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The HfP chat thread – Friday 10th September

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Comments (617)

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

  • BSI1978 says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:01

    Suggestions for a lost weekend in Manchester chums, as it now appears we (6 of us, adults) have a couple of days free to play with……😒

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:08

      Manchester is a great city for drinks with friends. Ofcourse I went prior to Covid so I don’t know what’s busy these days but I’m sure you’ll get some recommendations from locals.

    • AL says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:11

      Manc here. It’s an ace city – loads to do, depending on what you’re in to. What are you looking for? Can happily provide some ideas.

    • Fazzy Bear says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:13

      Cricket cancelled!?

    • Anna says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:14

      I’ve had 2 great stays at the Kimpton Clocktower; good status recognition as Spire and it has an great restaurant with a resident DJ if you like that kind of atmosphere. If making a cash booking, Emyr’s deals are amazing value for this property as breakfast is normally £18 pp for the buffet (though the brunch menu is a bit cheaper and very good), and the $100 credit covers a meal for 2 – 3 people.

    • Oh! Matron! says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:19

      Eats:
      Penang on Oldham Street. On the spicier side but, having lived in KL, this was excellent.
      El Gato Negro, King St.
      This and That: A legendary curry place. Do not expect fine dining. Do expect amazing food
      Pot Kettle Black Barton Arcade. Great place for coffee / Brunch, although Federal isn’t bad on Deansgate too

      The football museum by the corn exchange is excellent. In fact, go see some football anyway 🙂

      The John Rylands Library on deansgate is just incredible. It is such a beautiful building, both inside and our. Chetham’s School of Music also has library tours

      And if you REALLY want to do something different: http://www.nationalcyclingcentre.com/track/taster-sessions/

      • Anuj says:
        10 Sep10 September 12:06

        This and That do make proper indian/pakistani food unlike most asian restaurants however it’s still quite bland compared to the real thing sadly. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to find better indian food in the UK

    • Barnaby100 says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:38

      We are at the HGI overlooking the gates. All kicking off down here.

    • Tony says:
      10 Sep10 September 10:28

      For something different, jump in a car and go to Arcade Club in Bury – wall to wall classic arcade cabinets, good bar and food. Trip down memory lane for people of a certain age.

      • davefl says:
        10 Sep10 September 10:50

        I’d second Arcade Club. If you’ve not got a car, you can jump on the tram from OT right to Bury and then it’s a 10-15 min walk from the station.

      • AL says:
        10 Sep10 September 13:58

        There’s also NQ64 for a similar vibe in town – the Northern Quarter one is the better of the two. Admittedly, Arcade Club has probably slightly more nostalgia and less of a sticky-floor bar feel 😉

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:38

      Go to the art gallery! Really cool. Oh and the science and industry museum was great fun!

      Highly recommend eating at the indigo near Victoria Station. Very nice but pricey. Might be able to use the IHG offer if you still have it

    • BSI1978 says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:42

      Some good options there folks, cheers – managed to check in early; at present the Arcade club looks like a good shout for the afternoon!

    • ken says:
      10 Sep10 September 12:12

      New Order, Hot Chip and Working Mens club on at Heaton Park tonight. Bands on from 5:30pm

      Plenty of tickets on Twickets at 50% of face value (so £28 per person including fees)

    • xcalx says:
      10 Sep10 September 12:23

      Google M62 east 🙂

  • N says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:06

    vague question i know, but what do you guys prefer to spend you Amex points on – flights or hotels? flying out from the UK with BA using points means paying a lot in taxes most of the time, so I’m wondering if it’s worth transferring my ~100k points into a hotel programme? Not sure how many nights that would even get me to be honest…

    • Andrew says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:17

      I prefer to use them at Sainsbury’s/eBay – much better return.

    • Anna says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:18

      It depends how much value you get from avios flights. We currently have to travel mostly in school holidays so avios bookings with a 241 give us outstanding value.
      With hotel programmes there’s a lot of variety – you can get 5 nights somewhere average or 1-2 somewhere stunning for the same amount of points! You get 2 to 1 with Hilton, I think, and 2 to 3 with Marriott, though double check that before deciding.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:35

      Flights or nectar. Avios Hotels are terrible value and transferring to hotel points even worse

    • The Savage Squirrel says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:38

      Don’t get too hung up on nominal redemption values against cash prices you’d never have paid anyway. e.g. The Maldives may give huge £/point but I’d hate it so it would still be a very poor redemption for me. Spend them on whatever location you wanted so much that you would have paid cash to go/stay there even if you had no points to your name. Just maybe with a nicer hotel or flight class and a smaller bill as the points sweetener.

    • Travel Strong says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:42

      All in the same ballpark. So in my opinion the best use is to pick a route which goes against something you would genuinely have paid cash for otherwise.

      Assume 0.33p per hilton base value, so 100k MR = 200k hiltons = £660 base value, which easy upside if hitting a ‘5th night free’ (800-1000 top end value in normal circumstances)

      As above, £800 nectar/sainsburys base value

      Airline redemptions have the potential to look high value on paper (£1500+ value) but its only true saving if you would have paid the cash price anyway. When I compare to the flights I would have spent on in reality – I get similar value to the hotel/nectar options.

