The Crowne Plaza Kensington hotel has a secret beach in summer

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• The Streets says:

  3 Jul3 July 05:16

  Not true about the contactless metal touching

  • Gringo says:

    3 Jul3 July 06:48

    It’s true for my metal Platinum

• Chrisasaurus says:

  3 Jul3 July 05:34

  Who in the hell was putting the chip up against the payment terminal anyway? Are these the same people talking into the end of their phone as they hold it flat In front of them?

  • The Original David says:

    3 Jul3 July 06:41

    Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public…

    • Nick says:

      3 Jul3 July 07:58

      Does it really matter?!

    • Rob says:

      3 Jul3 July 08:27

      I just saw someone do this in Pret! I admit it never crossed my mind.

      But then I tend to physically touch the terminal with my card, which is also not necessary.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        3 Jul3 July 08:39

        I think touching the terminal is fair enough – rather easier to judge than wafting it exactly x millimetres away from it.

        Much like my attitude to parking (an attitude that leasing companies seem not to like)

      • John says:

        3 Jul3 July 08:48

        It’s contactLESS after all…

    • TGLoyalty says:

      3 Jul3 July 09:06

      I just take it out of my wallet and tap whatever side I can regardless of chip or not.

  • John says:

    3 Jul3 July 08:57

    I hold my cards “upside down” out of habit, also because sometimes it prevents the cashier from seeing it is an Amex (which some shops pretend not to accept even if they do accept it), and it also hides the BA logo on the BA card.

    I don’t have the Plat but according to the picture the “front” side is the back, as to me the front is the side with the 15 digit number. So I think Amex is actually saying that if I had the plat I would hold it the correct way.

• TGLoyalty says:

  3 Jul3 July 06:22

  OT – did anyone have the additional stay in June IHG offer? Or in other past accelerate promos remember if checking in on the 30th/31st but out on the 1st counted as a stay in that month?

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    3 Jul3 July 06:27

    Checking in on 31at June would not be handled well, especially by IHG’s IT

    But in my experience it always counted for both dates, insofar as you would get credit for either month when you had a stay that included the overlap.

  • David says:

    3 Jul3 July 20:56

    I had a 30th June stay that received the 3k June bonus today. As predicted, it didn’t count for the “complete 3 out of 4 tasks” bonus even though I only have 3 main tasks.

• Boi says:

  3 Jul3 July 06:52

  OT: if you had to choose between BA vs United business class (same price) heading to west coast which one would you pick?

  • Graham Walsh says:

    3 Jul3 July 06:55

    If you are chasing TPs, then stick with the alliance. If not, chose the one you’ve not been before. Also depends on the aircraft, is it a 747, so you could travel in the upper deck. Chose something that’s different so you get an experience.

  • Rob says:

    3 Jul3 July 08:26

    Depends what aircraft it is. At least with BA you know what you’re getting. Remember United earns Avios if you credit to Aer Lingus.

• Anne says:

  3 Jul3 July 07:09

  OT – but Amex Plat related – has anyone recently accessed the St Pancras Eurostar lounge with a Plat card? Last time I did this (Nov 18) they just glanced at the card but recall reading in previous comments that they are possibly checking names/expiry dates or even swiping cards now?

  • Bootlace says:

    3 Jul3 July 07:37

    I travelled to Brussels recently, just gave my Plat a very cursory glance. I guess it depends on who is working the door

    • Kevin says:

      3 Jul3 July 07:57

      I was there two weeks ago. They just gave the card a glance. They wouldn’t let my teenage son in though as he didn’t have a card.

      • Anne says:

        3 Jul3 July 08:59

        Brilliant, thanks for the info guys – really appreciate it.

        • Andrew says:

          3 Jul3 July 09:08

          I’ll be there tomorrow week (11th) so can update then if not too late. Or if you’re there and fancy a coffee…

        • Anne says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:07

          Cheers Andrew – I’m travelling on the 13th.

        • mike says:

          3 Jul3 July 15:38

          who’d have thought it, hfp is now a dating site.

  • MD says:

    3 Jul3 July 08:59

    Was there last month and it was very busy, so they were carefully checking the name and expiry, and seeing if it looked appropriate for that person as they peered at us fairly suspiciously (gender, I guess?), but that’s as far as it went. No swiping. They bounced at least three chancers that I saw.

