Bits: Caffe Nero rewards double dip, bargain redemptions at the DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur

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

• Brian says:

  9 Jan9 January 07:56

  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the Avios deal is now 1 Avios per pound spent at Caffe Nero – don’t know if the 10 points deal was just an opening offer or they suddenly realised that it was far too generous!

  On a slightly related topic, I noticed on the Bink website that Virgin and Morrisons are down as partners. Does anybody know if one can actually collect Avios with them already?

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 08:17

    Still shows 10 per £1 on the iPad site.

    • Iain says:

      9 Jan9 January 08:30

      I’ve redeemed twice against Cafe Nero and it is now showing at 1 avios per £1. A number of other instore partners are also showing lower rewards. My wife has yet to use any in store partners and according to the website she is still able to earn 10 avios per £1.

      • Brian says:

        9 Jan9 January 08:56

        Interesting. Showing as 1 Avios per pound on the desktop website. I’ve used it twice (for gift cards combined with the last Amex Nero offer), so maybe the 10 Avios deal is only for those who haven’t yet used it.

        • Chris says:

          9 Jan9 January 09:04

          It’s a shame that this rate has been cut so drastically. I, for one, have made 400 avios out of it over the past few weeks though, so maybe it was costing them dear.

        • Rob says:

          9 Jan9 January 09:09

          Mobile site also still showing 10 per £1, at least it is when not logged in.

    • Brian says:

      9 Jan9 January 09:23

      Just checked my mum’s account – she hasn’t used this offer yet and it’s showing as 10 Avios for her. So I guess it must be 10 for those who haven’t used it and 1 for those who have!

      • Brian says:

        9 Jan9 January 09:27

        Just noticed in the terms and conditions – “Your final collection rate may vary based on your previous spend behaviour’…

        • Rob says:

          9 Jan9 January 10:14

          O … K ….!

        • PaulQ says:

          9 Jan9 January 10:35

          Just checked my account and indeed the last transaction posted is at a rate of 1/pound.
          Pretty cheesed off if this is not a mistake – I had to go out of my way to use Nero. Seems a pretty underhand marketing tactic that I would not have expected from Avios or Nero, especially as there was no warning of the rate change. Given the mark up on coffee and coffee shop food, 1 avios per pound seems derisory. The initial postings showed 1 avios per 10p spent not 10 per pound. I’m hoping they tried to correct this and got it wrong – one can but hope.

        • Andrew* says:

          9 Jan9 January 12:29

          I’m not surprised – their twitter account posted about the Binkg/Pizza express ‘deal’ (6 Avios / £) on Saturday – a day when it’s only 3 Avios / £…

• Paul Irving says:

  9 Jan9 January 09:30

  We stayed here in 2016. Not in the main city, but only a cheap taxi ride away, and walkable to the petronas towers. Connected to a shopping mall with some nice restaurants too.
  With the free breakfast, drinks and food at happy hour, you could stay here for free for a month for less than a few days in London.

• FlyingChris47 says:

  9 Jan9 January 09:40

  O/T but Hilton: Despite meeting the spend requirement for Gold on the Hilton Barclaycard in 2016, still haven’t had confirmation of Gold status being met. (Hilton have confirmed they haven’t received the Barclaycard spend notification). Anyone know a good contact route at Barclaycard / Hilton who can get this sorted? Vague recollection there was a social media contact email address that was good in the past?

  Front line CS at Barclaycard have been useless with no-one apparently trained on the card benefits and ending up in a dreaded loop of Barclaycard sending me to Hilton, and Hilton sending me back to Barclaycard with no-one able to actually do anything.

  • Lawro says:

    9 Jan9 January 09:56

    Sounds familiar. Had very similar issues with Plat status on the IHG Premium card. Front-line CS genuinely have no idea of the benefits and most of the conversations used to be spent explaining the benefits of their own card to them. I then gave up and asked to speak to a manager as soon as my call was connected if I ever had a card-benefit related question. Saved 20-25 mins per conversation.

    • FlyingChris47 says:

      9 Jan9 January 10:03

      Good tip. It’s frustrating having to explain their own product to them for 15 minutes before being hung up on because they don’t understand what you are asking for. Poor training clearly. Makes you appreciate Amex CS all the more.

      Fired off an email to wr@barclaycard.co.uk I found in the archives – is this still the best contact address of people that can “get things done”?

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    9 Jan9 January 10:01

    You’re thinking of wr@barclaycard.co.uk

    I would start working through their formal complaints process as well. They are usually fairly generous with cash compensation.

    • FlyingChris47 says:

      9 Jan9 January 10:06

      Thanks Andrew – great minds. If doesn’t get resolved pronto now, that looks a temping option. Spent far too long on the phone for what should be a simple button push.

• Jon says:

  9 Jan9 January 10:00

  I used to stay regularly at DoubleTree KL, until I started using serviced apartments (which can often be had for the same as, or sb en less than, the cost of a room at DT). They used to offer three pieces of free laundry per day, which was one of the reasons I kept going back – allowed me to travel light – but they stopped that a while back – which was one of the reasons I switched to apartments with washing machines 😉

  I did a few redemptions there but more often than not paid cash – especially when Hilton had one of their double/triple/bonus points offers on (and especially back when you could get 1000 Virgin miles per stay).

