The InterContinental Lyon hotel opens – and looks stunning

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• Roy says:

  6 Jun6 June 10:06

  OT – anyone else having issues with progress towards Accelerate targets not posting to the web site?

  • Kelvin Gray says:

    6 Jun6 June 10:20

    Yes, I’ve had two stays in May not update. I haven’t contacted IHG yet but I am planning to do so.

    • John says:

      6 Jun6 June 10:44

      Similar for me, I’ve done 20 nights across 10 stays with not one registering

    • Roy says:

      6 Jun6 June 12:01

      I presume stays booked before the promo still count towards the targets (as long as the actual stay is during the promo)?

      I can’t see any changes to the T&C’s so I’m hoping so…

      • David says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:14

        Usually not… it normally says “book and stay within the offer period” or words to similar effect.

        • Michael Jennings says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:54

          My experience is that bookings made before the period do count unless it is a booking for specifically using the app for the booking, in which case you have to make the booking with the app during the period.

          Of course, I’ve also often found that I would have made different bookings if I had known earlier what the targets would be, but that that’s a different problem.

        • Roy says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:56

          I have a “discover our brands” target and a “stay at 2 IHG hotels” target. Both say that I will get the points when the “required number of qualifying room nights have been consumed by the member […] between 1 May 2019 and 31 August 2019”

          Nothing about having to book during the time window (and in the past it hasn’t been required).

• Gavin says:

  6 Jun6 June 10:35

  OT: If anyone needs to buy Avios at the moment, Groupon/Iberia works out at 1.02p per point if buying the largest package.

  I bought 70k points for £760 (€858), which tracked at 5 points per € via the Iberia Plus store, so a total of 74290 Avios at 1.02p per point.

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:24

    Not too bad!

    Happy with my 10000 points @ 0.8p the other day!

    • Shoestring says:

      6 Jun6 June 12:14

      …and i’ll be buying another 10000 @ 0.8p next week!

  • Russ says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:26

    Iberia released their 90,000 point promotion this time last year. I’m waiting 🙂

    • Rob says:

      6 Jun6 June 12:06

      It was a bit later, because I was at the Queen’s Club tennis when it broke, because Anika was back in the office fielding grumpy phone calls from Iberia after we wrote we didn’t trust them to pay up!

• ahop says:

  6 Jun6 June 10:47

  OT: For anyone that lives in the UK but has an Amex Plat from overseas.

  Have you simply disregarded the insurance benefit as it appears it wouldn’t cover significant periods outside of the country of issuance, which would of course be the case when living overseas. E.g The Canadian card covers only 15 consecutive days outside of province.

  • Genghis says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:41

    Surely depends on the country of Amex issuance. For instance, IIRC the UK Platinum card talks about time outside your country of residence, not necessarily that your country of residence is the UK.

    • ahop says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:23

      Absolutely Genghis – the Canadian card does seem rather limited and probably rules out quite a lot of people.

  • Thomas Howard says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:54

    Superficially, it looks like the local HSBC Premier World Elite might be the better card: 31 days coverage (ex Cuba), plus car hire, and $100 towards lounge visits (or other travel) for C$149.

    • Tom H says:

      6 Jun6 June 18:54

      I took out the Canadian WE as it has free FX as well. And had regular transfer bonuses to BAEC, plus C$100 travel credit per year which all helped. (No free Lonunge Key though-have to pay for each visit)

• Lee says:

  6 Jun6 June 10:49

  OT – a new Morrison offer appeared on my Platinum card. But only got 5% back with £30 spending. Looking at worsen Hilton and shop small offer, I started to doubt we are ever seen some good offers in the future like £200 off AMEX travel, which is one of the reason I still keep the Platinum

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:18

    Ha! My wife has 10% off at Morrison’s, max £30

    I really don’t need another £300 of Amazon credit, though

    • Russ says:

      6 Jun6 June 11:24

      +1 on gold CC.

    • meta says:

      6 Jun6 June 11:31

      10% on my SPG card for Morrissons. Nothing on other cards. I also have £50 off for £250 spend on Six rentals.

    • BJ says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:06

      Reported that their own gift cards work on petrol.

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:15

        I never really believed that but since I have a free moment, I think I’ll test it today…

        • EwanG says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:06

          Paper vouchers from the instore kiosk. You will be pleasantly surprised Shoestring.

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:17

          Yep you’re right. Despite some initial contrary opinions in store (!), the definitive answer is they’re treated as cash and accepted as payment for fuel.

        • BJ says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:49

          Thanks Ewan, J thought it was you who passed the tip when I asked about my Halifax offer but I wasn’t certain. Missed out on that by leaving it to late and getting caught out by unforseen circumstances.

        • Rooster says:

          6 Jun6 June 16:47

          Yes not a problem, vouchers say for use in all departments!

    • Rooster says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:48

      Max £30 is a bit rubbish compared to the previous 10% no limit :O)

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Jun6 June 17:28

        10% & max £30 cash to me is on my wife’s Halifax debit card, hence £300 spend, sorry about confusion – on Amex we’ve both got 5% with minimum £30 spend

  • Harry T says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:48

    I honestly think I had better offers on my SPG that on my Platinum. I’m regretting cancelling the SPG.

