The HfP chat thread – Friday 26th November

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

Russ says:

26 Nov26 November 10:14

IHG Black Friday email. ‘save up to 25% off our Best Flexible Rate’ till September next year.
- Gareth says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:17
  
  Wasn’t this supposed to be their best ever sale or offer?!
  - Rob says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 10:28
    
    No, the Monday offer is meant to be that.
    
    However, as I can remember (and indeed wrote about) IHG sales where they sold rooms for £29-£49 per night (I got Holiday Inn Mayfair for £49) it’s certainly not going to be the biggest discounts ever.
    
    What’s interesting is that hotel promos are substantially worse – across all brands – than they were 7-8 years ago. Old timers may remember Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights which ran for years – do two nights in the cheapest crappiest Hyatt you could find and get a free night at any hotel globally. Starwood used to do something similar requiring five nights, which I used once to stay at the Gritt in Venice. And, as noted, IHG used to do £29 rooms across the UK in some very decent hotels.
    - Scott says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 11:22
      
      I had a look at a couple of hotels I already have booked for next month and no change in prices.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 14:03
      
      Don’t forget accor happy Mondays
      - meta says:
        
        26 Nov26 November 14:12
        
        And regular hotels.com secret prices for gold members at 50-70% off only 5-6 years ago.
- Duncan says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:21
  
  I’ve been tracking prices for a couple of hotels based on reservations I already have next year. I noticed prices shoot up in the last 1-2 weeks so I’m not convinced that these are legitimate savings at all. I’m sure there are some deals to be had, but I haven’t found any relevant to me yet. 🤷‍♂️
- davefl says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:22
  
  https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/deals/hotel-offers/cybersale
  
  Have tried 3 hotels, 1 in Cyprus for Dec, 2 in USA for March. Doesnt show any discount at all. Good old IHG!
  - davefl says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 10:29
    
    Ah, UK and Europe only – So Cyprus isn’t in Europe then
    - ChrisC says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 22:36
      
      The discounted rate is the Advance Saver rate which is 25% off the Best Available rates.
      
      For the hotels I checked the Advance rate is 25% lower than the BAR
      
      There arre other, cheaper rates, but not with the same T&Cs re cancellation etc.
Duncan says:

26 Nov26 November 10:20

Hypothetical question… if you book a Club Intercontinental room as an Ambassador and get upgraded one level to a Jr. Suite (that doesn’t typically come with Club access) do you retain club access based on the category you booked, or lose it?
- Rob says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:28
  
  You’d keep it. Most hotels (Le Grand is an exception) give club access on all of their suites anyway.
Anna says:

26 Nov26 November 10:21

A bit niche but @pizza is offering “double your money” vouchers today. Great pizza place in Edinburgh, also has a branch in Birmingham I think?
- Phil W says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:50
  
  Thanks for the heads up.
Kai says:

26 Nov26 November 10:22

Can I use my NHS vaccination certificate to access restaurants etc. in Switzerland and France?

Switzerland seems to have a covid certificate app. I applied for it but it says approval takes 5 working days, so may not get it in time for my trip. The hotel I’ll stay at in Paris also says to I need to visit a pharmacy to convert my vaccination card to a QR code.
- Rob says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:27
  
  Totally fine in France, I was there this week.
- Craig Vassie says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:36
  
  Switzerland is fine with NHS COVID App. I got asked for it every time before being seated at a restaurant table. Download the pdf version. I took a paper backup which was useful.
  Mask wearing on public transport compulsory. Vaccination proof obligatory on Glacier Express but not on any other trains within CH.
- Roy says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 13:29
  
  Switzerland, France and the UK are all part of the EU Digital COVID Certificate scheme, so your normal NHS QR code should work. Show the QR code for the second dose from the “travel” pass in the NHS app.
  
