Bits: 3000 Virgin Atlantic miles with half price wine, Virgin FX deal at Moneycorp

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• Jonathan says:

  19 Jul19 July 05:36

  Interesting article on the BBC suggesting businesses will no longer be able to charge a surcharge for credit cards from January, which is presumably partially related to the interchange fee cuts.

  Credit and debit card surcharges to be banned http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40648641

  Unless im misinterpreting this, I’d suggest it could change the credit card landscape quite a bit.
  Would fewer shops accept Amex given they’re not capped by the EU interchange fee regulation (making them particularly costly)? It makes me think having a high earning MasterCard / visa is important if companies will increase their headline costs to account for the lack of surcharge. There no incentive to use debit for HMRC bills etc.

  • JamesB says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:21

    Makes me think we best churn as much as possible in the next six months. The amex implications are very disappointing, 48h ago the concern was about BA and other cobranded cards while now it is all the cards.

  • Alex W says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:33

    Certainly sounds like it could influence retailers not to start taking Amex where they haven’t done so before.
    Whether retailers who already take Amex would now drop it, I’m not so sure.

    • Rob says:

      19 Jul19 July 08:53

      HMRC will drop credit cards, almost certainly. It is politically unacceptable otherwise. If I paid all my personal tax, VAT, Anika’s PAYE etc on a Curve or World Elite MasterCard the country would lose well over £1,000 per year.

      • Lewis Watson says:

        19 Jul19 July 09:38

        It wouldn’t supreme me if the government exempt themselves from their own rules

      • lev441 says:

        19 Jul19 July 11:41

        That would be a bummer, it’s a nice earner for my miles…. *sigh*

  • RussellH says:

    19 Jul19 July 17:17

    This is the first mainstream article I have seen on this. There was a piece in Travel Trade Gazette a couple of months ago, though, where mass market operators were being told about just this; significant because the implication of part of the article was that some of the cheapest operators effectively made all their profit from credit card surcharges of about 2.5%.

    Firms were saying that headline prices would rise by about this amount for next year.

  • Alan says:

    19 Jul19 July 22:22

    Interesting article – could go either way (and probably will, depending on retailer!) – some cases it could be good (no surcharge), with others it could mean they only accept debit cards. I’d be surprised if all went for the latter option though, a lot of customers rely on the credit aspect of CCs or the S75 protection and won’t want to pay by debit card.

• Neil says:

  19 Jul19 July 06:14

  Booze cruise to Calais and a nearby Holiday Inn Express, Rob?

• Boi says:

  19 Jul19 July 06:58

  Perfect. I am hosting a party Saturday 29th.
  Is this the best wine deal TRH or should I look elsewhere?

  • Alex W says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:28

    Could do a Pieroth wine tasting at your party…

    • Lloyd says:

      19 Jul19 July 08:44

      …and the hard sell thereafter IME.

    • Boi says:

      19 Jul19 July 10:29

      Never heard of it…how does it work? (Pieroth)

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jul19 July 12:54

        it’s just a way to get a cheap wine-tasting in your home – Amex also had a massive discount deal on the card offers, not sure if it is still there

        but as reported, the sale team are rude & pushy when you don’t sign up to anything afterwards

  • Boi says:

    19 Jul19 July 10:25

    Thanks.
    Will give them a try….maybe I will also buy some Costco wine and do the wine tasting to see who comes out on top!

• Robert says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:04

  The Kimpton thing is annoying – I booked this count towards my Stay More Earn More (10,000), it’s one of my “Travel with IHG App” bookings (1,900), it’s my “weekend stay” (4,000) and GlobeTrotter (11,200), all of which I needed for my 6-of-7 achievement (14,000) – that’s over 40,000 points!

  Is there any chance IHG will backt-rack on this? I know it’s in the current T&C but given Accelerate counts on all other IHG properties (it’s just poor forward-planning that Kimpton wasn’t included initially), surely there’s a case to argue?

  • Genghis says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:30

    Worth a try but rules are the rules. I’ve said before, reading the small print is important in this game.

    • Rob says:

      19 Jul19 July 08:54

      I am still fighting them on it. It would help if I could get anyone to understand that Amsterdam is not in Kimpton Karma and is in Rewards Club …..

