The Hilton Garden Inn hotel at Birmingham Airport is now open

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• S879 says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:45

  OT: Is it safe to book Alitalia flights for next year via Amex Travel? I will be cancelling my Platinum card before the travel date. I know they filed bankruptcy some time back.

  • Roger says:

    8 Oct8 October 19:41

    Great mind!

    Too risky , they may survive in some form or other.

    • Shoestring says:

      8 Oct8 October 19:57

      Depends if you are getting an additional benefit worth the hassle. So the £50 off £200 or the £200 off £600 might make it worth the risk. Not sure if cancelling Amex Plat means you can’t do chargeback or claim on the insurance – because you held a valid card at the time of booking – worth checking.

      I’d not be booking Alitalia, myself (and I’ve got the Amex offers) – unless flight timings/ price were markedly better than alternatives and I had another way to get my money back if Alitalia go bump.

• pointsarb says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:13

  O/T Saw the Avis article but posting my q here as bits.

  Does anyone have any tips on any companies who do all inclusive long term car hire please? Currently a car owner but seriously considering ditching ownership in favour of long term car hire and getting somebody else to foot the bill for depreciation, maintenance etc. Closest all inclusive offering I’ve seen so far is these guys but just wondered if anyone else had any other recommendations: https://www.joindrover.com/

  Thanks!

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:10

    Leasing would probably be a better option than hiring. There are loads of companies which lease any type of vehicle you can name, but costs and services differ a lot so you need to shop around. Be prepared to negotiate on things like the initial payment as well.

    • pointsarb says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:30

      Thanks Anna but leasing is not typically an all inclusive cost (inc maintenance, tyres etc) and, if it is, it’s usually quite expensive compared to these long term all inclusive car hire offers i’m seeing pop up which have sparked my interest. If you know any different however, please do tell!

  • mark2 says:

    8 Oct8 October 21:19

    Getting someone else to foot the bills would be nice, but in practice they just get spread across the payments plus their profit.

• Louie says:

  8 Oct8 October 12:12

  OT: I think someone here went to the Singapore F1 GP this year…. any tips, including what else to do, where to stay, where to eat, etc, would be welcome.

  • Genghis says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:30

    Eat at Colony (fancy buffet, well worth it) and loads of different hawker markets. We enjoyed breakfast with orangutans at Singapore Zoo (though the food poor) and our walk through the forest to the tree top walk. Enjoy.

    • Darren says:

      8 Oct8 October 15:43

      +1 for the hawker centres.

      Fullerton Bay Hotel is nice but I haven’t stayed during the F1 and I think it’s on the trackside, it has a roof top pool/bar which I would imagine would have a good view?

    • Darren says:

      8 Oct8 October 15:45

      I enjoyed the Gardens by the Bay

      • Genghis says:

        8 Oct8 October 15:53

        How could I forget. Excellent! We went late afternoon and as the sun was setting we were on the walkway and then watched the light show. Good fun.

• PointsChaser says:

  8 Oct8 October 12:14

  OT
  I will be staying at the Conrad Centennial Singapore with my wife and booked their entry level room. Having a HH Gold card I was expecting breakfast to be included and an upgrade to the next category of room.

  I just received an email from them inviting me to upgrade my room for SGD90 putting me on the executive floor with lounge access which includes buffet breakfast, food, drinks, etc.

  On reading the fine print it appears my HH gold card only entitles me to a continental breakfast which took me by surprise. Is this applied only to Conrads or is it the continental breakfast the standard offering for all Hilton hotels gold card holders?

  • Rob says:

    8 Oct8 October 12:21

    Standard.

  • Ian M says:

    8 Oct8 October 12:55

    Most hotels will give you full access to the breakfast buffet

    • Jon says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:26

      As Ian says, most hotels will not follow you around checking that you took a yoghurt but not a sausage, and so will let you have access to the breakfast buffet.

      • Crafty says:

        8 Oct8 October 14:15

        Depends. Conrad St James were very insistent this time that it would be continental only. We aren’t cheats so we stuck to it. If they had not said anything then we would have assumed it was a free for all.

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:11

    It depends on the hotel – at the HGI you will get a cooked to order breakfast for you and a guest (or full buffet access as we found in Washington DC recently).

    • BJ says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:46

      Buffet at the two I have stayed; disappointing, I was hoping for the cooked to order.

  • bsuije says:

    8 Oct8 October 14:55

    Just wanted to say that I absolutely loved the Conrad Centennial Hotel when we stayed there in Feb this year! Very convenient for public transport and your get access to FT online in the hotel (never seen another hotel offer this).

    Sadly though, I cannot remember our exact booking details, so can’t help with your query…

  • Genghis says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:26

    As Gold, you’ll get breakfast in the main breakfast room, everything included. We stayed as Diamonds last year with little by way of upgrade. The lounge is nothing much to write home about IMO. However @Alan always get treated like royalty as Diamond. YMMV.

