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The HfP chat thread – Friday 17th September

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Comments (588)

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

  • Harry T says:
    17 Sep17 September 16:52

    Has anyone found the full list of weight countries that have been taken off the red list?

    Also does anyone want to buy my two Chronomics predeparture tests? 😂

  • Tony1 says:
    17 Sep17 September 16:53

    Well that latest Gov announcement has possibly killed off the private testing gravy train …

  • LM says:
    17 Sep17 September 16:59

    Flight booked from London to Istanbul on the 21st, it changes to Amber at 4am on the 22nd, is there anything I can do other than rebook the flight?

    • Andrew says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:01

      Depends on the airline’s Covid rebooking policy.

      • LM says:
        17 Sep17 September 17:03

        It’s BA, is it likely they’ll change/issue more flights in response to the travel changes?

    • Andrew says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:02

      But note that it doesn’t matter when you go to that country, it’s when you return, so unless you’re coming back the same day, you’re fine!

      • LM says:
        17 Sep17 September 17:07

        Thanks! I thought that technically as I’ll be landing in Turkey while it’s still “red” for a couple of hours, I’ll be subject to hotel quarantine on return?

        Partner and I are booked up in business with seats selected so would really like to keep the existing booking, just not sure we can.

        • John says:
          17 Sep17 September 18:16

          Suppose you were going to Turkey for 1 year… Would you still be subject to hotel quarantine on return just because you departed today?

          • LM says:
            17 Sep17 September 19:41

            Thanks. Their metric seems to be where you’ve been in the past 10 days, and Turkey would have been red while I was there, confusing!

    • AJA says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:05

      Why do you want to change your outbound flight? You are still bound by the rules on arrival in Turkey and presumably you will be coming back to the UK after the 22nd so that means good news for you.

  • Aston100 says:
    17 Sep17 September 17:07

    So, if I’m due to return to the UK on 15th October, will I still need to prebook a day 2 test, or will I be doing a LFT?
    Not very clear to me.

    • Rob says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:19

      Need to wait and see …

    • Andrew says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:40

      Depends how they end up defining ‘later in October’ if later means 16th or after, then it’s PCR, if later means 15th or before then LFT.

  • The Lord says:
    17 Sep17 September 17:09

    Randox still the cheapest day 2 PCR? Not bothered if it arrives or not.

    • Simon says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:36

      Nationwide pathology do one for 40 quid. Also means you don’t have to bother with randox boxes for returning them.

  • Reney says:
    17 Sep17 September 17:12

    Does anyone know where I can find a list of countries that don’t require testing to enter? Have friends who don’t follow this space but want to book holidays.

  • Steve says:
    17 Sep17 September 17:19

    I have a sinking feeling that the new day 2 tests will be more inconvenient – at least the papers this morning were talking about supervised lateral flow tests, which would be more of a hassle than bunging a PCR in the post (and I bet they won’t be under 25 quid, either).

    No pre departure tests is obviously great news, though.

  • BP says:
    17 Sep17 September 17:23

    Six Senses Duoro Valley Review

    Firstly, I think it’s useful to frame my review in terms of my past experiences. I’ve stayed in some premium brands like Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and The Chedi, however, I usually try not to spend more then £250 a night on a hotel and the most I’ve ever paid is £450 for a few nights after my wedding. Given the Six Senses pricing, my expectation was that it would be something very special. I booked with IHG points the Vineyard Garden Suite which normally retails at £2500 a night and is the top suite in the hotel.

    On arrival at the resort, I think I was checked-in by the intern who made the mistake! She was very nervous and basically read out the full spire elite T&Cs including telling me I could have an upgrade if available. All Spire Elite benefits given including free breakfast and two 50 minutes massages. A welcome glass of port went down very well and a nearby manager noticed and appeared with a second glass.

    The suite itself is very nice with a large entrance hallway, guest WC, living area with dining table and projector screen, bedroom, luggage room and large bathroom. Outside is a terrace with two sun loungers, a heated jacuzzi, outdoor seating area and outdoor dining table. Fixtures and fittings aren’t really luxury, more just “nice”. I’ve stayed in 4* hotels which feel more luxurious.

