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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 23rd November

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General

Comments (382)

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

  • PMG says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:31

    Hi all,

    After some of the great collective wisdom in this group 🙂
    Me and my OH are arriving early (08:00) into LHR end of December. We have a wedding that starts at 14:00 in the afternoon of the same day in Richmond. Don’t really fancy travelling in clothes we will wear to the wedding and the hotel we are booked in for the night cannot guarantee an early check-in.

    Any suggestions for spending the time between with opportunities to change/get ready?
    Have seen a few Hilton Day room offers but they come ca. £65 when you include parking (e.g. DoubleTree, HGI).

    Did think about the Arrivals Lounge but we are arriving Short Haul Economy so don’t think that’s an option, even if we upgrade…

    Thanks!

    • N says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:42

      If I were you I’d be looking for hotels near the venue. Find a few that fit your needs and give them a call – if the room’s empty anyway they might be able to cut you a deal.

    • Sam G says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:49

      I believe all the plaza premium arrivals lounges are still closed . £65 doesn’t sound too bad to be honest !

      • PMG says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:51

        Agree, £65 is reasonable but sometimes there are some other options people know about!

    • Mrs_Fussy says:
      23 Nov23 November 11:29

      Hi PMG – do you need a proper room to change, what about asking hotel if they can provide area to change for early check ins. Else, call Bhuti and ask if you had a coffee and meal / pay for a yoga class, would they allow you to use their showers ?

      • elguiri says:
        23 Nov23 November 15:57

        +1 we have often had hotels look after our luggage before room is available and had a room provided for us to get changed without much issue, often with shower too. This was pre-covid though…

    • John says:
      23 Nov23 November 15:44

      > the hotel we are booked in for the night cannot guarantee an early check-in.

      I bet they can if you pay them £65…

  • Kumar says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:31

    Going to Dubai with Etihad airways for this Friday , I am not able to register my daughter on ICA smart service portal .She is 10 years and I believe she needs to be registered. I have done for myself and wife .It’s the daughter request which rejects saying request as Invalid. I did upload her photo and passport under 1MB. Any thoughts ?

    • Kumar says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:36

      Apologies . Sorted .Kept submitting the same request after many tries got the QR code.

    • Blenz101 says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:46

      No ICA approval need anyway unless you are travelling under an unusual visa / passport.

    • Benilyn says:
      23 Nov23 November 11:00

      It is just PCR test before hand if you will be going to Dubai straight from AUH right?

  • Gary says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:33

    Good morning
    The UK is on Qatar red list does this mean fully vaccinated adults need to pre book 2 days hotel quarantine or just quarantine in any hotel for 2 days. Its not clear on the gov website. Also how strict is the quarantine do you have to remain in room or can you move around the hotel grounds? does anyone have any experience of a recent visit.
    Many thanks

  • Mark says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:52

    What are some hotel / CC promos that offers free nights? I know previously Visa Infinite did a 1 night free for every 3 nights, but looks like the promo is gone now.

    Looking to do 4 nights in Istanbul next month.

  • Anna says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:59

    Virgin CC – I set up a DD for £100 but I’ve actually paid off my bill in full. My bank account is showing that Virgin is taking £178 today, which isn’t what I set up and will put me in credit. Is this usual? On all my other cards DDs aren’t taken if another payment has been made.

    • Ste C says:
      23 Nov23 November 11:03

      I have had them do that to me as well. I paid off my statement then made some more charges, they then still took the DD for the original statement value.

      • Jon says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:29

        I had a slightly odd one a few months ago – statement arrived, I paid off a chunk of it to free up headroom; the app then showed the direct debit that would be taken a few weeks later reduced accordingly. But when I made new purchases, the direct debit went up again by that amount – so the DD then took the outstanding balance (not the statement balance). Not a big deal but just to flag that evidently you don’t necessarily get the usual 56 or whatever days credit on purchases made in a new statement period if you’ve paid off part of last month’s statement in advance of the DD date.

        • John says:
          23 Nov23 November 13:22

          You do get between 28 and 56 days interest-free on the new purchases.

          The DD recalculation was incorrect (unintentionally or intentionally). You are not obliged to pay by DD, you could have cancelled the DD and paid the amount due manually then reinstated the DD later.

    • Andrew H says:
      23 Nov23 November 12:23

      It’s what they do – paying off early doesn’t seem to affect the DD (I have mine set to full balance) – unlike all other credit cards.

    • Chas says:
      23 Nov23 November 13:27

      My understanding with the Virgin CC is that if you make a manual payment before the statement is generating, the balance collected by DD takes that into account. But if you make a manual payment after the statement is generated then the full DD is collected.

    • Roy says:
      23 Nov23 November 19:21

      Unlike other cards, Virgin does not reduce your DD by the amount of your manual payment. Instead, your DD is only reduced by the minimum extent necessary to avoid placing your account in credit. These are not generally the same thing, since you will typically have made further purchases on your card between the statement and DD dates.

      • Roy says:
        23 Nov23 November 19:22

        Although, rereading what you wrote, this certainly doesn’t explain why they would *increase* your DD – that must be an error!

  • OT says:
    23 Nov23 November 11:03

    Anyone else just get an email inviting them to their, ahem, ‘Biggest member’ event – either they have someone with a sense of humour in their marketing dept (unlikely), or it didn’t go through a market localisation protocol…

    • Karl says:
      23 Nov23 November 11:10

      They used to have Accelerate and Point Breaks, two of the best hotel promos of recent times. Would be pleasantly surprised if it was something on this scale.

    • ianM says:
      23 Nov23 November 11:48

      You mean IHG? Yes it will be interesting to see what that is, I have a few nights to book so will wait until Friday

    • bsuije says:
      23 Nov23 November 13:40

      Did you mean to imply something naughty there, OT, or do I need to drag my mind out of the gutter?! XD

    • Kai says:
      23 Nov23 November 14:12

      5x points if you book on Monday or Tuesday

      • ChrisC says:
        23 Nov23 November 14:39

        And what’s yout source for that

        And why jut Monday and Tuesday if the offer (whatever it is) starts on Friday.

  • Nav says:
    23 Nov23 November 11:04

    Good evening from the amazing Singapore!

  • Anna says:
    23 Nov23 November 11:09

    So – got 7 nights accommodation booked near Miami over Xmas 2022 via RCI which allows members ridiculously early booking but at bargain prices for paying up front. Need somewhere for the last few nights which will include New Year’s Eve – what’s the best strategy here, I’m assuming demand will be very high and eating options possibly limited? I’m ready to pounce at T-355 to get out outbound flights so would like to get at least one hotel option sorted for peace of mind.

    • Polly says:
      23 Nov23 November 12:28

      Anna, hope you have super fast fingers then…reminds me of us all being on the buzzer to book HFP party tickets, what a scramble, but a lot of fun too.
      LEV441 tnx for getting me one, one year, when l couldn’t.

      • Anna says:
        23 Nov23 November 16:03

        Polly yes my technique is fairly honed (got 3 x F seats to MIA just as they were released once, of course that trip was a casualty of the pandemic), but I’m prepared to go via NYC or similar if necessary and do cold and warm!

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