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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 4th November

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Comments (463)

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

  • Neil says:
    4 Nov4 November 10:52

    Hilton Dubai Advice Please….

    I have recently used from Virgin Miles for book a 5 night trip to Dubai flying from MAN-AMS-DXB (which, whilst required the same amount of points as Avios, was £180 cheaper in taxes than what BA were asking!!!)

    I now need to book a hotel. I have Hilton Diamond Status and should have enough HH points for the top 80,000 Points hotel for a 5 night stay.

    As im looking for resport style place with a good pool and potetially access to a beech to relax to a few days with the options of going into the city, the options im looking at are as follows:

    – Waldorf Estoria Palm Jumeirah
    – Double Tree Jumeirah Beach
    – Hilton Dubai Jumeirah
    – Hilton Dubai The Walk

    All of which appear to be around the marina district…

    The queries I have as follows:

    1) Have I missed any out which will be good – luxury with a good sized outdoor pool is a must
    2) Having diamond status, a big plus is acess to the exec lounge. What Diamond benefits are available at hotels that dont have lounges (Waldorf Estoria)

    Any advice welcomed….

    • Graeme says:
      4 Nov4 November 11:09

      We stay regularly at the Doubletree. Book 1 bed apt and always get upgraded to 2 bed as Diamond. Quieter than the other 2 at The Walk except on Fri/Sat when locals appear. No exec lounge but decent breakfast and water replenished everyday. 25% off food and drink as Diamond. Great sized pool and good beach bar food and drink. 5 minutes walk to multiple good restaurants and shops. Bluewaters Island and Ferris wheel 5 minutes the other way. Marina Tram stop connecting to Metro takes you to the Burj/Mall within 30 minutes and is short walk from the hotel.
      Many comments on here suggest Waldorf is lovely but too far and hassle from main attractions. YMMV.

    • Blenz101 says:
      4 Nov4 November 11:16

      The WA on your list is on the palm rather than marina and is a lovely property. You will get the resort feel you are after.

      I wouldn’t bother with ‘the walk’. It has shared facilities with Jumeriah Beach Residence but is very much the sister hotel. No direct beach access.

      Jumeriah Beach has a pretty good lounge, generous on the drinks, and diamond upgrades are pretty good. The hotel is getting quite old but is well maintained. Pork at breakfast. Pool can get shaded, section of beach roped off.

      Both of these are located in a popular tourist strip with plenty of bars, shops and restaurants.

      Not sure what Diamond benefits you want outside a lounge but you will get the usual offering across the city. Late checkout if available, snacks at certain brands, sometimes a fruit platter to welcome you etc.

    • MinR says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:22

      The WA in Ras Al Khaimah is incredible if you fancy a break away from the city.

      • Rob says:
        4 Nov4 November 13:41

        Agreed

      • TJ says:
        4 Nov4 November 15:45

        Huge, top notch resort hotel but a long long way from hotel to beach.

        • Rob says:
          4 Nov4 November 15:49

          In what sense? I mean … the hotel is built on the beach. You need to walk past the swimming pools but I wouldn’t call it a long way. It’s probably a longer walk from your room to the hotel exit.

        • Spurs drive me mad says:
          4 Nov4 November 17:36

          Really ? I didn’t think the beach was that far, even I managed to walk down to it and I’ve got mobility problems.
          I really like WA at Ras I would go back there.

    • Anna says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:40

      We looked at the DT but a lot of the reviews said that the pool is in the shade most of the day now from a new building next door.

      • Graeme says:
        4 Nov4 November 12:55

        The pool is in the shade for about 2 hours from noon to 2pm. I had read all the reviews since The Address has been built. You get the sun in the morning as it’s above the building, then a short period while it peaks through ‘the hole’ in the Address then constantly from 2pm when it moves around. It was a nice escape from the heat! It was unusually hot there in September.

    • TJ says:
      4 Nov4 November 15:49

      WA Palm is a proper beach resort hotel. Being in the Palm you are quite isolated. But the hotel has a 200m or so private and very accessible beach front which is excellent (just checked out a few days ago).

  • VickyTM says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:05

    Into day 4 now of waiting for my Amex MR to arrive in my Avios account (not my first transaction). Spoke to Amex yesterday who said they had sent them the day before and been accepted…. Thanks BA. Now trying to contact BA about them…. hope the 1 available seat I want doesn’t disappear… 🙁

    • Tim says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:59

      I made a transfer of MR pts to avios Monday which still isn’t showing. Its usually next day iirc

    • Andrew says:
      4 Nov4 November 13:17

      I transferred on Saturday, nothing in my BA account yet, just spoke to Amex and they said others have reported a delay, so they would raise an issue for me.