    Sitting on the terrace at night with the fire lit is very nice. You can see a large number of stars as the sky is so dark. The jacuzzi is nice to sit in for a glass of wine too. Having sun loungers outside is handy to relax when the toddler goes for a long afternoon nap.

    There are some issues with the suite – the biggest being a design flaw with the shower where it doesn’t drain quick enough and the entire bathroom floods if you have it on for longer than about 5 minutes. Secondly the lighting controls are terrible – each light is either fully on or off and there’s only two zones. Turn the bedroom light on and the bathroom and luggage room lights also come on. Put the outdoor jacuzzi lights on and all of the living area lights come on. The third major problem is the aircon. The aircon is only in the living area and bedroom. The luggage room and bathroom only get aircon if the doors are left open. Leave the bedroom door open at night and the room gets far too hot quickly as the bedroom aircon has to cool three rooms.

    • BP says:
      17 Sep17 September 17:24

      There are some issues with the suite – the biggest being a design flaw with the shower where it doesn’t drain quick enough and the entire bathroom floods if you have it on for longer than about 5 minutes. Secondly the lighting controls are terrible – each light is either fully on or off and there’s only two zones. Turn the bedroom light on and the bathroom and luggage room lights also come on. Put the outdoor jacuzzi lights on and all of the living area lights come on. The third major problem is the aircon. The aircon is only in the living area and bedroom. The luggage room and bathroom only get aircon if the doors are left open. Leave the bedroom door open at night and the room gets far too hot quickly as the bedroom aircon has to cool three rooms. In addition to these issues, general upkeep could be improved with stains on the seating area and rug. The outdoor furniture is quite dirty as another reviewer mentioned.

      Housekeeping is another area that’s poor. It’s a suite with a dining area and we ordered room service at least once most days. Housekeeping wouldn’t hoover and so the crumbs from eating led to an ant infestation. Reception sent a man with a spray but it wasn’t hugely effective with many ants still noticeable. Turndown service came at 9:30pm one night when they know we have a 2 year old and our restaurant reservation was at 7pm. Housekeeping also wouldn’t remove any dirty glasses/plates or even phone the department whose job it is to do this. Really poor service. They didn’t seem to even step foot on the terrace so no cleaning happened out there.

      The service elsewhere was much better fortunately. The spa was excellent and the free massage was one of the best I’ve ever had. They were happy to let my 2 year old in the indoor pool anytime even though the rules say no kids after 12 noon.

      • BP says:
        17 Sep17 September 17:24

        The restaurants are excellent – we tried the summer BBQ and the main restaurant. Service in the restaurants was spot on! I highly recommend the “Clandestine Entrecote” steak which had a rich fatty taste I’ve only had before in a Kobe Steak. Breakfast was excellent too. The restaurants were happy for me to pre-order a kids meal for it to be ready on our arrival.

        The resort is massive and very nice to go for a walk. Everything is well manicured as expected. The resort dogs Aqua and Max are super friendly and were happy to see my toddler.

        Overall we’ve enjoyed our stay here. The food has been excellent and it’s a nice resort. Would I return? No. I wouldn’t pay £500 for the base room never mind £2500 for the suite I stayed in. I wouldn’t pay £300 for the suite with its problems. It wasn’t worth the 450,000 IHG points if I’m perfectly honest with the service failures and hard product failures.

        • Jonathan says:
          17 Sep17 September 18:25

          Not excusing them in slightest but considering 90% of their Vineyard Garden Suite guests this summer have probably been intern redemptions that maybe they’ve told housekeeping not to bother spending an hour cleaning outside/dining room & just move on to paying guests rooms ASAP?

          • BP says:
            17 Sep17 September 21:40

            Possibly but if they have then it leaves a sour taste. I’ll probably never stay in a Six Senses ever again after this trip when IC and other brands give an almost consistently good experience.

            They are doing themselves no favours with lack of cleaning inside as paying guests will have ant problems too. I’ve had to call multiple times today as ants just keep appearing.

            Dinner this evening was fantastic again – the food and service is excellent in the restaurants.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:
          17 Sep17 September 18:53

          Thank you for the highly detailed review! I would like to go there one day but now fond it even harder to justify of its essentially going down hill

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

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