The HfP chat thread – Sunday 7th November

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Mikeact says:

7 Nov7 November 05:40

One for the upcoming Loyalty conference maybe.
Is Airbnb going to be the biggest threat or opportunity for the major hotel chains….
I see that MARRIOTT have been seen offering suites on Airbnb at the Moxy Portland but not on their own website….and why not ?
HTVFW
- BJ says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 06:38
  
  I’d be more concerned about the threats versus opportunities for customers and the small guy. Just another depressing tale of the power of USA-led marketing and easy-led consumer-craving that ultimately limits competition and choice. It’s like stick a Starbucks on every corner, plough billions into marketing and before you know it every American and their granny just has to be seen to love Starbucks and then it’s catching … Asia, Europe etc. And all despite the fact that there is nothing particularly good or exciting about Starbucks. Same with so many brands, same with so many Web platforms.
  - Yuff says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 07:09
    
    Can’t stand Starbucks, their coffee is shockingly bad……..
    - BJ says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 07:47
      
      Too bitter and thin IMO, even falls short for a decent latte and cappuccino.
    - Andrew says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 08:02
      
      Starbucks are far better than the other chains in my opinion.
      - chris says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 08:16
        
        @Andrew +1
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 08:27
        
        @Andrew most definitely +2. Costa being the worst coffee chain.
      - Andrew H says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 08:28
        
        Not in mine. Rank last behind Nero then Costa.
      - David S says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 10:08
        
        I always ask for less water in the coffee to make it taste stronger and for takeaways to prevent them filling it up to within a millimetre of the top of the cup
      - Lady London says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 14:54
        
        As a place to find wifi in a country you’re visiting, yes. For coffee, oh puh-leez give me a break
    - Jonathan says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 09:03
      
      They’re better than Costa
    - davef says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 13:56
      
      Agreed. Tastes like fag ash.
  - Rob says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 08:52
    
    Huge numbers of Starbucks stores have closed in London in the last 5 years as customers have gone elsewhere. Kings Road has gone from three to one.
    - Jonathan says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 09:05
      
      Three was just saturation though. Colchester has something like 9 Costa coffee around the town centre
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 09:53
        
        There’s a nasty Costa on every street corner these days! 😟
    - Andrew says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 09:20
      
      That’s more due to the rise of the independent shops and small chains – lots of Nero branches have closed too.
      - Rob says:
        
        7 Nov7 November 10:09
        
        Nero stopped paying rent in March 2020 despite staying open, hence a few landlords disposing of them.
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 07:12
  
  20% fees for providing just a fancy booking service, no loyalty program, poor cancellation terms, poor customer service and house owners who can get away with racism. Sure, a threat to hotel chains.
  - BJ says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 08:25
    
    Thought I saw some articles on here that you could earn avios at Airbnb, or is that only for listing?
    - Gavin says:
      
      8 Nov8 November 12:11
      
      I lived in AirBNBs at the start of the year – 5x Avios for a first stay, 1x for other stays I think. Netted about 10k avios in total
  - Rob says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 08:49
    
    Spare room lettings were never a threat. Most Airbnb listings now are complete apartments owned by professional investors who are not paying VAT, giving them a huge cost advantage from the start.
    - Yorkie Aid says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 12:52
      
      I’m sorry Rob but that is a pretty disingenuous argument. Even to register for VAT for an individual apartment or house you’d have to be averaging over £250 per night assuming you could achieve a 90% occupancy which would be almost unheard of. You might as well say that any small business with too low a turnover to register for VAT represents unfair competition.
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:24
  
  That question must be asked regularly at these conferences.
  
  Isn’t the bigger threat towards Airbnb with potential changes to licensing of short term lets and taxation of domestic premises used for short term lets? Council Tax is in desperate need of an overhaul, and when that happens you can be sure that HMOs along with AirBnB and similar will heavily feature in the considerations
  - ChrisC says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 08:45
    
    Following a registration requirement in Amsterdam the number of Airbnb’s listed dropped 80%.
    
    https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/10/city-council-register-slashes-holiday-rental-availability-in-amsterdam/
  - Mikeact says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 09:03
    
    But that is only the UK.
s879 says:

7 Nov7 November 06:16

Avios in a household account will expire in March 2022. The adults can do a transfer and refresh the expiry but there are 3 kids in it too. What to do? If a redemption ticket is booked for say November 2022, will that be fine?
- BJ says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 06:40
  
  Can kids accounts not use the store?
- Navara says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 07:36
  
  Get them all a BP card fill up or make a purchase in the shop and link to BAEC
- Swiss Jim says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 07:53
  
  Can’t you make an avios booking for some random date in the future, £1 tax option. Then cancel at some point. Avios taken pro rata from all accounts. Cost £1. Or is that not activity?
  - s879 says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 09:43
    
    Thanks all for the replies. The family member is in the USA so some of the options won’t work for the kids. Will my suggestion of booking a redemption for later next year be fine or do the miles need to be redeemed as in flown by March 2022?
Jenny says:

7 Nov7 November 06:19

first?
James says:

7 Nov7 November 07:07

Looking for online courses and noticed some qualifies for Amazon student discount? Anyone can suggest an institute?
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:44
  
  Without considering discounts, have a Google for Oxford ContEd.
  
