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Bits: Moneycorp pulls currency pre-orders, Radisson / Park Plaza launches 30% off sale

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News in brief:

Moneycorp pulls currency pre-order facility

I wrote last week about how you could protect the cost of your holiday this year by pre-ordering currency from Moneycorp.

Moneycorp would let you book order currency at a rate agreed today for collection in one month.  You did NOT need to prepay and there was no penalty if you failed to collect.

With the £ expected to fall by 20%-30% across most major currencies if the UK votes ‘Leave’ this was an ideal option to protect the cost of your holiday currency for this Summer.  Yesterday, however, Moneycorp pulled this offer.  Probably my fault …..!

Radisson / Park Inn / Park Plaza launch ‘Dream Deals’ sale

Club Carlson, the Radisson / Park Inn / Park Plaza hotel group, launched its new Summer Dream Deals sale at midnight last night.  This offers a 30% discount at 350 of their hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Participating brands are:

  • Quorvus Collection
  • Radisson Blu
  • Radisson RED
  • Park Inn by Radisson
  • Park Plaza

You must book by 19th June. 

The offer is valid for stays between 20th June and 4th September.

Club Carlson has a decent spread of properties in the UK and is especially strong in Scandinavia due to its origins as the (now sold) hotel unit of the airline SAS.  In London it has a number of good hotels including the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge which I reviewed here and is in many ways the perfect London tourist hotel.

It also owns the highly fashionable The May Fair.  This didn’t win me over when I stayed but I know a lot of people do like it and the location is unbeatable for high-end shopping.  There is also the Radisson Edwardian at Heathrow and the Radisson Blu at Stansted if you need an airport hotel this Summer.

You can access the Dream Deals sale via this link.  If you cannot see discounted rates, log in to your Club Carlson account and try again.

If you do book a stay, remember that you can currently request a status match into the Club Carlson loyalty scheme by following the instructions here.


How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Radisson Rewards does not have a dedicated UK credit card. However, you can earn Radisson Rewards points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:3 into Radisson Rewards points which is a very attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

Even better, holders of The Platinum Card receive free Radisson Rewards Premium status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here.

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (23)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Blair says:

    Is the Moneycorp deal withdrawn for existing orders or just new?

    • Stuart Ross says:

      Appears they are only now offering the Home Delivery option and have suspended your ability to forward order and collect after the 23rd June.

      From the MoneyCorp website
      “Due to current market volatility, we have temporarily restricted our online currency options to Home Delivery and explorer multi-currency Mastercard® meaning that our Airport and London Collection service is not available at present. If you are not travelling imminently then you can still place an order for our ‘explorer multi-currency MasterCard®’ (please allow up to 10 working days for delivery) or get your travel money delivered straight to your door using our Home Delivery service (next day and Saturday delivery options available, T&Cs apply).”

      “Is my Airport and London collection order still valid despite the service being temporarily unavailable? Yes, all orders placed prior to the service being unavailable since 10th June will be honoured. Subject to Airport and London collection terms and conditions.”

      • Lloyd says:

        Strange as I ordered yesterday PM for collection and it worked fine. However, the FAQ suggests the service has been unavailable since the 10th. Bizarre!

        “Is my Airport and London collection order still valid despite the service being temporarily unavailable?

        Yes, all orders placed prior to the service being unavailable since 10th June will be honoured. Subject to Airport and London collection terms and conditions. “

  • Sunny says:

    Completely OT, but I’m trying to upgrade an economy ticket on Qatar. I have Avios, which I understand is not any use and I have Membership Reward points. I was surprised to find that Qatar isn’t an airline partner. Any tricks to turn MR points into a Qatar upgrade? Has anyone used Asia miles for this? It looked promising but it seems you can only upgrade return tickets and mine is an open jaw return.

    • Rob says:

      You can go Amex to Starwood to Qatar but transfers out of Starwood can be slow.

      Qatar IS an Amex partner but only on the International Dollar and International Euro cards for some odd reason. Would be logical to be UK Amex partners.

      • Sunny says:

        Amazing, thanks!

      • mark1980 says:

        Hi rob, when you say transfers from Starwood to Qatar can be close – how slow are we talking?

        • Rob says:

          No idea. But I waited 4 weeks for a Miles & More transfer once so I wanted to warn you it may not be instant.

  • Brian says:

    Accor has launched a 30% off sale, too. Breakfast is included.

  • Daz says:

    Shocking result!

    Just done a check (signed in) on the Carlson Mayfair hotel for the 30% off deal, it is £8.00 more expensive than the “Pay Save Stay Room only -Queen” deal at £276.00.

    Definitely check the other rates first, pure pants deal.

    • Brian says:

      Often the case with so-called ‘sales’, I’m afraid. Of course, if you had done this a couple of days ago, then breakfast and 2500 bonus points would have been included, which would have made up for the £8 surplus.

      • James67 says:

        I had no joy either with accor sale, I had been waiting for a few specific hotels only to find sae rates virtually same orice a presale rates with breakfast. The great accor deals of a year or two ago seem long gone. Mercure Inverness is a shocking £276 some summer weekend nights. We were thinking of doing a tour of highlands, by the looks of some hotel rates we may hire a decent motorhome, probably much more fun anyway.

        • Brian says:

          Sounds like you need to wait for Happy Mondays for weekend nights – if you are able to be that flexible.

    • Simmo says:

      I’ve saved nearly £100 on a stay in Phuket later in the year with this sale, and that’s a genuine saving from checking prices over the past weeks.

  • Planeflyer says:

    I’m glad I got my Moneycorp order in a few days ago, although i’m hoping I won’t need it. I actually used their services a few months ago, and they actually worked out cheaper than everyone else, not to mention it was convenient to be able to collect at LGW.

  • harry says:

    Re: Moneycorp – interesting article here
    ‘Betting markets, on the other hand, are about forecasting the result and can build in all the information available, not just the polls. That’s probably why, so it is rumoured, the Bank of England, the IMF and European embassies are all following the bookies odds quite closely.’
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/14/britain-is-betting-more-on-brexit-but-im-punting-on-remain/

    • JohnW says:

      Betfair is currently 60-40 in remain’s favour. £30m traded on there. It’s tight – could go either way.

      • Boris says:

        He. I had a phone call from the Bank asking about a slightly larger than normal transcation laying off my position to make a win on bot outcomes.

        They are watching…

  • Boris says:

    I suppose we can buy forward and cancel rooms etc – or would that be refunded at the new daily exchange rate?

  • Alex says:

    re moneycorp – does is classed as purchase or cash withdrawal if I’ll pay by credit card on collection , for exchange for say eur? also do they charge fee for that ? have some spending targets to hit …

    • CF says:

      Hi Alex.. did you get an answer to this? I am due to pick up a chunk of cash tomorrow and would be interested to know if I could use a card…

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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