  If I were you, I’d carry the paper vaccination certificate as a backup, just in case, but hopefully you shouldn’t need it.
- Kai says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 15:35
  
  Thanks all
Shaw West says:

26 Nov26 November 10:22

IHG : “Our Biggest Savings. 25% OFF best flexible rate” 😛
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 11:30
  
  Their biggest savings. Literally.
Rui N. says:

26 Nov26 November 10:34

Remember the strategy of removing all amex/mastercard from amazon, just leaving a Visa to see if they gave you £20 for adding an amex/mastercard? It works 🙂
- Harrier25 says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 11:08
  
  Yep, worked for me too.
  - Babyg says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 11:20
    
    oh missed this, has that horse bolted or can i stil do this?
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 11:25
      
      You can still do it. Horse is yet to leave the stable.
    - Gavin says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 11:25
      
      Not worked for me, did you get an email or app notification?
      - Rui N. says:
        
        26 Nov26 November 11:41
        
        Neither. When checking out on the browser on my PC it showed a banner saying to add a mastercard/amex to get £20.
- FFoxSake says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 11:24
  
  Didn’t work for me, maybe because I still have a giftcard balance that won’t be cleared any time soon.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 11:32
    
    Doesn’t matter about gift card balance. I deleted every other card, added a Visa CREDIT card and made sure it was my default payment option. Brought an item using that card and within a few days a banner popped up in my account saying that if I add a new card (not Visa credit) by clicking through the link then they’ll give me a £20 promotional credit!
  - Tom says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 11:36
    
    Likewise, I haven’t seen anything. Removed a couple of Amex CC and replaced with my Visa HH credit card a few days ago. Made one purchase since. No luck on the Amazon credit offer yet!
    - Rui N. says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 11:41
      
      I only got it on my 7th purchase (I went back and counted). FFoxSake, like Harrier said, having gift card balance doesn’t matter. I don’t think I’ve actually used a credit card with Amazon this year to buy anything except gift cards and got the offer nonetheless.
      - FFoxSake says:
        
        26 Nov26 November 11:54
        
        Just tried another purchase and banner has appeared – thanks all 🙂
      - Gavin says:
        
        26 Nov26 November 12:08
        
        Not done any purchases since the change. Will try on a desktop later to see if there’s anything different, and try and work out something to purchase
      - Rui N. says:
        
        26 Nov26 November 12:40
        
        @Gavin, you don’t need to purchase anything right away. Just add something and try to check out and see if the offer shows – be aware, the banner is really small! The credit is valid for a few weeks.
        @FFoxSake, fantastic! Glad it appeared for you!
- Graham Walsh says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 16:36
  
  Not working for me. Removed all cards by my MBNA Visa. Added stuff to basket. Logged out/in and no banner 🙁
  - Isolde says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 18:01
    
    Worked for me over two days. Same as many here, I removed my AMEX a couple of days ago and still have a gift card balance , but the offer appeared today. Rather than a banner. it was a non-descript, tiny plain white box on the top right of the landing page.
Marie says:

26 Nov26 November 10:38

Thoughts / wisdom on whether red list will expand to hubs such as Dubai?
- Babyg says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 11:24
  
  nobody knows who they will ban next, but i doubt any other country are going to share their evidence on mutations anymore..
  - ChrisC says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 16:25
    
    Which is really going to help end this thing!
    
    The last thing we need is countries not reporting cases and new variants.
paul says:

26 Nov26 November 10:44

Held off making a booking in Glasgow on off chance IHG hotels would be in sale. Not one has a different price to a week ago. There is no IHG sale. it is yet another “black Friday scam.”

The good news is that the bombardment of fake black Friday emails from hotels, airlines, JD sports, millets, Charles Tywhritt etc, have all arrived at a time when I have some I can unsubscribe. GDPR has some benefits!!
- ChrisC says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 16:26
  
  Depends which rate you are comparing.
  
  The offer is for the Advanced Saver rate discounted from the Best Available Rate and no other rate.