A Marriott Bonvoy bargain opens in Corfu – Domes Miramare

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• curveballs says:

  6 Mar6 March 10:26

  OT – Virgin from Curve – Made a payment to Funding Circle via curve. Got a call from Virgin saying it’s a cash transaction so there’s a 5% fee and 29% interest. I’ve used it OK in the past for ATM and HMRC. Annoyingly it’s over the “go back in time” limit.

  Two questions: Any way I can fix this and avoid the 5% charge? Is curve/virgin still working for people at HMRC and ATMs?

  • Munch says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:17

    What was the MCC (Merchant category code) for the original transaction?

  • Nick says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:32

    Thanks for the heads up. Did this a few times last year and was thinking of doing it again before tax year end. Bad debts on FC seems to have got to silly levels for me though.

    • Nick says:

      6 Mar6 March 12:27

      … and with regarding ATM. I used Curve with Virgin’s VA card beginning of Feb and not charged as cash but not sure if I’ll risk it again now for anything more than a £10 withdrawal to test.

  • Genghis says:

    6 Mar6 March 12:09

    Yep. I got hit last year with £5 charge from Creation, but covered by the £5 I earned in referral.

  • Simon says:

    6 Mar6 March 12:50

    OT/curve related
    Not had this before.
    Just used curved backed with a nationwide credit card to buy lunch. Went through fine at first, but when walking back to office a few minutes later changed to declined. Now I have to traipse back to the shop to pay up… bit of a nuisance.

    • Leo says:

      6 Mar6 March 16:13

      This happened to me in once M&S it went through again the next day.

    • Mr Dee says:

      6 Mar6 March 20:03

      I certainly wouldn’t go back to try and pay twice as I’m sure Curve will charge you again as they will have already been charged

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:00

    Even if it was within the go back in time limit I doubt that the cash advance fee would be refunded

• BSI1978 says:

  6 Mar6 March 10:26

  Morning all – any suggestions for hotels in Sofia for a long weekend? Thinking reasonably central as our first time there. Reasonably high end if possible without breaking the bank (which I appreciate could be a little contradictory….)

  Ta

  • Tocsin says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:57

    I’ve had a couple of stays at the Hilton – if you have status they upgrade nicely. Centre is walkable, metro station a couple of minutes.

    • Tom H says:

      6 Mar6 March 13:04

      Any tips for bars or restaurants for a group of 8 that don’t mind it getting a little rowdy?

      • Tom H says:

        6 Mar6 March 13:05

        Shoul have said traveling next month

  • GeoffGeoff says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:21

    Stayed in the Grand Hotel Sofia a couple of years ago. Would do so again if in town.

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:23

    New InterCon

  • AlexT says:

    6 Mar6 March 12:08

    New InterContinental. Used to be the old Radisson Blu and has been refurbished recently. It is as central as you can go (in front of the houses of parliament). The Hilton is older (10+ years) but still pretty central and right by a park.

  • Alex Sm says:

    7 Mar7 March 11:15

    There was an IHG hotel on points sale recently (either CP or IC) – you can check if they still have decent redemption rates

  • Alan says:

    10 Mar10 March 15:40

    Would definitely recommend the InterContinental – had a superb stay there as Spire Amb. Great upgrade and free dinner for two (& bottle of wine!) as they couldn’t upgrade us any further! 😀

• r* says:

  6 Mar6 March 11:02

  Which are the nicest Melia hotels in europe? I have some points left over to use, was looking at the Gran Melia in Rome but there doesnt appear to be any of the non-revenue based points redemptions available all year so need other options.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Mar6 March 12:54

    ME in London isn’t bad

    Can’t the points be used for dining credits? If so it has an STK if that’s your thing

  • the_real_a says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:17

    ME Ibiza absolutely stank. Like rotten rubbish outside. We left early although the hotel was nice.

