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Get your HfP Christmas Party tickets – with £3,500 of prizes to be won

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As we announced last week, we are pleased to say that we are holding our second Head for Points reader Christmas party on Tuesday 12th December.

Like last year we are taking over the Dry Martini bar at the Melia White House hotel from 6pm to 8pm.  This is situated just a few minutes walk from Warren Street, Regents Park and Great Portland Street tube stations.

This is a great opportunity for you to have a few seasonal drinks and, more importantly, to meet fellow readers and to share your travel hints and tips – and perhaps even learn a few inside secrets that can’t be written about online.

melia-white-house

Qatar Airways is generously sponsoring the party and underwriting the majority of the bill.

And we have a very cool prize draw too ….

There will also be a prize draw on the night.  Everyone will be given a free raffle ticket on arrival.

One guest will win a Business Class return flight with Qatar Airways from the UK to any Qatar Airways destination!  (Well, almost anywhere – you can’t backtrack from Doha which means North America is excluded and Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, and Auckland are also excluded.)

Regular readers will know that we rate the Qatar Airways business class product very highly – especially the new Qsuite currently being introduced (photo below) which comes with its own door.  The fact that you can earn Avios and British Airways tier points when you fly with Qatar Airways, due to their membership of the oneworld alliance, is an extra bonus.  If the prize winner books themselves onto a Boeing 777 service from London Heathrow they have an excellent chance of being able to try Qsuite!

Qatar Airways Qsuite

Here is the list of all raffle prizes that have generously been offered so far:

The main prize:

  • Qatar Airways:  1 Business Class return ticket from the UK to any Qatar Airways destination (some small print applies, but not much)

And over £1,500-worth of other prizes donated by some of our friends:

There should be another couple of prizes to add before the big night.

We would like to thank everyone above for generously donating the prizes.  As there are only 150 people coming, your chances are good – 1 in 10.  Bring a friend or partner and you’ve got a 1 in 5 chance of winning!

For clarity …. you need to be in the room when the raffle is drawn (probably 7.15 – 7.30) to claim your prize.  Bear this in mind if you think you might have to leave early.

And a goody bag for every guest

Whilst we are still working on the final details, we are hoping that that all guests will receive a goody bag on departure.  No promises though.

If your company would like to contribute promotional material (150 sets needed) to the goody bags in return for a contribution towards the bar bill, please email me at anika at headforpoints.com.

How do I get my ticket?

Because we need to ensure that people who ask for tickets turn up, we are charging £20 per ticket.  This price includes VAT.

However, your £20 ticket covers unlimited house wine and beer between 6pm and 8pm.  Soft drinks will also be available.  Spirits etc can be purchased for cash.  We are not making a penny from this and indeed Qatar Airways is footing the bulk of the cost.  After 8pm, the bar will remain open for cash payments for anyone who wants to stay longer.

To give as many people as possible the chance to buy a ticket, we have decided to sell the 150 tickets in two batches this year.

  • Batch One will go on sale on Friday 24th at 10am
  • Batch Two will go on sale on Saturday 25th at 10am

We have set up two ticket sale pages:

If you are buying a ticket on Friday please use this link

If you are buying a ticket on Saturday please use this link

You can buy up to two tickets but please don’t be nervous about coming on your own.  Frequent flyers are a friendly bunch and always happy to share details of their recent trips and miles-earning tips.  There will be name badges this year to make introductions easier.  We would actually recommend that you do not bring a guest if you don’t think that they will want to chat about travel all night, as it might ruin the fun for both of you.

American Express is accepted.

We look forward to seeing you on the 12th.

Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (234)

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

  • Michael says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:19

    I’m one of those lucky enough to get a ticket (after missing out last year).
    I used a single browser window, no bots or anything special, and simply clicked through as soon as tickets became available. I guess this shows there really is the demand for a bigger venue and is a credit to HfP that so many want to attend.
    Sorry to those who weren’t so lucky (and good luck for tomorrow); I look fwd to seeing those attending on 12th!

