Make Virgin Atlantic savings this weekend including £60 off Premium Economy flights

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• Shoestring says:

  29 Jun29 June 10:48

  ‘While VISA & Mastercard are widely accepted, sadly AMEX cards are not, even the regular credit cards as opposed to the Charge Cards. I have been embarrassed too often with my BA AMEX being refused to use it at all after clocking up the introductory bonus!

  Easily Embarrassed, London’

  Read this and many more insightful comments here
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/holidays/article-7154523/What-Avios-point-actually-worth-make-points-extra-mile.html

  • TGLoyalty says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:02

    Some times I make the mistake of asking if somewhere takes AMEX most of time I just stick the card in the machine and it works, even when they claim not to accept it.

    If it doesn’t work then there’s always a back up visa or MasterCard on my Apple Pay or a curve in my wallet.

    • Alex W says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:31

      When they claim Amex charges too much %, I take great pleasure in paying with a corporate MasterCard which charges even more %.

    • Lumma says:

      29 Jun29 June 12:00

      I used to work in a restaurant where the owner told us to say that we don’t accept AMEX, even though the machine accepts it. If others are still trying this, pay with your phone. No drama if it rejects changing to a different card then

      • Harry T says:

        29 Jun29 June 16:15

        I really wish Virgin cards worked in Apple Pay!

• Andreas says:

  29 Jun29 June 10:55

  If you are thinking of going to Macao, just don’t! Other than great hotels there is nothing of interest, don’t confuse it with Vegas at all…

  • Shoestring says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:05

    apart from the great food & history/ buildings/ charm, you mean? good for a couple of days at least

    not into gambling but others are…

    • Alex W says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:33

      Surely worth a day or overnight trip from Hong Kong.

  • BJ says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:12

    Only been on a day trip, quite enjoyed our look around. Spent about £100 in a casino too and doubled it, only timeai ever came out with more than I went in with.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:14

    While I wouldn’t recommend just seeing Macau. You’re also right in that it’s not Vegas, but it has plenty of history to see. It made a great couple of days from Hong Kong.

  • John says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:13

    I see you haven’t been to Macau then – you must have only gone to Cotai. That’s like going to Oxford Street and saying London is all crap chain clothing shops.

  • the_real_a says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:45

    Old town Macau is very nice indeed. Plenty of delicious bakeries for lunch on the go…

• Mark says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:19

  Does anybody know if rewards points stays count towards status match challenges in Hilton ? I have one left to do by tomorrow (hoping tomorrow counts) was wondering if it’s only cash stays or rewards stays count too.

  • BJ says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:25

    Yes, they do.

    • BJ says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:29

      ISTR that day rates might also count if that helps but await confirmation from somebody who is certain.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:02

    Yes they do (or at least did when I did my Diamond challenge).

  • John says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:14

    All stays count as long as booked via Hilton (or some corporate portals).

• Roger says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:41

  Rob,

  Have you done any article on using personal Air miles and Hotel points for business trips?
  How is the tax treatment and how do you reclaim expenses if using these personal miles and points?

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:52

    Well above my pay grade.

    However, this is what I do:

    * I do not account for miles coming in and I do not account for them when I spend them (eg I did not charge the company for the St Regis New York points I burned the other week, neither did I charge the company for using my Avios to book BA1 to get there) – although I do charge the flight taxes

    * I DO charge the company if I buy hotel points and them immediately use them for a business stay, as I did when I went to Aircraft Interiors Expo in April and it was 50% cheaper to buy and instantly Hyatt points than pay cash. Whilst I have never done it, I would do the same if I ever bought airline miles and instantly redeemed.

    I COULD pay myself money when I use my personal miles for what is technically HFP business, but that opens a nasty can of worms that I would prefer to leave behind – especially as it opens up other issues (eg Did I really need to spend 3 nights in New York to review BA1 and the new BA lounges on the way home? Clearly not, and I had no other meetings whilst I was there. Getting the company to pay, even indirectly, for the St Regis for 3 nights instead or 1 or 2 would therefore be questionnable.)

