British Airways launches its new TV ad tonight – take a peek here

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• John says:

  7 May7 May 03:35

  Porto Rotondo Curio looks cool, when they finally add it

• Steve says:

  7 May7 May 03:46

  I see Harvey Nick’s sell their own gift cards online, presume the offer will work on those? Just need to work out if even with the discount, their prices are comparable for what I need.

  • BSI1978 says:

    7 May7 May 05:24

    T&C’s state gift cards and vouchers excluded.

    • BSI1978 says:

      7 May7 May 05:25

      …. although as online purchases work, unsure how this would be picked up.

  • Ian says:

    7 May7 May 05:30

    Amex can’t see what you spend it on at the store. Online might be via a third party.

  • Alan says:

    7 May7 May 05:47

    In store GCs will be fine but beware online ones are often processed by a 3rd party and wouldn’t be eligible.

    • Andrew says:

      7 May7 May 07:03

      Harvey Nics gift cards are processed as a normal purchase, not a third party, so trigger the offer without a problem. BA store works on gift card purchase too, but at the much lower rate of 2 Avios per pound.

      • Andrew says:

        7 May7 May 07:04

        And yes on my Platinum and all the supps at £200/£50

      • Benilyn says:

        7 May7 May 07:56

        @Andrew – just to check that is buying GC online right?

        • Andrew says:

          7 May7 May 08:15

          Correct.

        • Benilyn says:

          7 May7 May 11:01

          Thanks Andrew

• bafan says:

  7 May7 May 04:23

  The sometimes shady commentary on this site 1) makes me lol out loud and 2) keeps me coming back. Much better than the usually saccharine blogs of your American counterparts.

  • mr_jetlag says:

    7 May7 May 06:20

    yes Rob’s slightly arch tone (Gogglebox? ew) is refreshing although puts some readers off.

    • Nick G says:

      7 May7 May 06:35

      I actually like gogglebox! Maybe I’m in a minority of readers on this site that do

      • C says:

        7 May7 May 07:02

        +1 Gives you enough ammunition for the water cooler conversation about AC-12 or whatever other TV is going on by only watching an hour per week. A bit like the bluffing literary types who appear to albe to read a superhuman amount but actually only read the book review column in the Sunday paper. I thought gogglebox would be right up the street of busy jet setters.

      • Chris Heyes says:

        7 May7 May 07:04

        Never heard of gogglebox, heard of Facebook, Instagram but never used or even looked (kids n grandkids have tho)

      • Joan says:

        7 May7 May 07:13

        I like Gogglebox too – makes me laugh , especially the couple in the caravan in Hull!

    • Tony says:

      7 May7 May 06:41

      Not sure it’s refreshing. Always comes across as Rob doing his Hyacinth Bucket impression whenever he’s sniffy about these things. Plays to the crowd that fill the comments section, I suppose. 🙄

      • TeesTraveller says:

        7 May7 May 07:54

        Maybe it says more about Rob’s view of the HfP customer base …..

      • Steve says:

        7 May7 May 07:55

        +1 not refreshing, very up ones self ish

      • Andrew says:

        7 May7 May 08:03

        And surely part of the point of advertising is to acquire new customers rather than just talk to existing ones. And so BA advertising during a very high rating programme makes perfect sense. Companies want everyone’s money, not just some people’s money.

        • Catalan says:

          7 May7 May 08:31

          @Andrew
          +1

    • AJA says:

      7 May7 May 09:24

      The tone of the editorial is Rob’s prerogative but rather like BA trying to sell to as many people as possible it is perhaps a tad unwise to discourage new subscribers.

      As for Gogglebox it is both a ratings success for C4 and an entertaining programme where ordinary people review what’s on TV. So it actually has something in common with this website albeit here the focus is on travel.

      • Rob says:

        7 May7 May 10:23

        The guy who owns Zoom was in the press this week saying that even he doesn’t like using Zoom any more ….

      • WaynedP says:

        7 May7 May 10:30

        Indeed. Zoom etc are game-changers, but to a limited degree.

        Also interesting article in Fin Times this week about Lufthansa’s survey of SME in Germany (Mittelstand) and their optimism that business travel is far from dead drawn from their survey findings & feedback.

      • flyforfun says:

        7 May7 May 11:14

        For all the Zoom fatigue there is, those that have entrenched themselves in the suburbs and rural boltholes won’t mind the odd day in the big smoke. But spending 2 hrs+ travelling each way for a 1hr meeting isn’t a good use of time, especially if you are a consultant working on multiple contracts.

        And I know a lot of my network have had travel budgets slashed this year and next. When I was drawing it up for my team last year we optimistically based it on half the previous year (2019), not expecting such a devastating second wave. We’re only considering Q4 as maybe to restart travel at the moment and only for essential meetings that can’t be done remotely.

        The view for 2022 is that it will be very limited travel. During surveys we’re doing with staff there are comments from people saying they don’t want to travel and they don’t want to have people from foreign offices visit. And surprisingly very few are planning holidays abroad this summer. The only ones who definitely want to travel are those with family abroad.

  • WaynedP says:

    7 May7 May 09:33

    @bafan +1

• Meyers says:

  7 May7 May 06:48

  La Bagnaia leaving Hilton? No surprises there. It’s a beautiful place, run terribly! It’s family owned that used to be run by the matriarch. When she died, the place was being run into the ground. Very poor and certainly not up to Hilton Curio standards – they must have had a whole bank of points to pull from, as they were handing them out to every person who wasn’t happy, including myself. What a shame, it could be so lovely! Bye bye Bagnaia!

