The HfP chat thread – Sunday 18th July

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• Anna says:

  18 Jul18 July 15:19

  Apologies if this date has already been posted. The IC O2 seems to have taken note of disgruntled guests’ comments recently and has just called me to apologise for not being able to honour the booking I had already cancelled! Apparently they are opening for regular bookings on September 19th. The harassed-sounding young man on the phone said he couldn’t wait to welcome the more usual type of guest 🤣.

  • JonD says:

    18 Jul18 July 15:57

    Thanks. I have a booking first weekend in October and was worried it was going to be cancelled too.

    Probably they will reopen to normal guests just in time for Lockdown 3.0

    • Crafty says:

      19 Jul19 July 12:46

      See you there, fingers crossed…

  • Yorkie Aid says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:33

    Thank you Anna, that’s useful to know. I hope they promised you some compensation in spite of you already having cancelled.

  • Claire says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:36

    Excellent news. Thanks for posting. Hopefully means our genesis concert booking is back on.

  • Chrism20 says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:42

    I think that may have been following the result of my communications with them over the course of this week.

    In an exchange of emails between myself and IHG which has spanned seven weeks they acknowledged that the reservation guarantee should have been in place.

    The hotel then decided they were going to push back but in the process managed to tie themselves in knots by contradicting themselves from one paragraph to the next.

    If they are going to tell stories they need to all be telling the same one.

  • Blenz101 says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:45

    Wonder what is implied by a “more usual type of guest”? Anybody staying currently would be a UK citizen or have residency rights as a condition of being eligible to partake in red list quarantine.

    Seems a little unprofessional to comment on the current cohort of guests who are there because they have to be and as has been reported are often vulnerable solo travellers. Hope that stressed young man wasn’t one of those adding to the existing guests woes given his attitude towards them.

    • Dave1985 says:

      18 Jul18 July 17:35

      Yes. Very sad post wasn’t it?

      • Blenz101 says:

        18 Jul18 July 17:53

        I’ve not seen any of the recent negative posts directed at regular posters. To be clear, my criticism was firmly aimed at the member of hotel staff who thought it acceptable to comment on vulnerable guests who are suffering forced imprisonment by their own government.

        I’ve said before anybody coming back from a red list county can easily avoid government quarantine by taking time out elsewhere. Those having to use a quarantine hotel are not holiday makers but people coming back home to the UK at short notice without the luxury of time.

        Those staying have had their experience made worse by the staff by all accounts. Both G4S and hotel staff have been implicated and the attitude displayed by this member of staff working at a 5* hotel sounds like he has an issue with the current guests.

        • Dave1985 says:

          18 Jul18 July 17:58

          Yes. Just to be clear when I said “sad” I was referring to the member of staff

      • Blenz101 says:

        18 Jul18 July 18:17

        👍🏽

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:00

          You might be overthinking it. Usual guests could well mean those who are staying through choice rather than necessity.

        • Anna says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:06

          I took it to mean guests who were there voluntarily and able to choose when to come and go and what/when to eat – not a comment on the calibre of the current residents. I can’t imagine anyone goes into the hospitality industry wanting to run a forced quarantine facility!

        • Anna says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:17

          We have a perfectly workable system where people can be monitored remotely in their own homes – there’s no reason the electronic tagging system used in the justice system couldn’t be extended to mandatory quarantine. The hotel requirement is a bit of a hammer/nut situation, especially now there are going to be people exempted from paying for it.

        • Blenz101 says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:41

          Agree Anna with the tagging system. It’s what they do in Abu Dhabi currently. May actually be more workable than hotels as this is easily bypassed by just being “in transit” the next day where you can enter the country with no further checks on your location.

          Regardless, I still don’t think the hotel should be passing comment on the guests themselves. Fine to say they are looking forward to getting back to some kind of normality but “harassed sounding” and “looking forward” in relation to the current guests seemed off to me.

          I have a huge amount of sympathy for those who are having to pay such an unnecessary tax and they certainly don’t need to be made to feel unwelcome by the hotel staff.

        • Babyg says:

          18 Jul18 July 21:38

          Blenz101 – agreed, ticking “transit” is a massive loophole to get around the “at home quarantine” – thou this doesn’t work if you’ve travelled from a red list and need to go into a hotel based quarantine?

        • Blenz101 says:

          18 Jul18 July 22:28

          @babyg in relation to being in transit from a red list. You are perfectly free to declare you have been in a red list country but connecting and “in transit” within the U.K., that transfer can be the next day. You can also move between airports or even methods of transport, ferry or Eurostar etc.

          Being in transit excludes you from staying at a quarantine hotel, you wouldn’t have booked one anyway. You are of course expected to take your onward train/flight/ferry but who is checking.

          If you fill the locator form in honestly and ‘miss’ your flight not sure what could even be done legally.

          Only a minority are doing this that I am aware of, most travelers I know are just having a lovely break in nearby country of a different shade (mixing with Brits in any event).

