Save at Hotel du Vin when you stay and dine on a Sunday

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

• BJ says:

  21 Aug21 August 11:08

  Is trip com reliable? I saw Aegean fares on there that were about £35 less than booking direct or other OLTA.

  I’ve heard twice this year of people having to buy bew train tickets when unable to bring up digital railcards at ticket inspection.

  • jannis says:

    21 Aug21 August 11:58

    its a chinese company

    • Jet says:

      21 Aug21 August 13:55

      Which means better interface and easy to navigate?

  • The Original David says:

    21 Aug21 August 12:52

    Yes, I’ve bought dozens of flights, train tickets (and a railcard) through Trip.com, never had a problem.

  • Anouj says:

    21 Aug21 August 13:50

    The only issue with railcards on trip.com is it seems to require internet. For flights it’s been fine for me and i’ve earned trip coins on top. On wednesdays you get £3 off extra too. Currently also giving £10 off if you use the app to book. I only book europe short haul flights on there as lastminute.com has a price guarantee if flight prices drop which has returned me over £200 so it does seem to be real. (plus 10% back with complete savings)

  • Lady London says:

    21 Aug21 August 15:22

    yes, and not just for hotels. owned by ctrip. always worth a look due their massive buying power.

  • BJ says:

    21 Aug21 August 16:31

    Thanks to all for your various comments on trip. I’ll have a look and may give it a try. Lastminute too; I did use that successfully years ago (used to save me a packet on old Thistle Inverness as a secret hotel) but I had been wary of it in recent years due to some negative feedback.

    Just to clarify my points on digital railcards were not related to Trip.

    • Erico1875 says:

      21 Aug21 August 19:32

      BJ. They have an Edinburgh call centre. I think they own Skyscanner too. Massive online agent

      • BJ says:

        21 Aug21 August 19:43

        Now you mention it, I think I read skyscanner was bought by a Chines company. Trip usually appears at the top og their list of booking agents too.

      • Dubious says:

        22 Aug22 August 06:17

        I think you might be getting confused with Agoda which *is* Singapore-based.

        Trip.com is very much a Chinese company – headquartered in Shanghai. It used to be called CTrip (C representing China) until they wanted to rebrand to be seen as less China-centric (or maybe just less Chinese).

      • Dubious says:

        22 Aug22 August 06:18

        PS. Trip.com also own TrainPal – and occasionally give similar Railcard discounts.

• Brussel Sprout says:

  21 Aug21 August 11:36

  Just got a railcard for €7.28 on trip.com – had to buy a rail ticket as well before the railcard was issued.

  • Londonsteve says:

    22 Aug22 August 12:53

    And to book a hotel, with checkout in the next 26 days, according to the current offer.

• Londonsteve says:

  21 Aug21 August 12:03

  Does anyone know the potential relevance of the Network Railcard for someone like myself who lives in London, could potentially buy day travelcards (as opposed to using contactless daily caps) and might want to frequently use the Elizabeth line to and from Heathrow? Can you use the Network card to reduce the cost of a one-way EL fare to Heathrow? Also, for rail journeys to Luton or Gatwick (currently paid on contactless) could I derive any real discount using a Network card?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    21 Aug21 August 12:23

    It will only discount fares of more than £13 (mon – fri) as £13 is the minimum fare. Different on a weekend.

    Easiest if you just play with the website and see which journies it will work for

    I don’t think it would work on a single lizzie line trip though

    Have a play with this tool to see if it works for your trips

    https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/about-the-railcard/journey-planner/

    But one day travel cards could be ending next year.

    • aseftel says:

      21 Aug21 August 12:42

      I think it will work on some EL trips, especially on the weekend where there isn’t a min fare (and contactless doesn’t have off-peak pricing for Heathrow). From Farringdon to Heathrow 2&3 on Saturday, I make it £13.30 for a contactless single fare and £9.95 for an Off-Peak Day Single with the railcard discount.

      Also worth noting that your Network Railcard also covers three other adults and four other children travelling with you.

      • Nick says:

        21 Aug21 August 12:49

        Because of the way return fares are normally single+10p, it’s usually cheaper to touch in for Crossrail if you’re only going one-way, but buy a railcard-discounted paper ticket if you’ll be making a return journey. This is what TfL mean when they write their caveat ‘touching in won’t always be cheaper for all journeys’.

      • Londonsteve says:

        21 Aug21 August 14:32

        TFL seems to suggest that you can still use a Network railcard for 1/3 off a day travelcard at weekends and public holidays. After the discount it becomes £10.03 which is therefore a much better buy.

