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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 28th October

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Comments (447)

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

  • GaryE says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:31

    QQ: It has been mentioned here, but I want to use my E-Voucher against my BA holiday balance. People have said they have managed this, which number did you get thru on, and secondly I believe people have emailed BA and asked them to apply voucher against the booking reference – what email address did you use and how did you head up the email. Thanks

    • Anna says:
      28 Oct28 October 11:46

      I think your voucher has to be from a BA holiday originally, in which case you would have an email with instructions of how to apply it. As you specify it’s an e-voucher I suspect it may come with different terms.

      • GaryE says:
        28 Oct28 October 11:47

        The voucher was from cancelled flight – but I thought I read on here that people had been able to apply those vouchers against a BA Holidays

        • Paasan69 says:
          28 Oct28 October 12:12

          You need to pay the initial deposit during the booking process. You may then contact BAH via chat or email (phone is impossible) to use the eVoucher to reduce the remaining balance. The email I’ve been successful with is baholidays at ba dot com. Chat also works fine.

        • Anna says:
          28 Oct28 October 12:39

          It was the other way round for me, I applied FTVs from BA holidays to new avios bookings.

      • ChrisC says:
        28 Oct28 October 14:02

        No issue with an e voucher being used for a BA holiday

        Others below have posted the BA Hols email address in the thread.

        No issue with using e-vouchers to pay down a holiday balance (I did it over the phone last week). It’s tryign to use a voucher that has avios in that they can’t do.

        Simply forward the email that included the voucher reference and cash amount to that address and simply state ‘please apply this evoucher to my booking reference ABCDEF’ Takes about a week for it to flow through the system.

    • Kostya says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:31

      I’ve been told by a BA representative that e-vouchers could only be used for the initial payment (so over the phone only), not to reduce the balance. One option might be to make an identical booking over the phone using this e-voucher (assuming it covers the deposit) then cancel your current booking – and because BA Holiday voucher will (most likely! I had an odd “call to use” one) come as an “reply to this email to apply this voucher to your new booking”) voucher, you’d be able to use what you’ve already paid for this holiday to reduce the balance (by applyng it to your new – identical to old – booking).
      The only snag it’s the same 0344 493 0787 number (so it might take a while to get through).

      • ChrisC says:
        28 Oct28 October 13:56

        That’s nonsense.

        I used 2 * flight only vouchers last week to pay down the balance of a previously booked BA holiday.

        Took about a week for it to be reflected in MMB. They reduced the initial cost but the balance is correct.

        • GaryE says:
          28 Oct28 October 14:36

          Thanks everyone for your help and advice – have tried calling BAH but keep getting cut off – so I will email them – have about 10 days before balance is due – so based on above comments I have just about enough time!

  • Chris says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:35

    I could have sworn I saw a Buyagift statement credit offer a few days ago on one of my Amex cards but now can’t see it – has it been withdrawn?

    • Craig says:
      28 Oct28 October 11:57

      May well have hit the limit on people saving the offer.

    • Andrew says:
      28 Oct28 October 15:01

      Barclaycard have a 10% rebate on BuyaGift.

      If you PAW, you’ll find a 15% discount code and a 5% WOW rebate on their too which will stack.

  • SteveJ says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:35

    Anyone experience of topping up Wise account with Credit Card (allowed activity by Wise before anyone shouts!).

    Wise charge a transparent fee, not sure if this means it’s not treated as a cash advance (with associated fees) by the underlying card?

    • BlueHorizonUk says:
      28 Oct28 October 11:43

      You need to try a small amount (£10) and then check if you get charged a fee by the credit card company.

      • JDB says:
        28 Oct28 October 12:01

        Bear in mind someone reported yesterday that the fee/interest didn’t appear until their statement, but backdated to transaction. If you pay off the sum early it may get allocated so as to stop the interest, but not to avoid any fee.

        • SteveJ says:
          28 Oct28 October 13:07

          Thanks both, will try some small payments and see how I go.