    • Roger says:

      29 Jun29 June 12:05

      Thanks for the perspective.

      Sometimes when even the short haul EU flight is £300-£400 and redemption option is available where you can use 10K/12K Avios + £50 in taxes, I was just wondering applying notional 1p per Avios valuation to and claim as business expenses even though Avios belonged to my personal account.

      • Jonathan says:

        29 Jun29 June 12:39

        It’s a slippery slope if you want to start valuing miles on the expenditure front but ascribe no value to them when you earn. Can’t see HMRC buying that for 1 minute!

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          29 Jun29 June 13:13

          +1. I probably use only 1% as many miles/points as Rob of course – if I spend them in the course of business travel I ascribe no value to them as the hassle and can-of-worms is definitely not worth it. As I own my own business it can still make sense to do this; I’ll generally try and pay cash for business travel and just accept the reduction in future tax liability as a form of discount, but in very high cash/low point price scenarious (like Rob’s $1000/night Regis stay!) it stilll makes sense to pay points..

      • Rob says:

        29 Jun29 June 14:17

        If you bought a chunk of Avios in a 50% bonus sale at 1p and then sold them back to yourself, that would be totally ok.

        With the Hyatt deal, I actually had enough Hyatt points without buying them. I bought them only to create a paper trail.

• Jimmy says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:49

  OT: Regarding LLoyds avios – When they ‘switched’ from Amex to Mastercard, they actually closed your old account and reopened a new one, meaning that the credit history built up would have been removed from your credit reports. Just on the phone to them now to sort it out.

  • John says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:09

    Why would it be removed? If what you say is right, it would just say the account is settled and you have a newly opened account. It may or may not have a detrimental effect if you are applying for a mortgage next week, otherwise it should have very little effect by the end of this year.

• Roger says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:50

  OT – Business Traveler Plus

  Any offers for subscription?
  Looking for GHA and NH hotel status match.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:00

    What is the NH match?

    As “Print and digital subscribers to the UK, Asia Pacific and India editions get automatic membership of Business Traveller Plus.” I would be checking out the price of an Indian digital sub first!

    • Roger says:

      29 Jun29 June 12:12

      NH hotels (German Chain):

      https://youhavebeenupgraded.boardingarea.com/2019/06/ein-nh-rewards-status-match-fur-gha-black-platinum/

      • Marcw says:

        29 Jun29 June 20:44

        It used to be German. But recently been bought by minor group

• Roger says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:56

  OT – What is the best way to close Lloyds Avios account?
  It is in Mrs Roger’s name who is not too keen to verify through telephone security.
  You know the plot 🙁

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:47

    You can send them an online message, or write to them, I don’t know how much importance signatures on letters are afforded these days as most card companies will never actually see it with everything being done electronically now.

  • John says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:08

    Can go to branch and force a staff member to see your ID then tell the guy on the phone that they saw it.

    Snail mail letter works, not sure if app messaging is sufficent (poor results from trying it for other problems).

    • Roger says:

      29 Jun29 June 15:50

      Chat function in App worked fine.
      Not sure why do they not have have Chat option for website.
      Any way, got the result in the end.

• Tom1 says:

  29 Jun29 June 13:41

  IHG status match – recent one from Hilton etc.
  Anyone had any response? Not overly endearing when they take so long to decide!

  • James says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:52

    I registered before it was made a thread on here, so must have been within the first few hundred. No response, no change in status as of five minutes ago. Other than it being a bit of a hit to the ego, I don’t care as within minutes of sending it off I looked more closely at what IHG and Spire had to offer, and think I’m much better off with HH diamond (or gold).

  • Jay H says:

    29 Jun29 June 22:39

    Yes matched to spire elite from Hilton diamond

    • Tom1 says:

      29 Jun29 June 22:53

      Lovely – was it on this current promotion?

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