• fivebobbill says:

  6 Mar6 March 12:09

  OT/ Lloyds Avios
  Just to give everyone the heads up that the Lloyds Avios Upgrade Vouchers are STILL being awarded.
  The wife and I hit our annual “renewal” date about 3 weeks ago, and had the £24 fee added to our February statements. I happened to have a fairly big outlay lined up and was able to put £7k on each of the Amex versions of the cards.
  We both got an email today to say that new Upgrade Vouchers have been awarded, valid until end of March 2020 – so awarded roughly 7-10 days from qualifying spend.
  Assuming the 1.25 avios per £1 is still being awarded on the Amex version, hopefully we’ll also get 17,500 avios between us come the March statements.
  Had worse starts to the day 🙂

  • the_real_a says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:20

    Yep – my renewal is April so looks like I might be able to sneak in another voucher too. Having said that the tax and charges on BA redemption’s are now are getting so ridiculous that taking a strategic positioning flight to the EU first is becoming much more of a no-brainer.

    • fivebobbill says:

      6 Mar6 March 14:08

      They do seem to be ever increasing the fees yes, however there is still reasonable value to be had sometimes. I was able to upgrade to Business one-way Belfast-LHR-Abu Dhabi in Jan there for 26k avios and £386.
      You don’t even wanna know how much the cash price was !

      • fivebobbill says:

        6 Mar6 March 15:18

        Additionally, last November, one-way Belfast-LHR-Rome in Business for 10,500 avios and 50 quid!

  • Anna says:

    6 Mar6 March 14:56

    Vouchers will be awarded as per Ts & Cs until Lloyds close your card (after giving you 60 days notice in writing). I stopped all payments on mine and used it for a balance transfer anticipating that it would happen sooner rather than later but I still haven’t had the letter. Don’t suppose you get anything for a balance transfer?!

    I’ve had 3 “free” vouchers on top of my regular 2 so can’t really complain!

  • Louise says:

    6 Mar6 March 15:43

    I received my email today too, wonder if they send them out in batches

    • Neil Donoghue says:

      6 Mar6 March 17:29

      This is very strange, Louise did your annual fee roll over in February? My annual leave rolled over on the 16th of Feb and I received my voucher today although I am £287 short of the £7k target. I know this as I am only 2 weeks in and my current balance is £6,713 with no pending charges!?

      • Louise says:

        6 Mar6 March 20:48

        My annual fee hit 14th Jan, i hit 7k on 20th Feb (thanks to curve) so was expecting an email around 20th March (4 weeks as per their instruction)

• ols says:

  6 Mar6 March 12:16

  o/t BA have published some details of the updated First class soft product on their website. Or is that old news?

  • New Card says:

    6 Mar6 March 14:00

    From 31 March, enjoy a whole host of new features and thoughtfully created comforts in First.

    Delicious, indulgent dining experience, with exclusively designed crockery, cutlery and glassware from the finest British designers, William Edwards, Studio William and Dartington
    Foam and microfibre mattress topper and 400 thread count bedding
    Exclusively-designed male and female Temperley London loungewear, amenity bag and slippers
    A range of luxury Elemis skin care products
    High performance Meridian headphones offering a fully immersive in-flight audio experience
    The rollout of new First products will start 31 March and will be complete by mid-April.

• James says:

  6 Mar6 March 12:27

  Avis – Soft Landing ??

  Hello,

  I am currently Avis Rewards Presidents Club tier.
  I have only had a few rentals so far this year with Avis and so will not be re-qualifying for Presidents Club.
  I also won’t qualify for Preferred Plus (on spend or number of rentals).

  Will I therefore drop all the way down to the bottom tier for next year (Preferred) or is there a soft landing down just one tier to Preferred Plus ?

  Thanks for any help.

• Travel Strong says:

  6 Mar6 March 12:54

  In the same way that we often refer to “100k Avois”, I hereby table a motion for all points schemes to be referred to by their brand.
  “So you’re getting 0.8p per Bonvoy”
  “I now have 0 Honors”
  “It will earn you 80,000 Virgins”

  • James says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:16

    Hell, even ISIS don’t get 80,000 !

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Mar6 March 19:18

    Would it not be 0 Hilton’s?

    Or is it 80,000 flying clubs?

    An Avios is the name of the currency

    • Alex W says:

      6 Mar6 March 21:35

      An Avio singular 😂

• the_real_a says:

  6 Mar6 March 13:05

  Virgin Money are getting a rude awakening of the expectation of the more affluent customer, as well as their propensity to make Ombudsmen complaints (which get shoved in front the noses of executives)

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