Holiday Inn Kingston South is rebranding as a Crowne Plaza

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• Frankie says:

  6 Jul6 July 06:35

  That Kingston South Holiday Inn is nowhere near the centre of Kingston. It’s closer to Surbiton (and still about a mile away from Surbiton)

  • Jonathan says:

    6 Jul6 July 07:02

    Agree, it’s very close to my sister’s house so I’ve stayed here a few times for family events. It’s quite a distance from Kingston & Surbiton stations.

    It’s pleasant enough but feels very Holiday Inn rather than Crowne Plaza to me. Note that very few of the rooms have balconies & most are overlooking a Jaguar garage or a self storage facility rather than the Thames. Always seems to have a wedding on at the weekend as well so not always that relaxing an ambience in communal areas. Definitely in the somewhere to get your head down rather than weekend break category for me!

    • John says:

      6 Jul6 July 08:16

      I don’t get why anyone would want to get married in a holiday inn

      • Andrew says:

        6 Jul6 July 08:52

        Surely the location, service and facilities matter far more than the brand above the door?

        The last wedding I attended had the reception in a Doubletree by Hilton. It was quite splendid.

        https://www.doubletreedunblane.com/

      • RussellH says:

        6 Jul6 July 12:28

        That is not any old Doubletree by Hilton, it is / was The Dunblane Hydro.Probably the best hotel around for many miles, in its day. I can well imagine that it would be an excellent place for a wedding.

      • Brian W says:

        6 Jul6 July 17:50

        I’ve attended two weddings at the Dunblane Hydro Hilton and agree they do it very very well.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        6 Jul6 July 18:22

        Surprised that’s a doubletree and not a proper Hilton

      • Crafty says:

        7 Jul7 July 00:15

        TGLoyalty – “proper”? I find the Doubletree nicer than the nearby/adjacent Hilton at least 70% of the time.

  • Rhys says:

    6 Jul6 July 07:02

    But it is opposite the river so good views from certain rooms

  • Oh Matron! says:

    6 Jul6 July 08:53

    Pffffffftttttttt. Nowhere near Kingston? It’s a 20 minute walk. Along the river. With the beautiful Bushy Park opposite! Even has two pubs, one of them doing decent food. And a Mini / BMW dealership next door!

    Slightly odd rebranding, although I suspect it’s to compete with the very excellent Doubletree in Kingston centre (with its very excellent Gin selection). They’ll be able to charge more for a Crowne Plaza

  • Richmond says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:49

    I checked prices of this Holiday Inn couple of times since it opened and it was never cheap. It was stone throw from my previous place.

    • Rob says:

      6 Jul6 July 15:23

      Did you find your windows kept getting broken?

      • Third Passport says:

        6 Jul6 July 16:21

        @Rob *snort*

• ChrisC says:

  6 Jul6 July 07:24

  Not sure if it’s the routes or dates or because Im a solo flyer I pic but I’ve never found a flight + car or flight + hotel d al cheaper than flight alone

  • Rob says:

    6 Jul6 July 07:28

    Often needs 2 people to make it work, agreed.

  • Marcw says:

    6 Jul6 July 07:31

    I have as a solo traveller, was an European city though. Flight were ard £450 while with a car £125, for exactly the same flights…

• Simon says:

  6 Jul6 July 07:50

  BA related. Looking to book flights at T-355 which falls this weekend. Will they just appear online at midnight, (or probably 1am as it is BST now) ? OR do I need to call a foreign call centre? If so, which one?!

  • the real harry1 says:

    6 Jul6 July 07:53

    If you’re just booking flights, no need for call centre – book online @ 1am

    • Genghis says:

      6 Jul6 July 07:57

      But call if v v popular route

      • Simon says:

        6 Jul6 July 08:12

        Thanks chaps. Not a popular route. but for a wedding in Europe so v date specific.

        On a related question, if I wanted to burn a 241 on this booking – Do i book the outward pair using the 241, then add return legs, using some more avios….Or do i book 2 outbound seats both with avios, then add the 241 in a few days time, so just pay more fees?

      • Genghis says:

        6 Jul6 July 08:17

        Add 241 on outbound

• ColinJE says:

  6 Jul6 July 08:04

  Quite agree with other comments about the HI Kingston South. Stayed there earlier this year and have some redemptions booked around (but not on!) Christmas.
  Rooms were cosy (read ‘small’) but well furnished. It’s actually in Long Ditton, about 1.5 miles walk to Kingston. I can’t see it as Crowne Plaza material, but perhaps this says more about the where IHG sees the HI brand sitting these days. Nevertheless, I’m pleased to have got in with my redemption.

  What changes need to be made to turn a HI into a Crowne Plaza, other changing signs?