          • Polly says:
            30 Oct30 October 06:58

            We changed from wise to BRITLINE, after payments suddenly stopped being accepted.. and no fees added post transactions

  • Ben says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:38

    Has anyone managed to get a status match from Accor? I have Marriott, Raddison and Hilton gold. (Along with BA gold) but from Status Checker it doesn’t look like anyone had much luck.
    Thought id check to see if you guys had any secrets.

    • Rob says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:23

      Buy an Ibis Business card for £69 and get instant Gold.

    • andyT says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:29

      I reached Gold the simple way – by staying in Ibis & Mercure hotels……

    • Grant says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:53

      Shareholders are given gold status as a perk. I bought one share (current cost ~£25) and it worked fine.

      https://group.accor.com/en/finance/individual-shareholders/shareholders-club

      • StevieKicks says:
        28 Oct28 October 13:25

        Was about to do this, but it says you now need 50 shares, not 1

        “I hold at least 50 Accor bearer shares and I attach a scanned copy of the notice from your bank or broker attesting that you own these shares. Note that this attestation must be less than three months old.”

      • marcw says:
        28 Oct28 October 14:15

        Is the Gold Status only for one year or while you own the shares?

        • CH says:
          28 Oct28 October 14:41

          So after reading up on this just for amusement, it’s 50 shares with a broker, or 1 “registered” share (ie bought through their French agent). And the Gold status is only until 31st December of the next calendar year).
          Sounds like an Ibis Business subscription is far easier…

  • Fazzy Bear says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:42

    Simple question but couldn’t find a answer.

    There’s a hotel I want to book via Bonvoy points for around 385k points in February. It says I can cancel upto 2 or 3 nights before the booking for no cancellation charge.

    In the event of a cancellation upto 3 days before how long would it take for the points to be refunded? I’m also making the assumption thats there’s no other hidden charges with a cancellation.

    I had a normal cash booking in 2018 that I lost a fair amount on due to a unforeseen death in the family. Hotel was almost fully refunded (however I had to provide a death certificate) but lost a fair chunk on the airline.

    • Anna says:
      28 Oct28 October 11:47

      Bonvoy points usually come back instantly when you cancel.

    • fivebobbill says:
      28 Oct28 October 11:51

      Booked and re-booked a number of Marriott hotels to UAE for a September trip, all had free cancellation, and when I did so online the points refund was immediate. No charges on any of my deals, but read the fine print at the bottom of your confirmation email on in your Marriott online account

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      28 Oct28 October 13:29

      Some travel insurance policies cover points too.

    • Harry T says:
      28 Oct28 October 14:38

      It will be immediate, if it works properly. No guarantees with MB IT but every points stay I have ever cancelled has resulted in immediate return of the points (and I make and cancel a lot of bookings.

  • Gothbe says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:45

    Just had an email from Marriot talking about various changes and on dynamic pricing it states “ Hotels and resorts will still have a minimum and maximum number of points for redemption rates that will more closely align to how they’re categorized today”. Does that remove the risk that points rates will go through the roof at more expensive times and for more expensive properties

  • memesweeper says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:52

    Question for Lady London — did you book your holiday OK?

  • Jamie says:
    28 Oct28 October 11:54

    I have just spent an hour on hold for Executive Club and then the call dropped. We have an Economy avios booking next year, but have now noticed that business seats have opened up. The live chat function is refusing transfer to an agent.

    I don’t have sufficient Avios to make a new booking in Business so need to either change or cancel the existing booking. Is there any mechanism to do this online? I know there used to be a cancel option online which would automatically refund Avios but don’t believe this exists anymore.

    Very frustrating, since this morning 2/4 business seats have been taken.

    • Sam G says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:10

      They can’t take payment on the chat so you need to get through on the phone

      I got through quickly on 02079493086 the other evening (it’s the overseas number so may need to put 141 in front)

    • KP says:
      28 Oct28 October 12:40

      Can you not cancel the current booking and use the avios in the voucher to make the new booking in business ?

      Vouchers are instant from my experience

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

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