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Bits: new Hilton in Edinburgh, Night Tube starts

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News in brief:

Edinburgh gains a new Hilton

The Carlton Hotel in Edinburgh, previously a Barcelo, reopened as the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton hotel last week after a £17 million renovation.  It becomes the 16th Hilton Group property in Scotland.

The hotel has 211 rooms and there is an Executive Lounge.  This may make it an attractive option for anyone who took advantage of the recent Diamond status match as you would be guaranteed access.

The restaurant has been handed over to Marco Pierre White for a branch of his Steakhouse and Grill.

You can find out more on the Hilton website here.

The Night Tube launches this Friday

This Friday sees the partial launch of the long-delayed Night Tube project in London.

Trains will run all night on the entire length of the Victoria Line and on the Ealing Broadway to Loughton / Hainault section of the Central Line.

There will be a service every 10 minutes on both lines.  Day travel cards will continue to be valid until 04.29am.

Services on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines will start later in the year.

Comments (58)

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

  • RIccati says:

    I thought the point was to connect to Heathrow, particularly to enable early departures.

    • Frenske says:

      The point is to provide transport for people going out in London.

    • Genghis says:

      Nah, it’s so you can go out in West End then still hit Faces for a few hours.

    • Gavin says:

      Well if Piccadilly line is in the pipeline that will happen soon

      • Joe says:

        I think it’s only on Friday and Saturday nights it runs all night, so really it is meant for people going out in London (but handy if you have a flight those days). I think the reason it can’t be all week is because they need it closed at least some of the time to do track maintenance.

    • Aeronaut says:

      How do I put this… There is a world that exists outside of airports and air travel…

  • N says:

    I wonder how the readers in the regions feel about that second piece of news

    • Simon says:

      That they should move ?

      • Alan says:

        Lol for a partial overnight underground service on some nights of the week? Not so much 😛

    • Daz says:

      We already have an all night service, it’s called the Police. Get a free cuppa as well

    • Boris says:

      Will the Tube now become as interesting as the Night Buses?

      • SZ says:

        Oh I hope so, buy last tube is always interesting anyway just like the night bus so I’d presume that night tube will also be full of drunk crazies as well.

  • Rob says:

    OT: IHG Accelerate is back from 6th September to 15th December. Full article tomorrow, you can check your personal target here.

    • David says:

      “Stay 2 time(s) using your corporate rate and earn 2,500 bonus points.” But I don’t have a corporate rate??
      Do stays using an IC ambassador weekend night voucher count?

      • FlyingChris says:

        I have the same target of 2 x corporate rate stays – yet no corporate rate is loaded into my account, nor any clue of what rate code it should be.

      • Rob says:

        Some hotels post them as 2 nights but no, it usually correctly posts as 1 qualifying night so would not count.

        • Tom says:

          I’ve registered for Accelerate. If I book a stay now (for post Sept 6th), will it be counted? Or do you actually have to book during the term of the offer?

          Terms are ambiguous:

          “Number of bonus points listed above will be awarded after the required number of Qualifying Stays have been booked at the required [“Your Rate”] rate and completed by the member between 6th September 2016 and 15th December 2016 (both dates inclusive)”

          • Rob says:

            You can book now, has never been an issue previously.

          • wetboy1uk says:

            Cant seem o get the offers to load on my account – keeps coming up with an error – anyone getting this?

      • signol says:

        I’ve made the Corporate Rate requirement by booking through our required corporate OTA (Capita Travel…)

  • Genghis says:

    OT. 25k sign up bonus back on BAPP

  • Tracy says:

    O/T Is there any bonus available if I upgrade Amex gold to platinum? Thanks

      • Tracy says:

        Thank you

        • Tracy says:

          Am I likely to get the bonus points if I use the link then?

          • Rob says:

            I know someone who didn’t. Most people who were not emailed by Amex but who still applied have been OK. However, I have not been plugging it because I know it is not guaranteed.

          • Tracy says:

            Ok thanks. Decisions decisions……lol

          • Guesswho2000 says:

            I wondered this, so emailed them – they confirmed via secure message that I would get the bonus, even though it doesn’t appear as a countdown bar in my online account (as the signup bonus for the gold, and the 10k annual bonus points did, etc.)

    • Kiran says:

      I’ve just asked this (via Secure message) and was told that the promotion finished in early August but that if I upgrade and reply to the message the agent will add 20k manually (no mention of any spend requirement) – this seems to go against the understand on HFP over the last few days so perhaps going this way will generate the 20k immediately and then a further 20k automatically after £1k spend!

      • Genghis says:

        So why don’t they take the link down… It seems people have been told different things about this promo.

  • Wally1976 says:

    OT – any thoughts on if/when we may see a bonus on SPG Amex sign-up?

    • Rob says:

      As Marriott is likely to kill this card given their long term Visa deal, my money is on never 🙂

      • Wally1976 says:

        Boo 🙁 . Thanks for the reply Rob

      • Scallder says:

        Will miss this when it goes – was a great little churner and managed to get my wife and I some great stays, especially when it was doubled to 20k. Hoping it’ll be around for at least 6-12 months to get a few more in.

        Any chance that given Marriott don’t seem to have a great CC presence here, that they might rebrand this and have a Marriott Amex, a bit like how the Costco one here is still Amex but is no longer so in the US?

        • Rob says:

          The Visa deal is a long term one but obviously Amex has notice periods so you never know.

  • Andrew says:

    It’s gone through so many different brandings – I can’t help but call it the “Carlton Highland Hotel” though.

    Does it still have the the side entrance onto Jeffrey Street for the dash across to Waverley?

  • James67 says:

    OT: the logic behind the new inflight BA starvation diet has now become clear, later this month they will be peddling cheap American confectionary so it’s a penny pinching-revenue raising double whammy. Being ‘British’ Airways you would have thought that they might at least have opted for Cadbury and used the opportunity to showcase some of our homegrown REGIONAL confectionary delights.

    • CV3V says:

      Unfortunately, Kraft own Cadburys’s – they meddled with the creme egg chocolate last year, was a national scandal. But lots of small UK brands which they could showcase.

      • Rob says:

        Virgin is very good at working with small UK producers. When I was in Crawley last year there was a food fair going on where all the suppliers had set up stands so the staff could try out their products.

    • Guesswho2000 says:

      The little bags of crisps BA give out (Corkys?) are a regional British delight, they’re from Cambridgeshire…

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