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The HfP chat thread – Friday 27th August

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Comments (536)

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

  • Benilyn says:
    27 Aug27 August 12:36

    Most of my retention MR points with Amex posted same day. But one has not, how long have some people’s taken (for those that where not same day). thanks

  • Steve says:
    27 Aug27 August 12:46

    I managed to order Expert Medicals over a week ago, but they haven’t bothered to ship the tests yet and I’m now on day 2 arrival from amber fully vaxxed. Am I right to think that I can ignore this, not bother answering the phone if track and trace call me, take the tests if they show up and if they haven’t shown up in a week or so then do a chargeback?

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      27 Aug27 August 12:49

      Well except for the not answering the phone from test and trace which sounds like an entirely unnecessary thing to do – why not answer and if needed have them send a test?

      It’s very rare that ignoring phone calls is the best option

      • Steve says:
        27 Aug27 August 13:19

        I put it rather flippantly – I have my phone set up to go straight to voicemail unless it’s one of a small number of contacts, so I’d have to switch this off to get calls.

        I find that ignoring phone calls (but not ignoring voicemails) is the best option for me in general in life, but this may be unusual.

        • Harry T says:
          27 Aug27 August 13:32

          I ignore every phone call where I don’t recognise the number.

        • WaynedP says:
          27 Aug27 August 14:55

          +1

          If anyone not already saved in my contacts list needs to get hold of me urgently enough, they can leave a message.

        • Tariq says:
          27 Aug27 August 22:25

          +1 same at work, avoids unnecessary or awkward discussions about things I don’t wish to discuss.

    • VerdantBacon says:
      27 Aug27 August 12:53

      T&T will send you a test for free if you let them know you haven’t received your test

  • Phil says:
    27 Aug27 August 12:47

    Does anyone know what BA are doing for lounge access at Gatwick given that they’re operating from the North terminal and the lounge is in the South terminal?

  • VINZ says:
    27 Aug27 August 12:57

    Hi all, I have two offers on my Amex for a hotel in London. One is hotel-specific for One Aldwych (spend £400 and get £100 back) ; the other is with Leading Hotels of the World (spend £350 and get £100 back). Do you know if both offers will be triggered if I spend £400 at One Aldwych (so essentially spend £400 and get £100+£100 back)? I would think so… Thank you

  • Clive says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:06

    Has anyone stayed at the Sheraton in Rhodes and can give any feedback?

    • OP says:
      27 Aug27 August 14:14

      Have stayed twice – most recently last year. Hotel is solid and rooms, common areas and the pool/beach are well kept, but the hotel building is incredibly concrete and beginning to age. Make sure you don’t book a mountain view room as your room is literally two metres away from the mountain, i.e. no view. Got a good upgrade from a room to a suite as a Platinum member. Staff are good though not exceptional.

      Food was good at the pool bar and also surprisingly fantastic at their Greek restaurant the one night we ate at the hotel. Personally was not a fan of the buffet restaurant (for breakfast) though there is a separate ‘terrace’/area for Bonvoy (I think Platinum and above, maybe Gold) members with marginally better but still awful coffee and a ‘chef’s special’ delivered to you. There is/was also a separate beach area for Elites and suite guests. The only half decent coffee in the hotel is paid for Nespresso (which they will not serve you at breakfast even as an Elite unless you pay extra on top and they ‘open’ the machine for you…).

      Feel free to let me know if any more Qs!

      • Clive says:
        27 Aug27 August 15:24

        Thanks both. How about restaurants and bars in town? Is it walkable to get there?

        • OP says:
          27 Aug27 August 17:29

          It’s not walkable into town but taxis are easy if you’re not driving, and there are lots of good restaurants and bars. A few from memory worth visiting – L’Eternel, Paneri, Obscura, Macao. Sissitio is a cool space, as is Auvergne.

          The Knights Templar is well worth a visit, and we found it especially impressive at night.

