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The HfP chat thread – Sunday 8th August

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Comments (346)

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

  • BJ says:
    8 Aug8 August 08:59

    Well, I’m off to make a coffee … using a cafetiere which I still consider the best way to make a great cup. When somebody discovers a hotel classy enough to provide a cafetiere in the room please break the news on HfP.

    • Rob says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:10

      CenterParcs does provide them, but bring your own coffee.

      • BJ says:
        8 Aug8 August 09:50

        Cool, don’t see myself there though.

      • Doug M says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:47

        Amused me a couple of days ago, from Twitter.

        £100m for Grealish
        To put that into context, that’s a week’s stay for a family of five at Center Parcs with 3 kids who want to do everything

      • Paul says:
        8 Aug8 August 16:03

        Why don’t people simply give Centre Parcs their wallet, their bank cards and all their PIN numbers.?
        They should wear masks in my view as I have simply never understood the attraction

    • Craig says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:24

      There are mini ones in the rooms at the Clayton in Leeds, noisy hotel with no aircon and dreadful parking though.

    • Sloth says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:35

      Loungeville manor in jersey does, or at least did last time I was there in feb 2020

      • Sloth says:
        8 Aug8 August 09:36

        Although to be honest if you are that bothered isn’t it easier to take your own?

        • Anna says:
          8 Aug8 August 09:53

          I take my own cafetière and ground coffee when luggage allowance permits – as BJ says, it’s definitely the most civilised way to start the day! (The other issue is that getting fresh milk in one’s hotel room is on a par with detecting dark matter in terms of the difficulty it usually poses)

          • Mikeact says:
            8 Aug8 August 10:41

            And we take our own tea…

          • John says:
            8 Aug8 August 13:43

            I take hotel teabags.

            The lockdowns reduced my stash to near single digits but have started building up again now

            Not bought any tea in the past 8 years (except as gifts)

          • Rob says:
            8 Aug8 August 15:58

            Lockdown ran down my hotel toiletries stash which I never expected to happen, although it was good to get the storage space back.

    • BJ says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:55

      Thanks all, perhaps not as rare as I thought then although I have not come across one yet myself. I’m not that bothered though, easy to find coffee shops near most hotels these days. I was a bit surprised to find a nespresso machine in a Milan Ibis.

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:
        8 Aug8 August 13:37

        Nespresso is the budget option in Italy!

        • BJ says:
          8 Aug8 August 17:39

          And Ibis the budget hotel option 🙂 As it happened both the best and worst coffeee I ever drunk was in Italy. The worst one was so bad that I took it back and complained, and things deteriorated quite rapidly with the owner. Two Italian ladies at the counter who had just been served entered into the dispute on my behalf and ended up refusing to pay for their food and walked out. The infuriated owner then took the cash for my order, threw it across the counter at me and told me to get out. All that over a coffee that was tepid and lumpy with what I guessed was milk powder and coffee grains.

    • N says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:36

      A portable Aeropress is the size of a travel mug and about 30 quid. Never drink uncivilised coffee in a hotel room again!

      • Mikeact says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:42

        +1

      • AnotherUser says:
        8 Aug8 August 11:51

        You can also fit a hand grinder inside an aeropress – fresh ground coffee in a hotel room 🙂

        Getting a cafetiere seems more common in serviced apartments. I find cafetieres a pain to clean if you don’t have a proper sink – so not convenient if you just have a bathroom basin. If people are wanting one to travel with, the Bodum Columbia steel cafetiere is a nice piece of design, and seems pretty indestructible.

      • BJ says:
        8 Aug8 August 17:41

        Thanks, I’ll look into the Aeropress.

    • Brian says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:52

      The Randolph in Oxford used to. Probably got rid of them now that it’s been reflagged.

      • BJ says:
        8 Aug8 August 17:43

        Wouldn’t ever pick hotels based on coffee facilities but nice to know cafetieres not that uncommon.

  • Frankie says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:19

    Does anyone know if Harry/Shoestring completely disappeared from here last year, or is he here occasionally in another guise? I often wonder.

    • PeterCostell says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:27

      I think there are a couple of potential candidates…Dave1985, Chris Heyes or even Anna.

      Or maybe it’s just an OAP thing and everyone becomes some shade of this in the twilight years.

      • Gruntfuttock says:
        8 Aug8 August 09:31

        OAP thing? Twilight? 🤸🚴🕺 I think not! 😂

      • Chas says:
        8 Aug8 August 09:33

        I don’t think it’s any of them, as they all have very different writing styles than Shoestring had, and none of them post the regular snippets of savings which can be made from the Voldemort site amongst others which Shoestring used to regularly do. Also Anna was a regular poster when Shoestring was still around. I do hope that he’s OK and at a minimum is still a lurker on here even if he doesn’t post as prolifically as he used to.