  I’ve done a few courses there remote and in person and they are very good. Usually around £250 for 20 hours.
  
  Plus, they are genuinely delivered by Oxford University, so no questions when it comes to CPD validity.
Sean C says:

7 Nov7 November 08:00

Just a quick comment to thank Rob & co for the site over the years. We had a holiday to Morocco
booked for last week which was obviously cancelled due to the flight ban. However, thanks to the great advice and points collected over the years, seatspy alerts, some good luck, and some great last minute help from Emyr, we just got back from a week in the Maldives flying in Club Suite! It was a wonderful experience and although not exactly what you would call cheap, was definitely a lot cheaper than booking a similar holiday at the last minute using “normal” methods. Cheers all!
- Harry T says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 09:33
  
  Glad to hear you had such a great time and benefitted from the collective Head for Points wisdom 🙂
- Kevin C says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 11:39
  
  Glad you had a good time. Where did you stay in Maldives if you don’t mind me asking.
  - Sean C says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 13:03
    
    We stayed at the Ozen Maadhoo – it didn’t come up on any of our searches initially as it was fully booked but Emyr managed to get us an over water villa for some of the stay and a beach villa for the rest. Staff, service, food & drink were all excellent, thoroughly recommended!
    - Kevin C says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 17:03
      
      Thanks!
YC says:

7 Nov7 November 08:25

Anyone can suggest the cheapest way to buy a microsoft surface? They don’t sell microsoft in selfridges anymore so my intended route is gone
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:34
  
  Get JL gift cards using Morrisons Amex offer?
  If you have access to workplace perks, you can get curry’s vouchers for 7% off.
  Combine with TaCoBell.
- mark2 says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:37
  
  Maybe John Lewis using a gift card bought from Morrisons with several stacked cash return opportunities? Also two year warranty.
- Mr(s) Entitled says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:38
  
  Use Nectar points at Argos?
  - Char Char says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 11:59
    
    Certainly not a discount.
    - Mr(s) Entitled says:
      
      7 Nov7 November 12:56
      
      It’s a discount on cash and especially useful if you have an Avios balance that is in excess of need or redemptions below 0.80.
      
      It’s not a zero sum game.
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:55
  
  Check your employer’s discount portal? I’ve got a 5% PAW rebate on Microsoft Store.
  
  Use an Spree/Ode card at Argos for a 5% rebate. Buy Argos vouchers at Sainsbury’s for a 10% rebate on BoS and MBNA. Buy Argos vouchers in Spar for a 10% rebate on MBNA.
  
  Not sure if the Microsoft vouchers in Boots can be used to buy devices, but if so there’s 10% on Barclaycard and MBNA with a further rebate from Airtime.
- Jonathan says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 09:16
  
  In the trade they are already releasing the details of Black Friday deals on older models. Newer models won’t have much of a discount because stocks are so low and in high demand.
  - YC says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 09:54
    
    Thanks all. I’m pretty unlucky with the current offers. Currently best option is buying JL or Currys GC from morrisons with amex and seeing the black friday deals (happy with not having the latest). Tacos have 8% with currys laptops so its a decent 18% back
- luda says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 12:58
  
  See if you qualify for the student discount on microsoft.com – for some reason if I click the “check if you’re eligible” link it says I am (I don’t put any further info in other than logging into my Microsoft account).
  
  I also get the student pricing from Adobe Creative Cloud and I was last in education in 2009
James says:

7 Nov7 November 08:25

Due to fly to Barbados on December 20th and arrive the same date around 15:25. Could we take our PCR tests on the 17th at 9am and still be within the 3 days?
- Rob says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:46
  
  Yes, that’s fine (and indeed what we did).
  - James says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 10:59
    
    Thanks Rob!
Chrism20 says:

7 Nov7 November 08:26

Domestic flight with BA for 10:40am cancelled and rebooked on one at 13:05.

It’s been a very long time (at least eight years) since I’ve encountered a cancelled flight am I due anything back for such a cancellation?
- AJA says:
  
  7 Nov7 November 08:39
  
  Do you know why the flight was cancelled? If it was operational reasons unconnected to Covid or not caused by extraordinary circumstances eg weather related I’d say yes you are entitled to compensation.
  - AJA says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 08:41
    
    Meant to add only yes if you arrive at destination more than three hours later than originally scheduled.
  - Chrism20 says:
    
    7 Nov7 November 09:32
    
    Definitely weather related I saw the night stopper depart from the hotel and it looked very shaky