    • Londonsteve says:

      21 Aug21 August 13:31

      It’s incredibly complicated overall. You’ve got the national rail that everyone knows is the ‘big train’ but going to Luton and Gatwick you can use contactless with peak and off peak fares. If you use contactless then you have to buy the shuttle train to Luton airport separately whereas the railcard should provide a third off the national rail through fare, however that still might not be cheaper, unless you’re travelling in the afternoon TFL ‘peak’ period for contactless (during which off peak national rail fares are however valid), in which case it might be. A journey undertaken exclusively on EL is officially a national rail journey although everyone thinks it’s a tube line and TFL does through fares from tube stations. I would be starting my journey at a suburban tube station and connecting to EL in central London, so unless I tap in and tap out of the Underground to then continue my journey to Heathrow with a paper ticket discounted with a railcard (can the ticket office at Tottenham Court Road even sell me one?) it isn’t going to work.

      I think one used to be able to get one third off paper day travelcards at weekends which would be cheaper than even a single ride on the EL to of from Heathrow but it appears you can’t use the Network Railcard for this any longer. And indeed as has been mentioned elsewhere here, day travelcards might be vanishing soon.

      Overall I’m still flummoxed and can’t work out if I’d get my £19 back over the course of a year. Feels a bit like gambling and then I’ll consider my journeys on a case-by-case basis to work out what’s cheaper. There’s also the instant convenience of contactless versus the time factor of buying individual paper tickets before each journey in order to benefit from the railcard discount.

      I don’t generally take the train other than to airports as I have a car and rail fares being what they are, it’s usually cheaper to drive.

  • Louis says:

    21 Aug21 August 12:33

    I am using my Rail Card discount on the EL often but it also apply to any LU/LO/DLR journey. For London to LHR journey you can save £4.6 or more with splitting in Hayes & Harlington. Also you can us Piccadilly Line and Save much more

    • Londonsteve says:

      21 Aug21 August 14:22

      The railcard gets you a discount on an EL journey including the LU, DLR, etc parts? How do you buy a ticket from, say Bow to Heathrow via the EL and use the railcard?

      I never thought about splitting the journey at H&H but yes, it saves quite a bit. I just assumed that fares would be the same as HAL takes its £5 tunnel fee and makes local fares disproportionately expensive, e.g. £6.90 to H&H by EL but only £1.75 on the express bus.

      • Louis says:

        21 Aug21 August 15:58

        You must have to buy an oyster card and link it with your Railcard at a TFL station to get discount on your journey. I live after you and travel to the LHR using this method depending on the time. Using EL by splitting in H&H is the best option to get the best fare which will be £6.85. It’s possible to get even more save but I can’t officially recommend it

        • Londonsteve says:

          21 Aug21 August 22:47

          Ah, the only railcard I’m entitled to buy is the Network Railcard and that doesn’t offer 1/3 off off peak Oyster fares. You must be entitled to one of the other railcards.

• MattB says:

  21 Aug21 August 12:20

  Coincidentally bought the railcard via Trip on Saturday for our journey yesterday. I also had to buy a ticket through Trip to activate the railcard, so bought a 10p fare between 2 stations i’d never heard of which did the job.

  • Hooch says:

    21 Aug21 August 14:56

    Can you let me know the two stations you chose ? (Just in case I need to make the same journey myself … 😉)

    • MattB says:

      21 Aug21 August 21:15

      Actually just checked and realised the railcard was booked via Trainpal 🙄, so assume no need if booking via Trip.

      Regardless it was Lichfield city to Lichfield trent valley

• Dawn says:

  21 Aug21 August 13:55

  I bought a seniors railcard as I wanted to use the train after selling my car. Nearly every one of my trips has been cancelled due to strike action. Trying to get from Basingstoke to London was impossible as every train was full due to an overtime ban and we were all left standing on the platform.
  So far I have not got the benefit at all and the way things are going with further strikes, I don’t see much point in trying to use the train any more.

• Julia says:

  21 Aug21 August 20:06

  ‘IHG One Rewards is continuing with its back-to-back ‘buy points’ offers which get progressively worse!’

  I’m glad this has been highlighted as a real thing. Looking forward to seeing what’s next.

• Richard says:

  22 Aug22 August 14:35

  Any best guesses as to when the next 100% IHG sale is likely to be?

• Londonsteve says:

  22 Aug22 August 14:37

  I can’t be the only one that would rather pay another tenner for a paper card I can keep in my wallet rather than having to ensure I’ve got my smartphone charged with data connectivity at the critical moment. £10 for 12 months of lower stress is money well spent in my book.

  • Mutley says:

    22 Aug22 August 18:19

    Absolutely Steve. something rather nice about having a physical card, also with hotel gold cards etc, perhaps i’m just old fashioned!!

  • Oviplokos1 says:

    22 Aug22 August 19:11

    Just make screenshot and no need for data connectivity.

    • Rob says:

      22 Aug22 August 21:15

      Screenshots are not meant to be accepted.

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