  • Mike says:

    18 Jul18 July 17:46

    Anna 😀

    • ianM says:

      18 Jul18 July 18:45

      Had a booking in early June cancelled and no compensation and no response from IHG

    • Yorkieflyer says:

      18 Jul18 July 20:35

      Anna if we start electronic tagging our citizens who have neither committed nor are accused of any offence then we may as well burn the remaining copies of Magna Carta. Enough of our what we thought were rights have been curtailed, most to be fair with good reason. But this surely would be a step too far?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        18 Jul18 July 20:39

        They are already being imprisoned I’m sure they’d much prefer their own home and a tag.

        • Anna says:

          18 Jul18 July 20:49

          This! I can’t imagine anyone would opt for a hotel over being at home and choosing what food to have delivered.
          Yorkieflyer – are you saying we shouldn’t have a red list? What’s the alternative?

        • Blenz101 says:

          18 Jul18 July 20:56

          Spot on. These hotels are generally being used by people coming back for funerals or to attempt to visit dying relatives or other unavoidable reasons.

          There are far more humane ways to treat our fellow citizens than locking them up and having them guarded by G4S.

          Nobody is tacking a quarantine hotel onto the end of a fortnight on the beaches of Bodrum.

      • Mike says:

        18 Jul18 July 21:12

        Yorkieflyer – there aren’t that many remaining copies of the Magna Carta – plus it was written ages ago !!!

      • Tariq says:

        18 Jul18 July 22:04

        I wonder if it would have been any different in the bedwetter had died in ICU last Spring.

        • kitten says:

          19 Jul19 July 00:14

          probably even worse

  • Blair says:

    18 Jul18 July 19:57

    We all need to remember the Govt paid upfront upwards of £55m to secure hotel quarantine block bookings. The scheme has to make that money back. Trying to bring good sense and context into the argument is a fool’s errand.

    • Will says:

      19 Jul19 July 00:20

      Just print it, hand it over to the private companies and move on?

      That’s the current economic policy isn’t it?

• Dave1985 says:

  18 Jul18 July 15:20

  Some good entertainment on this thread today! 🤣

  Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and freedom day eve 🤣

• Sandgrounder says:

  18 Jul18 July 15:23

  Just flown AEY-GRY-AEY today on a Norlandair Twin Otter. No lounges, in-flight entertainment or catering, no flat bed and no loyalty points. Flying down Eyjafjörður below the peaks of the snow-capped mountains and touching down on a green bird-laden speck in the ocean straddling the Arctic Circle was still pretty special though.

  • Russ says:

    18 Jul18 July 19:35

    Nice! I’ve a soft spot for props.

• Bob says:

  18 Jul18 July 16:14

  Doors at Kimpton St-Honoré in Paris were open today sunday the 18th of july.

  I could hve a quick look at the stairs of La samaritaine de luxe, as it was its building in a long old past.

  La samaritaine has also re-open but this is not anymore la samaritaine but DFS Dufry Paris pont-neuf airport which the loyalty program is based in Hong-Kong (sic!). LVMH has well killed la samaritaine.

  Who knows? Maybe the Kimpton guets will enjoy a a visit during the night of the spirit of La Samaritaine.

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:17

    I remember the rooftop terrace restaurant I frequented many years ago, happy memories

    • Lady London says:

      19 Jul19 July 00:20

      only found it in its last years and more a cafe. Stunning views and fresb air though. Should have done it more often before it was theme-park-ized like so many world tourism cities now.

      Do you happen to know what happened to Franck & Fils Bob?

  • Harry T says:

    18 Jul18 July 16:22

    How does the new Kimpton look?

  • JDB says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:40

    It’s very sad that LVMH has turned it into a characterless shop. I worked at La Samaritaine as a holiday job many years ago. Brilliant fun, best staff canteen ever. As the only Brit, constantly asked if it was true that we ate jam with lamb.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      18 Jul18 July 18:56

      Jam with lamb?

      • JDB says:

        18 Jul18 July 19:03

        Jam/jelly is all the same word in France. They were talking about the shocking concept of red currant jelly with lamb. They nearly fainted when I told them about mint sauce/jelly as well.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:35

          Ah had mint sauce in my head. Don’t do redcurrent lol

  • Reney says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:47

    Thanks for the update. I booked for the end of August, not sure it will happen given the 10-day quarantine required on return.

    • Harry T says:

      18 Jul18 July 19:37

      Hopefully that is lifted by then!

• Jim says:

  18 Jul18 July 17:13

  Been using Bendy for V-guard for a few years, to track how much I am putting in. Haven’t used it since around early 2020, but wanted to top up today. it seems that VG is not accepting the card anymore at all. Wondering if this is across the board.

  • John says:

    18 Jul18 July 19:27

    Hasn’t worked since April

    • Jim says:

      18 Jul18 July 19:52

      Ahh, thought as much – as not even getting a decline from the issuer end. Will look around for other providers then, does anyone have any recommendations for investing accounts that accept bendy?

      • NC says:

        18 Jul18 July 20:31

        Vanguard’s card payments don’t seem to be working for me on any card for the last day or two. They’re aware of the issue and are working on it.

