YOTEL launches a non-loyalty scheme for its hotels, called My YOTEL

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• Cat says:

  19 Mar19 March 06:12

  Hey, O/T but thought people might want to hear this. My Lufthansa M&M MBNA cards were due to expire in September – I just received a new set in the post. That suggests to me that they don’t intend to cancel existing accounts, at least until after September. Possibly. Which is good, because I’m 15,000 miles away from a one way redemption in first to N America (or possibly Southern Africa or India), and if my >3 y.o. miles start disappearing, I’ll cry!

  Any more info on the M&M family accounts BTW?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    19 Mar19 March 08:32

    The expiry date doesn’t mean anything when it comes to closing the card for everyone.

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 08:56

    May for family accounts

  • The_real_a says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:50

    I had new diamond club cards issued about 6 weeks before they killed the card. Not sure you can draw any conclusion.

  • Andy says:

    19 Mar19 March 15:16

    Same here for my Virgin MBNA cards, I also had a September expiry date.

• Pangolin says:

  19 Mar19 March 06:32

  I hope that’s true. The main reason for holding the cards is to prevent the hard expiry of miles as the only other way to do that is to have status, which is easier said than done in a scheme like Miles and More (very poor earnings in general and stupidly high qualifying thresholds).

  • Pangolin says:

    19 Mar19 March 06:34

    The message above was intended as a reply to Cat’s comment about MBNA M&M cards.

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 08:52

    I will have the same issue if the card is pulled.

• Flyoff says:

  19 Mar19 March 07:08

  Get in quick for the south east Asia/ Australia sale.it ends at 0800 GMT today, 19th. I am not sure about the times for the other regional sales.

• Alistair says:

  19 Mar19 March 08:36

  The Hilton 2k bonus points are coming through for me straight away on 10k reward nights (Sheffield Hampton – not glamorous but I need it for work and the free breakfast is pretty decent) without spending a thing in the hotel.

  5 stays for an effective 30k points is pretty nice anyway, but if the Miles & More points also turn up then I’ll be very pleased. What a bargain.

  • Pangolin says:

    19 Mar19 March 09:34

    The miles have been turning up promptly for me. They post to my M&M account before the points folio even appears on my Hilton account page.

    Such a terrific deal while it lasts!

    • a270 says:

      19 Mar19 March 19:08

      Do we not get just the 2k per stay and 10k for every 5? What’s the Miles and More strategy?

      • Pangolin says:

        19 Mar19 March 21:33

        It’s a separate promo whereby if you select Points and Miles and choose LH Miles & More as the frequent flyer scheme you will get 1500 miles for the 1st stay, 2000 miles for the 2nd and 2500 miles for the 3rd stay, plus 2500 miles for each subsequent stay (cash stays only)

        Unfortunately this promo runs out on March 25 as Hilton is getting rid of double dip.

        Note that you still get the 2K HHonors bonus points anyway, as that’s a separate promo (and lasts till April 30). With the 2K bonus promo you even get the points for award stays.

        Both are no brainers while they last.

  • mark2 says:

    19 Mar19 March 10:29

    Have you tried Doubletree Sheffield Park for 10,000 Excellent hotel on edge of city and good breakfast as Gold (which I assume you are if you are staying for work).

    • JamesB says:

      19 Mar19 March 13:49

      Any interesting stuff to do in Sheffield area folks? We are planing a driving tour south from Edinburgh to London and want to make eight one night stays to get back to Hilton Diamond via a challenge.

      • Rob says:

        19 Mar19 March 13:56

        Peak District National Park. Use it is a base to visit Bakewell etc. The DoubleTree is probably better as in the right direction.

      • JamesB says:

        19 Mar19 March 14:14

        Thanks Rob. One of the great things about Hilton points and promotions for us has been taking the opportunity to get to know places all over the UK we have not been before.

      • sunguy says:

        19 Mar19 March 14:53

        When I did something similar on the opposite direction, I stayed in the Newcastle Airport doubletree and the liverpool airport hampton and the Corby Hampton (I believe the first Hampton in the UK!)…it all depends on what you want to spend, I was trying to keep it really low…(though I did also stay at the Calley in Edinburgh (Waldorf Astoria) and that set off a turn on events which meant I got married there later that year!)…enjoy it!

      • JamesB says:

        19 Mar19 March 16:16

        We will keep it cheap too as it will just be beds for the night. Might do 3 or 4 stops down the East, find best compromise of convenience and parking for 2 nights in London and then do 3 or 4 stops back up the West. Did your status come through ok? There has been a few comments here and on FT at times thaf Hilton didn’t honour the challenge.

        • Rob says:

          19 Mar19 March 17:09

          Never seen a comment on here that Hilton did not honour the challenge for anyone who did the nights (I got my Diamond confirmed within a few days of the 8th stay, and half of those were reward nights). No idea if they are being picky over who they accept though.

      • JamesB says:

        19 Mar19 March 20:02

        I thought I clearly remembered it to be challenges but concede it might have been unsuccessful status matches, wouldn’t be thefirst or only timeI misread a comment 🙂

      • Trickster says:

        19 Mar19 March 22:56

        As an alternative, I recommend St Georges Park as a stay on your route. Great hotel with nice rooms, always been upgraded as Gold & Diamond over the years, but had to prompt sometimes. Greatleisure facilities, and a nice space/calm hotel in general. Exec ‘lounge’ open for a couple hours in the evening is good for a substitute meal, but can be busy at weekend.

        • Rob says:

          20 Mar20 March 09:15

          I have reviewed StG Park on here, very impressive.

