The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 14th July

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• Roberto says:

  14 Jul14 July 18:48

  Is the Hilton Honors app and site down for everyone or just me?

  • Tony Soprano says:

    14 Jul14 July 18:57

    Also been having issues since approx 1815 today

• Ikaz says:

  14 Jul14 July 19:06

  Does anyone have an addison lee first ride referral code?

  • Toby says:

    14 Jul14 July 19:54

    I’ve just tried to find you one, and the refer a friend link is dead. So….I’m guessing that’s been shut down 😔

  • EwanG says:

    14 Jul14 July 22:27

    Use Addison Lee whenever you need a lift. Get £8 off your first ride with code RIDE8. No surges even when it rains or demand is high! T&Cs apply. Minimum fare £15.
    https://addisonlee.app.link/S6SJY4fyThb
    This should work.

• YC says:

  14 Jul14 July 19:14

  Asking for a friend: Amex Plat travel insurance for a couple who don’t live together. P1 booked both flights on Main Plat, P2 is Plat Sup. Is P2 covered for travel insurance?

  • Rob says:

    14 Jul14 July 19:21

    Yes

• ledcran02 says:

  14 Jul14 July 20:05

  Flying out of Gatwick on a Thurs eve later this month to Ibiza where no testing is required for the vaxxed, but I’d like to take a test at LGW before heading to Spain, for the return pre-departure test back to the UK on Sunday. The legislation says “If you are returning to the UK within 3 days, you can use the result of a COVID-19 test that you take in the UK before you travel” which seems pretty clear to me. But none of the airport providers appear to offer this as an option? Can I take say an antigen (private) test at home in London on Thurs morning and use that to get back to the UK?

  • Sam G says:

    14 Jul14 July 20:35

    Why not get this or Qured https://web.projectscreen.co.uk/add-to-cart?product=uk-lfd-fit-to-fly-arrival&tag=virgin

  • Oli says:

    14 Jul14 July 20:57

    I’ve done exactly that – I did any antigen test on a Thursday morning in Heathrow before flying to France and used it again on the Sunday night when landing in Heathrow. No problem at all either at check-in or at the UK border control, in both cases they asked to see the test result.

• The Original Nick. says:

  14 Jul14 July 20:54

  TAP Air Portugal offer on my Amex Platinum.

• Rossy says:

  14 Jul14 July 21:21

  I have 1 night booked at Hotel Indigo Bath in August that I booked using my free night voucher. I now need to cancel this, but can’t seem to find out anywhere whether I’ll be re-credited with the free night voucher? I can’t seem to find anywhere that clearly explains this on the IHG website.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Jul14 July 22:02

    If the voucher is past it’s expiry date you won’t have it re credited.

    If it’s still valid when you cancel it’ll reappear.

    • EwanG says:

      14 Jul14 July 22:31

      *Potentially* if you amend an existing booking it might allow you to move to a later date at the same hotel, even if it’s beyond the book by date. We could do with someone trying this out….!

• Rossy says:

  14 Jul14 July 21:22

  Sorry I also meant to say, I also need to cancel a Holiday Inn booking that was booked exclusively with IHG points – I assume I’ll just be re-credited these?

  • Anna says:

    14 Jul14 July 21:38

    Points should re-credit immediately as long as you’re within the cancellation period (but I think that’s usually up till the day you’re staying anyway.
    Your free night certificate should also come back straight away but will have the original expiry date – stay by, not book by.

    • Rossy says:

      14 Jul14 July 21:42

      Thanks Anna!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      14 Jul14 July 22:03

      Free nights from the IHG black card are book by

      • Anna says:

        14 Jul14 July 22:30

        I don’t think that’s right – I’m sure the Ts & Cs on ours say that the stay must be completed by the expiry date. I’ll check though, as that would be hugely helpful as we currently have 3 between us and not managed to use any of them yet!

        • Peter K says:

          14 Jul14 July 22:37

          Original free nights issued by IHG black card are book by the date. Some of the extensions given were stay by.

        • Anna says:

          14 Jul14 July 22:42

          Just tried booking beyond Feb 8th which is the expiry date on our oldest free night voucher and the system won’t allow it.

        • Anna says:

          14 Jul14 July 22:43

          That must explain it – thanks for clarifying!

• Chris says:

  14 Jul14 July 23:16

  How does one free USD from a UK registered PayPal account (account designated as USD) without hefty fees?

  It’s proceeds from rental of US timeshare which can’t be used due to US entry restrictions. Payout in PayPal was the rental brokers only method and its the only broker that wouldn’t need a US IRS ITIN (which was attempted to acquire but rejected for some inexplicable reason).

  One assumed attaching a USD revolute or wise/transferwise account would have been sufficient but it appears that’s not straight forward.

  Lucky there is a (temperamental) eGift voucher route, the timeshares annual dues can be paid with. Want to avoid to avoid the performance/risk of moving a 4 figure sum via gift cards and/or holding the surplus in either PayPal or Gift cards. Would much prefer the amount sat in a USD designated account ready to spend on a Visa/MasterCard.

  • Blenz101 says:

    15 Jul15 July 00:44

    HSBC generally allow you to bank in multiple currencies, I have an expat account designated in USD with them. I think they do something similar in the U.K. as well and other banks may offer the same.

    By having a U.K. based USD account you could presumably empty the PayPal balance to that fee free.

    The expat USD account comes with a debit card so you could then top up Wise/Revolut and transfer back to GBP at competitive rates or use that account to pay the fees you mention. Not sure if the U.K. based account offers a card so you will need to check how to get the cash out again (worst case you can transfer to another GBP account using the banks rate).

    Above assumes you want to do it all yourself. If you have interests in the US do you not have someone with a local bank account whom you trust to whom you could make the payment from PayPal. Once in a bank account they can just top up your wise/Revolut account?

    • Chris says:

      15 Jul15 July 01:23

      The account is a UK PayPal account with primary currency USD. In nearly all cases transfers out will be converted into GBP.

      One glimmer of hope, sometimes it appears customer service agents will add USD bank account (e.g. Wise/Revolute) but the frequency of this happening seem to have dropped off a cliff as wise and revolute started making headway. I think PayPal caught onto people skipping their sky high FX fees and issued stern instructions to customer service agents.

      Having done more research it appears PayPal run each country differently and it’s just generally a horrible mess. Digging deeper into the slight but significant differences between each countries PayPal offering.
      * Some countries allow you to withdraw cash that has been sent to use onto your own Debit Visa/MasterCard as a “refund” but that’s disabled for UK accounts.
      * Over the counter cash withdrawals with a $3 fee at WalMart is support in US registered accounts but this is part of a product that can’t be enrolled into for a UK registered account
      * If the PayPal account was US based the app would show slightly different options in the QR side an allow you to pay at Walmart, CVS etc (cashier scans your phone). In the UK the setup is different with a separate QR feature that requires YOU to scan a code displayed by the merchant.

      Given all this the eGift card route now starting to feel more attractive than it first sounded.

    • Rob says:

      15 Jul15 July 08:27

      I have Euro account with HSBC UK.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.