The HfP chat thread – Sunday 13th June

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.

Anna says:

13 Jun13 June 09:28

Heads up re IHG charging in full for flexible hotel stays – I booked 10 nights at the HIE Gibraltar, terms being that only a deposit was required. The hotel immediately charged the full £1300 which annoyed me mainly because I want to use a different card for the final bill! I emailed the hotel and they acknowledged that they are, in fact, only allowed to charge for the first night’s stay as a deposit and have promised to refund the rest.
- Jody says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 10:01
  
  Very cheeky of them, glad you’re being refunded.
- Mutley says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 10:23
  
  Gibraltar. It’s a dump, a lot of 1950’s style barrack blocks and old MQ’s. If anyone was transported from 1964 they would feel at home in the pubs there. When I was in the Navy the ships company ran out of things to do three days after docking.
  - Anna says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 11:22
    
    Well we don’t go in pubs, we’re going to visit historical sites, scuba dive, snorkel, dolphin watch, explore the Moorish ruins and hiking trails and try out the newly built Gorham’s cave walkway (site of the last Neanderthal inhabitants of Europe) – are you sure you went to the same place?!
    - Sandra says:
      
      13 Jun13 June 12:24
      
      Anyone ex service, including my OH who is also ex Navy, will probably say the same about Gib. I’ve read all the comments with interest over the last few days and am surprised it’s taken so long for someone to say ‘it’s a dump’, but when it was a huge base and naval dockyard it didn’t have a great deal going for it other than sun and (mostly) grotty pubs. Coming back off a patrol or with a breakdown it was a stopping off point for a run ashore that, apart from the young single guys, no one wanted. I imagine since the demise of the dockyard and the financial loss from that Gib will have had to improve things a lot in order to attract tourism revenue and it will be interesting to revisit for a few days and see how much it might have actually changed, although I still don’t think it’s big enough to warrant more than 3/4 days there. I hope you do enjoy it Anna and find enough to keep you occupied for your stay and then report back. Just watch those apes, I can guarantee they wont have changed & will still be thieving little so & so’s!
      - mutley says:
        
        13 Jun13 June 14:44
        
        As I said about three days worth, I went back after approximately 20 years for work and it was still a dump, each to their own though.
      - Anna says:
        
        13 Jun13 June 15:50
        
        Hi Sandra, it’s funny, on the 3/4 times we’ve been on day trips we’ve always ended up picking a couple of things to do and then saying we’ll go back for longer next time!
        If we actually get there I will make it my mission to find something different to do each day!
        Just waiting to see what fresh torment the government comes up with for tomorrow and the next travel review now 🤦‍♀️
    - Paul says:
      
      13 Jun13 June 13:09
      
      I am not sure that’s correct. There are a lot of Neanderthals here
  - Tony1 says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 22:17
    
    Its a 2 day stay at max. Not unlike Blackpool but in the sun. Best thing to do is get attacked by the monkeys at the top of the rock !
- Tw33ty says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 14:35
  
  Gib is nice, been a few times on cruise days.
  It’s a bit small, I’m not sure I could spend more than a weekend there at once.
  Let us know what you think of the hie when you go.
  We keep saying we’re going to go to gib for a weekend, but other half wants to stay on the sunbourn, the moored cruise ship come hotel. But I keep telling her we can’t use points 😁
  As soon as the indigo eventually opens on gib, I think I’ll give in.
  - Anna says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 15:52
    
    Is there going to be an Indigo, that would be a very attractive option?
    If it was just me and the OH I would definitely consider the Sunbourn but I feel it might be wasted on teenagers, I’d just be worrying all the time that one of them would fall overboard!
    - Tw33ty says:
      
      13 Jun13 June 16:01
      
      There’s been an indigo in the pipeline for gib for some time, last I heard they even had a site for development off it, but as we know, some don’t always come to fruition. I keep my fingers crossed.
Oh! Matron! says:

13 Jun13 June 09:32

Shop Small: I was in a Scandinavian outdoor retailer yesterday and noticed that they had they Shop Small cards: Nice. Got me talking though: They have a customer who comes in ONLY when Shop Small is on and proceeds to take out 10 (!) Amex cards and splits the cost amongst them….

I know that AMEX is cracking down on this but… The cheek!
- Richie says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 09:55
  
  I think it’s 5 transactions max at the moment, so not sure the reference to 10.
  - Ikaz says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 10:07
    
    One transaction on 10 different cards by the looks of it
  - MD says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 10:11
    
    @Richie. No, it’s one transaction per Amex per retailer, to a maximum of 5 different retailers per Amex this time (which is the reduced bit). You can still use any number of unique Amexes at an individual retailer, once each. Supps count as unique cards, in this case.
    
    So this guy most likely has 5 Amexes and 5 supps, and can use all 10 in one retailer. Risk of Amex shutting you down of course, it’s happened to some on here. I’ve used 10 Amexes in one retailer a couple of times during SS successfully, although just cancelled the platinum so down to 8 cards for this SS.
- Will says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:14
  
  I’d call a net income of $3bn a year a bit cheeky.
  
  They run a 10% net profit margin in a line of business which is ludicrously difficult to enter.
  
  Contrast that to Tesco, about 1.5% margin.
  
  Tesco also employs 8 times as many people and nets about 40% of the total profit of amex.
  
  I would not call American Express a company you need to be particularly compassionate towards with respect to £5 statement credits myself.
  