  • Zana711 says:

    6 Jun6 June 12:05

    Thanks for heads up! Just checked and I got a slightly different offer – 7% credit for all transactions £30+. No upper limit. For those needing lots of vouchers, worth checking which offer you have.

  • marcw says:

    6 Jun6 June 12:06

    Well, if you keep the Platinum just for the 200 off at Amex Travel… let me tell you this is not your card. Amex has obviously changed its marketing strategy, so everything is possible.

  • Doug M says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:26

    Bit odd, I have 7% on Platinum and 10% on Gold. Are they trying to make me ditch the Plat.

    • Doug M says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:30

      For what’s it worth these two offers are repeated on the Supp cards on each of the accounts. 7% on Plat and 10% on Gold. All being equal would always spend on the Gold anyway.

  • Mike says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:34

    I still get no offers on either of my amex cards and they refused to tell me why.

    • Doug M says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:52

      This may be rubbish. But if you get no offers (rather than lots you don’t like or find useful), try setting up another online Amex account, and then remove a card from your existing account and add it to the new account. I have some vague memory of someone reporting success with this. I have multiple accounts as often new cards won’t add to an existing account, that won’t be a problem any more given Amex bringing a hammer to the churn strategy.

      • Mike says:

        7 Jun7 June 07:22

        Thanks, I’ve tried that, split my two cards to have their own login and left it over a month, nothing happened.

  • Harry T says:

    6 Jun6 June 20:04

    It’s worth noting that Morrison’s is doing a 5p off per litre fuel offer this weekend if you spend 40£ or more instore. Which should stack nicely for the people like myself who have an AMEX offer for 10% off any spend in Morrison’s of 30£ or more.

    Unfortunately the T&Cs say “Coupons cannot be accepted alongside any other promotions or coupons.” So perhaps can’t pay for fuel with Morrison’s gift cards and also benefit from the 5p promotion. Also, the 40£ in-store cannot include spend on gift cards.

    • Shoestring says:

      6 Jun6 June 20:16

      You can’t stack the way you suggest. But you could possibly buy (say) £40 of groceries, get the 5p off per litre coupon (and 10% (£4) on Amex) and combine that with Morrisons vouchers that you also use on fuel with 10% off.

      Probably needs Genghis to work out the saving!

      • Harry T says:

        6 Jun6 June 20:24

        I should have been more clear – apparently you can’t get 10% off Morrison’s fuel with the AMEX offer but you could possibly do so if the petrol station accepts payment with Morrison’s own gift cards as you suggest.

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 20:28

          I thoroughly checked it out earlier – Morrisons £ vouchers are definitely accepted in Morrisons fuel stations, I even went into a petrol station to ask them! Plus checked it out with CS. They are seen as cash equivalent.

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 20:32

          On reflection, that’s what you said 🙂

    • Rooster says:

      6 Jun6 June 20:36

      Here are some facts from experience:
      -You won’t get the 5p off voucher if buying gift cards (Needs to be groceries 99% of the time)
      -You can use Morrisons gift vouchers at the petrol station and use a 5p off voucher at the same time.

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Jun6 June 20:58

        yep I also tried cash at till £50 and that doesn’t give the 5p petrol coupon either. Cash at till £50 works on Halifax card but that’s a measly £5 back. Not worth getting cash back on Amex card.

        • Bonglim says:

          6 Jun6 June 21:55

          I have 10% off spend over 30 gap – no upper limit.
          Hoping they stock John Lewis gift cards…..

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 21:57

          you’re in luck, saw those today – good for JL or Waitrose

        • Shoestring says:

          7 Jun7 June 21:44

          yep – 10% off at Waitrose

• Stu N says:

  6 Jun6 June 11:01

  OT: Re BA Holidays, it’s now over a month since I “forgot” to pick up my hire car booked as part of a BA Holiday, and nothing bad has happened. This was a US rental from Avis.

  • Neil says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:30

    Avis T&C’s clearly state that if your vehicle is not collected within 4 hours, they reserve the right to cancel your booking. You have nothing to worry about.

    • Lady London says:

      7 Jun7 June 00:53

      And they will.
      Been in queues behind lots of people who arrived late, sometimes due to a plane landing really really late, sometimes they were just late by themselves. And lots of stress because the car hire company (for sure, Avis or Hertz) had given away the car and said they had no more available.

      It’s even apparently technically possible for car hire companies to say they don’t have a car for you, even if you prepaid and are on time….! IU really don’t know how legally it happens… but I know it does.

      I’ve come close to that a couple of times, and been given something really undesirable and it genuinely was the last car in the car park. Including one memorable incident of that in Geneva, when I am certain the small round holes in the headlight glass were bullet holes.

• Michael says:

  6 Jun6 June 11:17

  OT: Villa v Hotel in Bali?

  Can anyone recommend a mid range hotel? No more than £100 a night. I’m Marriot and Hilton Gold.

  • The Lord says:

    6 Jun6 June 11:28

    Courtyard in Seminyak treated us well for a couple of nights. Very Aussie dominated, decent breakfast and pool

    • john says:

      6 Jun6 June 12:36

      Bali seemed Aussie heavy generally (not to be unexpected due to location).