• tony says:

  7 May7 May 07:01

  Just had an IHG offer arrive by e-mail. Stay two nights by end of July, get a reward night worth up to 40k in return. I was focusing on Hilton to try and get Platinum, but that looks like a worthwhile offer….

  • Andrew says:

    7 May7 May 07:06

    Mine is stay 1 night get 5k

  • gareth says:

    7 May7 May 07:56

    Got this too, shame it doesn’t cover stays booked with points! ‘A Qualifying Stay is defined as a minimum 1-night stay booked under a Qualifying Rate, with total spend exceeding $30 per night.’

• Mouse says:

  7 May7 May 07:24

  Which ski hotels are available for redemptions?

  • Memesweeper says:

    7 May7 May 07:56

    Very few in the Alps. There was a Raddisson in Les Arcs, that’s gone AFAIK. There’s a couple of Hiltons and IHGs in Davos. Could be worth an article @Rob.

    If you want to ski on points North America has much richer pickings. Five days at the Resident Inn Mont Tremblant, for instance, is a great redemption for a family of four skiing.

    • S says:

      7 May7 May 08:20

      IC Davos also leaving. See their Instagram.

      • Simon says:

        7 May7 May 09:46

        So upset that the Intercontinental in Davos is leaving it was a great hotel and a really good redemption, particularly at Christmas / New Year time plus you got good benefits with Bon Vivant / ambassador status. Also it was just a very nice relaxing place, the new owners say they’re going to “inject a liveliness” into it, which just sounds awful

    • tony says:

      7 May7 May 14:10

      Aren’t there a couple of Hyatts in the French Alps? Quick google flagged up Hyatt Centric La Rosiere but I’m thinking there’s another one, too.

      Have to think that ski hotels work on such a different model to other properties, mind. Wonder if that’s why the points model doesn’t work. A 12 week season, of which for around 5 weeks they simply can’t meet demand.

      I stayed at the Kaiserhof in Kitzbuhel, just a year after it left Best Western. Very swish and certainly not the sort of property I recall as being a BW! (And incredibly convenient for the lift, too!)

      • Rob says:

        7 May7 May 14:56

        In theory they do better than most resort hotels. A beach hotel in Europe is only busy between Easter and September at best. A good ski resort is busy over the Winter and does a lot of hiking business over the Summer.

        We’ve been to Cavallino four times but only in the Summer although my kids are a little big now to be chased around by a man in a mouse costume. Been to Elmauhof a few times but only Winter. We really need to mix it up at some point ….

  • Oh! Matron! says:

    7 May7 May 08:45

    There’s a hilton in Whistler. Watch out for it’s shitty cancellation policy though (was something like 30 days on a fully flexible stay)

    • Roger W says:

      7 May7 May 08:57

      I book mine thru Hotel.com via BA site. Prefer the flexibility to ski the best off-piste resorts and get reasonable free nights. Actually I find that if Crytalski use the hotel you can rarely beat the price. TUI can get a better rate than you or I.

      • Roger W says:

        7 May7 May 09:36

        As example Sporthotel St Anton 15th January 22. Crystal with flights, transfer and HB £2140. Hotels.com £2577 HB alone.
        Okay folk will get sniffy about flying TUI. Use one of those lounge passes and take an ipad to while away the short flight.

• Harry T says:

  7 May7 May 07:45

  Yeah, we have it on multiple non platinum cards.

• WaynedP says:

  7 May7 May 08:24

  Any indication / thoughts on future strategy for Grand Tirolia ?

  Will it just revert to being another independent, or is it eyeing up a different partnership with another chain ?

  If the former, what advantages was it expecting from a Hilton sign-up that have not been delivered ?

  Looks like a nice place, which we would definitely consider for a couples walking / spa holiday, especially if it came with Marriott Bonvoy points in future.

  • Richster says:

    7 May7 May 09:11

    It is a nice place, I was there in 2019 briefly, and it was very nice. Shame it’s leaving the group, I would easily have gone back next time.

    • Rob says:

      7 May7 May 09:16

      If you rarely go to that part of the world, you won’t know that there are lots and lots of equally plush hotels which look like Tirolia. I get a feeling that this was an attempt to get bookings from people who were confused by a market which is 90% unbranded – and the other 10% is local brands – especially Americans.

      We stayed at the A-Rosa in Kitzbuhel in 2019. A-Rosa is genuinely ‘in’ Kitzbuhel, unlike Tirolia, but of course this means you aren’t surrounded by as much greenery.

      Similar places we have used a lot and are great for kids are this https://www.ellmauhof.at/en/index.html and in Italy https://www.cavallino-bianco.com/en/family-holidays-italy/1-0.html The latter is particularly impressive.

      • tony says:

        7 May7 May 14:16

        I’ll add the Baer in Serfaus https://www.loewebaer.com/en and the Zauchenseehof in Zauchensee https://www.zauchenseehof.com/en/ as two more brilliant hotels if you want to take the kids skiing.

        Just hope those hotels are getting enough support to see them through one and a half ruined seasons.

      • WaynedP says:

        7 May7 May 15:56

        Thanks all – good looking, helpful suggestions. I do need to educate myself on that part of the world.

        Our children are getting too old and independent for family holidays all together, but you never know – these venues may be a good option to take all or some of them once they have significant others who are keen skiers. I’m happy to pootle about on the beginners’ slopes and focus on co-ordinating convivial apres-ski events.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.