The HfP chat thread – Sunday 27th June

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• MCO says:

  27 Jun27 June 12:34

  The AA miles from their recent promo have posted. Got 20k over 3 accounts.

• Reney says:

  27 Jun27 June 12:35

  My SLH Amex offer spend £300 get back £100 worked at Tylney Hall at Hook. Shame I only had this offer once across 6 cards, I am staying at another SLH next month!

  Short review: the grounds were delightful, the rooms were tired and need refurbishment, the food was good to ok but service could be better. Happy to provide a fuller review if anyone is interested.

• Fred says:

  27 Jun27 June 13:20

  Hi Folks, any recommendations on where to stay in Barbados please?

  • Rob says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:19

    Money no object – Sandy Lane
    Money bit less of an object – Fairmont Royal Pavilion has just been refurbed

    (We are splitting our October trip between these. Emyr can offer you extra bits and pieces at both.)

    On points, the 7 Elegant Resorts hotels that Marriott bought are slowly dripping into Bonvoy. There are in the process of being refurbed so check the status before booking.

    Hilton is not ideal as it is essentially on the edge of Bridgetown city centre – not really the deserted Caribbean beach you imagine.

    • Rimmingtown says:

      27 Jun27 June 16:04

      If you have kids, check out Bougainvilla next door to Sandy Lane

    • Peter K says:

      27 Jun27 June 16:50

      Actually I disagree about the beach comment with the Hilton. It basically has it’s own stretch of beach and is really nice to sunbathe/swim at.

      The rest of the hotel was okay. I agree with the comment below that the loss of the executive lounge was the deal-breaker in my not wanting to go back to this hotel.

  • roberto says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:21

    Fred, without being disingenuous “how much money do you have”….

    As a regular to the Island the price differs summer to winter and South coast to West coast unbelievably..

    Money no object I would look to stay in a swanky hotel in February on the West Coast but thats £1000 a night.. The Fairmont Royal is somewhere I have stayed at ( on a deal ) and somewhere I recommend highly.

    I am off next week for 11 nights at less than a £1000 for all 11 nights staying in Christ Church.

    I would not choose all inclusive as there are so many great places to go/eat/drink on the Island.

    • roberto says:

      27 Jun27 June 14:23

      And to echo Rob the Hilton is not a good choice especially since its once excellent lounge long bit the dust.

  • JDB says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:46

    One of the best Barbados hotels, not part of a chain and I think no children in high season – Cobblers Cove

    • Rob says:

      27 Jun27 June 15:08

      We went there pre-kids. Not a huge resort but the rooms were enormous. Wouldn’t do a week there but I would happily do half a week. Only a handful have sea views but that is reflected in the price.

    • The cyclist says:

      27 Jun27 June 20:20

      yes, right next door to gobblers gulch.

  • TJ says:

    27 Jun27 June 21:55

    If you’re looking for an upmarket boutique hotel, Little Arches in Oistins is excellent and conveniently located for the famous Friday Night Fish Fry.

• David Statham says:

  27 Jun27 June 13:35

  Any credence to this article in the Portugal News today, which in turn came from a Swiss newspaper . It talks about the Delta variant and why Germany is effectively banning travel to Portugal (and the UK no doubt). It goes on to say that the death rate from Delta is way higher in fully vaccinated people than people who havent been vaccinated at all.
  To cut & paste “Pages 13 and 14 ‘kind-of-say-it-all’: Of the over-50s attending A&E as a result of contracting the Delta variant between February and June this year, 3,546 were fully-vaccinated (having received both jabs); 976 were unvaccinated.

  When it came to the 109 deaths recorded in these patients, 50 had been double-jabbed with approved Covid vaccines, 18 had been single-jabbed, three were considered ‘unlinked’ while 38 were unvaccinated.”
  Anyone with any scientific background have any thoughts ? The Portugal news article contains a link to the weekly UK Covid report – mind boggling full of stats if anyone is interested. Hospitality seems to be the new driver of Delta cases in the last two weeks.

  https://www.portugalresident.com/british-report-lifts-lid-on-why-germany-pulled-its-citizens-out-of-portugal/

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    27 Jun27 June 13:42

    Read this (and downplay the sensational headline in your mind): https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated

    • Tracey says:

      27 Jun27 June 14:01

      Key point: “Consider the hypothetical world where absolutely everyone had received a less than perfect vaccine. Although the death rate would be low, everyone who died would have been fully vaccinated.”

