The InterContinental Lyon hotel opens – and looks stunning

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• Don says:

  6 Jun6 June 13:53

  I miss the Hilton Lyon, it was a very nice hotel with a lounge with outside terrace. Now some other Yank chain hotel.

• Tony says:

  6 Jun6 June 13:56

  OT:

  Changed my BA from Blue to Black and the progress bar of ‘amount to spend till voucher’ seems to have disappeared from site and app?

  Anyone else had experience of this?

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:07

    Yes – it should reappear in a couple of days.

    • Tony says:

      6 Jun6 June 17:00

      Phewph! Thanks

• Thywillbedone says:

  6 Jun6 June 13:56

  O/T

  I am staying at the Park Hyatt Mallorca in late June. I understand the kids club is open to children from 4 years old up. My son will turn 4 at end August and I wondered how likely the club is going to strictly enforce the age rule? He would be 3 years and 10 months while there and currently goes to a nursery so is used to other kids etc. Are management (here or elsewhere) generally open to persuasion on these things? (first time being able to avail of such facilities – hopefully)

  Thanks.

  • SimonW says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:02

    A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.

    • Thywillbedone says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:08

      Haha, a line surely written by man without a family!

      • SimonW says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:12

        Said by Don Corleone in Godfather !!! I’ve got 2 kids of 4 and 6. And while I appreciate every family/situation is different, I personally cant imagine taking my kids on holiday then not spending as much time with them as possible.

        • Thywillbedone says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:23

          I knew the quote and I understand the sentiment – and certainly not one to dump my kids – I was planning to use it for a couple of hours in the morning – I’d wager I spend more time with my son than the vast majority but there you go. Best not to judge the situations of others over the internet though.

        • SimonW says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:29

          Agreed agreed. No offence intended….. On your original point though, I think these places are pretty strict on age, same as in the UK. Only insured for certain Carer to Kid ratios in each age group etc.

        • Shooey says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:19

          most people don’t spend enough time with their kids – its *one* reason some get sent to private school (guilt) and nannies performing wrap-around care etc being a perfect example

          No doubt some will comment that they have a busy professional working life – and while no doubt true, it’s still a personal choice.

        • Lady London says:

          7 Jun7 June 00:58

          Sometimes the kids themselves, would rather be in the Kids Club!!

      • Rob says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:51

        Nothing manly about reading ‘Captain Underpants’ for the 20th time, let me tell you ….

        • Michael says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:03

          Start them young Rob – get them reading blog posts for you.

        • Sussex Bantam says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:53

          The (very well behaved) child sat next to me yesterday on the plan was watching Charlie and Lola. Sent shivers of remembrance down my spine that did….

  • Matthew says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:52

    Did you use points for the room? Thinking about this place next year in summer. Do you have a family room or two connecting?

    Thanks

    • Thywillbedone says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:23

      Yes, booked on ‘points + cash’ rate. Only three of us so staying in one King room.

      • Matthew says:

        6 Jun6 June 19:29

        Cool, thanks for the info.

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:10

    Seriously, I would never leave my child with strangers (whose credentials can’t be confirmed) in a foreign country. Especially with some of the press stories in recent years about child traffickers targeting these types of facilities.

    • Freddy says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:31

      It’s one significant reason why many parents choose such accommodation, so as to be able to offload the kids (somewhat) guilt free allowing the parent(s) to chill by the pool or perform other extra curricular activities. It’s called selfish parenting in-absentia.

      • Thywillbedone says:

        6 Jun6 June 17:14

        I remember the old days, when HfP wasn’t so full of shrill pontification… this isn’t Mumsnet you know?

        • Anna says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:16

          Well I’m speaking from a professional angle so it can’t really be classed as pontification. And child safety on holiday is nothing to scoff about.

      • David says:

        6 Jun6 June 22:51

        “other extra curricular activities”

        You mean the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, I take it…?

    • Richard says:

      6 Jun6 June 18:01

      Would you leave them with strangers (whose credentials can’t be confirmed) in the UK then?

• BJ says:

  6 Jun6 June 14:44

  From AerClub:

  “We are delighted that, since its launch in March, Pay with Avios has saved AerClub members an amazing €1 million on flights”

  I am sure you are!
  “So why not join the thousands of members who are saving money on their flights”

  Because we are not all as stupid as you might hope!

  • Peter K says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:06

    You read more of the email than I did before deleting it! It was clearly marketing tosh right from the off.

    • BJ says:

      6 Jun6 June 15:52

      Sometimes you have to endure the tosh to the bitter end in the hope you might pull a rabbit out the hat but no such luck.

• Craig says:

  6 Jun6 June 16:03

  OT: Recent BA Avios availability to the USA, has anyone who took advantage been ticketed yet? 5 days and waiting for me.

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:15

    Did you not get your booking reference immediately after booking? You can use that to see all the details in your account, though you have got a confirmation email a couple of hours later as well.

    • Anna says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:15

      Sorry SHOULD have got an email!

  • BJ says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:16

    May be mistaken but I thought new avios redemptions are generally ticketed the same day, with only changes to an existing reservation going into a departure date-dependent queue?

    • Craig says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:28

      Yes, it’s was a change from J to F for the outbound. Still no ticket number issued for the change yet.

      • BJ says:

        6 Jun6 June 16:40

        Relax then, it will get done before your flight but there is no way of telling exactly when. The changes are held in their systems for you until the new ticket is issued. If your flight is months away don’t be surprised if it takes them many weeks.

        • Craig says:

          6 Jun6 June 16:49

          Thanks BJ, I’ll stop fretting.

