HfP competition: win a luxury weekend for two in Worcester

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• Nick says:

  15 Oct15 October 08:39

  What does this hotel have to do with points collection? I can’t see any reference to it being part of a points scheme so why is it featuring on the normally excellent Head for Points website? The only benefit to me of the article is that I now know the hotel incorporates a Starbucks which is enough for me to add it to my little black book of establishments to avoid. May I suggest HFP sticks to articles which are relevant to establishments where points can be collected.

  • Julian says:

    15 Oct15 October 09:04

    It’s connection is Rob stayed there and he seems to have thought they were offering him something for nothing.

    In reality I suspect the hotel gets a nice little earner from the data mining company we are all asked to provide our details to for purposes unknown. Or also for free hotel promotion on Twitter it would appear for those not responding from the wrong “Region” (proving the UK is already not in Europe it seems as I am only in Spain!)

    They get all this for just one double room that in all probability would have been standing empty anyway noting the hotel’s right to specify unlimited blackout dates when it is not available………

    • Julian says:

      15 Oct15 October 09:05

      Oops sorry it seems it’s connection is that Anika rather than Rob stayed there. Unless both Rob & Anima stayed there together?

      • Brian says:

        15 Oct15 October 09:23

        it’s connection? Anima? Newdlettsubscribers? You ought to spend more time thinking about what you write and less time complaining. It’s an independent hotel that is likely to have little appeal for the broader European market, so it makes sense to limit entries to the competition to UK residents.

        You don’t have to jump through hoops to enter – just don’t enter and drink another sangria instead. More chance for the rest of us who aren’t stuck in Spain for the week…

      • Raffles says:

        15 Oct15 October 10:47

        Let’s not go there 🙂

        • Genghis says:

          15 Oct15 October 14:14

          What happens on a mattress run stays on a mattress run… 🙂

        • Anon says:

          16 Oct16 October 16:00

          Lol, terrific Genghis! 🙂

    • Matt says:

      15 Oct15 October 09:07

      *sigh* note to self: once I’ve finished checking the teeth in this gift horse I must cancel that newdlettsubscription I’m getting such poor value for…

    • Jo says:

      15 Oct15 October 09:13

      A name and email address is hardly “data mining”. If you don’t like it, don’t enter.

  • Peter K says:

    15 Oct15 October 09:16

    I can see your point of it were not a free competition, but as it is, plus a weekend article, then surely the relevance is less important. Plus, going a bit left field here, independent hotels can be booked on hotels.com and their reward scheme.

    • Raffles says:

      15 Oct15 October 10:39

      The hotel offered us the prize so why turn it down? Anika tells me it is a genuinely nice place, you get breakfast and a dinner and some booze so no need to spend a penny of your own money if you win.

      And, as mentioned, it is running over a weekend when we often do more casual stuff.

      The hotel does NOT get your email address as the rules make clear. Obviously we see it, but we don’t use it.

  • Jamie P says:

    15 Oct15 October 09:21

    You are cheery this morning. Am sure your opinion is highly valued and suggest that on the back of the above comment you probably just don’t enter the competition and move on.

  • mark2 says:

    15 Oct15 October 09:41

    I understand that when you cancel your subscription to this newsletter they refund 100% of the fee that you paid, so no need to suffer the annoyance.

    • Julian says:

      15 Oct15 October 10:05

      Seems obvious this place is full of lots of Type A psychopath marketing men who don’t welcome criticism and analysis. For heaven’s sake all of these points schemes nominally offer something for nothing but all have an ulterior motive of distorting your choice when you make your next purchase.

      And no Rob and Anika (just seen my Android auto spelling corrector made that error and not me) are not some kind of hobbyist flight enthusiasts doing all of this for philanthropic reasons but business people who no doubt derive significant click thru and other undisclosed income and benefits on all the many flight and other promotions they run here

      And nearly all other internet discussion forums let you correct your posts so why can’t this one?

      I now await a Lord of The Flies style kicking from Rob’s 16 other forum identities.

      • Fenny says:

        15 Oct15 October 10:25

        Never one to pass up an opportunity to quote Jed Bartlett – “Oh, good grief!”

