Booking a hotel this week? Here’s a summary of the current promotions

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• Kevin says:

  28 Dec28 December 05:58

  Anybody able to recommend a decent family orientated hotel within around 30 miles of London? Ideally Hilton but not too fussed if not. Looking for somewhere to base ourselves for a week in the summer so relatively easy access to motorways would be useful.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:17

    Syon Park is probably the obvious Hilton choice, close to the M4, nice grounds and used to be a WA so it’s well appointed.

    A more unorthodox choice within the Hilton group would be Maidstone. It suffers a bit from dated Hilton syndrome, but it’s well positioned for the Kent countryside, close to the M20 and has a pool.

    • RussellH says:

      28 Dec28 December 10:59

      If using it as a base, you do not need a car at Syon Park to get into London. It is a short walk to the buses along London Road. 267 / 237 to Gunnersbury station, connect for the District line and London Overground. Not difficult to get to Richmond or Twickenham either, good bases for tourist boats upriver.

  • John says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:25

    Syon Park, Dartford, Watford, Ealing, Cobham

  • Tilly says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:37

    Dartford and Watford.

• Npwharf says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:00

  Kevin, Hilton Wembley might be worth a look. Nice hotel, good transport links.

• Chris says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:17

  Can’t see any mention of hilton bonus being 3k points at weekends

  • David says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:04

    Nor can I! Tell us more Rob!

    • Eli Gold says:

      1 Jan1 January 18:02

      anyone received the extra 50% bonus yet?
      I transferred a small amount initially a couple of weeks ago to see if it works. the bonus still hasn’t been applied and AMEX say it can take up to 8 weeks for the extra 50% to be triggered (to use her words-and it cn not be hurried manually).
      I’d like to do a Waldorf Astoria stay in February at 72,000 HiltonHonours points (24,000 MR points) but am afraid the room won’t be available by the time i get the bonus (or perhaps February won’t even be available by the time i get it).
      Anyone?

  • Rob says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:44

    Sorry, brain fail yesterday. Deleted. The problem with knowing 99% of this stuff off the top of my head is that I often don’t fact check in situations where a normal person would …..

• Tom says:

  28 Dec28 December 07:06

  I think that I might start to look at hotel point collection next year as we now have a decent stash of BA avios. Any obvious tips (aside from the SPG card, which I was one of those declined even with a 999 credit score)?

  • Genghis says:

    28 Dec28 December 07:41

    Did you question your SPG Amex rejection?
    For us, the IHG Black is the best non-Amex.
    Register for IHG Accelerate and maybe do a mattress run if the numbers work.

    • Simon J says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:14

      Same with me for the IHG card. I have a decent accelerate target this quarter. Also thinking about getting the hilton card.

    • Tom says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:51

      TBH I didn’t go back to query it, maybe I should have!

      I’ll take a look at the IHG card – we’ve got some SPG points sitting in an historic account (again, didn’t;t know what we were doing). We’re off to Florence in May, and I’ve seen that there is a new Sheraton (Four Points) opening in Siena in Feb. They’re offering free stays at 2666 a night so that might be worth cashing those in for some cheap nights.

• Tom says:

  28 Dec28 December 07:12

  Enjoyed reading all the comments about the trips made by the readers last year and it has really inspired me so that my wife and I can enjoy our first business class flight together (realistically in 2019)

  This year will be the first year I am able to apply for credit cards easily so I am planning my churning right now.

  So, open question to you all…. What’s your gameplan for this year to earn points, and how do you intend to use them?

  Mine will be…
  Amex gold for me
  Refer to amex gold for my wife
  Hilton for me (have plans for weekend night)
  Hilton for wife
  Wife refer me for amex plat
  I refer wife for amex plat
  Wife refer me for BAPP
  Then long game is to trigger 241.

  Opportunistically earning club Carlson points and Hyatt through work trips.
  Looking for the next Lego/print cartridges also!

  What’s yours?!

  • Tom says:

    28 Dec28 December 07:14

    And just to avoid confusion… There are two tom’s!
    Between us, we should be able to take the right route.

    • Polly says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:47

      Can one of you please become Tom1, so that we can be less confused too, then we know who we are replying to!

      • Tom Cook says:

        28 Dec28 December 08:56

        Ha ha good point, Polly!

        I’m the Tom above (7.06am), the one who took your advise to go in F for 20k avios each back from NYC. Great experience, fun un the Concord Room (some of the convos we heard were hilarious, LA Agent, that’s all I’ll say)!

      • Polly says:

        28 Dec28 December 09:05

        Hi Tom,
        Knew you would love it, just for the eavesdropping if nothing else! Sounds v mysterious too…bet you are thoroughly enjoying this hobby…
        Now bring on the Jan Qatar sale….Asia awaits, somewhere, anywhere…can’t decide which one to go for SIN, HKG or KUL. Would love to depart from Pisa or Milan this time instead of Scandinavia…but anywhere will do. Waiting for that elusive c£850 fare to appear….

      • Tom1 says:

        28 Dec28 December 09:08

        ok – Tom1 i am!

