A Marriott Bonvoy bargain opens in Corfu – Domes Miramare

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• Shoestring says:

  6 Mar6 March 07:47

  Looks like the Daily Mail Money pages got there first again – your essential daily read 🙂

  • EwanG says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:01

    “Looks like the Daily Mail Money pages got there first again – your essential daily read”

    This was in The Times on Saturday but they have a paywall which could explain why you didn’t see it there first!! 😉

    • EwanG says:

      6 Mar6 March 11:03

      Yup, The Mail first picking up the story but The Sunday Times first to report tat they are providing refunds to those affected!! (I know some here have a dislike of The Mail, let’s not get into that again!!)

• Neil says:

  6 Mar6 March 08:10

  Hi Rob,

  Do you think the membership rewards offer of 2 points for 3 Marriot points is a good deal or is transferring them to Hilton better? I’ve collected what I need now with Virgin Atlantic so don’t need to transfer them there.

  Cheers

  • Peter K says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:49

    Just depends whether you want to stay at Hiltons or Marriott. If new York then Hilton does not charge any resort fees on purely points bookings. Also depends on what status you have and perks you will/might get with that.
    Personally I prefer Hilton but others have their own favourites.

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:50

    Purely on a hotel basis, I’d value (based on moving 100 Amex) 150 Marriott higher than 200 Hilton, say 0.75p v 0.6p. Marriott also has a better fall back position in that mileage transfer rates are good if you suddenly decide to take miles instead.

    If you have specific trips lined up, however, I’d be more focused on what Marriott and Hilton have to offer in those places.

  • Alex W says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:53

    Totally depends on where you are going to redeem them. If you’re off to Conrad Rangali then I would value the Hilton points quite highly. If not going for an outsize redemption I would probably value 3 Marriott points higher than 4 Hilton points. Marriott also transfer to airlines at a decent rate if you change your mind.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Mar6 March 12:06

      “If you’re off to Conrad Rangali then I would value the Hilton points quite highly.”
      But only as high as the replacement cost (ie buying when there’s a 100% bonus on) for the amount of points you need.

• Andrew says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:04

  The joys of one brand, many providers.

  It never fails to surprise me how clueless some people can be about their own financial affairs. I sometimes wonder how long some could go without noticing a salary payment hadn’t gone into their accounts.

  • Peter K says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:08

    Or that they are paying out a DD to insure a phone they no longer have, as some friends of mine were.

    • Alex Sm says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:11

      Or annual gym memberships which they attended a few times in January in a New Year resolutions delusion and then gave up

  • Rui N. says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:28

    About clueless people, you should also see the many news pieces coming out of the US about its tax season and people that have been paying less taxes during an entire year (after the new tax code was enacted, with new withholding tables), and now are are surprised their refund is smaller.

    • Rui N. says:

      6 Mar6 March 09:31

      Another example: I receive lots of credit cards ads on facebook (I wonder why!). Next time you see one, read the comments and amaze yourselves on people are completely clueless about how a CC works. From people saying that it’s outrageous that Amex can charge 56% APR on the Gold and not understanding why anyone would want a card with that rate, to others saying that to get the 30.000 MR in the Platinum is stupid because you have to get £2k in debt to get them (nevermind that the Plat is not even a credit card, but even if it was).

    • Charlieface says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:03

      Never mind it’s not actually 56% because that includes the annual fee.

    • RussellH says:

      6 Mar6 March 16:53

      And the many people throughout Europe who complained to their payroll offices that their pay had plummeted on the first payday after the introduction of the Euro in Jan 2002.

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:31

    But if you thought you’d asked for payment in full each month when you set up the account plus were not getting paper statements, you might not realise the mistake for a couple of months.

    Anyway, sounds like anybody who paid card interest can get it refunded as long as they say that they *intended* to pay everything off each month. Virgin’s IT won’t be able to check whether they actually ticked that box or not at a/c set-up.