        • Stephen says:

          16 Oct16 October 18:24

          Glorious!!

        • Rob says:

          16 Oct16 October 19:04

          Slightly OT, I am very surprised how popular this competition has been, even allowing for cross promotion on Shopper Points. None of the big comping websites have picked it up but the number of entries has been substantial. Food for thought for the future.

      • Genghis says:

        15 Oct15 October 10:29

        Of course Rob is in this game (not initially I guess) for financial gain. I think most understand that and Rob does a decent job of disclosure. But this is a free to use site that provides invaluable advice, analysis and criticism (from Rob, Anika and other commentators) which results in (usually but not always) a rich discussion on various topics. One person’s way of thinking does not always match another person’s and here you feel wronged that a competition open to U.K. residents is not open to you because you are currently based abroad. Just through the hoops or don’t enter.

        • Genghis says:

          15 Oct15 October 10:30

          Now my autocorrect is playing up. *jump through the hoops…

      • Raffles says:

        15 Oct15 October 10:45

        I have been on Flyertalk since 2004 which is 8 years before I started HFP. I consider myself very lucky that I can make a living from my hobby, but the hobby came first.

        • Nick says:

          15 Oct15 October 18:30

          Fairplay to you Rob, crack on.

        • Dave Barron says:

          15 Oct15 October 21:12

          Keep up the good work and don’t let the buggers get you down I say!

      • Brian W says:

        15 Oct15 October 19:41

        You seem like an absolute barrel of laughs Julian. I’d bet on you having a lengthy queue of friends waiting to take you out for a pint.

      • barnyd says:

        16 Oct16 October 17:39

        You must be riot down the pub mate

• mark2 says:

  15 Oct15 October 09:45

  I can confirm that Worcester is an interesting place surrounded by beautiful countryside.
  Since I live 15 miles away I would not normally enter this competition, but I will in this case to give my name and address and earn Rob 1/100000000 of a penny (allegedly).

• Alan says:

  15 Oct15 October 09:59

  OT. I am working my way through the Amex preferred reward Gold Card opening offer spend and there is a countdown on my online account saying how much I still need to spend before the required date. But this required amount NEVER ties up with what I have already spent. In other people’s experience, how long after the actual spend appears on your account does the countdown account for it?

  Cheers

  • Alan says:

    15 Oct15 October 10:07

    Once the transaction is showing up on your MR points balance page then it should be included in that target amount.

    • Alan says:

      15 Oct15 October 13:23

      OK cheers. I noticed that the points balance runs behind the statement also. Not quite sure why there is a lag between the 2 though, I would have thought it would all be automatically updated at the same time.

      • Alan says:

        15 Oct15 October 13:25

        It seems common across all Amex cards – first transaction shows up as pending, then as substantive, then on points statement.

        I agree it’s a shame it takes a few days, but on the upside having the pending transactions is nice and transparent (you can also see when pre-authorisations fall off the account) plus getting a per-transaction breakdown is good – unlike MBNA or Creation where you just get a total on the monthly statement!

        • Natalia S says:

          15 Oct15 October 19:09

          I preferred MBNA in this aspect – it seems fairer to me to have total statement amount rounded, rather than each transaction individually ( and I think it’s rounding down on each?)

        • Genghis says:

          15 Oct15 October 19:13

          It’s rounding to the nearest point. E.g a 34p transaction on BAPP -> 0.51 fictitious points -> 1 avios.

        • Alan says:

          15 Oct15 October 19:57

          Sorry I was just meaning in respect of transparency when it came to tracking points that were being awarded, not the calculation method 😉

        • Rob says:

          15 Oct15 October 20:56

          Yes, rounding down. Has a huge impact if you charge lots of small stuff.

        • Natalia S says:

          15 Oct15 October 20:59

          Genghis, that’s good to know, thank you.

      • Natalia S says:

        15 Oct15 October 18:51

        Some points are lagging behind your actual spend, but it’s not only that.

        It seems that the system enrolls you into 20,000 points bonus program later than you start spending. Thus some of the first Amex transactions do not automatically count toward £2000 spending target. I had this discrepancy with Amex when my first three statements added up to £2000+, but the website was still saying I had to spend £150 more. Amex customer service replied that yes, I can stop spending as I had already qualified (and disregard this “Spend more” reminder). However I needed to drop them additional message at the end of the 90 days to get the bonus points added manually.