      • Tom Cook says:

        28 Dec28 December 10:39

        Thanks Polly again!

        It was a laugh, and being a night flight we managed to get some decent sleepy rather than hitting the first class benefits hard! Annoyingly the pilot made up an hour flying back so that curtailed our F experience! Still an amazing thing to do.

        We’ve got Mykonos and Florence booked on redemptions for next gear already….but hankering after an Easter break for some sun! Still tryIng to get my head round using other carriers to trigger tier and avios points! Defo plan to try and sort free hotel stays next too! So much to learn / do!

  • Genghis says:

    28 Dec28 December 07:58

    Get yourself paypoint cards / bills for as many utilities as you can so can pay on Amex at Co Op. I’ve now only got CT and Thames Water. British Gas does them but moved from them when MSE collective ended.

    • Tom1 says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:11

      Thanks Genghis – how does this work with contracts where DD is compulsory ?

      Have a feeling i read someone saying if their monthly fee is £50, they pay £49 a month by Amex/Paypoint a week before the DD is due to be taken, which triggers £1 on DD and still satisfies the requirement to pay by DD ?

      First one i checked was Severn Trent water who state that Paypoint cards cannot be used on accounts paid by DD. Or is that just what they want you to believe ?

    • Polly says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:22

      Tom1
      Great new name btw!
      With these dd payments..you can subtly suggest your income can be variable..thus the pp card might be useful at one point! But they may not actually issue them as you say. But most utility cos will have them for alternative payment methods. They just want the easy option of dd. Yes you pay 2 weeks or so before dd is due.
      Sse and bt gave me them. Sky don’t. Just check them all. Some councils do ours don’t. EE take amex too. V handy for bonus..
      Also recently more in line cos offer pay pal so am using amex more that way too quite by chance…

    • Genghis says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:51

      For BG where I had to have a DD For cheap tariff I asked them to lower the DD amount

  • Polly says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:13

    Tom,
    If you want to reduce fees, perhaps you could upgrade to Plat before you refer your wife for gold. You get an extra 20k MRs for a 1k spend, maybe one months plat fee? Or maybe not charged fee at all! You will then also get 18k MRs for your wife’s gold referral instead of 9k from a gold card referral. Use link mentioned here regularily.
    Once her card arrives, and you have banked your MRs, cancel etc
    Hilton plus Hilton or whatever.
    Before she refers you back for plat she should upgrade to plat from gold for a month or so, thus benefitting from the higher referral 18k, when she refers you. That’s if gold suits you to have
    Same when you refer her back for gold.
    More importantly before she refers you for the BAPP, she upgrades to plat again briefly, so she earns 18k avios for your BAPP referral, now that Plat has crossover referrals again!
    Once you bank your 241 downgrade to free BACC. Hold until time to refer your wife for a BAPP.
    If you don’t need to trigger a 2nd 241 that soon, just downgrade and hold until time to re refer you back. Pro rata refund.
    Aim to be going for spend bonus every 6 months or so.
    This way very little outlay of fees but Amex still gets all your spend, and you get 1000s of avios etc
    Also as Genghis says, get as many Pay point cards as you can for utilities. Eh BT won’t accept Amex on line but PP accepts Amex. And pre pay bills by phone, some accept Amex that way but not on line, weird.
    And of course if close to a spend bonus, and need to pre spend, gift cards for Tesco, Waitrose etc v useful, as you will spend that anyway. Enjoy the hobby though…

    • the real harry1 says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:32

      set up your default payment card on PayPal as Amex

      • the real harry1 says:

        28 Dec28 December 10:56

        take the easy 0.8p/ Avios option when getting a redemption flight – works for Economy/ Premium Economy but doesn’t stack up for Business

        easiest way to pay 0.8p/ Avios – just click & pay

      • Polly says:

        28 Dec28 December 17:18

        Harry
        I have used your system a few times esp when we do our 4 x ba metal sectors to retain silver.
        Have done c 30 rfs sectors to and from dub this year alone…so avios v useful esp on my short notice flights. Next year will be calmer..got to know so many of the regular crew they used to prepare snack bags for me to take to the hospital etc.. sick mum…l did message ba about them as it really helped.

      • the real harry1 says:

        28 Dec28 December 17:21

        sorry to hear about your mum, hope all goes as well as we can hope for

  • Genghis says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:16

    Interesting article. Perhaps I should start writing in 2018. An edit required though: “26,000 Avios upon spending £3,000 in the first three months of Cardmembership, if I refer you. 20,000 if I don’t.”

    It’s 25k if I don’t refer you.

  • Polly says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:44

    Lewis,
    You are still missing couple of tricks here. See my reply to Tom…if chasing higher avios nos
    Gold to Plat before referring back..always! If high fees matter…
    Plat to BAPP, if poss.. Higher bonus both of you, then drop to free BACC for part fee refund. Don’t wast time referring for the BACC….basically every 6/12 one of you is being referred, earning a bonus etc etc..avios will build up v quickly then the 241 can try for F cabin to Asia further afield!