    • Lady London says:
      24 Nov24 November 11:52

      How about the Excel next year ?:-)

      • Rob says:
        24 Nov24 November 11:59

        There is a fantastic space in our lobby, as anyone who has ever been to WeWork Moorgate will know, but the issue is the drinks.

        • Polly says:
          24 Nov24 November 14:40

          Rob..there’s an idea. Do they ever have corporate functions in your lobby..maybe they could provide a cash bar..??? They must have a catering company on speed dial who could provide the drinkies…its obviously a great idea all these people wanting to meet up. Lots to share and talk about. Worth a thought for next year and so central!

          • Rob says:
            24 Nov24 November 15:40

            They have functions 3 nights a week in our lobby but they are generally more serious ones. I am also obliged to invite anyone in the building (there are 3,000 people here) who wants to come – in the same way that everyone else who has a function here has to invite me.

        • Genghis says:
          24 Nov24 November 15:39

          Thought your place had free beer? 🙂

  • Sam says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:21

    Fortunate enough to get 2 from Eventbrite judging by the responses here. When you get 2 in the basket it does allow you 8 minutes to pay, so perhaps checking at 10.08 was also a way forward.

    I know this may sound odd, but smaller venues are always much better. Perhaps just not having so many or any prizes is the way forward – as counter intuitive as it may sound?

    • Simon says:
      24 Nov24 November 10:24

      I thought that and kept trying but all that happened at 1008 was the switch from unavailable to sold out. Well done for winning!

    • Rob says:
      24 Nov24 November 10:38

      To be totally frank, we were very surprised when Qatar offered up a massive raffle prize, because I have experience in trying to get stuff out of them for review purposes and it is never easy! The other prizes are relatively modest in scope if we’re honest.

      We could fill a bigger venue but I don’t really want to. For a start, because we lose £20 per person, the sponsorship required would double if we had 300 guests and you get into the realms of ‘tricky’. Secondly, if you came last year you will know that I tried to speak to everyone in the room. That is difficult enough with 150 people in 120 minutes. With 300 it is impossible.

      Now … at 8pm the bar reopens to the public. EVERYONE is welcome to come along at 8pm for a cash bar. A lot of us will still be there and Melia has promised to invoice us this year so I won’t be running around settling the bill. You can even had a goody bag if a few are left over!

  • Sussex Bantam says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:21

    You should definitely look to sell HfP Rob – if you can sell out your Christmas Party in less than 1 second the site equity must be worth a fortune !

    • Cambus says:
      24 Nov24 November 10:24

      I suspect perhaps non-readers have been enticed by the raffle prizes, and the enhanced chances of winning. Maybe keeping the raffle prizes a secret might be the way forward.

  • Kinkell says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:22

    I managed to at least get the opportunity to click the £20 link( and it stated 70 tickets were still available) begore it flashed up unavailable, and that was bang on 10 am. Dont hold out much hope for tomorrow! Bigger venue required , Rob. Or regional venues…..anyone for Inverness? (Probably not, but Edinburgh would be OK!)

  • Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:23

    I checked at 10:08 as well. One became available and then that disappeared in a second. Rob, you’ve built quite a following! Kudos.

  • Kinkell says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:24

    Clickd through at 10 am, 70 tickets available. Clicked for the £20 and next screen said all sold out. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

  • Shaun Bonner says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:25

    Tickets bagged this morning – looking forward to the event. 🙂

  • Tim says:
    24 Nov24 November 10:26

    I was incredibly lucky and managed to get 2 tickets. I doubt if it was anything as sinister as bots but rather, it shows the enormous popularity of the site, Rob’s good work and the attraction of what will undoubtedly be a super night – not trying to rub it in but just saying it how it is. As people have said though, it might be worth Rob looking into a larger venue for the next one. For those of you who missed out today, good luck tomorrow when the second batch of tickets go on sale.

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

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