Good Holiday Inn London hotel deal available on Groupon

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• Lady London says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:14

  Relatés to lounges i switched at Gatwick from No.1 to Aspire. Was there at breakfast time and quite impressed. Trad English breakfast OK. Much nicer service and seemed higher quality than No.1. Certainly better cooked.

  Décent choice of juices and other drinks, breads pastries (all tasted freshly baked. Unlike No.1 which has pastries like cardboard.

  Food was served piping hot in glazed earthenware baking dishes like you’d use at home. Never let go empty and constantly topped up with fresh by diligent staff.

  The lounge was only moderately full and beat thé zoo, poorly cooked pour quality hot breakfast éléments at No.1 hands down. It was an overall décent quality expérience. I cant say if it would change if overcrowded, but will be going to the Aspire instead of No.1 if i’m in LGW North mornings in future.

• Tom Cook says:

  6 Aug6 August 12:13

  OT

  We flew MAN – PMI on Sunday in CE. Went through the gate at 5.30am and then sat on a bus outside the aircraft until 6.20am. The reason was that the wrong food has been loaded and therefore they held the passengers on the tarmac.

  We then boarded and didn’t depart until 7.25am, 90mins late. Only snacks were offered on the flight as they couldn’t sort the right food out. The captain and head steward were really good to be fair to them, very apologetic and suggested that all passengers contact BA to raise this as a complaint. I’ve subsequently logged a complaint through the BA site. Has anyone had any experience / a similar issue and if so how did BA resolve it?

  • Anna says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:26

    My OH got 5000 avios because the crew ran out of time to serve F & B in CE from LHR to MAN recently, which I thought was a good result for a 40 minute flight!

    Re the MAN flights, we flew MAN-NCE last year at May half term on RFS, fantastic bargain but we were also delayed departing due to the plane having already been delayed somewhere else. Crew were saying this happens a lot with the MAN flights because the same planes fly so many routes in a short space of time so there’s a continual knock-on effect. Still better than having to go via LHR, though, I just wish they would operate year round and introduce flights to the Canaries!

    • Tom Cook says:

      6 Aug6 August 12:42

      5k per person would be a great result. Annoyingly I was saying whilst sat in the lounge that “at least we won’t be delayed, as we’re the first flight out of MAN!

• Russ says:

  6 Aug6 August 12:24

  OT as bits, does anyone know if Amex will be involved in the new purchase security code rules coming in September for online payments? I’ve had a card reader sent to me today and first I’ve heard about it. Spoken to the supplier and they’ve said if I don’t take a mobile phone when travelling will have to take the reader or online purchases will be denied. For us this impacts hotels and flights, online food deliveries, car hire etc so a big chunk of travel. So is Amex going to be doing the same?

  • Anna says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:27

    Was your card reader from Barclaycard? I’ve had one of these, with a confusing email telling me to sig up to the app if I don’t want to have to use it online. I’ve been using the app for months!

    • Lady London says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:22

      Amazon has been doing it for a while and it’s really annoying. They sent me a procedure to follow to Get it waived when i asked.

      Weirdly thé higher security had only been when accesding thé website. It’s not bern happening on thé app”.

      I have no idea why thé industry thinks feeding in a code they text you is secure. All it means to me is “Yeah, and as well as their credit card I stole their mobile too. So of course I will receive the code and can input it when i’m spending their money”.

      • Anna says:

        6 Aug6 August 14:15

        It says to me that the financial institutions have given up on trying to make cyber security a reliable thing!

  • N says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:43

    some extra security seems to have started rolling out on some of my cards… the creation of an ‘authorised list’, etc etc. this will come up as you make purchases online

    • Rob says:

      6 Aug6 August 12:46

      This is a new EU rule. All online purchases will need phone PIN soon.

      • Lady London says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:23

        What if you dont have a mobile? Who thought that one up ?

        • Andrew says:

          6 Aug6 August 13:37

          You have the PIN sent to your landline.

        • john says:

          6 Aug6 August 14:37

          Then you use your card in the card reader with your card pin.

        • Lady London says:

          6 Aug6 August 17:33

          @Andrew you cannot be serious.

        • Russ says:

          6 Aug6 August 17:52

          Sorry Andrew but Lady London’s bang on the money with that comment.

          To add just one of my many concerns, if someone without a mobile phone books a room on a flexible rate, how are they going to pay for that room when the bank have sent their pin number to their land line back in the UK?

      • Ben says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:26

        Bring on brexit!

  • BJ says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:01

    Yes, they are. Did not pay attention to details but it said something about creating a list if regular merchants I think. Tge hew pin thing is a real headache as I like to use different mobiles overseas.