• Dave1985 says:

  18 Jul18 July 17:37

  “ Doctors and nurses are dealing with “aggressive” people who are refusing to wear facemasks in hospitals, a senior NHS leader said today”

  Kick them out on the street (literally ideally and hard). Problem solved.

  • Mike says:

    18 Jul18 July 17:48

    But if the kicking out results in injury – they will be turning up in A & E

    • Dave1985 says:

      18 Jul18 July 18:00

      Simple solution, don’t let them back in. Ever. The levels of entitlement from scummy lowlifes has increased over the last year. The yon bush behaviour from provincial town oiks last Sunday was another example.

      • Dave1985 says:

        18 Jul18 July 18:07

        *yobbish

        • Rimmingtown says:

          18 Jul18 July 18:13

          How do you know they were from provincial towns David?

        • Sloth says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:21

          They were all his mates…

      • bazza says:

        18 Jul18 July 18:46

        And its not “yobbish” or “scumy low lifes” can be absolutely anyone. I’ve seen it from every demographic, every age, every nationality. Its such a regular occurrence for band 7 and below.

        • Rimmingtown says:

          18 Jul18 July 19:09

          However I do take David’s point, that in the main, and judging from the pictures the Met police have sent out , most of them look particularly brutish, thick set types, in their 30s and 40s with crew cuts and the obligatory tattoos. I hope they get caught and locked up.

          Contrast that with the bearded cap wearing 50/60year old bores at the British GP/Covid festival today, watching a 70 lap traffic jam, who waved the union jack without resorting to beating each other up.

  • Dani says:

    18 Jul18 July 17:50

    I’ve told managers this… They don’t care.

    Unhappy/exposed staff are better for the NHS than unhappy non-essential visitors.

  • Char Char says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:17

    There are always aggressive people masks or not in society, not sure why you feel this is the place to vent such stories.

  • Ant says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:24

    We had to go to A&E on Friday & 50% of the people were not wearing masks. The wait to see a doctor was 4.5hours!

  • Bazza says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:43

    If you worked in the NHS you will soon find out no one dares tell a patient to do anything. No chance! You just let it go!
    I’ve been threatened with violence in front of a senior manager, racially abuse. Everything is recorded correctly but absolutely nothing happens.

    Patient can have us investigated at the drop of a hat!

  • Aaron C says:

    18 Jul18 July 19:01

    This is the same NHS that when patients racially abuse an employee accommodate the patient by finding them a white doctor? You expect them to give a hoot about staff?

    • bazza says:

      18 Jul18 July 19:13

      They honestly couldn’t care less.

      Wether you are white, black or any colour. I’ve seen everyone suffer abuse.

      The general rudeness from the public is unbelievable. And this is in Nuclear Medicine which is about 90% Cancer and everything else pretty serious.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        18 Jul18 July 21:48

        Couldn’t agree more.
        When I moved from providing NHS care to private care I was surprised that the difference was night and day – abuse and threats just does not happen any more. Private patients are LESS demanding too.

        I don’t think it’s just higher wealth or education level – the service we provide is pretty inexpensive so we get a full range from society … we just get the self-selecting people who value healthcare enough to pay at least a little for it. By definition they’re not going to be inclined to abuse us.

        Don’t miss working for the NHS one little bit and admire those able to tolerate it.

  • David says:

    18 Jul18 July 19:11

    Suspect this would be at least one of the very loyal posters on here, refusing to give up his freedom for the sake of others 🤔

    • TGLoyalty says:

      18 Jul18 July 19:37

      Yeah @HarryT

• Paul says:

  18 Jul18 July 18:03

  I have left the waitrose offer to last minute and realize it expires today. Would it work if I bought an e gift gard from John Lewis gift card? Says gift excluded in terms. Or any other ideas? Tried an online shop but payment not taken until picked so will be too late.
  Thanks in advance.

  • Kevin C says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:39

    Do you mean the Platinum offer?
    I don’t think John Lewis e-card would work.
    You could buy a Harvey nicks gift card, something in stock from selfridges (but not a gift card), a big dinner from Deliveroo.

    • Paul says:

      18 Jul18 July 18:54

      Yes the plat offer.
      Thanks for the advice.
      I think the gift cards is the other way around according to terms.. Selfridges OK Harvey nicks isnt

      • TGLoyalty says:

        18 Jul18 July 19:00

        No selfridges 100% isn’t (processed by 3rd party) and HN 100% is (they sell through their own website)

        Big purchase from selfridge and refund onto gift card instore also works.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    18 Jul18 July 18:59

    You could buy something from JL then exchange it for something else at a later date or just get a refund back on a gift card.

    Since it’s for £175 of free money seems it’s worth a little hassle.

• George B says:

  18 Jul18 July 19:07

  The Snoop App article from January mentions that the app supports Nectar and Tesco Clubcard content – I’ve just started using the app but can’t see anything on there related to the schemes. Is it limited to giving ‘Snoop’ suggestions related to your spending, or does it more actively track these schemes?

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