      • David S says:

        27 Jun27 June 15:28

        Good point…..although the U.K. report (primarily U.K. data) seems to be being used by the Germans as their excuse to keep their nationals out of Portugal where Delta is growing

      • Paul Pogba says:

        27 Jun27 June 15:29

        but according to Our World in Data only 52% of Portugese have had one dose: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          27 Jun27 June 16:39

          The crucial number is how many of the AT RISK population (which roughly means over 70s) have been double vaccinated. If all the AT RISK population have had the vaccine then a high % of deaths will be from the vaccinated. The vaccination numbers among the younger population are largely irrelevant in this context. You need to compare your vaccinated cohort against an unvaccinated cohort with an identical age spectrum to show the effect of vaccine on risk. The initial article does not compare like with like and confuses rates with total numbers to spread disinformation; possibly through ignorance but possibly through malevolence.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    27 Jun27 June 13:57

    Surely you can see the obvious reason here and that the death RATE is not higher, just the total number. The article is moronic beyond belief I don’t know the exact numbers in Portugal, but lets say 90% of the elderly at-risk-of-death cohort are fully vaccinated (the UK figure is heading towards 95%). So if the jab offered zero protection, you would expect to see 900 vaccinated patients for every 100 non-vaccinated (90%/10%) arrive at hospital. In the figures given there were 3546/976 or 78%/22% – so vaccinated people are being hospitalised at a lower rate than expected by random chance, and non-vaccinated people at a higher rate.

    Seems good evidence of the protective effects of vaccines.

    If the figures track the UK then within the hospitalised group, those vaccinated tended to have less serious disease and shorter hospital stays and less chance of death, so the protective effect once you drill down furtherwas even greater.
    This seems to be the case in the figures given in Portugal where 50% of deaths were not fully vaccinated (and even more would have contracted Covid before full vaccination + 3 weeks when protective effect has fully established). If the unprotected cohort are 10% of the population but responsible for over 50% of the deaths then that tells you all you need to know.

    In summary, the figures given – no idea if they’re correct or not given the quality of journalism on display – are good evidence that the vaccines reduce your risk of catching Covid and reduce your risk of serious illness even if you do. Yet the article manages to draw exactly the opposite conclusion by ignorance and fuckwittery.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:15

    1 the article isn’t talking rates it’s talking total numbers.

    If you deployed the vaccine by age then the fully vaccinated are most likely to be at risk. Some will still die but it will be LESS than if they hadn’t been.

    The unvaccinated under 50’s were never dying in huge numbers anyway.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:29

    I’d suggest you also read this article:
    https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187

  • Phil W says:

    27 Jun27 June 18:03

    To cut a long story short. Germany’s actions have nothing to do with data and everything to do with forthcoming elections. “Tough on Covid, though on the hypothetical causes of Covid” should be Merkel’s campaign slogan.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    27 Jun27 June 18:59

    David
    Basic statistics – what percentage of over 50s are vaccinated? I’d assume it’s damn near all of them, so of course most cases in over 50s are people who have had the vaccine.

• ee says:

  27 Jun27 June 14:05

  I made a booking with BA using my Amex 2 for 1 voucher with the express purpose of then applying for a FTV.

  I just had the FTV come through and it’s actually two voucher codes, each being the original ticket numbers.

  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but is this consistent with other people’s experience?

  Is there anyway of proving online what booking the Amex voucher was used for? It seems to have gone completely from my Exec Club account as it’s used, but I think there may still be a way to see it somehow?

  • Keely says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:44

    I had a FTV with 4 voucher codes in as it related to a booking being twice cancelled so I think it’s normal to have several codes.
    If you log into your account on the full site you can click on vouchers, more information and it will show your used vouchers and the original booking ref. You can see this on the app you have to log on the full desktop site.

    • Keely says:

      27 Jun27 June 14:45

      *can’t see this in the app …

  • Anna says:

    27 Jun27 June 16:06

    These are your original ticket numbers, you will need them or your booking reference to make a new booking when you call BA.

    • ee says:

      28 Jun28 June 10:37

      Thanks! I was struggling to find the voucher page, but found it here:

      Manage My Account > Manage My Account > My eVouchers (bottom right)

• Lord Doncaster says:

  27 Jun27 June 14:14

  That Tour de France crash seemed particularly effective…might give some people ideas on how to deal with pavement cyclists…

  • SteveJ says:

    27 Jun27 June 17:37

    https://youtu.be/Bh5y1q-MDl0
    For those that haven’t seen it

• Mark says:

  27 Jun27 June 14:28

  Just checked into the new Hilton Garden Inn Snowdonia.
  Hotel looks decent from the outside, the reception and bar area also has new modern type feel to it.
  I’m not so sure about the feel of the rooms they are very small and feel more like a modern European hostel.
  I’m diamond but checked in and there was no recognition of status whatsoever.
  The waitress constantly got the 1st drinks order wrong and had to come back and reconfirm several times then also overcharged us.
  All in all a very poor 1st impression of a hotel I was looking at hopefully becoming a regular at.