    • Shoestring says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:28

      and I see now there was no box to tick, Virgin hid the fact that you needed to ring them up to switch from minimum payment to full payment.

      that *is* misleading, no wonder people felt a bit cheated

• Shoestring says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:35

  Vueling have got [from] EUR12.99 flights bookable now to fly until year end
  vueling.com/es/reserva-tu-vuelo/vuelos-en-promocion

• Alan says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:39

  This was mentioned in the comments on HfP a few weeks ago

  • Rui N. says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:20

    @Charlieface, for me (and I’m guessing for 99% of the readers of this website) it could be 5600% for all I/we’d care.

• SimonW says:

  6 Mar6 March 10:07

  O/T – £25 off Wheely offer on Amex – used it twice on Saturday night. £29.00 (added a 15% tip just in case) and £26.00 (learnt my lesson for journey home)…. got both £25 credits on Monday. And as mentioned before, the service was very very good. Might be tempted to actually use it without the offer in future.

  • Neil says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:29

    +1 Used my first taxi last night (2019 S – Class) The 29 minute journey cost me £37 but really only £12 thanks to the Amex offer and both passengers got a bottle of water. I would be very tempted to use app for work travel permanently

• Rachael says:

  6 Mar6 March 10:14

  I looked at Corfu and it said it wasn’t taking redemption bookings at this time, so only cash rates available.

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:24

    That was happening last week but was fine yesterday.

• Sam says:

  6 Mar6 March 10:19

  OT – possibly a very stupid question I’ve been meaning to ask for a while

  Is there any benefit (apart from the obvious airport parking) to living literally 2 minutes from Gatwick airport? Thinking in terms of things like mattress runs etc?

  • Russ says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:35

    Depends, is that two minutes walking or driving? Cheapest taxi from local area is around £10 each way so need to add that in if not walkable. There is an housing estate with a path to the airport but it’s still a trek to get through the estate to the path start.

  • John says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:55

    How would mattress runs be a benefit? For those you would want to live close to a large selection of chain hotels that have cheap rates, not airport hotels!

    So perhaps somewhere like Aberdeen or Brussels where hotels are very expensive during the week and very cheap during weekends.

    Not sure how airport parking is a benefit either, unless you want to drag your bags through a muddy park then up and down various slopes and staircases to get to the terminal.

    Living right next to Horley station, or right next to a bus stop of the route 100, would be better.

    • Russ says:

      6 Mar6 March 11:28

      Perhaps mattress run for Hilton Diamond? There is the Hilton and Hampton on the terminal. Looking for cheapest hotels for runs are fine but then you have to factor in the cost of getting to them if they’re out of your way. If OP lives local perhaps family member could take and drop off and pick up at the airport.

  • Michael says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:57

    What on earth is a mattress run?

    • Michael says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:58

      Took me a second….worked it out now.

    • Alex Sm says:

      7 Mar7 March 11:13

      an unethical and lame way to scrape more points for cheap hotel stays by snobs

  • the_real_a says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:15

    Ive told the story before but a few years a ago a colleagues retired father in a low cost part of the country was very happy to “room sit” for people in the office that needed to hit promotion targets. He would arrive at the hotel (no id or card were required for fully prepaid rates) in the afternoon and collect the free drinks vouchers, consume the beer in the bar and then return the next morning for the free breakfast… This went on for several years at promotion times!

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      6 Mar6 March 14:16

      Great idea.

    • paul says:

      6 Mar6 March 15:19

      if he was going back for the breakfast, why didn’t he just sleep there…? or where they all that close to his house?

      • the_real_a says:

        6 Mar6 March 20:49

        He was about 10 minutes walk to the hotel, and apparently enjoyed the exercise!

    • ankomonkey says:

      6 Mar6 March 16:43

      That’s my retirement plan sorted!

  • Lady London says:

    6 Mar6 March 18:47

    speaking of airport parking could you rent out your drive then on justpark?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.