  I found the rooms in the same wing as the lounge (south side, if memory serves) preferable to the other wing, where I had problems with lift noise, The lounge is good, but was getting very crowded the last few times I stayed. The pool tends to be mostly in the shade but gets sun for a few hours a day, around early afternoon as I recall. The mamak (food) stalls in the basement are great for a cheap lunch and Tate bar on the ground floor is quite nice – if you can find it (look for the almost-invisible door in the white wall behind the escalators… 😉

  Ampang Park LRT is just across the road via covered footbridge from the first floor (no need to go out via the grotty mall opposite). Top tip (unless anything has changed recently) – when coming back, ignore the sign inside the station telling you to turn right for the Intermark / DoubleTree; instead turn left and go up the escalators to exit he station, where you’ll find another set of escalators taking you up to the footbridge.

  May be worth noting that quite a few airlines (including BA, I believe) use the DoubleTree as their crew hotel.

• Andrew says:

  9 Jan9 January 10:08

  I used the Nero offer at Manchester airport a couple of weeks ago to get a quick coffee before driving and received 25 points on a £2.50 spend. I’ve now looked at the Avios website and it has dropped too 1 Avios per pound. The only incentive I had to use Nero was this deal, in the futurei’ll continue my usual Costa spend + loyalty card. Shame

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 10:10

    When not logged in, I still see 10 per £1 on desktop too (now I am behind a desk). Same on mobile and tablet. Very odd – does it reduce after your first transaction?!

    • Andrew says:

      9 Jan9 January 10:18

      I don’t think it reduces immediately after the first transaction, I checked two weeks ago and it was still 10 per pound. ( original purchase was 13th December) It must have a fixed time limit. As Chris said in the T&C’s

      “Just noticed in the terms and conditions – “Your final collection rate may vary based on your previous spend behaviour’…”

      I don’t think it is based on spend as mine was minimal, it must be a week or two week offer only dropping when the system tracks the order as confirmed and then updates you to a new rate. My advice would be to take advantage for the first week strongly then expect it to drop after that.

      • Iain says:

        9 Jan9 January 10:58

        Agreed, it appears that gift cards seem to be the way to go if still able to redeem at 10 per £1 rate.

      • PaulQ says:

        9 Jan9 January 15:32

        Just reading the Avios ‘In-store’ page which highlights the Cafe Nero offer, saying that buying your coffee there every working day for a year could earn you enough Avios for a flight to most European destinations (one way). At 1 Avios per pound I don’t think so!

    • John says:

      9 Jan9 January 11:31

      Meanwhile on food related issues…..

      Am a great fan of Aer Lingus short-haul buy on board menu.

      But IAG is now trying to start sales on top of the free meal on ex-DUB transatlantic services.

      Union isn’t happy, perhaps fearing that the free meal will be quickly discontinued if the cabin crew manage to flog enough revenue enhancing ice cream DUB-BOS etc.

      http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/aer-lingus-staff-plan-strike-over-selling-of-sandwiches-35351179.html

      Beginning to look like W Walsh has instructed all IAG executives to throw as many cost-saving ideas at the metaphorical wall as possible, in the hope that one or two might stick.

  • Johnny_c-l says:

    9 Jan9 January 10:55

    I’ve had email confirmation of pending Avios @ 10/£1 for two transactions (couple of weeks apart)….but who knows if that will post or 1/£1.

    • YL says:

      9 Jan9 January 15:40

      Mine pending Avios last week is showing as 10/£1. I noticed even when logged in to Avios.com, the general instore page shows as 10 Avios per £1 for Nero, but when I clicked in, it only shows 1avios/£1, however when I clicked calculate Avios, it is calculating with 10 Avios per £1 spent..

      • Rob says:

        10 Jan10 January 00:10

        Read the earlier comments. It seems that Nero is slashing the rate after your first couple of transactions – there is some get-out wording in the small print.

• TravelBloggerBuzz says:

  9 Jan9 January 10:42

  We stayed at the Doubletree KL in June 2016. Hotel is great and at that price is indeed a steal. Please be quiet about it 🙂

• the real harry1 says:

  9 Jan9 January 12:00

  O/T Tesco Groceries
  HP336 £4, HP337 £5.49, both come with 100 Tesco points

  • Rob says:

    9 Jan9 January 12:06

    Thanks! Surprisingly generous, especially if you have a MOC.

• Ant says:

  9 Jan9 January 12:44

  OTT: If I book a 2 night stay from 14-16 April at an HIX would this count as 2 or 1 night for Accelerate? The terms say “completed between 1st January 2017 and 15th April 2017 (both dates inclusive) ” so I assume it will only count as one

  thanks

  • mark2 says:

    9 Jan9 January 16:53

    It uses the word ‘completed’. I should want to check whether the night or the stay has to be completed within the time or you may not get even one night counted.

  • James67 says:

    9 Jan9 January 17:11

    I almost got caught out with this last month by planning a one night stay on bonus points package and stay once to pick up about 10k bonus but realised just before booking that the stay had to be completed by the end date, ie. check out. IIRC this has not always been the case with accelerate though; I suggest you follow Marks advice and check the counter carefully before booking.

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