        • Memesweeper says:
          8 Aug8 August 09:50

          +1 — not Anna

          I’m not going to defame any regular poster by suggesting they are/were Shoestring

      • BJ says:
        8 Aug8 August 09:59

        Steady on, I think am a bit older than Anna and we’re not OAP

      • Yolo says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:44

        I don’t think it’s Chris Heyes. Harry didn’t use LOL as a punctuation mark everywhere.

      • Peter K says:
        8 Aug8 August 12:54

        I have a suspicion that Dave1985 was posting as Ankomonkey before.

    • Mikeact says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:30

      There are others as well that come to mind…I guess some called it a day as many topics have become totally unnecessary and certainly not travel related.

    • Ash says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:33

      He was squils before that and something else before that. And he had some history of being banned from some other sites i think… So im sure his around.

    • Gavin says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:49

      Was he the guy that used to talk about the “pussycat virus”? (although not sure what that was supposed to mean…!)

      • Yolo says:
        8 Aug8 August 11:03

        Yes. He laughed at people’s concerns about covid during Jan and Feb 2020. He also mocked stockpilers.

        Then he ran off to his ‘place in the sun’ while his wife stayed in the UK. At least he had the decency to order 200 loo rolls for her 🙄

        • roberto says:
          8 Aug8 August 11:50

          He was Worzel before that….. Harry had some great insight but a few “issues” that the pandemic brought to the surface, I for one hope he is well, feeling brighter and still roaming around in his Landy.

          This site and others went off the rails a bit during lockdown as more people had more time on their hands. It’s nice to see that it’s coming back, posts are mostly helpful and the infighting/swearing has largely disappeared.

          All the best from my place in the sun.

        • Jill ( Kinkell) says:
          8 Aug8 August 11:56

          He was also very helpful, but controversial…his downfall, I think. I don’t recognise his style in any of the mentioned regulars. I suspect only Rob/Rhys know Harry1, Squills, The Real Harry, Shoestring etc. As for an OAP thing…huh! I’m with 🧗‍♂️🏄‍♂️🤸Still not quite ready for the DWP weekly trip to PO!

    • Mike says:
      8 Aug8 August 11:59

      Frankie – good question , I had been wondering that too – I miss him and hope he is ok

  • Olver says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:23

    How long do you wait before applying for a new card after cancelling? I cancelled my Platinum and want to apply for the gold, just not to sure how long to wait.

    • Rob says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:29

      Doubt they care – if you are rejected, call Amex and say you were simply trying to downgrade but that the call centre said it can’t be processed as a downgrade because you are swapping from a charge to a credit card.

      You’re not getting the sign-up bonus anyway so there is no financial reason for Amex to reject you.

    • BJ says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:04

      Applied once within a week and several times within a month with no problems. For Sainsurys Bank it now seems almost certain from comments we have to wait 3 months.

    • Genghis says:
      8 Aug8 August 14:57

      I wouldn’t worry. I used to apply for loads back in the day though I’d prefer to apply for a new card before cancelling one.

  • Ryan Gill says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:28

    Does anyone know if there are inter connecting rooms available at the Hard Rock hotel London? Preferably a double room connected with 2 singles.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:29

    Emailed IHG about 10k bonus points from the ‘Stay Longer, Pay Less’ sale using the IHG credit card, as reported on HfP earlier this year.
    Reply after 2 days ‘I’ll check with our partner’
    Day 4: Points post
    Day 7: Reply from IHG ‘sorry you are not eligible, the rate needed to include breakfast’
    It did include breakfast, and I booked on the promotional link. The attention to detail blows me away 🤣

    • Aston100 says:
      8 Aug8 August 12:06

      Hi Sandgrounder.
      I managed to get the 10k points after a few emails and phone calls with IHG Rewards customer service.
      Initially, they did their usual ‘deny everything’ tactic, despite sending in screenshots of the offer.
      Took about 2 – 3 weeks I think.

      Had similar issues with a 5k offer for staying a night before end of July.

      I know all organisations can be accused of providing poor customer service, but I’ve found IHG to be amongst the worst (beaten only by Revolut in recent times).
      In addition, their Best Price Guarantee isn’t fit for purpose, and the excuses they give are laughable at times.