      • Colin MacKinnon says:
        10 Sep10 September 10:10

        Would I pay the cash price anyway?

        I have just booked Business return on Air Tahiti Nui from Tokyo to Tahiti for 80k AA points plus £50. It is an 11+ hour flight, and no way would I have gone in economy, or paid the £4k in business.

        So my answer is: points allow me to go to places I want to go to, but couldn’t afford.

        • Anna says:
          10 Sep10 September 12:03

          +1 – I don’t understand this fixation with it only having value if you would have paid for it anyway!

          • Anna says:
            10 Sep10 September 12:04

            That is an awesome redemption, by the way, Colin!

          • The Savage Squirrel says:
            10 Sep10 September 13:21

            “points allow me to go to places I want to go to”

            The point is he wanted to go anyway – which is exactly what we were advocating. He would have been prepared to pay cash at a lower rate; say if it was, maybe, 2k; it was just cost-prohibitive.

            Some questions here are along the lines of “where can I go to maximise the return on my [whatever] points”. Answer is likely somewhere you didn’t really want to go! Choosing your destination or redemption entirely on maximising nominal points return compared against cash is the point at which the quest for “value” has left alllogic behind.

        • Mikeact says:
          10 Sep10 September 15:41

          That is an excellent redemption. We did it in 2019, using the Multi Carrier mileage option, and stopped off at Tahiti for a few days. My wife was worried about ‘what if?’, cancellations, changes etc. but only one or two hiccups along the way and all handled stress free ! Interestingly, our last bit to use up the mileage was going to be a few days in AMS which took us into 2020…never made it and couldn’t be bothered to do something about it !

      • Andrew says:
        10 Sep10 September 10:13

        And obviously cash flights will also earn you Avios, to spend in Sainsbury’s, to factor into the Avios flights v nectar balance. Plus tier points if you’re chasing status.

    • Reney says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:07

      I decide on the best accommodation and travel aspect of my trip and then see how I can leverage points to make it cheaper and better (more lux).

      I don’t like to take indirect route or stay at out of the way hotels just to use points if I can afford it. Unless some points are expiring then maybe.

    • Anuj says:
      10 Sep10 September 12:08

      For hotel points I find Marriott give best bang for buck but I haven’t been checking prices since Covid. Melia is also really cheap for redemptions but that’s more of a recent covid change.

  • Simon L says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:06

    Hi any advice , I’m a plat Marriott member due to check in at autograph Edinburgh today

    I booked a standard room via the Marriott website , yesterday morning when checking the app I noticed that I had been upgraded by 2 room cat , in the afternoon when checking the app again my room cat had switched back to what I had paid for , in the evening from checking again I had been upgraded by 4 cat which was great (not a suite) this morning it’s changed back to the 2 cat upgrade , even though the 4 cat room is still for sale online ….should I question at check in or … seems a bit bizarre that they keep changing my room and they actually have better rooms still available to book .., confused.com

    • AL says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:08

      Always worth the ask, in my view.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:09

      Use the chat function on the app and talk to them at check in.

      • Simon L says:
        10 Sep10 September 09:11

        Hey, again oddly no function to check in online or use the online chat , it’s not present

        Booked through Marriott so not sure why this feature isn’t available

        • TGLoyalty says:
          10 Sep10 September 09:18

          Have you tried deleting the app completely?

          Does it let you check in via the website?

          • meta says:
            10 Sep10 September 09:24

            This is all normal. If there are Titaniums and Ambassadors, they’ll have a priority and hotel is still unsure about how they’ll handle upgrades. So I’d contact them via app, by phone or by email. I would have done it a few days ago if an upgrade is important for the stay.

          • Simon L says:
            10 Sep10 September 09:53

            Hi nope doesn’t work even after re-installing and can’t do it on the website either

            Will be there around 12 00 let’s see what they offer

    • KBuffett says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:24

      Did you manage to get your late check out resolved a couple of days ago?

      • Simon L says:
        10 Sep10 September 09:52

        They would only extend till 13.00 which didn’t help , we had a flexible train ticket so just left early , a little annoying though

  • Rahaney says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:19

    Still awaiting my cash back from the Morrison’s offer for spend on 1/9

    • K says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:33

      Same here. Chat online useless. Saying that only applies online and selected stores though they cannot tell me which ones. It happened in the spring too. Eventually raised an official complaint and that’s how it was solved. May call them again to make a complaint

    • Peter K says:
      10 Sep10 September 09:36

      Same here.

  • Rob says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:28

    The Ivy is the most suitable kids option of everything on the list, put it that way.

  • Mco says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:33

    Posted a few days back about BA downgrading my flight from F to J. Flown the ticket after a few changes but wanted my points back and was advised its a struggle. Glad to say phone answered within 5 mins and 10 mins later I had the points back in my account.

  • Duncan says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:41

    Yes, I’ve been to the Ivy in Edinburgh many times and really enjoy it there. It’s definitely kid-friendly – I’ve seen plenty of families there before. I was there for brunch on Sunday with some friends and their baby (in a pram) – staff brilliant and very accommodating in my experience.

  • Dave says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:42

    Any alternatives to bending Ernie to Solihull? Can one bend Ernie to Beardy?

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

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