The HfP chat thread – Monday 26th July

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sloth says:

26 Jul26 July 12:03

Caledonian Sleeper…anyone have any knowledge of when the Dining Car may come back into service? Also anyone who has used it recently, do you get allocated seats as well as your cabin or you can only sit in your cabin (until the dining car is reopened)?

Helpline pretty useless on all questions asked tbh…

thanks
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 12:10
  
  A friend used it the other week, he reported that: dining car will remain shut for the foreseeable future according to train crew, food offering is a choice of 3 pre packed rather awful box meals and no one is allowed to sit in the dining car so can only sit in your cabin.
  
  Also worth noting my friend said he wished he had dinner at the station as even a 99p cheese burger is better than what they were serving
  - sloth says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 12:16
    
    thanks vm for the reply…so seems totally not worth the £460 for 2, one way at the moment as service is nowhere near what it used to be (I have never used it before but have always wanted to) – seems I need to wait
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 13:11
      
      Yes and no, it is still a fun experience. When we did it we had KFC as Euston and woke up right as we pulled into Edinburgh. Hopped off the train and had a delicious breakfast.
      
      For us was definitely worth the money as it gave us an extra day in Scotland and was a lot less hassle
    - Dave says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 15:08
      
      I do miss the £19 bargain berths they used to offer. We’d also get free Euston lounge access using the Scotrail Advance loyalty club membership. Those were the days.
      The price now is ridiculously expensive for what it is.
  - Toppcat says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 12:22
    
    I have heard something similar. I would love to be able to use it again, but really not the same experience / worth the prices at the moment.
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 13:13
      
      Definitely not the same but still a good experience. The dining has always been debatable so I wouldn’t get hung up on that
- Gavin says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 15:31
  
  I used it once when it was reasonable value compared to the train/flight, it was a great experience. I need to travel London to Inverness in September, and the sleeper was over £250 for the dates around when I want to go. Instead, I booked the LNER day train (8 hours) for £49.
- Rory says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 16:50
  
  I used it last month. Yes, the Club Car is a nice feature, but it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t have it. They do offer room service for drinks and snacks, and it usually leaves late enough that it’s too late for dinner when you’re onboard anyway. Breakfast is still being offered to the rooms too. I used a railcard though, so not sure if the full price would put you off.
mike says:

26 Jul26 July 12:19

I cancelled my £79 prime membership a few days ago. Is there a way to get a renewal or new year plan at a better price?
- Gtellez says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 12:49
  
  If you know any student, it is £39 a year (and through Unidays you can get 6 months free).
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 12:52
    
    Or you can send the student to walk to the shops for free… Jeff doesn’t exactly need much more money
    - mike says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 12:56
      
      I have seen some readers saying they get offered the same membership for £59
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:11
  
  Wait for prime day
  - Char Char says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 13:36
    
    In 2022!
    - Toby says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 15:41
      
      But there haven’t been prime day discounts for the last few prime days. So I wouldn’t hold out for that!
Ian_H says:

26 Jul26 July 12:50

I’m trying to space applications for new cards and am waiting for the right time to jump on the Sainsburys nectar Mastercard from Sainsburys bank.

I’ve just noticed that the sign up bonus which has been there forever is now saying apply by AUG 8th to receive ……

Any ideas if they are withdrawing or improving the sign up bonus?
- BJ says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:40
  
  They’ll probably just change the dates. The offers have not varied much over the last few years. The 10k for £400 spend was the simplest most user-friendly variant as best I can recall. Most others required about 10 shoos in two months I think.
  - Keely says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 13:59
    
    Oh thanks for the reminder I need to chase this. How long after the spend did the points post please? I think mine has been about 3 months..?
    - BJ says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 14:10
      
      You need to chase that up, should not be that long. Mine took exactly three weeks.
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 14:36
  
  How frequently can you qualify for a sign up bonus?
  - BJ says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 16:41
    
    Somebody reported as little as 3 months but I have always given it six and have had no problems. This is my third Nectar card in two years. They gave me a rubbish BT offer on the second which I used as an excuse to cancel.
- Rob says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 15:16
  
  Interesting. We don’t have a commercial deal on these cards so we don’t get told.
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 16:15
    
    Might be time to get one… a great tool for bridging the 24 month gap between Amex cards. It is certainly one of the cards I am considering taking out in the not too distant future.
    