    • Lewis King says:

      28 Dec28 December 16:20

      Thanks Genghis, I’ll modify that when I have a chance!

      Polly, thanks. I am trying to persuade the other half to let me sign up for Platinum, but the high upfront cost is putting her off. I’ll keep trying though 😉

    • the real harry1 says:

      28 Dec28 December 16:35

      @ Lewis – Plat fee is refunded pro rata so you can bank the points in (say) 3 days if you hit the spend target quickly – then cancel

      total cost usually under a tenner

    • Polly says:

      28 Dec28 December 17:13

      Lewis
      Was rushing so probably didn’t explain. The short term upgrade to Plat when you are near the end of your gold timeframe ie 8 mths or whenever it suits you to churn…this might be as little as a months fees max 2/12 fees. Enables you to be cross referred from plat to either your bapp or gold. But the newly upgraded Plat holder gets 18k MRs instead of 9k referring from the gold card. Plus you get a 20k MRs bonus for a 1k spend in 1mth. Definitely worth having.
      This is currently our game plan..learned from Genghis at al here. We do a slightly longer 8 mths churn…but amex gets virtually all our annual spend…so guilty we do not feel..!
      Then if you get gold you do the same…continue the cycle…
      Just reassuring her no big fees involved here…

    • Lewis King says:

      28 Dec28 December 20:06

      Thanks Polly/Harry. I will continue to look into this. 90% of our spend is via Amex too so I’m sure they don’t miss us too much when we churn 😉

• Joan says:

  28 Dec28 December 07:57

  Slightly OT but re hotels , can anyone recommend somewhere lovely to stay in southern Cyprus in May for a week
  for me and my partner – special birthday for him .? ????thanks
  ( I’ve used up a soon to expire Amex companion voucher for the business class flights as I have another voucher coming available soon so wanted to save my points for somewhere farther afield later in the year )

  • Rob says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:41

    Anassa and Almyra generally seen as the best two options, aren’t they? Same family owns both.

    • Joan says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:56

      Thanks I’ll take a look ????

  • ankomonkey says:

    28 Dec28 December 20:29

    Elysium in Pathos was very good when I went about 7 years ago.

• David says:

  28 Dec28 December 08:01

  OT I’m afraid but advice required! My parents are flying with BA MAN-LHR-HKG and SIN-LHR-MAN in WT+ January/February but are not BAEC members and have little interest in becoming them. They’re willing however to let me do whatever I need to in order to take advantage of their travel.

  What are the pros and cons of them being registered BAEC members at my address and joining my household account when in fact they might live 300 miles away…?

  Are there any major risks?

  • Genghis says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:08

    My MIL is part of our HHA. Not had any problems.

  • Rob says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:40

    No problems, except that you are restricted in who you can redeem for outside a HHA – anyone else you book for must be on your Friends and Family list.

    • David says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:47

      That’s good news. If BA were to lose their baggage, would it end up being delivered to my house? (That may sound like a silly question!)

      • John says:

        28 Dec28 December 09:20

        No, the bags would be delivered to wherever they ask them to be delivered. Baggage services should not be able to access BAEC data.

      • Rob says:

        28 Dec28 December 10:32

        It would go to wherever the person who reports it lost asks for it to be sent.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Dec28 December 12:49

        When airlines have lost my luggage before, including BA, they’ve been quite happy to deliver it to wherever I’m staying when they’re able to deliver it.

• S879 says:

  28 Dec28 December 08:50

  Is the 35% SPG bonus the best they offer? If not, how frequently are these offered? I’m looking at redeeming them at a Tier 4 Ritz Carlton (long way to collect) but wondering if the Marriott package is worth it as the chart is showing I need a lot of Marriott points for Tier 4.

  • Genghis says:

    28 Dec28 December 08:58

    You’ll need to run the numbers for your circumstances but buy the Marriott 1-5 package and then top up the difference if you then decide to go for something more pricy. Optionality has a value.

    • George says:

      28 Dec28 December 15:24

      How does the topping up work? I’m just putting together the last few points for a 9 package w/ 120k Avios but holding onto the points until booking would be handy. Is the top up price the same as buying the higher package outright? Is there any documentation of this anywhere?

      Cheers!

      • Genghis says:

        28 Dec28 December 15:40

        No doc I don’t think but essentially difference between the certificate you bought and the category you want to book.

  • guesswho2000 says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:16

    Basically, yes – there was a targeted 50% in November 2016, but in general, ranges from 20-35% – this from Pointhacks for SPG bonuses over the past few years:
    November-December 2017 (current offer) 35 Highest public offer
    June-July 2017 35 Highest public offer
    March 2017 30
    November 2016 50 Highest targeted offer
    June 2016 30
    March 2016 25
    December 2015 25
    September 2015 20 Lowest public offer
    May 2015 25
    December 2014 25
    May 2014 25
    Average 29.55%

    • S879 says:

      28 Dec28 December 11:09

      Thanks, very useful

  • Alex W says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:49

    I don’t recall seeing any more than 35% bonus in the last couple of years. If there was, it was targeted and we didn’t get it!

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