The HfP chat thread – Sunday 11th July

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• Chris says:

  11 Jul11 July 12:13

  Most of my Hotel spend goes into Hilton Honors. Hilton don’t have their own UK card AFAIK and I’ve been putting my spend on American Express Rewards Credit Card. Is there a more optimal card(s) to consider to increase earning rate?

  • Lyn says:

    11 Jul11 July 12:46

    Unfortunately the UK Hilton card closed a while ago for new applicants. I’ll have to leave your question about other cards to someone else.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Jul11 July 12:51

    Virgin points can be transferred to Hilton – technically the paid virgin MasterCard is the highest earning Hilton card in the UK.

  • Chris says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:18

    Thanks I will have a look at the Virgin CC. TBH not religious about earning in Hilton only. I have a reasonable quantity of Virgin, Avios, Nectar, Hilton and Amex point.

  • Yorkie Aid says:

    11 Jul11 July 15:57

    I have always found that the IHG card pays out double points on all hotel spend regardless of whether it’s an IHG hotel. It also does this even when behind Curve to avoid the extortionate FX charges

    • TGLoyalty says:

      11 Jul11 July 18:06

      Yes thank you creation for your poor coding 🙂

    • Chris says:

      11 Jul11 July 19:06

      🙈 clearly a case of “this is too complicated, just throw everything in and we will be meeting the t&c’s”

• Mr. AC says:

  11 Jul11 July 12:28

  Went to the Accor dining experience at Taste of London on Friday with Mrs. AC. Absolutely smashing, much better than I expected. 4 course meal with wine pairings served by two chefs (menu – https://accor-events.de/tol). Probably the best culinary experience happening in the whole festival. Cheers Rob! This is the sort of thing why I read HfP religiously.
  I think it also changed my whole feelings towards Accor. Because of the fixed redemption value I was always unexcited about them even when the earning rates were good due to promotions. Almost stopped staying once I got status with IHG and Hilton.
  But this experience was so good (and such great value), not to mention genuinely feeling exclusive (can’t book it with money…) that I will probably spend some of my employer’s money at Accor hotels this year on the off chance they run this event again.

  • marcw says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:12

    These offers are the most interesting ones. A few years ago they had some very attractive special offers for NYE at the Novotel in Manhattan.

  • Ikaz says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:28

    I only use my Accor points for this now, I currently have over 70,000 and should get an extra 5,000 with the Accor Visa card that has just been released in France. I have only used the points for events in France so far, with great success. The most predictable offer is the Accorhotels Arena suite in Paris, I have been there many times and am hoping to be able to get back in France soon for it. The best value I got was 6 seats in the suite with unlimited drinks including champagne and a decent meal for 4,000 points.

  • Rob says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:38

    I agree. We have some Fairmont Barbados nights booked for Oct and I will probably turn off Avios auto convert as it will be a big chunk.

    • Dave says:

      11 Jul11 July 13:55

      Going to Faimont next week! Super excited & happy to give some tips if anyone wants / you need for the website Rob.

      • Rob says:

        11 Jul11 July 15:17

        I think we’re fine as I will probably write something anyway. If you are there a week you may get Diamond status at the end.

      • roberto says:

        11 Jul11 July 15:19

        Is the Fairmont open? I spoke to someone yesterday saying it was closed (I am in Barbados). This is a post Hurricane issue.

• S says:

  11 Jul11 July 12:29

  I’m sure the answer is here somewhere but I can’t seem to find it.

  I previously held Amex Gold, cancelled April 2020 in favour of basic Rewards. What’s the exclusion period on Gold card free first year? I know I wouldn’t get the bonus, does the same apply for the £140 fee?

  • Genghis says:

    11 Jul11 July 12:43

    If you apply and are accepted, the card will be free in year 1.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Jul11 July 12:49

    You get the first year free after any time period. You could cancel and sign back up the next week and get it free if accepted.