        • Alan says:

          16 Oct16 October 09:08

          OK thanks. I’ll keep an eye on it. The only reason I’m watching it so closely is that I want to get the spend out the way so I can go for the Nectar 40,000 points offer which I think ends at the end of the month.

  • Julian says:

    15 Oct15 October 10:20

    Do you not find it a hassle going to the many independent stores and restaurants who do not in fact take Amex but who’s staff are entirely ignorant of that fact and display no card acceptance signs of any brand?.

    There then follows a long game of will their card machines accept my Amex card or not while wondering why can’t those machines display a clear message when Amex non acceptance is the reason for the refusal.

    While out here in Spain with my new Lloyd’s Duo Amex and MasterCard (both exchange rate fee fee) I have found only petrol stations, Eroski supermarkets and McDonald’s seem to take Amex. And at one petrol station they had to use three different card machines before one gave an option to sign after they used the magnetic strip swipe instead of the non recognised chip. When I went back to this same independent petrol station another time I had to use MasterCard as the woman there then refused to try the magnetic swipe and I was in a hurry to catch a flight.

    • Genghis says:

      15 Oct15 October 10:32

      I didn’t realise you were in Spain?

      • Brian W says:

        15 Oct15 October 19:49

        Me neither, thought that was supposed to be a secret.

    • John says:

      15 Oct15 October 10:33

      No, I don’t find it a hassle. If they don’t take Amex, I use another card or cash. If the reason for going to that store was to use Amex, then I won’t go again.

      And you can’t blame misspelling “whose” on your phone this time 🙂

    • Alan says:

      15 Oct15 October 13:21

      Its not such an issue in the UK. The Big 4 supermarkets all take them as do all their fuel outlets. Most of the major restaurant chains take them too. I don’t really spend too much at small retailers, but if I do and I don’t see an Amex card sign then I pay by Visa/Mastercard. Most assistants I have encountered in the UK are aware as to whether they take the card or not.

    • Nike says:

      15 Oct15 October 21:25

      Julian – are you in Spain ? you should have mentioned it earlier

    • Andy D says:

      16 Oct16 October 09:49

      Ah Julian I just noticed your in Spain, just a quick heads up as you may have some issues entering the competition linked above. A simple proxy should sort that out if you want to enter? I could fly over and do it for you if your too busy though just let me know.

    • Gavin says:

      16 Oct16 October 16:58

      I find petrol stations to be a bit flaky for the Lloyds card in Cyprus, especially on Sundays, maybe it’s a Southern European thing? Clarity works fine, while it’s a shame to miss out on points, it’s always a good fallback position.

• pauldb says:

  15 Oct15 October 11:44

  Got an email for a Thistle Hotels 25% off / Free Breakfast offer for the remainder of October. Combined with the Amex £50 off £100, the Kensington hotel for £124 net £74 seems a decent deal if you need a visit.

• Nate1309 says:

  15 Oct15 October 17:37

  What is wrong with everybody today?! So grumpy! Cheer up all its the weekend and Rob has organised a nice competition for a small group so the chances are pretty good of winning!

  • Fenny says:

    15 Oct15 October 20:35

    I’m happy. Nice competition and a weekend seeing my (separate) parental units. I’d just prefer not to have laryngitis.

• Fee says:

  16 Oct16 October 01:34

  Really liked the sound of this but I’m outside of the UK this weekend altho I’m a UK resident. I just get a notice telling me this isn’t available in my area. Bit of a disappointment as I’d liked to have entered.

• Greenpen says:

  16 Oct16 October 09:31

  Rob,

  I cannot enter this competition. When I fill in the entry form it tells me I am already logged into Gleam and I have to enter through my Twitter account. I don’t have one!

  I use an iPad to enter.

  Help!

• Anon says:

  16 Oct16 October 16:13

  Just wanted to say thanks for;

  1) Rob & Anika for running this competition.
  2) Julian’s (s)Pain-ful comments and basic lack of knowledge about VPNs.
  3) The rest of the humorous replies to Julian.

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