  • Roy says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:36

    As Rob and others have said, this is an EU rule: all banks will have to implement Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). However, the banks have a great deal of freedom as to exactly how they implement it.

    Provided you have a smartphone (ideally with fingerprint reader) then I would expect that the banks who have decent IT infrastructure will be able to make the process pretty painless for people who have the mobile app installed. It should just be a notification from the app that pops on the phone, and you use your fingerprint (or a PIN/password if you prefer) to confirm the purchase. I’d be very surprised (and disappointed) if Amex don’t implement it that way.

    Ideally, SMS codes and card readers should be very much fallback options for people who don’t have a smartphone (the latter needed, of course, by customers who don’t have any mobile phone).

    Although in reality some banks don’t have the IT infrastructure to support the app-based approach, so will use SMS codes or card readers for everyone. (I’m not expecting Creation to roll out a mobile app any time soon – although they might surprise me – so I imagine I’ll have to use an SMS code to use my IHG card online.)

    roy

    • Russ says:

      6 Aug6 August 14:07

      Roy a lot of people don’t have smart phones by choice. I don’t even keep a mobile phone now and neither do many of my friends. If we want to talk to you we will call you. I had one for work when they first came out; slung over my shoulder, 25 mins battery life and the size and weight of a house brick. The only people who called me was work who expected me to be available all the time – for free – and my wife who wanted me to pick up something on the way home. Over the years it was always the same. The best thing about my mobile history was when they bought Snakey out and when they ditched that the phone went. Mobiles are all about getting direct access to customers aka, the money.

      I still find it incredulous to be hearing about this so close to the launch date. Is it supposed to be a surprise?

      • SimonW says:

        6 Aug6 August 14:26

        So you’ve been given a card reader, and all the information, a month before implementation. What are you moaning about ?? How is it a surprise?

      • Roy says:

        6 Aug6 August 18:05

        I would say a significant proportion of smartphone users these days have absolutely no interest in using them to make or receive telephone calls, and simply use them as a portable internet device.

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Aug6 August 18:14

        indeed, it was my wife wanting to talk about nothing much, every 10 mins, pretty much all the time, that made me decide to go without a mobile phone for the last 20 years, apart from the one in the glove compartment of course

        they shoot horses, don’t they?

        they garble on about nothing much, don’t they?

    • Roy says:

      6 Aug6 August 14:18

      Also, just to add, there’s more to SCA than just online card payments – although online card payments is where most people will see the biggest changes.

      SCA applies to all electronic payments. Not just online card payments, but also physical card payments (but chip-and-PIN is already 2FA, so the only change you are likely to see is a limit on how many contactless transactions you can make without entering a PIN – currently many banks don’t enforce this).

      But SCA also applies to other (non-card-based) payment providers, e.g. Paypal will have to implement SCA, too.

      And finally, the other thing is that SCA applies not just to payments, but also to logging on to online banking. Currently a number of banks allow you to log on to their online banking website just by entering a password, secret number etc (or certain characters from it) – so this is also going to have to change.

      Lots of changes happening (in theory) by 14 September, and as Russ says, the preparations for this all seems to be very last minute.

    • Roy says:

      6 Aug6 August 14:25

      Oh, and my final thought for today on SCA:

      SCA may will prove to be an opportunity for those banks that do a good job to really differentiate themselves – and on the other hand there will probably be some banks that make a complete pig’s ear of it.

      Currently the online payments process is pretty much identical no matter what card you hold. From next month, the banks that do a good job of making the process as smooth as possible (both for smartphone users and non-smartphone-users) may well start to pick up significant numbers of customers from those that don’t….

• BJ says:

  6 Aug6 August 12:34

  OT: We are thinking about visiting the London Motor Show next May. Would be grateful for feedback as to whether it is too busy to be enjoyable and, if not, which Excel hotels are recommended? Stayed there once, Ramada ISTR, and area seemed a bit dead; still the same, better to stay central and just make a day trip?

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:47

    The new hotels (Moxy, Hampton etc are very nice and directly by a DLR station). We have reviewed the two above.

    • BJ says:

      6 Aug6 August 12:54

      Thanks, will have a look at the reviews. Show dates have not been release yet but I could make a few speculative bookings on points and be covered.

      • Lady London says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:10

        Did the Hampton there twice recently. It’s kind of OK. But rooms are small, seems many have bad light and poor selection of TV channels. The area is still pretty dead. So depending on my plans for thé evening I’d seriously considér staying somewhere else and just coming for the day. There aren’t really any restaurants nearby.