• Ian says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:46

  OT. I am a low end points collector as I don’t travel frequently, but my wife and I have managed to accumulate enough Avios and a 241 to get return Business flights. We are planning to use these for a trip to San Diego in 2019. My question is, which is the best way for us to get some free mid range hotel nights to use when we are there. I currently have the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold and working my way to the sign up bonus. Which card should I go for next. I am thinking the SPG is the best option, but would be interested in others thoughts.

  • mark2 says:

    19 Mar19 March 10:40

    Suggest you refer your wife from Gold to SPG for 9,000 MR =13,500 Marriott. Then spend £1,000 on SPG for 11,000 points and she refers you from SPG for 5,000 + your 11,000 from spend. It soon mounts up. Cancel both cards and get unused portion of £75 back. Do again in six months.
    All subject to spend, get gold companion credit card for 5,000 MR for £500 spend. Refer wife for Gold then cancel yours. In 2019 upgrade gold to platinum to get hotel/ car hire status then cancel platinum (statuses remain).
    BUT look on the hotel web sites to see which hotels in the area you would like to stay at. The footprint of the various hotel groups varies, but S. California should have them all.
    All this is subject to changes in the terms and conditions of the schemes.

    • Ian says:

      19 Mar19 March 14:26

      Mark, thanks for your response, I will look at everything you suggest. Hadn’t thought about me referring wife from my gold. I also like the idea of the Platinum upgrade to get the hotel and car hire status. I need to work out a campaign plan for the next 12 months. Cheers Ian.

      • JamesB says:

        19 Mar19 March 16:36

        Good suggestions from Mark for building a useful balance but check the Hilton properties in the area for any peaches on points. If you find some, you might want to consider doubling the MR points to Hilton as opposed to Marriott giving you a diversified porfolio. And Rob favours MR-3xCarlson so best check those in the area too before making a decision. If you feel strongly about staying in the same hotel throughout then folliw Marks suggestion. It would be worthwhile upgrading, even if just for a month or so, that PRG to Platinum before your second round of referrals on SPG to get higher referral bonuses and the free hotel status upgrades which gets you breakfast as Marriott or Hilton gold..

  • The_real_a says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:53

    I took a roadtrip using ihg 10k and 20k hotels last autumn for 2 weeks. For mid market i dont think you should go far wrong with IHG. If you are renting a car (and you should in san diego) its a no brainer.

  • Relaxo says:

    19 Mar19 March 14:38

    If you are close to hitting your 2K Gold spend target i would suggest upgrading to platinum immediately. You can then refer your wife to SPG and Gold for 18K MR points each. You will also have longer to make sure your SPG status (as a benefit of platinum) actually gets processed. The timeline for this is variable (e.g. my OH has applied for SPG status upgrade twice & it has never come through!)

• Andrew says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:51

  The various % discounts at Hilton are still running on BoS and Halifax sites.

  Today, a 10% discount at Waitrose has appeared. Single use maximum saving £30. Check the Offers area on your app or website to see if you have had targetted offer.

• Lev441 says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:51

  O/T – is there a limit as to how many cards you can have with Amex? I remember a while ago seeing something abou only being able to have a certain number of charge and credit cards?

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 10:02

    People tend to say 2 credit and 2 charge but a) I have never seen that written down and b) I know people who have exceeded it, so who knows?!

    • Lev441 says:

      19 Mar19 March 10:20

      Thanks Rob!

    • JamesB says:

      19 Mar19 March 13:41

      Have you heard anything further about amex churn changes Rob, the rumour mill seems to have died down in the comments?

      • JamesB says:

        19 Mar19 March 14:49

        While I agree an inside track would be nice and a deserved courtesy, at the end of the day it seems not really necessary. There have been few real surprises from either of them that you have not predicted and shared with us on HFP. In this respect official contacts would make no difference anyway as they simply wouldn’t tell you anything they didn’t want you to know. What I do think would be appropriate though is both advertising on HFP and the odd exclusive competition or promotion for readers.

        • Rob says:

          19 Mar19 March 14:58

          Agreed. They miss a lot of opportunities, eg if they have us comp spots at Platinum events then we would do reports on them which in turn leads to more applications. Instead they get coverage like this – https://headforpoints.com/2017/11/25/american-express-centurion-lounge-the-hospital-club-london/ – because they couldn’t market their way out of a paper bag.

  • Andrew S says:

    19 Mar19 March 12:40

    I’ve got 3 credit cards and one charge card. Before I applied for the third card, I contacted Amex Chat and they confirmed there is no 2 card limit.

• wally1976 says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:54

  OT – there was a (very) targeted Avios.com promo around December time giving bonus points for earning Avios with a new partner. My wife got this offer and took advantage of it but no bonus points have hit yet and I think they were due end of February? Does anyone have the terms of the offer to hand and any advice on how to chase please?

  Thanks.

  • Anna says:

    19 Mar19 March 10:53

    There’s a form on the avios.com website to fill in for enquiring about missing points. Go to your account and it’s on one of the pages. You can also check your visit history as this should show when you have clicked through to the partner website. I always put this reference number on the form when chasing up avios as sometimes their CS tries to argue that I didn’t use the correct link. Also, which earning partner was it, they have different time scales for posting avios?

  • Liz says:

    19 Mar19 March 11:50

    We had a similar offer back in August and had to claim for 5 lots of 250 Avios. Currently have a claim in for 500 Avios for an Avios/AerClub promo from Dec which should have paid out by 23/2 and didn’t. Seems to be a regular pattern of wait till the promo date ends then claim then wait a further 28 days for a reply.

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