The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 6th July

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General

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Thywillbedone says:

6 Jul6 July 06:46

A couple of questions:

• Did the Four Seasons offer ever appear on anyone’s AMEX cards?

• Anyone know of a bareboat motorboat rental service in Poole area (very little on search engines) …have looked at sites like borrowaboat to get direct from owner but choice very limited/expensive and mostly with crew

Thanks!
- BJ says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:44
  
  A decent FS UK offer was mentioned a few days ago but don’t think it was amex.
  - Ed says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 11:15
    
    Was on Amex fleetingly then disappeared
Harrier25 says:

6 Jul6 July 06:48

On my Amex Preferred Rewards Gold this morning…Earn 1 additional MR point per £1 spent up to 1,000 points for 2 months.
- Gtellez says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 06:52
  
  +1
- YC says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:35
  
  Does this apply to sup cards too?
  - BJ says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 07:45
    
    Not on my hold supp.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 07:49
    
    It appears on mine and the wife’s main cards but not on the supps. Only available to the first 55,000 cardmembers to save!
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 09:11
    
    Main cards only. And usually spend on that main card only too
- Memesweeper says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 08:53
  
  On my personal but not business Gold
Andrew says:

6 Jul6 July 06:57

Can we assume masks won’t be legally required in England’s airports from the 19th as there was no mention by the PM yesterday of them remaining in this setting?
- Anna says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:05
  
  Airlines seem to be retaining the requirement due to international guidelines but there hasn’t been a mention of airport buildings.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:55
  
  It may as they mentioned social distancing would remain at places like at the borders due to amber and red arrivals.
- MattB says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 08:42
  
  Even in the US which have been pretty relaxed for some time now mask wearing is still going on at airports. Regardless of law individual businesses can still mandate it.
  If my local tesco has no qualms about specifically banning mums wearing PJs I’m pretty sure they will still require masks after the 19th
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 09:16
    
    They can “mandate” what they want but if it’s unenforceable by law you’ll get lots not doing it anyway.
    
    My gym tried to mandate it at the end of the last lockdown and maybe 10% complied so they gave up (they didn’t bother to open the back doors to improve ventilation though). Frankly it’s ridiculous to ask people to wear it when walking about (1-2% of the time) but remove when exercising (98-99% of the time) there is no science behind that nonsense.
    
    It’s as ridiculous as the restaurant/bar mask rule but atleast there was probably some behavioural science behind it.
- Mark says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 09:20
  
  I would imagine they would continue with mask wearing, as social distancing remains a requirement in airports.
Anna says:

6 Jul6 July 07:14

Rob – vaccinated travellers to be allowed into Germany without quarantine this week, 5 day quarantine plus test for non-vaccinated – not clear what happens with children!
- Phil W says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:22
  
  I believe the official recommendation is to “… leave kids with family, and enjoy yourself with a few extra glasses of Riesling!”
- BJ says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:53
  
  Isn’t your son old enough already to stay home alone Anna? Are you sure he wants to go all these trips with you? Even back when we were young teens generally disliked holidays with parents and I doubt things have changed.
  - Anna says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 07:55
    
    He would happily stay at home BJ, he hasn’t inherited any of our travel genes! But he’s only 15 so it’ll be a couple of years yet.
    - Bazza says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:18
      
      He sounds very lucky to me. My dad was also in the emergency services and the furthest we got was the Isle of Sheppy! And that was only because someone in the family owned something there.
      - Anna says:
        
        6 Jul6 July 09:04
        
        Bazza we went to Anglesey most years because we got free use of a relative’s cottage! One year we went to the Isle of Man on the ferry which was incredibly exciting, especially as we had half board in a hotel which was unimaginable luxury in those days.
    - BJ says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:38
      
      Ah ok, we have been here a long time, I figured he was 16 or 17 already. He has my sympathy, I had just turned a teen when my parents decided to buy a caravan … I ran back home more than once. At least your son gets to go more glamorous places!
    - Ukgeorge says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 10:01
      
      My parents used to jet away for a holiday for three weeks, leaving me at home, from being about 11. My brother who was 8 years older was supposed to be there but rarely was. But that was 45 years ago. I guess they would have got locked up if they had done that now. No harm done and their pictures of their adventures passed on the travel bug but hopefully not their idea of parental responsibility. Lol
  - Jody says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 09:03
    
    My kids loved going on holiday with me right through their teens into adulthood. And now as early twenty somethings we’re all booked to go on a Disney cruise together in September!
    
