New Mandarin Oriental hotel and resort now open in Dubai

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• Young L says:

  20 Feb20 February 09:02

  Regarding Mandarin Oriental, just noticed that the new Beijing hotel is now taking reservation. Location is unbeatable, and huge rooms.

• luckyjim says:

  20 Feb20 February 09:06

  OT: Just heard that Zeek, the gift card re-seller, has gone into administration. It was a 3V cash-out route back in the day and still a manufactured spending scheme for some. There is an article about it on MSE today.

  • Shoestring says:

    20 Feb20 February 09:42

    old news round here LJ but here’s the MSE advice:
    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/02/zeek-customer-left-out-of-pocket–here-s-what-you-can-do/

  • the_real_a says:

    20 Feb20 February 13:02

    Unfortunately i have £60 in Zeek credit!

    • Bazza says:

      20 Feb20 February 20:43

      Not anymore!

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    20 Feb20 February 17:17

    It’s not much of an article really – it publishes quotes from Zeek which frankly barely even count as lies they’re so dishonest.. ‘working hard to rescue the payment issues’ is not something they are doing at all…

    All the staff have been let go weeks ago, there’s no sign of any attempt to rescue it it’s just liquidation from here (and they had no assets anyway)

  • Mr. AC says:

    20 Feb20 February 21:35

    How does a middleman-type business like Zeek fail?

• Roger* says:

  20 Feb20 February 10:04

  OT: where do Manhattan residents do their supermarket shopping?

  Planning a week’s visit with family members (4-6), probably to mid-town Manhattan, mainly using IHG or Hilton points. Our go-to hotel Doubletree Suites Times Square is no longer available.

  Looking at Staybridge/Candlewood properties with breakfast and catering facilities, but where would we buy comestibles for an occasional meal? In spite of numerous visits to Manhattan, I cannot recall seeing any supermarkets. Plenty of delis, restaurants, bars, food halls, etc. Odd question for Manhattan, of course, but party size makes it relevant to us. So where do Manhattan residents do their super market shopping? (Or do they let the likes of Amazon deliver?)

  Many thanks.

  • Alan says:

    20 Feb20 February 10:17

    There’s definitely a Whole Foods at Columbus Circle, but that’s the nearest I’ve seen to a supermarket in downtown Manhattan!

  • Ian says:

    20 Feb20 February 10:34

    Definitely possible! There are quite a few Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and a chain called Gristedes. Also, just wandering around you’ll come across smaller, independent shops (i.e. ones with vegetables on display outside) – though more downtown rather than mid/uptown.

  • Vivian says:

    20 Feb20 February 10:45

    Farmers’ market at Union Square https://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/manhattan-union-square-m

  • The Lord says:

    20 Feb20 February 11:19

    Whole Foods and Trader Joes your best bet for a larger supermarket but there arent too many on the island. Gristedes and similar in most neighbourhoods but dont get your hopes/expectations up, they tend to be dingy and over priced but will have what you need.

    • Dev says:

      20 Feb20 February 11:42

      There is a supermarket on West 43rd Street between 9 & 10 Avenue, but I don’t remember the name of it. Easy walk from Times Square.

  • Lev441 says:

    20 Feb20 February 20:04

    Depends how fancy you want to get when it comes to cooking. There’s plenty of 7/11 convenience stores dotted around manhattan together with trader joes, whole foods and gristedes. Best bet is to just see what’s closest! If you use google maps, just type in one of the above chains and will point you in the right direction…

• SimonW says:

  20 Feb20 February 10:37

  O/T – Are there any good Charles Tyrwhitt codes going round at moment please?

  • Simon says:

    20 Feb20 February 11:05

    someone posted https://www.ctshirts.com/antonio in the comments section recently. Reduced all shirts to £20 + one free tie.

    • SimonW says:

      20 Feb20 February 11:39

      That’s brilliant. Just reduced my basket from £105 to £85. Thanks

• JohnNI says:

  20 Feb20 February 11:48

  O/T Unless I missed it on here but Tesco Pay+ has brought back its 1 extra Clubcard point for every £4 spent using the app. Went live on the 15th of February and runs until the end of August.

  • Rob says:

    20 Feb20 February 11:55

    Thanks, hadn’t seen.

  • Liz says:

    20 Feb20 February 15:55

    Just back from Tesco and got a slip with my receipt telling me this! Not seen it advertised anywhere else. Also fuel coupon offer still on till 24/2.

    • Shoestring says:

      20 Feb20 February 17:35

      They’re offering 2000 Clubcard points with some 55″ TVs in store

      • Lev441 says:

        20 Feb20 February 20:05

        Saw this today in store – first time I’ve seen it in a while – was £529 for the tv in store

  • Alan says:

    20 Feb20 February 20:11

    Ah, interesting – wonder if they saw much of a drop in usage when the offer stopped? I certainly stopped bothering with it!

• Sprout7 says:

  20 Feb20 February 12:47

  OT: To get 3k points for adding a supplementary to Amex plat do I have to opt in somewhere or is it automatic? thx

  • James says:

    20 Feb20 February 13:41

    If you do it via the your online account, it’s automatic and the points will show up immediately after approval

    • Sprout7 says:

      20 Feb20 February 13:51

      Many thanks

• paulm says:

  20 Feb20 February 14:09

  OT – for those with the Virgin Atlantic Credit card, there is now an app available for IOS..

  • Rob says:

    20 Feb20 February 14:15

    Yeah!

  • New Card says:

    20 Feb20 February 14:35

    What’s the app’s name?

    • New Card says:

      20 Feb20 February 14:44

      Never mind found it: Virgin Money Credit Card.
      Anyone able to pay off their card via the app? I keep getting an error.

      • EwanG says:

        20 Feb20 February 16:45

        Thanks Paul.
        Rob – is that Yeah another username, another password and another 6 digit number to remember. Why they couldn’t link it up to use the username and password I already have for my online account is beyond me…..!

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        20 Feb20 February 17:19

        EwanG:

        If they aren’t linked then there’s nothing stopping you using the same user/pass anyway though is there?

  • Lev441 says:

    20 Feb20 February 20:05

    Finally!

  • Alan says:

    20 Feb20 February 20:12

    Ah well – I’m not that fussed if no Android version yet, find the website does the trick fine for me!

    • Rob says:

      20 Feb20 February 21:09

      Just registered and the confirmation email shows the Google Play logo as well as App Store so it must be coming very soon.

• Michael says:

  20 Feb20 February 15:00

  Are we likely to see the return of any other airline/hotel branded cards in the UK in the future? i.e Emirates, American Airlines? Hilton?

  • Rob says:

    20 Feb20 February 15:47

    Hilton seems keen but may struggle to get an issuer. I think Emirates and AA would struggle UNLESS a new issuer came in and wanted to scoop up lots of small travel issuers to create a viable business.

    • Michael says:

      20 Feb20 February 16:38

      That’s a shame. Really do wish there was more points options like the US! Although I appreciate the UK is a much smaller market.

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