    • Tom says:
      27 Aug27 August 14:58

      Stayed last year and am staying in a couple of weeks time. Agree with what OP says. Was upgraded as gold but only from mountain view to sea. Cocktails were good at the pool bar. Be warned that there isn’t much to do on this side of the island and the beach is poor, we rented a car and will do again this time. Rhodes town is a short drive up the road which is good for dinner.

  • Kevin says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:17

    Has anyone recently received the 25k bonus points from IHG for being achieved the Spire by actual spending ? I know there has been mixed information in the last few months that some got it again after chatted with IHG but some didn’t due to the argument of early round of 25k point being provided.

    I got 20k to go for the targeted 55k, which can be pushed through via CC spend and hotel stays. However the spend could be better go for a new platinum or virgin card to trigger new bonus if IHG can’t be bother to offer the 25k point for members who putting an effort to achieve the target. Comments/suggestions welcome. TIA.

    • VerdantBacon says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:25

      Just put your spend on the platinum and then pay it off with the IHG card and get best of both worlds.

      Pay the IHG card off with Virgin and you get best of all 3

      • Alan says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:37

        How do you do this, when I have tried before (via curve) I have only been successful with such small amounts (£300ish) its not worth the bother.

    • Claire says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:47

      I am also interested in people’s experience with this as I am similar position.

      • Pete M says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:09

        I reached Spire earlier in the week and was offered the 25k, which promptly posted.

        • Matt says:
          27 Aug27 August 14:34

          +1. Bonus available immediately after my points were swept across to ihg account. I did not receive the extra bonus some got earlier in the year.

    • Chas says:
      27 Aug27 August 14:35

      I reached Spire from CC spend a month ago, selected the 25k which posted immediately.

      • Ros says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:43

        How much do you have to spend on creation card to achieve Spire?

        • Chas says:
          27 Aug27 August 14:59

          This year the reduced target is 55k qualifying points. So if you achieve it solely on the black card that’s “just” £22.5k

      • Red Flyer says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:43

        I got white card in March and hit Spire Elite last month. No 25k offer that I recall – do you have to claim these or do they email you something?

        • Red Flyer says:
          27 Aug27 August 14:52

          Ignore that – just found old article from Rob and 25k redeemed on desktop just now. 😎

  • Kevin says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:23

    Hi Colin, i would be very interested to know if you got the 25k bonus as I just posted a similar question not longer ago today, page 8. The difference is I yet hit the target and wondering the extra effort is worthy.

  • Chas says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:33

    Time Sensitive: does anyone got a view of Marriott bed sizes in the UK? I’m currently staying at the Courtyard Edinburgh, and booked a family room with 2x Queen beds. The beds are blatantly only doubles, and as a result we didn’t get a great night sleep last night. I’ve spoken with reception who got the Operations Manager to speak with me, and she is adamant that they conform to Marriott’s definition of a Queen sized bed. Do they have their own definition which means that they don’t have to be any bigger than a double? They are fully booked, so can’t move us to other rooms, so I’ve asked them to investigate availability at either the Glasshouse or the Sheraton, and trying to understand how much leverage I might have to avoid paying any incremental costs…. I’m a Gold Elite.

    • Chas says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:34

      does anyone *have* a view. I’m a grammar pedant, and hate that this one slipped through…. 🙄

    • Rhys says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:36

      Isn’t a UK Queen larger than a King? They are probably referring to a US Queen, given Marriott is a US company.

      • Chas says:
        27 Aug27 August 13:50

        I’ve always thought that a UK Queen was slightly smaller than a King. Google tells me that a UK Queen is 152 x 202cm (our beds definitely aren’t that big!), whereas a standard double is 135 x 190cm. It seems that the hotel only offers twins, queen and king, which now makes me think that they’re calling all doubles “queens” under their own definition….

      • Chas says:
        27 Aug27 August 15:10

        And separately, I’m looking forward to eating at Baba tonight after your previous review.