  • Rui N. says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:06

    They sometimes check the name on the card vs. the name on the ticket. But they always flip the Amex to see if it is an European one.

  • Pierre says:

    3 Jul3 July 10:27

    I traveled to Paris and back 2 weeks ago. At both the London and Paris lounges they asked to see the name on the boarding pass, together with the Plat card.

• Olly says:

  3 Jul3 July 07:32

  Also Amex related…… what do people find the best way of paying someone using their Amex, a person not a company? I’ve got the offer of 2000 reward points for a £2k spend and will have a builder to pay for a little over that amount.

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Jul3 July 07:38

    £2K is pushing it with PayPal, as a one off it might squeeze through though I’d be inclined to limit it to £1K. Can you pay him some in vouchers from Morrisons? (today’s the last day for the Amex statement credit).

    • Spurs Debs says:

      3 Jul3 July 07:43

      Could you split it over 2 Amex cards through pay pal 1k each? I’ve never paid anyone through pay pal before so I’m not sure but interested to find out as it could be a way to soften the blow of paying for new doors!

      • Shoestring says:

        3 Jul3 July 08:10

        Amex won’t be the issue – it’s PayPal banning you that is the risk – they are ultra cautious about money laundering

        • Spurs Debs says:

          3 Jul3 July 09:35

          Tbh them banning me won’t be a problem. Must be ten years since I used them.

        • s says:

          3 Jul3 July 09:36

          Amex *definitely* care, and are well aware of friends and family payments

        • AndyGWP says:

          3 Jul3 July 14:22

          I thought that they ban you, BUT also withhold the funds?

          (which is obviously going to be more of a problem!)

    • Olly says:

      3 Jul3 July 08:20

      I don’t think the vouchers would go down well Harry, even if I did have the Morrisons offer on my card. I saw you mention it the other day but couldn’t find it. I did think if Revolut or Curve could be used to pay it, especially now Curve take Amex. Not sure about Revolut, which I’ve had on my phone for years but never used it apart groin putting £20 into it. I dismissed Occasional in my minds due to the mention on here previously about money laundering.

      • Jonathan Choy says:

        3 Jul3 July 09:00

        Curve take Amex? Haven’t seen any news on a reversal?

      • MD says:

        3 Jul3 July 09:03

        @Olly

        Er, I have some bad news for you about Curve and Amex. I believe there was a small amount of coverage and a few comments on this site…

        Revolut do not accept Amex sadly.

  • Spurs Debs says:

    3 Jul3 July 07:40

    I wondered if you could do this through pay pal ? Like you I’ve got 2 new front doors to pay for that I could use Amex to get bonus points.

  • John says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:06

    I thought paypal etc was excluded from these offers.

    If it is included… if you are on friendly terms with the guy, help him to set up a paypal account, prepare him to provide passport and utility bills as paypal requires these to accept amounts over £1650 (this is not written anywhere but is widely known). Then get him to send you an invoice via paypal and link his bank account. Try to pay the invoice (you need to pay the 3.4% fee that he would be charged), and withdraw it to his bank account. If it goes through, great. If not, then you may need to provide his passport/bill at that time, then try withdrawing again. This may still fail following which one or both of you may be banned from paypal. In this case there are only two options – get him to refund the paypal payment to your Amex (possibly resulting in the ending of your Amex relationship), or both of you can wait 180 days to see if paypal releases the money. You also need to compensate him as he will not be able to use ebay with his real name and address forever.

    • Spurs Debs says:

      3 Jul3 July 09:38

      Oh good point re being excluded! Think best thing for me is just to ask him if he takes Amex !

      • Memesweeper says:

        3 Jul3 July 10:18

        For a small trader setting up with Stripe, iZettle, SumUp etc these days is a doddle, and the percentages fair unless you do large volumes.

    • RIccatti says:

      3 Jul3 July 15:30

      The interesting aspect is how AMEX decides to terminate relationship based on a refund from Paypal. Paypal is not reliable and decision made by someone lesser trained in Philippines, after which AMEX treats that with full prejudice as court-proven money laundering..