  • SteveJ says:

    27 Jun27 June 17:39

    What type of room did you book out of interest?

    General consensus does seem to be nice enough hotel and rooms, but don’t bother eating to drinking there.

• Hilton query guy says:

  27 Jun27 June 14:38

  Hey Genghis – cheers – you were spot on the money – UK Hilton (Hampton by Hilton airport hotel) now safely booked in my 18YO son’s name but on my points, was not a problem on the phone. Good service from Philippines team.

  16000 points = about £80, right? Cash price was £110, but obvs no cash outlay with my points always a good thing unless you overpay. (Though I guess my son could hit the gravy and it’s my credit card!) Plus they gave me 500 points back for listening to some sales pitch for 5 mins.

  • Harry T says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:50

    Usual valuation of Hilton points is around 0.33-0.4p, off the top of my head. The last time I bought a big whack in a 100% bonus sale, I paid 0.4p per point.

    • Hilton query guy says:

      27 Jun27 June 15:07

      Thanks – I wondered if that meant I effectively paid £64 but OTOH I originally used Virgin Miles to get the HH points, somebody might be interested enough to confirm it could also have been £80. Or maybe I messed up. A Virgin Mile could typically be worth 1p at times, right? I got a nice devaluation when I changed to HH points LY, in case Virgin goes bust/ devalues. I wonder how much I really paid for that hotel room? In any case the points were sitting there doing nothing.

      But would be good to know if in future my wife & I book (say) a Hilton fortnight @16K points a night, what the real ‘cost’ might seem to an outsider.

      • Hilton query guy says:

        27 Jun27 June 18:51

        I guess we have about 1M Hilton points sitting there, so – if anybody is interested enough – would you reckon 16K/ night is sort of OK? (Forget about the Virgin Miles devaluation.)

        Not UK, though – would be European cities and on the beach.

        • Hilton query guy says:

          27 Jun27 June 20:39

          Philippines Hilton guy on the phone said 16000 points, seems like it was really 15000 points – plus my 500 points rebate for the telephone spiel.

          So what is 14500 Hilton points worth in real money?

        • Hilton query guy says:

          27 Jun27 June 20:42

          I got that room for >£58, right?

  • Genghis says:

    27 Jun27 June 15:15

    No worries. It’s always best to play by the rules if it doesn’t cost you anything given

    “The Reward may be issued to the Hilton Honors Member, or to any other person, as directed by the Member. Once issued, the Reward is not transferable and may be used only by the individual named on the Reward. If a person other than the individual named on the Reward documentation attempts to redeem the Reward, the Reward will be deemed void and accommodations and/or transportation will be denied.”

    https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-honors/terms/#reward-redemption

    99 times out of 100 you’ll be fine booking in your name and son checking in. But that one time…

    • Hilton query guy says:

      27 Jun27 June 15:24

      Actually the sales pitch was quite interesting – 5 nights in Manhattan at a time of my choosing in the next 2 years, Hilton Resort Hotel – for about $650 all-in ie all 5 nights, no resort fees either. 2 other centres as alternative, Florida and Las Vegas Hilton Resort Hotels ISTR, similar price. I think the guy said 70% off.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        27 Jun27 June 16:29

        It normally ties into some timeshare activity (attending a seminar or something) which isn’t mentioned too prominently on the sales pitch. Bugger that as a use of holiday time; although I do listen to the phone spiel as I can stick it on speaker and get on with something else so it costs me nothing to get the points offered.

        • N says:

          27 Jun27 June 18:47

          these can be v good use of time imo.

          if you would have paid, let’s say, 1.5k USD for the hotel for those 5 nights anyway, and you need pay 650USD + promise them 90 minutes of your time, then I’d say that’s decent… My time is worth quite a bit less than 500+ USD per hour!!

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          27 Jun27 June 20:43

          Depends and yes we’re all different.
          Arguably time on holiday is significantly more valuable than regular time – over my life I will have x1000 more free time available at home than I do in Manhattan, where a morning in a seminar means I miss an opportunity to see something really cool. Maybe forever.
          Also, I enjoy and derive satisfaction from my regular job. I hate timeshare pitches. You’re going to have to pay me WAAAY more per hour to fend off pushy timeshare creeps than to do my day job.
          Of course for someone whose job is merely a means to an end, that maths will be different.

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