Eat at the world’s best restaurant with your Marriott Bonvoy hotel points

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• pauldb says:

  20 Aug20 August 10:49

  OT but someone might help me out with some Section 75 thoughts.

  I booked a hotel a couple of days ago through alpharooms. Today they have told me the room is not available. Family rooms were not available direct, but in the world of resellers that is not exactly unique. Basically they are offfering me only a refund – they’ll give me alternatives but since the difference is a least £400 they won’t eat the extra.

  Basically I have no other choice but to book somewhere more expensive. If I’m going to do that anyway I’m thinking I may as well then try a S75 claim for the difference – what do you think?

  Is there a best way to go about it. Book it myself or pay alpharooms the extra? If the former, accept their refund or refuse it?

  • pauldb says:

    20 Aug20 August 10:53

    Oh for the detail: I received a “Booking confirmation” email from them and they charged my credit card. In their T&Cs it says that a booking acknowledgement email does not confirm the booking (nor does the card charge). Confirmation occurs when I receive an invoice.
    The email I got does not look simply like an acknowledge, being titled Booking Confirmation. It is not titled “invoice” but has all the elements on an invoice. So I am prepared to argue (with no great downside) I had a confirmed booking.

  • pauldb says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:15

    I’m drawing a parallel to the recent suggestions that, if BA were to suffer a strike and refuse to rebook on to other carriers, one could book their own flights and S75 the cost.
    In what you’ve quoted, I think it links most closely to “the cost of repairing it”: if I have to suffer extra cost to get what I purchased, I can S75 it.

    • Lady London says:

      20 Aug20 August 16:22

      Was this a prepaid booking? Or had you at least had deposit money taken?

      If not then i don’t think you have a chance. Hotels are not covered by the same protections as airlines. So wont it come down to do you have a contract and with whom?

• Pangolin says:

  20 Aug20 August 10:53

  Now that’s living it up! 😉

• Peter K says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:47

  @Graham Walsh
  Re: cat hire Barbados. It was late so you may not have seen this yesterday but we found drive-a-matic to be good on Barbados. We booked it via our hotel because it was cheaper than booking other companies or direct online. They delivered to our hotel and we took it back to the airport. We arrived a little late but no excess charged…they were not bothered at all. Unlike a lot places in Barbados they accepted Amex.
  A car is DEFINITELY recommended for Barbados, though it is quite easy to get lost once off the beaten track so a sat nav would be recommended. The road signs are poor to say the least.

• RussellH says:

  20 Aug20 August 12:07

  Had a ‘painful’ sight for a points collector in Aldi an hour ago:-

  Two elderly men had lined up on the band 11 bottles of Gin, 8 of Vodka and 2 of Whisky.
  £229 – paid in filthy £20 notes. No food…

  • Alex says:

    20 Aug20 August 12:26

    stocking up for their bank holiday weekend maybe…(you’d hope)

    • BJ says:

      20 Aug20 August 13:58

      More likely brexiteers stockpiling – elderly, s… apologies (to my dad and others), I must avoid stereotyping and remoaning.

    • Lady London says:

      20 Aug20 August 16:04

      Could have been related to a cash business. Was this in Scotland?

      • Lady London says:

        20 Aug20 August 20:33

        Actually i am wondering if the Aldi was situated within easy reach of thé Scottish border. Thé guys could have been on a booze run from Scotland. IIRC seen on promotions on Aldi site, lots of alcohol not available in Aldi Scottish branches, or alcohol retail restricted somehow?

        • Grant says:

          20 Aug20 August 20:47

          Scotland has a minimum unit price for alcohol which means most supermarket promotions aren’t (cannot be made) available in Scotland

  • Genghis says:

    20 Aug20 August 13:09

    Depends whether the cash is gross or net…

  • John says:

    20 Aug20 August 13:28

    A 17% saving on income tax beats any points and miles…

    • AlexT says:

      20 Aug20 August 13:36

      If they are “saving” on income tax, I really hope they get audited…

      • Lady London says:

        20 Aug20 August 16:07

        *Hic!! * *Burp !! * Wossat? Did we drink it ?