      Komaneka at Tangayudda in Ubud was v.good but more than your budget

      • Michael says:

        6 Jun6 June 13:18

        Thanks both. From my understanding Bali is like the Ibiza of Oceania.

        • Crafty says:

          6 Jun6 June 13:39

          The nightlife is much more limited than Ibiza in in the parts we went to (Ubud and Seminyak). I would liken it to any cheap trashy European resort that has cheap drinks. Maybe one of the beaches of Bulgaria or Montenegro.

          In case you can’t tell, I did NOT rate Bali.

        • Genghis says:

          6 Jun6 June 13:44

          Whereas I’ve been a couple of times and really liked it. When I was younger I was happy staying in Kuta. When we went a couple of years ago we went to quieter places.

        • Michael Jennings says:

          6 Jun6 June 19:05

          Depends where you go in Bali. The north coast is much nicer than the south coast, in my opinion.

        • Lady London says:

          7 Jun7 June 00:55

          Kuta was like that, definitely. although my one visit (and last visit) was a long time ago.,

          Ubud is apparently more upmarket.

      • Thomas Howard says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:03

        Aha “seemed Aussie heavy” – I wonder in this world of egg shells we live in whether many people would say an area “seemed Nigerian/Indian/Arab/etc heavy”?

        • Neil says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:40

          Probably not due to the negative way that was used in the past.

        • Fiona says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:09

          it’s like when people use the term “ex-pat” versus “immigrant”

        • John says:

          7 Jun7 June 10:05

          Well where do Nigerians/Indians/Arabs go on holiday?

    • Crafty says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:45

      Also stayed here, quite liked it, decent kids club. Main pool quite dominated by Aussies in their 20s drinking all day. Not on the beach which we had mistakenly thought it would be. But the beach is strewn with rubbish anyway.

  • Genghis says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:32

    We stayed at Temuku Villas just outside Ubud (but still a good location and taxis are cheap) a couple of years ago. Very good quality and great VFM.

  • Crafty says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:36

    Try the Sankara resort outside Ubud and see what a villa with private pool costs on your dates. It was £130 for us but well worth it. Bali is really cheap when you’re there.

  • marcw says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:48

    Accor has currently a TRIPLE points offer for some properties in Bali.

• meta says:

  6 Jun6 June 11:27

  O/T new Marriott promo appeared on my account. Double points on paid weekend stays only until 30 September. It does appear it’s targeted as it’s labelled “exclusively for you”.

  • David says:

    6 Jun6 June 22:48

    Do you also think that Hotels.com’s “secret prices” are actually a secret…?

    • John says:

      7 Jun7 June 10:06

      Well they seem to be a secret from the hotels’ own websites.

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  6 Jun6 June 13:32

  Pedant alert: unless we’re arguing about whether Paris counts as a single metropolitan area, surely Lyon is 3rd largest? Marseilles is almost twice the size of Lyon!

  • Genghis says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:35

    Pedant alert: it’s Marseille, not Marseilles

    • Joe says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:15

      Pedant alert: Marseilles is an accepted variant in English

      • Genghis says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:54

        Equally Lyon is traditionally spelled Lyons in English. It’s either Lyons and Marseilles or Lyon and Marseille.

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:30

          How did Livorno get to be called Leghorn?

        • Mark2 says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:02

          or Firenze become Florence ……..

        • Michael Jennings says:

          6 Jun6 June 19:07

          Let’s not start on Cracow and Kraków

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 19:17

          I lived in Firenze for a year, I refuse to call it Florence!

          I guess any slightly difficult name got Anglicised – Firenze I can understand but Livorno is dead easy to pronounce.

          Never quite understood why they didn’t like Calcutta after we left them to independence – perfectly good name – and Kolkata isn’t exactly any better.

          Peking vs Beijing? – I get that one.

        • John says:

          7 Jun7 June 10:31

          As usual, Harry is talking out of his arse when it comes to actual scholastic subjects.

          Firenze did not “become” Florence in English. The Latin name was Florentia which naturally became Florence in English. Lazy Italians started saying it Fiorenzia, then became even lazier. The same happens in English.

          Indians who speak English as their first/primary language still call Bombay by that name.

          As for Peking to Beijing, I really doubt Harry knows anything about affricatisation in Middle Chinese, or the bee in the bonnet that 19th century Sinologists had about voiced consonants. Let’s just say that it was pronounced similar to Bay-king when Europeans first visited, and the pronunciation had changed by the early 1900s, but nobody noticed because Chinese characters give only minimal clues as to pronunciation.

          BTW, English speakers and especially Americans all seem to mispronounce it Bay-zzzhing, which is wrong, it is mostly like the first syllable of jingle, with the i a bit longer.

        • Shoestring says:

          7 Jun7 June 19:51

          that was Mark2 that said Firenze became Florence! So it wasn’t me talking out of my arse – it was him! 🙂

          I refuse to say Florence because when you live somewhere for a year, you call it by the same name as the locals, especially if you speak Italian fluently. Which I do 🙂

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