    • S says:

      11 Jul11 July 13:34

      Thanks!

    • Jonathan says:

      11 Jul11 July 22:25

      I think there’s usually a 6 month period that must pass before you can hold the same card after cancelling

      Could someone confirm this please ?

• Kai says:

  11 Jul11 July 12:55

  Virgin credit card changes – any recent experience of paying Creation directly and was there any fee added please?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Jul11 July 12:58

    Changes aren’t until Aug 5th so no one knows.

    • Kai says:

      11 Jul11 July 21:46

      Thanks

• George says:

  11 Jul11 July 13:08

  I’ve got a BA e voucher for £230 but I’d rather the cash!
  What flights are likely to be cancelled in the near future? Anyone got a hunch?
  There was a comment last week about Berlin, not sure if that’s still relevant but doesn’t look like there’s many flights going there in August.

  • Gavin says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:32

    Beware that it might not be straightforward to get the cash back. I’ve been in a battle with BA for several weeks over a cancelled flight that I partially booked with an e-voucher, they refunded the cash but not the voucher element. It was complicated by the fact that the e-voucher was in my girlfriends name. At the moment they’re saying they should be able to re-issue the voucher, but I cannot get through to the right people to get it done.

    • Lady London says:

      11 Jul11 July 15:37

      If it’s cancellee by them you should be refunded your evoucher / ftv value in cash that you paid for it, if you choose a refund.

      I would persist for that if I wanted it.

  • ChrisC says:

    11 Jul11 July 15:38

    That’s because they cancelled a load at the end of the week so you missed out.

    TBH I really don’t think ‘maybe bookings’ are a good idea. What happens if they don’t cancel the flight you booked on – you just get another voucher and rinse and repeat.

    Now peviously I have had refunds from flights paid for using voucher(s) and were then cancelled but those were flights I fully intended to take if they operated (other restrictions aside)

    Coincidently those were Berlin flights. I’d booked at 11.30 in the morning and they were cancelled at 11.30 that night!

• Dwadda says:

  11 Jul11 July 13:26

  Marriott vs Hilton: I’ve been exploring hotels in Boston, NYC, Toronto and Vancouver for August. It seems to me that Marriott has nicer properties in better locations compared to Hilton. No doubt this is a result of its acquisition of SPG. The odd thing is that Hilton nonetheless is comparatively more expensive.

  I am an Accor Diamond so am looking for a status challenge opportunity (Accor having limited hotels in N America). There is one from Hilton but I cannot find the Marriott one? Have they stopped doing it? Pity because Hilton Diamond doesn’t excite me.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:32

    The Marriott status match challenge seems to come and go. You can get 15 elite nights by taking out the UK Bonvoy amex, if that helps?

  • Stuart Evans says:

    11 Jul11 July 13:39

    Might be worth considering some of the Fairmonts in Canada – especially in Vancouver. The Vancouver Fairmonts are much better that the Marriotts. And Emyr can get even better deals

• st fred says:

  11 Jul11 July 14:37

  Would dining at The Grove (madyu’s pop up restaurant) trigger the amex lhw offer?

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  11 Jul11 July 14:56

  GWR have brought back there firat class snack box. Switched the butter and dairy lee cheese on crackers for houmous and crackers. Switched crisps for cheddar cheese popcorn.

  The race to the bottom continues…

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    11 Jul11 July 15:07

    Hummus a step up from Dairy Lee in my view

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      11 Jul11 July 15:12

      I love houmous a lot. But who has houmous and crackers? Come on thats insanity…

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        11 Jul11 July 15:16

        It wasn’t even nice houmous, I could make better than that and I’ve caught fire to spaghetti twice in one night… (yes there was water in the pan)

  • Lord Doncaster says:

    11 Jul11 July 17:49

    Is that what counts for free first class refreshments on GWR? Roll on Great British Railways

    • John says:

      11 Jul11 July 20:23

      It will be the same people running the same trains, they will just have a different livery.

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