    Given the lack of referal offers (never been mentioned here so guess they don’t exist) I would happily use a HfP link
    - Rob says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 16:18
      
      Sainsbury’s Bank is a bit rubbish on this. They have, for example, given us deals on some of their insurance products BUT they don’t work with the insurance deals you will see in the Nectar app – and those offers are targetted, so there is no reason for us to cover them. Very frustrating …. we probably sold 500 cards off the review we did of the Sainsbury’s Nectar card and get £0 for it.
      - Super Secret Stuff says:
        
        26 Jul26 July 18:04
        
        That literally makes zero sense! Suppose they want to have there cake and eat it
1nfrequent says:

26 Jul26 July 12:55

Took out the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Card to take advantage of the Gold status. Got an email today confirming I had silver status (which comes automatically with the card). Any idea how long it takes for the Gold status to come through?
- Rob says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 15:16
  
  The small print of the card offer says it will arrive by mid October at the latest, which is 6 weeks after the offer ends. I would imagine they are done in batches and this is a firm end date.
  - 1nfrequent says:
    
    27 Jul27 July 11:10
    
    Thanks, Rob
MKB says:

26 Jul26 July 12:59

We stayed at The Langley last Wednesday (for 36,000 Marriott Rewards points). Sad to say that everything reported on here was spot on regards the absence of customer service.

– It took four attempts in the weeks before the stay to get hold of anyone to reserve a slot for spa access with phones ringing out unanswered.
– 35-minute wait to check-in because only the front-desk manager could authorise a Titanium upgrade and he was busy with other guests. I might have expected an offer of a drink while we waited, but no.
– The choice was either a one-category upgrade to a Brewhouse king or to a Brewhouse garden room. We chose the former as we didn’t fancy looking out on to a plant-covered brick wall. The website showed one remaining Brewhouse junior suite on sale, but the manager insisted it was not actually available and he was working hard “with reservations” to get it removed from sale, but it remained resolutely on sale. The extreme heat had apparently proved too much for the AC in some of the main house rooms, and guests had been transferred to the Brewhouse.
– No-one told us where the restaurant, bar, pool or spa were, so we found these for ourselves. (The bar was through an unlabelled closed door, so it wasn’t obvious.) We even found a “cinema”, but the door was locked.
– The pool area was unmanned; every lounger was covered in used towels from previous guests. We cleared a side-table of glasses and removed some dirty towels ourselves.
– The surface of the pool was swimming with dead insects. It didn’t look like it had been skimmed all day.
– We were ping-ponged from front desk to spa and back to front desk searching for the table tennis bats/ball as no-one knew where they lived.
– A tiny little thing of no import, but kind of emblematic of everything wrong here, was that there was a stationery wallet on the room desk, and all it had in it was one solitary Langley envelope. The slots for paper sheets and pen were empty. Similarly, the tissue box in the bathroom had one, yes one, tissue in it.
– The wall-mounted bedside lamps could not be operated individually or even separately from other room lights. The “reading light” was a spotlight on the ceiling serving only to blind you when recumbent.

On the plus side, the Brewhouse king room was very comfortable and the AC coped perfectly with the 31C heat outside. The tv had full Sky channels including Movies and Sports. The property and grounds are stunning, and breakfast was very tasty.
- meta says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:12
  
  I thought Brewhouse king is their standard room you can get on points anyway.
  
  Next time, I suggest you use the Marriott app to request upgrades prior to arrival via the chat function and this not just for Langley. It’s available from 3 days before arrival. You can also let the property know your arrival time and they will prepare your key and room in advance, so check-in is much quicker.
  - MKB says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 13:18
    
    Brewhouse Classic was the option offered me on points.
    - meta says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 13:45
      
      Ah, then they put you in a Deluxe room.
  - MKB says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 13:19
    
    Thanks for the tip on using the app chat function.
  - Harry T says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 14:52
    
    @meta I always hustle my way to a decent upgrade but I hit a wall at the Langley. I messaged them several times in the app before the stay but they constantly denied that there were suites available for upgrade, despite there being multiple for sale. Trust me, the property has made a decision recently to treat elites and people staying on points as second tier guests.
    - Harry T says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 14:53
      
      I actually technically received a better upgrade in March 2020, as I was given a deluxe room in the main house instead of the brew house. I was Gold during that stay and I’m now Titanium.
- Harry T says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 14:47
  
  You probably saw my recent mini review – I was only upgraded to a brewhouse room despite there being multiple suites for sale online. The staff all insisted there were no suites available. Customer service was very poor and elite recognition was non existent – I was told 4pm checkout is subject to availability in writing and in person. I insisted it was not and they granted it, seemingly as a favour.
  - MKB says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 15:51
    
    I did indeed. You may have done us a favour and caused the hotel to re-check their obligations regarding late check-out, as mine was granted without fuss. (Then again, having kept us waiting so long, the front desk manager may have figured this was not a wise battle to fight.)
    