        • Genghis says:

          6 Jun6 June 16:52

          You can follow up with the Twitter team and they will basically call you and the tickets will be ticketed soon thereafter. Great service!

        • Craig says:

          6 Jun6 June 16:55

          Thanks Genghis. I’ll give them a shout. Assuming all is well, how is best to spend 4 hours at T5 before a flight in First?

        • David says:

          6 Jun6 June 22:52

          Wagamamas.

        • Lady London says:

          7 Jun7 June 01:03

          In the lounge (because you did book a room with lounge access, didn’t you?) at the Sofitel?

          While I can, I’d probably use Plaza Premium lounge. I know T5 is not one of their best, but I always like the way they run their lounges generally esp in Asia.

• Rob mc says:

  6 Jun6 June 16:06

  Off to Gatwick south currently.

  Odds of No1 lounge being “full” at 5pm and being turned away ….

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:09

    high everywhere these days? £5 reservations must be made at least 5hrs before your lounge needs so you’re stuffed there!

    • Rob mc says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:13

      I refuse to pay , last time I asked to sit at the bar and on entering there were probably 6 people in there total. Grain store it is then!

      • Anna says:

        6 Jun6 June 16:17

        +1. The soggy pies and cheap wine at our local Escape lounge aren’t even worth £5!

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Jun6 June 16:20

        £5 doesn’t bother me too much – after driving 4hrs up to LHR I’m only kept going after Reading by the thought of a lounge! Seems a low price to pay if you have a free pass. I’m not that keen on paying full price, though. £20 on ‘new’ Lounge Club passes would just about be OK, I guess. As in – great for me but rather expensive for kids with me, who obvs don’t get alcohol (managed to convince my 19YO that the legal age for drinking is 21! heh heh).

        Don’t forget you can get 2x at GS.

        • Rob mc says:

          6 Jun6 June 16:22

          It’s the principle, rather than the cost. Why have a priority pass if you still have to pay..if I knew it was completely full I would understand but I’ve been other times and a party of 10 would leave and still no space.

        • Michael says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:07

          How on earth did you convince a 19 year old the legal drinking age was 21!?

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:37

          he’s got autism and has taken it on trust, he checks a lot of stuff out online for himself but maybe saw that in the States for example it *is* 21. He stole a beer a couple of years ago and didn’t like it much which helps (do you remember how sour/ bitter beer is when you first taste it?!) I think when you’re used to sweet carbonated drinks, any beer or dry wine can seem pretty unpalatable to a newbie. My wife started off on red wine by mixing it with Coke, which is quite common in her native country!

        • Rob mc says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:40

          For all those eager to learn my fate…

          Entry straight away didn’t even ask for a booking.

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 17:48

          nice one! and don’t forget the 2x at GS in case you get peckish on the plane 🙂

        • Lady London says:

          7 Jun7 June 01:05

          +1 rob mc It stinks. Priority Pass should be doing something about it. The dining credit was a start. But it looks like they could be pulling back from there in a place near Europe soon.

      • Matthew says:

        6 Jun6 June 19:32

        Don’t forget you get fast track security included in that £5pp reservation fee so not all bad news….

• Brian W says:

  6 Jun6 June 20:37

  O/T Virgin Rewards + bonus sign up points must be getting applied using their IT now rather than manually. Got my first statement on Tuesday with the 30k points bonus showing at the bottom, the points all posted in my Flying Club account yesterday, and I got an email telling me they were on their way today. Pretty slick.

  I know Rob said it was a manual process, hence the delays previously, so something has changed for the better.

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Jun6 June 20:43

    might be tempted for the 2 of us to go for the paid cards, obvs with new email addresses 🙂

    when does it end, 30th June?

    • EwanG says:

      6 Jun6 June 21:52

      Although the 19 year old isn’t allowed to drink until he’s 21, is his credit rating good, and is he allowed any cards yet?

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Jun6 June 21:58

        Unfortunately already got turned down for his first Amex card, I was truthful about his income 🙂

        household income didn’t sway it

        • Shoestring says:

          6 Jun6 June 22:12

          he’s got quite a few gambling accounts though – probably up about 25,000 Avios so far 🙂

        • Keith says:

          6 Jun6 June 23:11

          Are there gambling sites that let you deposit deposit with no fees?

        • Shoestring says:

          7 Jun7 June 06:53

          the fees on deposits get charged on credit cards but not debit cards or PayPal – the gambling sites themselves don’t levy fees on deposits

        • Keith says:

          7 Jun7 June 16:38

          So are there sites that allow you to make a credit to your balance using PayPal linked to Amex? When I try my Amex cards show as ‘unavailable for this payment’?

        • Shoestring says:

          7 Jun7 June 17:10

          that’s correct, you can’t make a deposit to a gambling site using PayPal with Amex underlying – not in my experience, anyway

          works fine with PayPal with debit card underlying or using PayPal balance

          I’ve not tried to use PayPal with a credit card underlying for fear that you’d still end up paying the credit card £5 fee

          but PayPal is useful as an alternative to debit card as many gambling sites look for duplication of deposit method as proof of you opening multiple a/cs (and suspend your account if detected)

• Oh! Matron! says:

  6 Jun6 June 22:28

  There’s a targeted Instant Plat on Spire, with extended Plat if you match some very easy targets currently.

  Only for Corp users. I didn’t get an email, but once I’d changed my email address, I then found the relevant bumpf internally. Incidentally, it doesn’t use a promo code, so no good asking, as I’ve seen multiple, lower quality, FF sites asking for.

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