 May26 May 19:07

      IHG can feed seagulls on its own? I get error msgs.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    26 May26 May 15:51

    If you have to ask the question you already know what the answer is likely to be.

  • avstar says:

    26 May26 May 17:27

    Source of Funds check incoming…

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    26 May26 May 17:30

    I would say so, I try to keep just below 1K per transaction

• Tiger says:

  26 May26 May 14:35

  Banking on collective HfP wisdom:
  Has the new Deliveroo £120 credit swayed your decision of cancelling the Amex Gold card?

  Personally, I was about to cancel it until this offer came around. I am in two minds about this offer because they say you are getting £5 x 2 credit, but with the higher prices of items on Deliveroo and the delivery fee taken off, you are probably making £3-4 max on this offer. So not sure if it is worth keeping the Gold card in the 2nd year just because of this offer.

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    26 May26 May 14:38

    Depends if you are already getting food delivered and if you are the one actually paying for it. When travel resumes for my work, a nice £10 bonus every month is fine by me

  • Youllnever says:

    26 May26 May 14:40

    What I’ve done is I use the pick up option to mitigate service and delivery charge, then make sure the restaurant hasn’t marked up their price (vs. their actual menu) so that I maximise the £5 credit.

  • Travel Strong says:

    26 May26 May 15:17

    I’ve enjoyed testing deliveroo for the first time. But it will not sway me at the end of Year 1.
    Same as in previous years:
    – Get the bonus for spending 15k
    – Cancel
    – Switch to another card for a while
    (e.g. referral to BAPP / Hit 241 spend).
    – Come back to gold again on the back of another referral.
    – Rinse and Repeat.

    (Strategy relies on getting full benefits from partner referring or self referring with one of you holding platinum too).

  • Mr. AC says:

    26 May26 May 16:32

    Was about to cancel, now won’t. We use Deliveroo anyway – they have a number of restaurants we really like but which aren’t available anywhere via any other app.

    • Yorkieflyer says:

      26 May26 May 18:53

      Radical idea for some but of course they are available if you eat out😉

      • Mr. AC says:

        26 May26 May 20:35

        We work and have kids, so there’s no way we’d be able to find time to get to them during the day… Otherwise sure.

  • Aston100 says:

    26 May26 May 18:17

    The Deliveroo offer by itself isn’t enough to keep me from cancelling a PRG when the time comes.
    When factoring in delivery charges and menu prices marked up, the £5 barely makes a difference in my opinion.

  • r* says:

    26 May26 May 19:17

    Not at all, but Ive never used deliveroo so its basically worthless to me.

    I tried to see if I could get some free value out of it and found that a chip shop here sells fish for £3.70 normally but its £4.70 if ordered with deliveroo, plus the min order fee plus the delivery fee so for me not only is not a true saving, its actually a cost.

    • Travel Strong says:

      26 May26 May 19:29

      For my first purchase I ordered £15.22 of groceries from the co-op down the road, applied code GROCERY10 for £10 off, paid on Amex PRG for a further £5 off, 2 bags of groceries to my door 20 minutes later. Net cost = 22p. Don’t forget to also apply the hfp referral codes for a further 2 x £2.50 discount on other deliveries, and if you are totally new like I was – free delivery for 14 days helps eek some value out too.

      • Travel Strong says:

        26 May26 May 19:29

        * 4 x £2.50

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