        #summerholidays

  • EwanG says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:26

    Maybe they needed to replenish supplies, after all the Amazon Shop With Points code hasn’t been working for a month!

  • Harry T says:

    20 Aug20 August 15:53

    Maybe they withdrew the cash on Curve linked to a miles earning credit card?

    • Lady London says:

      20 Aug20 August 16:09

      Notes more likely to have been cleaner notes if obtained from a Bank machine.

      • Freddy says:

        20 Aug20 August 18:53

        I’ve been tempted to go back to old fashioned cash when I’ve thought of the time I’ve spent researching points….how my finances and life would be so simplified with just a wad of notes in my wallet rather than a amex card, a MasterCard, a curve card, a revolut card, a reward bank account card….but strangely I don’t change, it’s like a weird geeky hobby that I keep on coming back to!

      • Harry T says:

        20 Aug20 August 19:57

        It was a rather dry joke! You are correct, of course.

  • Alex Sm says:

    21 Aug21 August 16:34

    Most modern supermarkets do not give points on alcohol purchases nowadays, so cash might be justified

• John says:

  20 Aug20 August 13:30

  I haven’t paid for Northern travel in a while, every time I go up there I get delayed which means they send me a free ticket. As I get delayed on the free ticket they just send me another one.

• Pat says:

  20 Aug20 August 14:03

  OT – No status, travelling Business Class to Colombo on a BA ticket bought from ba.com – travel from LHR T4 (Qatar Airways code share). Any idea what lounge I will get?

  Can see three lounges listed on the oneworld website – Malaysia Golden, Qatar Premium and Skyteam. BA not listed on the eligible airlines listing (for the T4 lounges).

  Which one is best? Can I visit more than one lounge? Lounge newbie here!

  • Michael says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:15

    No contest – Qatar, plus your gate will be next to the lounge. Malaysian lounge is ok but might not be open depending on your flight time. The Skyteam lounge is pretty basic but does have a spa/massage whereas Qatar do not.

  • Rob says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:32

    Assuming your ticket gets you in (and they have odd rules) use Qatar. It is a very ‘adult’ lounge though so I would avoid it if you have kids. Great for grown ups who get to have a very sensible meal in Qatar’s restaurant.

• TedL says:

  20 Aug20 August 14:09

  O/T, Going Club first time to NYC early September from T5, pilots willing, what are the options for lounges? Will be returning late September from Toronto, anyone have idea of lounge options there?
  TIA

  • Tony says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:23

    We used the Air France lounge in Toronto with our Priority Passes and it was good. The internet was excellent there – managed to stream a football match while eating bolognese pasta and sipping more than acceptable red wine. My only criticism was that the food was a bit sporadic but was good when it arrived as the lounge was pretty busy.

  • Rob says:

    20 Aug20 August 14:31

    Galleries Club South, Club North and B. If you know the flight is off a B or C gate, which it almost certainly will be, I would use the lounge in Satellite B. The problem, because BA hates announcing gates early, is that you will need to persuade the check-in staff to tell you it is off a B or C gate because it doesn’t show on the board until fairly late in order to keep you in the shops in A.

    • Anna says:

      20 Aug20 August 16:16

      I usually google the flight number in the days running up to a flight. In the case of trans-Atlantics so far it’s always shown B or C gates, so I’ve always headed to the B lounge and never been caught out. Plenty of time to get over to C concourse if necessary once they announce it. Though last time we went into the B lounge the desk staff told us straight away our flight would be departing from C and to give ourselves plenty of time.

• Michael says:

  20 Aug20 August 14:27

  O/T, I received an email from the old Avios store saying that my account, now closed, had been credited. I assumed that the transfer was automatic but was surprised to find that my wife’s BA account shows points crediting from Avios.com whereas mine does not. Quick call to Avios, then to BA Executive Club and voila 33k Avios!

  Not sure if anyone else has experienced issues with the migration but potentially worth chasing up for a welcome surprise!

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