  • PointsChaser says:

    8 Oct8 October 17:22

    Thanks for the prompt replies.

• Rob says:

  8 Oct8 October 12:42

  O/T – All Amex offers have disappeared off both of my cards. Is anyone’s else seeing the same?

  • Louie says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:45

    No. 29 available offers for me on a Plat.

  • BJ says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:14

    24 platinum, 0 BAPP and 0 nectar for me.

• fivebobbill says:

  8 Oct8 October 15:08

  Used the deal twice, once on my card, other on the wife’s. Both £600 totals were made up of multiple bookings. We both received a confirmation email within 24 hrs of meeting the target, and both had the £200 credited to our accounts within the week.

  • MarkH says:

    8 Oct8 October 17:03

    Ok thanks.
    Will give it a few more days and then chase up CS although I suspect they’ll prob just tell me it can take up to 90 days after the end of the offer period…

• Genghis says:

  8 Oct8 October 15:35

  OT Checked into JWM Hong Kong today. I reported ages ago that I’d got confirmation from the hotel when Marriott Reward changes were announced that we’d still get lounge access with my Gold status. Well after a little discussion, “but you confirmed it; I wouldn’t have kept the reservation otherwise – I would have as it was a TP Reward cert” – blah blah… it was honoured so lounge access for full week now. Excellent outcome. I encourage those with similar confirmations to hold their ground. On another note, CX 359 J is a very impressive product.

  • BJ says:

    8 Oct8 October 17:34

    Do you know if flight manager was Kei by any chance?

    • Genghis says:

      8 Oct8 October 23:12

      No. Audrey IIRC. Had the status recognition thing.

      • BJ says:

        9 Oct9 October 06:12

        Kei is an old friend of mine from when I worked in London. He told me which flights were operated by the London-based crews and 359 rings a bell. He was always adament that service was better from the Londo crews. Hope you enjoyed your breakfast and have a nice day. Btw, after your suggestion I did find that restaurant with the ‘swearing name, thanks, will try it next summer.

  • Axel says:

    8 Oct8 October 19:22

    Thanks for OT.

    Did you book this before the IT merger. Also did you book on points using your earn n burn principle.

    • BJ says:

      8 Oct8 October 20:30

      Some of us who had booked nonrefundable rates or redemptions before it became known we would lose free lounge/breakfast via amex platinum SPG Gold (hence Marriott) contacted the hotels in question requesting assurances that the benefits entitlement at time of booking would be honoured or we would cancel the reservation or seek a refund if necessary.

    • Genghis says:

      8 Oct8 October 23:14

      Booked before status merger using a travel package.

• lgflyer says:

  8 Oct8 October 17:53

  OT I remember reading here that BA was refunding non-refundable flights booked during the data breach period.
  I cancelled an avios redemption booked during that time, so got the avios back and wrote to BA to get them to refund the £35.
  I got a reply today: “Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer a full refund for your ticket and it must be refunded as per the fare rules. I understand this will be disappointing and I’m sorry we couldn’t meet your expectations on this occasion.”
  Anything I can do?

  • Shoestring says:

    8 Oct8 October 20:29

    I generally don’t accept answers like this as ending the matter.

    HUACA is good advice, ie get a better response from somebody else.

    Go senior – senior people don’t like dealing with sh!t like this, particularly if there’s precedent saying others have been compensated fairly in similar circs.

    Ultimately £35 is a ridiculously small amount for a senior person their end not to say OK to, given the data breach.

    As you may remember, I insisted on getting 5000 Avios back (each) on the cancelled F&B on RFS flights – I’d bought & paid for them in advance. Not so dissimilar to your £35. Mr Cruz (or his office) came up trumps, it was an obvious unfairness – whilst I fondly imagine Mr Cruz reading my case email and saying: zees Mr Shoestring ‘e ‘as a point, let them ‘ave zer 5000 Avios, we stoppa’d ‘im from ‘aving a cerveza and snecks on ‘ees RRRRRRRFS flights – it was probably all dealt with by a smart secretary.

  • Rob says:

    8 Oct8 October 20:42

    Not in this case because you are not cancelling on principle due to the breach (or, erm, trying to get out of a non-refundable booking you can no longer fly …..)

    • Shoestring says:

      8 Oct8 October 21:08

      Why wouldn’t OP just say they were cancelling due to data breach?

      • lgflyer says:

        8 Oct8 October 21:24

        Yes, I said I was cancelling due to the data breach.
        I have just sent them a reply threatening with legal action.
        Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49(1) is mentioned in the email.

      • Shoestring says:

        8 Oct8 October 22:00

        49 Service to be performed with reasonable care and skill
        Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.

        That’s the one 🙂

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