  • Rob says:

    6 Jul6 July 08:30

    IHG will have strict guideline on sheet thread count etc, but most obviously may be a lounge, 24 hour room service and some in-room tweaks.

• N says:

  6 Jul6 July 08:07

  OT – for a friend! He’s flying in Y with Swiss. Originally booked a connection that was about 4 hours long. Got an email describing schedule changes changing this to a 16hr connection. Flight is 2 months away. He’s flying with 6 children, I can’t imagine anything more hellish than a 16 hour connection! No other flights available. Can he request a hotel or similar?

  • John says:

    6 Jul6 July 08:17

    If the flight is a long way away, he can get a refund.

  • Rob says:

    6 Jul6 July 08:28

    He can request a full refund. Anything else is speculative – if they are forcing an overnight he might get a hotel, not if the 16 hours is during the day. Are there really no Lufthansa, Austrian etc options?

  • N says:

    6 Jul6 July 09:00

    Unfortunately refund out of the question – he needs to travel. Original plans had him landing in Zurich at 0630 and leaving at 1030. Now he lands at 1830 the day before, leaving at 1030 the next day, so a forced overnight. Can he ask for a reroute on another carrier from ZRH? Will try and get him on the BA service that evening and see what happens. Will report back.

    • londonsteve says:

      6 Jul6 July 09:34

      Be aware that if he doesn’t travel on the first leg of the ticket, i.e. from UK to Zurich, the ticket conditions may entitle them to cancel the entire journey, as he’ll be a ‘no show’ at the first airport…. Before doing the charitable thing and seeing if you can book him some more agreeable connecting flights with BA to Zurich with your Avios arsenal, make very very sure he won’t be left high and dry in Switzerland with 6 (!!) children when Swiss is denying his onward travel….. Otherwise, hat tip to you trying to make his life more bearable. 16 hours connection is incredible for a major carrier these days. Sure, some flights might only go twice a week, but I’d expect them to be able to rejig the feeder flight to suit the onward departure. Swiss has what, 15 departures from London to Zurich a day?

    • Lady London says:

      6 Jul6 July 11:48

      Phone them and get a hotel. Mention the 6 children (requiring Suite at least, or multiple rooms that are sure to be interconnecting for the safety of the children) and they might decide to put him on a decent flight connection (even someone else’s) instead.

      It could also be worth taking a look and seeing if seats are still being sold on the original booked combination of flights. Airlines have been known to tell people their flights have shifted or been cancelled when actually the flight is still going ahead they’d just rather sell the seat to someone else – whether someone more important or, because, say, Switzerland just got into a level of a football competition that means there will be a major home game people will pay higher money to fly to.

    • the real harry1 says:

      6 Jul6 July 11:50

      duty of care rules

      all passengers can book a hotel room, eat, drink but not booze – and charge it to Swiss with receipts

      • marcw says:

        6 Jul6 July 15:39

        not if the flight is in 2 month. No duty of care in that case.

      • the real harry1 says:

        6 Jul6 July 21:08

        I’d disagree – effectively the first flight has been cancelled and the pax have been re-routed

        2 months notice is not relevant to duty of care in this instance

        the airline calling it schedule change as a description doesn’t change this – it’s cancellation & re-routing under EC261

      • the real harry1 says:

        6 Jul6 July 21:09

        the 2 months bit means no compo is payable – but duty of care still applies

• Sussex Bantam says:

  6 Jul6 July 08:54

  OT but just a data point – my 16000 Avios posted today for the BA summer promtion. Think it was something like fly 8 sectors before end of June. I’d forgotten all about it (as you can see!) so that was a nice suprise !

• Devin says:

  6 Jul6 July 08:58

  Need to make some changes to a 241 I have booked in November. Am I correct in thinking I can change the inbound can be up to a year after the outbound (or is it 355 days)? What changes are permitted to the inbound after the outbound, just date or route as well?

  • Optimus Prime says:

    6 Jul6 July 09:08

    You can change route too.

  • Lady London says:

    6 Jul6 July 11:58

    Max return date will be around 355 days after issue of the ticket not after the outbound date.

• Anthony says:

  6 Jul6 July 09:17

  This may well be me being a bit dim but on my computer over time I see several report from Rob referring you to a specific site to go to and then a blank and a full stop. Case in point: “BUT DON’T BOOK THIS! Instead, go . ”
  Is there some form of setting that I am missing. It is quite often easy to work out where to go to but sometime it is not. Finger trouble no doubt at my end but where to point the finger to sort it out? answers on a postcard please …

  • Rob says:

    6 Jul6 July 09:39

    Some adblock and browser combos are playing havoc with our IT. You need to whitelist HFP, all of the text will then be visible.

    • Anthony says:

      6 Jul6 July 09:51

      Thanks Rob, yes I do have an Adblock programme. Will whitelist.

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