        If you really wanted to stay there the Moxy also looked OK and Rob did a good review. If you’re not collecting on any promo the Premier Inn looks good there too.

      • BJ says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:30

        Thanks Lady London and Andy, it’s a good few years since I stayed there so was hoping things might have changed. My partner dislikes switching hotels so probably one base around Tower Gateway would be better. Also thinking about IC at O2, as Jubilee line is as handy as it gets.

        • john says:

          6 Aug6 August 13:57

          Have stayed at ‘Apex City of London’ near Tower before and that was decent, although wouldn’t work for your points speculative bookings!

        • Lady London says:

          6 Aug6 August 17:36

          Isnt there a nice Hilton (or has it been reflagged) at st Katherine’s Dock?

        • Rob says:

          6 Aug6 August 19:01

          Hilton Tower Bridge, but on the other side. There is also the DoubleTree TB which is on the St Kaths side. The dump in the dock is a Guoman.

  • AndyGWP says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:09

    I’ve done recent stints at the Doubletree and the Hampton. Obviously there’s a convenient ‘Aloft’ nearby too. I only stay there for convenience not really got anything bad to say about either of them (apart from I think they only have one type of room, so no real upgrades available – I did get a ‘dock view’ room at the Doubletree though once)

    I agree that the area is dead (industrial) and there’s not much life outside the hotels there beyond what exists because of the Exhibition centre.

    Not much help I guess – if I wanted a bit more action I’d be tempted to stay at Tower Gateway, and be within 20 or 30 minutes of the inner city action (in one direction) and Excel (in the other)

    • BJ says:

      6 Aug6 August 20:12

      Thanks everybody, I’ll check out rates/points for the two TB options and try one of those if it’s a good deal.

  • Adam says:

    6 Aug6 August 21:02

    Had a very inpleasant stay at the Hampton. They made the bed but did not change bedsheets after a departing guest. Never again. Moxy is ok, but bad soundproofing. Try aloft or HIX if not too expensive.

• Ammar says:

  6 Aug6 August 13:27

  OT – Staying at the HIlton Deansgate in Manchester, regarding car parking, i believe the hotel recommends The NCP Great Northern next door to it but not heard great reviews online and I will be travelling around manchester so hate multiple car parking tickets to claim in the end, wondering if anyone can suggest any nearby suitable alternatives?

  • GJB says:

    6 Aug6 August 14:53

    Q-Parks on First Street is close by, cheaper and does online deals through their App.
    Parking in that part of Manchester is expensive, plus lots of car crime so I advise you park in a reputable car park only.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      6 Aug6 August 19:09

      +1 no problems with Qpark and to keep it site-focused: you can earn a few Virgin points through their app. 1st Street is a nicely developed area. The REAL bargain is a cheap deal at the Premier Inn opposite 1st Street … with free parkingfor guest, if you have a vehicle then the cost covers parking and the room is basically free!

    • Craig says:

      6 Aug6 August 22:53

      +1 Q-Parks.

• Jody says:

  6 Aug6 August 14:19

  In regards to the Groupon deal for Luton lounge – I totally missed on the Groupon site that the deal was only supposed to be valid until 30th September, and bought two for our flights to Geneva from Luton in December. The code OUTLOOK takes 20% off the price, so it was £39.60 for 2 people.

  Anyway, it let me book fine on the lounge site you go to to make your booking, so that’s a result! We do have flights in September as well, so would have booked it for those dates if the December one proved to be a problem (in fact I’ve just got my husband to buy two more passes for those flights using the discount code!). Works out slightly cheaper than paying the £20 per person with gold Amex and lounge club (no free lounges for us unfortunately), plus a hopefully nicer lounge that is actually booked. More often than not at Luton the No. 1 Lounge is full and we get turned away.

• Neal says:

  6 Aug6 August 14:24

  Tried to book a Gold Priority Award to MUC. Was quoted the highest Avios price + £1 (30K Avios + £1,not say 18K Avios + £35 like previously) and no other pricing options available. In my opinion BA basically gutted the whole Gold Priority Award scheme by doing this.

  • Alex W says:

    6 Aug6 August 14:50

    Oh dear. Hope this is a glitch. Or maybe they can compensate by allowing one to use a 241 voucher?

    • Rob says:

      6 Aug6 August 15:12

      I booked 4 GPR the other week at the old prices. Seems to be ‘hang up and call again’ time.

• Richard says:

  6 Aug6 August 17:46

  OT: Have Virgin matched BA on the cut in economy class fuel surcharge from the US?

  A bunch of their routes have the economy class surcharge at £75 looking today.

  I could have sworn it was more than 100 quid for the one way when I was looking at similar one ways a few months ago.

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