    The message conveyed was that AC in the main house rooms is not good, and that on really hot days, the Brewhouse is where you want to be. (The old section of the Brewhouse is rather nice and I would stay there again, but I was not enamoured with the new rooms built into the walled garden next door.)
    
    Although engineers had been called to deal with the AC issues and the affected main house rooms (including two junior suites) could not be let, these were never taken off sale.
    
    I had to go back to reception for new keys an hour or so after check-in, as the ones the manager sent cut for a late check-out were for the wrong room. When I enquired as to whether any junior suites had come free, as the three online (one Brewhouse, two main house) were still showing, there was a very theatrical panic and shout to a colleague to “get Reservations on the phone now!” as he couldn’t have people booking rooms online they didn’t have. Of course, the rooms were still showing online at 10pm.
- Anna says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 15:34
  
  Those reading lights are lethal! I was nearly blinded when my OH turned it on. Though I had a good laugh at him when he discovered the bidet function while standing next to the loo pushing all the buttons. He might also be able to explain what happened to the stationery (and a few of the cloth coasters!)
  - MKB says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 15:57
    
    I’m just back from a lovely stay at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel, and they also have these pesky retina-bleaching spotlights over the bed.
- JDB says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 15:59
  
  I’m sorry you had such shoddy service; it’s a wonder that Marriott got and retained the management contract for this hotel as in my view it is really quite outside their skill set. We have a friend who is a 5* GM and he is constantly around and clears towels, plates etc. and helps out in any area necessary and spots emerging issues; he has an incredible eye for detail. The whole management setup at the Langley must be wrong for these constant reports to remain unaddressed.
  - JDB says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 16:22
    
    Sorry, not sure what made me write IHG, obviously meant Marriott. Running ‘country house’ type hotels is quite a particular skill and they don’t seem to have it and at these very high price points, you have to get it right.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 18:17
    
    It’s part of Marriott but not run by them .. it’s the same owner as the Wellesley which owned and managed by City & Country Hotels Ltd.
YC says:

26 Jul26 July 13:05

Following on from Amex are saying I did not use the 50k referral bonus link…. But I have received 20k as the bonus. How is this even possible if the minimal referral is 30k… 3rd today to sort it out but they I’m just going round in circles! Anyone in a similar situation?
- Yorkie Aid says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:54
  
  It’s Amex. What do you expect?
  - YC says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 14:00
    
    Over the years, I have found Amex CS to be excellent. But I have found service levels to have dropped noticeably in the last 12 months. Having said that, they are probably still the best card company CS in the UK which says a lot more about other companies than amex!
- John says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 16:27
  
  Had same issue.
  Only resolved when submitted a formal complaint and complaint was upheld.
  - YC says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 17:00
    
    Was this a direct complaint to Amex? Or to the FOS? I will be taking screenshots of anything amex related in the future
Sandra says:

26 Jul26 July 13:06

Anyone else having IT problems with Amex today? Made the mistake of logging in via email from them which somehow messed my password up & I had to change it (said it was wrong but I checked, it wasn’t). Then the app on my iPhone wouldn’t work so I took it off to reinstall. I can’t reinstall the app now, in App Store it comes up with Get which when I click just uses my face recognition & logs me in to my account but doesn’t put the App icon back on my phone! Switched my i phone off to try & clear it but still not working – any suggestions welcome please or do I just leave it & will it eventually clear itself & let me put the App icon back?!
- Sandra says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:09
  
  Sorry doesn’t come up with Get but says Open in App Store so it appears it’s all there apart from the icon on my screen!
- BJ says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 13:46
  
  Been on the app twice this morning and it was fine for me.
  - Sandra says:
    
    26 Jul26 July 13:57
    
    Thanks. Managed to sort it all eventually, after losing all my app icons, Googling & generally wasting time I’ve now got everything back & currently trying to arrange my screen in similar order as before!
    - Anna says:
      
      26 Jul26 July 15:37
      
      I’ve been trying to use chat on the App for days but it just keeps saying system not responding. I’ve updated it but still getting the same thing.
      - Sandra says:
        
        26 Jul26 July 17:29
        
        Yes I had that as well Anna, so I’ve given up totally as it’s not urgent & I don’t want to waste any more of my time if it all goes wrong again!
Seb says:

26 Jul26 July 13:48

Does anyone know if I can use a cancelled BA Holiday voucher against a flight only booking? Or does it have to be another BA Holiday booking? Thanks!
- Eoc says:
  
  26 Jul26 July 22:00
  
  Yes I did just this on Saturday