    • Harry T says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:46

      Gold elite won’t make a difference to anything ever. I don’t think you are due any form of compensation, as this isn’t really a service issue. Marriott will mandate a certain bed size at Courtyards, which will be a US Queen. US Queen is pretty small, based on my experience at Moxy and Hampton.

      You could ask to be refunded or to have the bill waived, then rebook yourself at your own cost into another hotel. The Gladshouse and Sheraton are higher category hotels in the Bonvoy portfolio, so the hotel would have to poop in your beds or something for you to get a transfer to one of those comped.

      • Chas says:
        27 Aug27 August 13:55

        Thanks Harry – I know Gold won’t get me anywhere, and I’m trying to push for Plat, but unless my plans change I won’t get close enough to even make a few mattress runs stack up. Fully aware that the other properties are higher categories, so I had proactively mentioned to her that I wasn’t looking to get comped there, but perhaps there could be a discount on any incremental rate which she was amenable to – I was trying to gauge how much leverage I might have over that discount.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:47

      Genuinely never know of a U.K. chain hotel to have two U.K. queen size beds in a standard room.

      I think Rob has hit nail on head.

      Courtyard advertise 1 king or 1 queen bedrooms and you can see from the pictures the queen is smaller (pillows are the give away)

      • Chas says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:03

        It’s a “superior family room”, hence the 2 beds. It’s hard to know what’s caused by perspective in photos, hence why I was going by the description of the bed sizes being queens not doubles.

    • Lyn says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:54

      If it is a US Queen size as Rhys suggests it should be 160cm wide.

      Don’t Marriott actually sell beds and sheets? If so they might have sizes on their web-site.

      • Lyn says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:00

        Sorry this should have been 60″ so 152cm.

        • Chas says:
          27 Aug27 August 14:09

          Thanks, great idea and I’ve found the mattresses they sell; doubles are 140 x 200, queens are 160 x 200. The beds we’ve got are 140 wide….

          • TGLoyalty says:
            27 Aug27 August 14:23

            So a U.K. double.

          • Chas says:
            27 Aug27 August 14:32

            Exactly my point! They’ve described the rooms as 2 x queen beds, when we’ve got 2 x double beds. But as per my update below, I’ve got a resolution I’m happy with now.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            27 Aug27 August 15:31

            A U.K. queen is actually a small double

            A Uk king is a US Queen

            A U.K. super king is a US king.

            All very confusing especially when EU also has different sizes.

          • Chas says:
            27 Aug27 August 16:47

            Except this is under “British Hotels > Queen = 160 x 200cm” 🤷🏻‍♂️

    • Sam G says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:57

      I’ve also seen a definition used in the hotel world that a queen is the same as a small double (4ft) – so a double bed would actually be bigger (4ft 6) , e.g. see https://www.nextdivan.co.uk/blog/news/king-vs-queen-bed-size-difference so she might be right. So I’m not sure how far you’ll get with this one from a leverage POV, best hope is being nice and hoping they can help you out

      • Chas says:
        27 Aug27 August 14:15

        That’s interesting, I wasn’t aware of that. Lyn’s idea above is fantastic though as they sell the mattresses and state the measurements on their website! I always complain or negotiate nicely – it always gets you much further than being rude or obnoxious. Ultimately everyone’s a human being who deserves to be treated with respect. My initially conversation with reception was along the lines of “I’m not particularly happy about the bed sizes, and was wondering if anything could be done”. Hopefully no sense of entitlement came across.

    • Chas says:
      27 Aug27 August 14:20

      Thanks for all the prompt responses; I’ve got a resolution I’m happy with (without even having to mention to them the width of the bed not matching the size of Queen mattresses which Marriott sell online; genius idea from Lyn – thank you!). They can’t do anything tonight, but from tomorrow they have found us a twin room for the last 2 nights of our stay which the teens can move into. We’ll be charged £100 per night for that, but they’re comping the 4 of us breakfast for the 4 nights of our stay which goes a long way to offset that. It pays to be nice when mentioning that we weren’t entirely happy with our room!

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