  If amex what to ban said customer, that’s up to them.
- mark2 says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 12:02
  
  Only 10? lightweight!
  - Genghis says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 13:41
    
    I occasionally talk to the retailers and one guy told me of a lady with 46 cards
- Char Char says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:24
  
  The retailer should be grateful for the business, no harm in taking advantage of offers.
- Rich says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:33
  
  A friend who runs a small gift shop says you can spot the Shop Smallers a mile off. Wandering round the shop, doing the maths in their head as they’re trying to hit exactly £10 three times with assorted permutations of goods.
  - Tomgold says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 17:22
    
    or anyone with a bit more of a brain, can top an account (store permitting) with the exact amount wanted per card, and then just spend as normal using your credit
- Tomgold says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 17:19
  
  i got barred form the offer previously for behavior not half as bad as you describe.
  they let me back on this time. seems like they care much less with this rubbish £15 offer
- Richie says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 18:45
  
  Thanks for the clarifications.
Anna says:

13 Jun13 June 09:34

And FTV data point – I cancelled a 241 to MIA as I didn’t want the £1200 cash element tied up in a FTV, then rebooked MAN-LHR as otherwise the 241 would have expired in October. I’ve just cancelled this for a FTV valid until April 2023, the email containing the voucher arrived 10 minutes later.
- ChrisC says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:07
  
  Good job!
  
  much better for the money to be in your account than theirs!
Kai says:

13 Jun13 June 09:55

For those who do Oyster Shop Small, Sackville News near Piccadilly Circus has a very friendly owner.
- Babyg says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 14:17
  
  noted…
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 15:56
  
  Damn it I was near there yesterday!
  
  P.s Les Misérables is good although at the moment it’s more like a shorter concert rather than a musical with drama
Phatbear says:

13 Jun13 June 10:24

Currently working my way towards my £400 spend in sainsburys to get 10000 nectar, if this was m&s id smash it in a few weeks, anyway does anyone know if instore giftcards work towards the target, according to the t&c’s e-giftcards dont, and is the £400 based on whole £,s or do the pennies count towards the target.

tia!
- Tariq says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:00
  
  Yes I bought loads of gift cards when I was doing mine.
- ChrisC says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:02
  
  Personally I’d just do a stock up of your usual shopping items such as toilet paper, washing tablets and that sort of thing that you know you’d use rather than faff with gift cards and whatnot.
  
  And booze is a good one as well – if you drink that is.
  
  Don’t forget Argos and habitat count for spend as well?.
  - Eppleby Green says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 16:00
    
    That’s what I did, bought my regular shopping, and hit the target no problem! 10000 Nectar points arrived one month later! You get at least a year’s interest free credit, as well.
- avstar says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 12:56
  
  buy £400 of sainsburys gift cards instore using your CC, will trigger the bonus
  - Phatbear says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 14:35
    
    Cheers for the info.
    
    If i hadnt done a recent costco run, ie got enough household stuff to last a year i would easily spend the requisite £400.00.
    
    I’ll pick up some nandos vouchers next time im passing as these got a lot of use in our house
- Tomgold says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 17:23
  
  which card is this on?
  - Phatbear says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 20:34
    
    Sainsburys nectar credit card
Tw33ty says:

13 Jun13 June 10:49

Not seen any mention of this, but radisson are opening a new hotel in Inverness.
River Ness Hotel, a member of Radisson individuals.
It’s being built and owned by the people who own the Kingsmill hotel, which is nice itself if you book the garden rooms.
It’ll give a good option for points earning / spending in the town, where the only options at present are a dreary hie, a marriott at the airport miles out of town, or a mercure if your into all.
- Oh! Matron! says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 19:39
  
  Thanks for this. I’m up there in September so good to know!
ChrisC says:

13 Jun13 June 10:50

Re Rocketmiles

In March I availed myself of the bonus 500O points offer for new users for a booking in early July.

If I have to cancel can I then book something else and still get the points or is it a one shot deal?

If I can travel (it’s only to Manchester) ’m currently crediting them to HR can I switch that to BA or is HR baked into their system?
- Rob says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:03
  
  The 5000 points offer is no longer running, I think.
  
  If it came back and you did rebook, I would use a different email address and credit card just to be sure. Pointless taking the risk if it can be avoided.
Andy D says:

13 Jun13 June 11:10

I just went to buy some train tickets but saw that LNER Amex offer no longer on my card. What’s the smart HFP way to buy tickets (LNER, Yorkshire to London).
- Harry T says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:19
  
  There is an offer on my Halifax rewards debit card for a 5% rebate on LNER spend. This should stack with the 2% credit LNER give when you book directly with them for their trains.
  - Nick says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 11:37
    
    LNER offer also on NatWest/RBS cards as well. Works for all train operator journeys as long as booked through the LNER site.
- Kai says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:20
  
  Sign up to LNER Rewards which gives you £5 off, or use Trainpal
  - Keith says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 11:54
    
    And, what a surprise, currently on Santander debit card rewards until 3rd August
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 12:23
    
    + 1
    
    Maybe try Taco Bell or similar
- Andrew says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:06
  
  It’s also on my MBNA Horizon, so 5% + 0.5%. In the past, the LNER offer also activated on their gift “voucher” purchases, so I used to stock up.
- Tomgold says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 17:27
  
  virgin money also give a few points per pound for all train tickets