• ee says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:49

  Anyone else having problems getting credited in accelerate for app bookings? The booking and stay dates are both in the promotion window but the dashboard has not updated for this task (whereas it has for the other tasks). Anyone seeing similar?

  • Kathy says:

    20 Jul20 July 01:01

    I had an app stay not register – though one did. I’ve chased for the points.

• Robbie says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:52

  Momeycorp- booking through their website without the Virgin link gives 1.28 us dollars. With the Virgin link only 1.236 us dollars. Definitely not worth the Virgin miles at that rate even if you were going to book with moneycorp. My local exchange rate gives 1.295 so works out at 100 points for 6 dollars..

  • Genghis says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:08

    It’s interesting that despite numerous comments this isn’t being picked up by Rob and mentioned in the articles. He’s normally hot on making sure people don’t overpay for points…

    • Alex W says:

      19 Jul19 July 08:37

      True but maybe it’s aimed at people who are claiming FX fees from there employer.

      • Rob says:

        19 Jul19 July 08:55

        Yeah, sorry, I should have put that in but it is a slippery slope if you take that line too far.

        • JamesB says:

          19 Jul19 July 09:10

          It would never end, articles would be full of ifs and buts. Most HFP readers are too savvy not to cover all the angles anyway, and you can be sure at least one reader will comment on potential pitfalls so all’s well that ends well.

  • RussellH says:

    19 Jul19 July 17:26

    My Post Office Mastercard gave me £1=$1,305 for a purchase last Sunday night, while my bank’s debit card, which charges no FX fees gave £1=$1,295 for an ATM withdrawal earlier in the same day.

    • Genghis says:

      19 Jul19 July 19:43

      Which card networks? MC and?

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jul19 July 19:51

        rate didn’t really shift much on the 16th http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=USD&view=1W

        but the difference between the 2 cards is slight enough to make me think it is either 2 different networks (most likely) or else the OP’s debit card hiding its FX fees in the rate

    • the_real_a says:

      20 Jul20 July 00:09

      I’m guessing your debit card was visa?

• Wally1976 says:

  19 Jul19 July 08:02

  OT – I emailed Marriott about the missing 1000 Avios from several sign-ups under their recent promo and got the following response:

  Thank you for contacting Marriott Rewards.

  Due to circumstances beyond our control, the 2017 Double Miles with 1K Bonus offer promotion has been suspended. If your new account is the only Marriott Rewards account that reflects your airline information, then the initial 1,000 bonus miles will post at the end of the month following the month of enrollment. This means that since your account was enrolled on June 6, 2017, they would post to your airline account by July 31, 2017.

  In addition, the bonus miles earned from qualifying stays would post to your airline account four to six weeks after the stay is completed and has posted to your Marriott Rewards account.

  Please keep in mind the name on the Marriott Rewards account must match the name on the frequent flyer account for the miles to be processed.

  If the miles do not post within the timeframes provided above, please reply to this email confirming your airline account number and your name as it appears on your airline account for further research.

  Thank you for choosing Marriott.

  • Anna says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:07

    I’ve had an email saying they know nothing about the offer and I need to contact avios! (Though it was BAEC).

  • Sandra says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:36

    Thank you for that information. I will look out for that towards the end of the month as I also have confirmation and no rewards as yet.

  • Justin says:

    19 Jul19 July 13:43

    I registered using my M&M account, and got the bonus 1k miles last week.

• Dominic says:

  19 Jul19 July 08:21

  OT sorry. Never used the Eurostar before and wondering what people thought of the difference between Standard Premier and Business Premier.

  Main difference I can see is the food and lounge access. I have an amex platinum so will be able to use the lounge anyway. Is there much extra difference to justify paying so much more?

  Thanks

  • Genghis says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:28

    Standard prem = room temperature food, business prem = hot food. Both amuse bouche size portions. Both get lots of wine if you want it. Seat is the same. Only fast track with business prem (but still useless at Gare Du Nord last Tues after a bomb alert). Where business prem comes into its own is its flexibility when there are delays on certain trains.

    • Rob says:

      19 Jul19 July 08:57

      FWIW, I always do Standard Premier. I have lounge access via Amex Plat (when I remember it, big mess up last time!) and the seat is the same. Absolutely not worth the extra for Fast Track – not really needed anyway – and the better meal.

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