  • Anna says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:50

    Billhop? You could pay the bill in one go and not worry about any kind of comeback as long as you have an invoice from a registered company. The fee is 2.95% but this sounds as though it’s less than Paypal. Last year I paid a £3k roofing bill via Billhop on BAPP as it triggered a sign up bonus and helped get me to the 2 4 1 which we then used to fly F to NYC recently, so I considered it was well worth it.

    • LewisB says:

      3 Jul3 July 10:10

      if you email CS at Billhop they will reduce the amex rate. Got mine lowered to 2.75%. Seen on here before that some have had it lowered to around 2%

  • Simon says:

    3 Jul3 July 20:02

    £2k via PayPal will 100% NOT trigger 2k MR bonus — 3rd party.

• Olly says:

  3 Jul3 July 07:43

  OT…. IHG related…. for those, like me who gave up on the IHG status match, my HH D Diamond to Spire match has come through on my app overnight, no email notice. Also IHG related, CP Kensington is excellent. I stayed a few months ago as Platinum and was upgraded to one of the garden facing duplex suites. This was when the plastic domes Rob’s article mentions were set out in the garden with heaters etc for romantic dining. Great staff there and club lounge was well presented and stocked.

• Zoe says:

  3 Jul3 July 08:46

  OT for anyone considering booking a Flybe flight. If you hand luggage measures 20 x35x 55 it will not fit their sizers. At Southampton they are checking every bag before the security queue. Got extorted £40 each for 6kg bags. Obviously not prepared to pay them a single penny on the return so my husband has removed the wheels. ( it and sub-zero 2 wheeled 55cm bags, unzip lining use cross head screwdriver) #FlybeNot4Me

  • Alex M says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:11

    why would it not fit the sizer if 20 x35x 55 is their hand luggage allowance?..

    • Shoestring says:

      3 Jul3 July 09:36

      Bag manufacturers often seem to forget about sticky-outy wheels when they give the measurements.

      Point you make is correct though – Zoe’s bag won’t be 20 x 35 x 55 but something like 22 x 35 x 55, so it’s not the bag sizer’s false dimensions that will be the issue.

      Flybe staff have been instructed to maximise revenue from stuff like oversize bags, so beware.

      • Zoe says:

        3 Jul3 July 09:55

        Worth noting that Flybe’s current PR disaster all over Twitter (being accused of racism denying boarding to 19 / 20 year olds in Amsterdam) started with charging £40 for oversized hand luggage.
        I asked the crew on our flight how it had been for them since the ‘zero tolerance bag policy ‘
        ‘Horrendous’ was her reply.
        Of course posting to their Facebook page gets a cut and paste suggesting they are doing it following customer feedback. They wouldn’t elaborate on the survey question or how many customers had asked to be charged £40.

        • Shoestring says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:10

          BA can get a well-deserved big up here – at least they’re not too prissy about the odd cm on an oversize bag, I never had any problems with 1kg too much either on checked luggage though somebody here had to re-arrange luggage for less than that the other day – probably an out-station!

          Actually their generous oversize policy with checked bags can be really helpful, I checked in a massive box at half term, it was pretty much ski length plus was a hefty cardboard box nearly 30kg – several garden spades & forks since you ask! 🙂

        • Lady London says:

          3 Jul3 July 14:09

          they seem to have removed the oversize waiver on US routes though.

    • Zoe says:

      3 Jul3 July 09:41

      We were not carrying a tape measure unfortunately. I plan to measure the sizers on our way back through Southampton next week. As I was waiting at baggage reclaim in Alicante about 40 ‘cabin sized’ bags came off the belt. Maybe it’s a way out of their cash flow issues 40 x40 would be £1600 on that flight alone. Of course there is no lifetime view of the customer, we would only book with them now if nothing else was available in a dire emergency.

      • Alex M says:

        3 Jul3 July 10:00

        A4 sheet of paper measures 21 × 29.7 cm. Half would be 10.5 by 15 cm. You can measure almost everything with that fairly accurately.

        • Shoestring says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:11

          we call that A5 🙂

        • Alex M says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:16

          Harry, no – A5 is 15 by 21 cm. I was quoting sizes if you fold each side of A4!

        • SimonW says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:17

          That would be a quarter

        • Louie says:

          3 Jul3 July 10:31

          Or even A6

        • lady London says:

          3 Jul3 July 14:11

          amazing what you learn on here, isn’t it?

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