    • VickyTM says:
      4 Nov4 November 15:17

      Ahhh – glad it’s not just me then… Glorious BA IT

  • Lady London says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:17

    Iberia 50% avios sale for long haul

    • Roger says:
      4 Nov4 November 11:42

      Don’t see anything on their website.
      Is it for Avios redemption?

      • Lady London says:
        4 Nov4 November 11:55

        Yes, not in J apparently, looks like PY and prob Y. Iberia operated includes Tel Aviv, lots of longhaul South America, at least 2 North America.

        Although apparently not in ts and cs IB system might expect you to depart from Spain (not tested) and personally I’d try with a VPN electing spain first just in case. Can book till April 2022, you don’t see the 50% avios till you go to pay

    • Sam G says:
      4 Nov4 November 11:58

      Nice spot – can see it (ex Bogota in March for example)

      • meta says:
        4 Nov4 November 12:30

        Can’t see anything in business Jan-April. Tried Rio, Buenos Aires and Tokyo. It might all be gone…. but search, even the flexible monthly one is incredibly bad so might not be throwing things properly.

      • Sam G says:
        4 Nov4 November 12:51

        Thought I replied……my mistake – I was looking for x1 person but my existing booking is for 2 – so I can’t see it either….

  • Roger says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:39

    Has any one used plusgrade for flight upgrade before?
    Any feedback much appreciated

  • MattK says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:45

    Has anyone made an Amex Fine Hotel booking when not being the traveller?

    I want to use the Amex Travel offer (£100 back on £400 spend) on booking two rooms, total cost £900. I plan to use the offer on my platinum card and the supplementary platinum card. The supplementary cardholder won’t be travelling. I am wondering if the 2nd room booking needs to be in the name of the supplementary card holder (to still get all the Fine hotels benefits) or can it be in one of the travelling party?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:15

      You can book in your name and pay with the supp card.

      However, you need to prepay the FHR stay to use the offer so might not get any other status benefits / earn points / nights

  • AndreasJ says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:48

    Hi All, I usually ignore emails from Emirates as I rarely fly with them but I may have a Dubai trip coming up next year. There is an offer on at the moment, if you book a hotel via Emirates Skywards Hotels, you get bonus Skywards miles. A quick search shows I can get a cheap $42 night hotel non refundable which will earn me 4,500 Skywards miles. My thinking is to stack a few cheap nights and build up miles, then book an upgradeable Y to J fare, eg: 30,000 miles needed = 7 cheap non refundable stays = $294. Thoughts anyone? If you google Emirates Skywards Hotels and click on the obvious link, the details are there. Thanks

    • ChrisC says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:07

      You can post links.

      Depends what the rules are for getting the points.

      Is it just for bookign the room or will you need to actually check in?

    • QFFlyer says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:17

      Good idea in theory, but check the T&Cs to see if it’ll work in practice. You prob won’t get the miles until some time after the stay is completed.

  • GaryE says:
    4 Nov4 November 11:57

    Hi – just want to say thanks for the advice last week regarding forwarding my flight E-Voucher email to BA Holidays and asking them to apply it to the outstanding balance of our upcoming holiday. BA Holidays replied this morning and have actioned this – all done within 7 days – so thanks.

    • ChrisC says:
      4 Nov4 November 12:13

      Ditto for me as well. System might be basic but it does work!

      Have had a couple of emails this week re the same trip where I was using two vouchers the first reply applying one voucher didn’t mention the new balance but the second did

      Reminder that if you look in MMB they adjust the original price of the trip downwards to reflect the voucher(s) being applied so it can be a bit confusing.

    • Anna says:
      4 Nov4 November 13:08

      BA Holidays have been the one redeeming feature of that company! My FTVs from 3 cancelled holidays paid the charges on next year’s avios bookings.

    • Keely says:
      4 Nov4 November 15:15

      Still waiting for my email to be actioned, sent a week ago . Looked in MMB, balance still shows as outstanding. Will email again after the weekend .

      • Keely says:
        4 Nov4 November 15:17

        Can I just confirm you used baholidays@ba.com ?

        • GaryE says:
          4 Nov4 November 17:22

          Yes – I just forwarded their original email – ‘your British Airways EVoucher’ to BA Holidays and asked them to apply it to my booking reference xxxxxx

      • ChrisC says:
        4 Nov4 November 17:30

        Patience is a virtue.

        Sending a “reminder” just clogs up the system delaying things even more.

  • Laura says:
    4 Nov4 November 12:07

    Sorry if I’m being stupid but…

    Trying to fill in my PLF for Spain and it wants a seat number for the flight, but BA won’t let me check-in without the PLF. Do I just make up the seat number?

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