  • Sukes says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:45

    Media reports that EU is expected to re-impose its ‘ban’ on non-essential entry by US residents ie take US off the EU ‘safe list’. The list is non-binding but EU member states are expected to use it when deciding their national entry requirements.

    https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/eu-most-likely-to-reintroduce-entry-ban-on-us-next-week-sources-claim/

    • Anna says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:58

      Good – US policy on travel defies all logic currently.

      • Oh! Matron says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:11

        Most of the UKs travel policy defies all logic. Why we can’t travel to the US is hideous….. I’d be off like a stabbed rat….

        • Anna says:
          8 Aug8 August 11:12

          It’s not U.K. policy’s fault that we can’t go to the US!

      • Mikeact says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:45

        You really would be happy to go to Florida eg.?

        • BJ says:
          8 Aug8 August 17:49

          I was happy just to get to London. Cornwall next month No worries about tests etc 🙂

        • Rory says:
          8 Aug8 August 20:20

          I was in Florida just before the mask mandate got updated. Honestly felt safer than the UK at times (not much of a benchmark I however…)

      • Brian says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:55

        Agreed. And to think people used to blame it all on Trump…

        • Lord Doncaster says:
          8 Aug8 August 12:11

          Indeed. There’s only one person to blame now and he seems a little ‘past it’.

          Why does Biden go round sniffing hair btw?

    • Lyn says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:18

      Not too surprising, but unfortunate, and not good news for BA.

      When the US got onto the list, in June, their numbers were only just under the acceptable limits and they have definitely got worse since then.

    • Hak says:
      8 Aug8 August 11:15

      You wonder how much of this is the EU trying to leverage the US to opening up its borders for vaccinated EU citizens.

    • Blair says:
      8 Aug8 August 13:55

      I believe the member states can opt out and do their own thing anyway. Though that rather undermines the theoretically harmonised nature of the EU digital covid pass. It’d be far fetched to expect Ireland to subscribe to this, seeing as litigous US arrivals were what sunk their hotel quarantine policy.

  • YC says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:49

    Not sure if this has flown under the radar. But if u have a premier black NatWest account, u can get the reward black credit card for free. It has 0.5% CB and 1% CB at supermarkets and 0% fx. Surely one of the best mastercards around??

    • Rob says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:59

      It is a decent card, yes, but as Premier Black has a £31 monthly fee (!) for the current account you need to look at it as part of an overall package. The travel insurance and DragonPass cards make it a better deal than it looks given that the £31 fee drops to £22 if you put 2 direct debits onto the account.

      £100k income criteria too.

      • Sloth says:
        8 Aug8 August 10:05

        You get the £10 rebate from 2 dd’s and app sign in anyway on the free reward premier account

    • Sloth says:
      8 Aug8 August 09:59

      Problem is, in my mind at least, it’s hard to justify the reward black monthly fee.especially at the moment when dragon pass is pretty much worthless, and you get annual travel insurance from hsbc premier for free

      • YC says:
        8 Aug8 August 11:34

        True not looked at premier accounts too closely. NW black has 25% off theatre tickets which was previously available to cheaper accounts. Good genuine saving

        • Nigel says:
          8 Aug8 August 20:05

          It’s also offering roughly 25% off cinema tickets and upgraded airport parking (meet&greet for the price of park&ride)

  • krys_k says:
    8 Aug8 August 09:53

    Found out on Friday that the non-Shengen lounge at WAW no longer had a deal with BA for business passengers (priority pass was OK, but I no longer have it). There is no fast track either…although there wasn’t any traffic so no difference. Made me think how many other airports this is happening at.

    • John says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:27

      Fast track at WAW has always been the same speed or slower than normal track for me.

    • Doug M says:
      8 Aug8 August 10:53

      It’s been commented on previously. BA have stopped access to some lounges at remote stations, some reappear after a few weeks. I’d guess they’re tightening the purse strings, don’t have managers available to negotiate the contracts, or both.

      • LS says:
        8 Aug8 August 11:29

        BAs lounge policy of not renewing lounge contracts has cost them my custom on one flight. Flight from SOF – LON – same price with bags on EasyJet and BA. I chose EasyJet because it flew to LGW (presumably shorter queues) rather than BA to LHR. Being able to access lounge would have tipped it in favour of BA.

        • krys_k says:
          8 Aug8 August 13:15

          I’m not particularly impressed by this devaluing of journey at WAW. I’ll agree that fast track was seldom necessary as queues are generally short but there have been times when it’s very helpful. I tend to use the fantazja lounge which is always very quiet and one of my favourite worldwide. Is a shame it’s Shengen as it a chore then to get through passport control etc. In effect I’ll be paying for onboard extras and luggage. Not really a premium experience.

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