    Seriously though, they thoroughly enjoyed our holidays, and thanks to the wonderful years of couponing I used to do in Tesco and collecting tons of clubcard points (back when that was a thing!) we used to do some pretty great holidays considering I was a single parent and worked part-time.
  - JDB says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 09:44
    
    I think that’s a bit of a generalisation. Our teenager appeared to enjoy his holidays with us a lot and loved being in the sun. He also met people that led to him doing three weeks work experience at the Four Seasons in the Maldives (parents haven’t been to the Maldives!) and six weeks work experience in China amongst many other experiences. He is now 25 but a free exotic holiday with Mum & Dad still seems remarkably popular, despite the disadvantages.
    - Ben says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 11:00
      
      I loved my holidays with my parents all through my teenage years, in fact they are some of my fondest memories! Im now 32 and last weekend I joined them on a last minute weekend break to Cambridge.
Mike says:

6 Jul6 July 07:23

Rob – with the easing of restrictions when are you making the decision on whether to retain this daily chat thread (I for one would vote to keep it)
- Andrew says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:27
  
  Because otherwise the articles’ comments sections will just be full of general chit chat and OT at the start of each comment. And restrictions will return in the autumn anyway.
- Rob says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:39
  
  The forum will launch and then we decide how best to handle it. There could be a daily chat thread inside the forum, for example.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 07:57
    
    Launch 19th July?
    - Rob says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:29
      
      No chance.
  - Mike says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 08:09
    
    We are getting a forum – yippee- that has been on my Christmas list for ages – did we know we were getting a forum – have I missed the announcement?
    - Rob says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:29
      
      No announcement.
Phil W says:

6 Jul6 July 07:26

Now that Germany has eased restrictions for travellers from the UK, when do we think Austria will follow suit (if they do?). We are due to enter Austria from Germany on the 24th July.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:58
  
  Will you have been in Germany long?
  
  If you’re entering via land I don’t think there will be anyone to actually stop you.
  - Phil W says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 08:07
    
    We’re landing in Germany the day before.
    - meta says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:23
      
      I think the current law has been extended to 31 August. Of course they can change it though at any time.
      - Phil says:
        
        6 Jul6 July 10:35
        
        Yeah – they extended it a week or so ago… at the same time that Germany was being negative towards UK travellers. However, I’m hopeful that Germany’s volte-face might result in Austria relaxing it’s restrictions as well. The Bavaria/Austria border is porous and I imagine it would be difficult to stop people travelling.
  - Dave says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 11:25
    
    I’m wondering the same. I have a week booked in the Tirol so only just over the border. I’m keeping everything crossed that Austria now relax travel for vaccinated people given Germany have.
    
    I guess you might have to prove at a hotel in Austria that you’ve not been in the Uk within the last ten days? Or are UK residents banned full stop?
Jamie says:

6 Jul6 July 07:27

I realise this has probably been answered many times already but I can’t find it. I have BA flights booked early next year using an Amex 241, but only one-way, outbound with no return leg. If I cancel for a FTV, will that FTV allow me to book a 241 outbound and inbound (both legs), or only the outbound given that’s what I have originally cancelled? Thanks!
- AJA says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 09:55
  
  I’m not sure. Gut instinct says the FTV contains what you’ve cancelled which is the Avios used for the one-way flight and the 2-4-1.
  
  As for using the FTV I know you can use it to book a different route and pay extra Avios if required so I would think you should be able to add the return flight paying the extra Avios.
  
  Have you considered booking the return flights and then cancelling for the FTV? Only issue I can see is that it might result in 2 PNRs which will be converted to two FTVs.
  - Sam G says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 12:34
    
    I’d probably call in and add a return and then FTV to be safe, though I can’t really see why you wouldn’t be able to add a return in the usual way, seems like quite a manual process anyway
Mr. AC says:

6 Jul6 July 07:28

Six Senses Douro Valley update – have a reservation for the weekend of Friday July 16th. Hotel responded with “since you have made your reservation using IHG points, unfortunately we are unable to confirm that you will receive the points back in case you cancel after the 10-day free cancellation window has passed”, so that’s today. No offer to move it, so will have no cancel today (unless someone who is double vaccinated or with a EU COVID certificate which is just based on a PCR test AFAIK wants to take it off our hands).
- S says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:44
  
  Sounds like the hotel is prepared to refund but they are not sure if the IHG systems will actually be able to process it. In this case, call the IHG customer service line and they’ll speak to hotel that they don’t have an issue with a refund then the phone agent will issue refund manually. The hotel cannot issue points refund when outside cancellation period even if they’d like to.
- Paul says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 10:56
  
  I was in a similar situation a few weeks ago and rather than lose it gave it away.
  Happy to help you find a deserving recipient who would appreciate a break but would not normally be in a position to go to a place like this through my contacts.
- Ana says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 15:11
  
  I would be interested in case you can’t find anyone.