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Bits: Luxury Travel Diary, Emirates / Arsenal tickets, Premier Inn Scarborough reviewed

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News in brief:

More Luxury Travel Diary auctions launched

The Luxury Travel Diary site dropped me a line about another wave of its auctions closing soon.

Here is three nights for six at a beach house in New Zealand which ends next week, or perhaps five nights for 12 people in Koh Samui?  The UK hotel offers are here.  Not everything will work for you, either in terms of location, length or dates, but you’ll probably find something of interest if you poke around.

Arsenal Emirates

More Arsenal football tickets released for Skywards members

Emirates Skywards has released a further batch of Arsenal football tickets for the current season.  All of the ‘lesser tier’ games seem to have been made available although there is no sign (yet?) of tickets for the big names.

Pricing varies between 12,500 and 17,500 miles for standard seats and 20,000 to 25,000 miles for the Emirates Superbox.  They now call this Box 75 but it is still the Superbox.

This is a great use of Emirates Skywards miles or indeed transfers from American Express Membership Rewards.  There appear to at least 4 Superbox seats per game available although you can only book 2 per Skywards account.

Here is a review of a visit with my father-in-law.  Details of the games available can be found here.

You need to remember that the dates shown are tentative.  The TV companies only decide a few weeks in advance whether they want a game moved to Friday, Sunday or Monday.  Emirates will not refund you if the game is moved and you can no longer attend.

pi

Premier Inn Scarborough reviewed

Once a year I join a group of friends for a golfing weekend on the Yorkshire coast.  Due to the dire quality of accommodation in the area, we always end up at the Premier Inn in Scarborough.

It is always a good reality check.  Whilst certainly ‘no frills’, the hotel is a new build and the quality of the bed, bedding, towels and furnishings is good.  There is a good desk with lots of sockets and a decent chair.  Most rooms have a sofa bed so you can sleep a family of four.

That said, this hotel is not exactly budget.  We paid £90 per night.

There is a picture of my room above, which was certainly fine.  I was a little annoyed this year by the total lack of frills though:

I had forgotten my toothbrush but reception could not supply a free one – I was directed to a vending machine which wanted £2.50

There were no tissues in the room, so when a cold that had been developing for a couple of days finally erupted I was forced to stuff my pockets with toilet paper

You do get a kettle, teabags and UHT milk.  I would happily stay here again and I can’t imagine why Holiday Inn Express and others have not opened up.  The competition in Scarborough is not exactly tough.


Hotel offers update – April 2024:

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.

Want to buy hotel points?

  • Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 14th May 2024. Click here.

Comments (58)

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

  • Simmo says:

    I don’t mind Premier Inn at all.
    You know what your getting, and they are mostly all within the same sort of standard quality.
    A step above Travelodge, and I would also say (in the ones I’ve been in) better than Holiday Inn express, and in some cases Holiday Inn (where the standard can be dire! or special depending on the property).

  • David says:

    OT: I don’t think this has already been posted today: New promotion showing at avios.com; 1000 points for collecting with a new partner between 3/10/16 and 21/11/16. See website for full terms (especially note that it excludes survey partners and Shell driver’s club for some reason). It appears that BAEC is running a similar promotion as well.

    • Alex W says:

      This is a toughie for us HFPers, having tried to collect from all possible sources already!

  • Brian W says:

    O/T – Just been in Tesco’s and the offer signage for the current GC offer states only that the 75 point bonus not valid on Tesco, Xbox or F&F cards. Does that mean that it is definetely valid on the branded Visa GC’s?

    If so, can you purchase these to get the bonus points and effectively then go back in or to another store and purchase other GC’s like Amazon etc paying with the original Visa GC’s? I’m assuming the Visa cards are like a pre-paid Visa?

    Also, where has Harry gone?!?

    • mark2 says:

      you can, but you will pay £3.95 extra for a £50 card, which I only do when I have got a money off coupon.

      • Brian W says:

        Thanks Mark, I didnt realise that these ones were slightly more than the value loaded on them. Will factor that in. Have the weekly voucher booklet thingy so guess you’re right this would be a good use for them.

    • Alan says:

      I think some of his old favourite aliases have turned up – not seen Squills (yet) though 🙂

      • Brian W says:

        I get the picture. Don’t know any of his aliases but I’ll be sure to look out for his familiar ways 🙂

  • Bobby says:

    Do you know if the Arsenal tickets are transferable? I would like to give them as a gift to my dad and brother. I can be there on the day to collect them.

  • Matt says:

    OT: I signed up for Melia Gold via Amex Platinum. Does anyone know where to find the 20% off vouchers? All I see is a greyed-out Birthday 20% off offer under ‘My Promotions’

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      My discounts are exactly on that page. Think you might need to contact CS

    • TGLoyalty says:

      I applied about 6 weeks ago and never got them

      I’ve asked if others have had them recently but never seen a yes or no. If anyone can shed some light on if they have signed up in the past 6-8 weeks and got the 20% off vouchers that was be good

      • Rob says:

        It has been posted on here before by others that they appear somewhere on your online account. I haven’t triggered my match yet so have no personal experience.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          I have the usual birthday promotion showing but not these 20% vouchers, I would have used 1/2 last month but ended up booking elsewhere (cheaper than Melia less 20%)

          I tried an email a couple weeks ago as I don’t fancy waiting on a call when I have no immediate use for them but no reply. My only thought was they decided not to offer them to AMEX status upgrades unless someone knows otherwise?

  • James67 says:

    +1 To say I was stunned would be an understatement. However, let’s not count chickens.

  • YL says:

    Sadly I am not that lucky. Mine was the secret cashabck offer, instead of the 19.95% that I should be getting, they have been confirmed at 8%! I currently also have many claims waiting to be resolved for the same reason since January…

    • Alan says:

      Oh damn 🙁 No mine were previously showing at the 8% rate but have now been uplifted to 17.4%.

  • Fenny says:

    Mine haven’t, despite me reminding them last week that I’m really not very happy about it.

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