[Ruralite]

Have you thought about the Moselle region, Trier, Cochem & lots of lovely little places in that region have their own markets. Probably have to fly to Luxembourg & hire a car though and then it’s not that far from there to drive.

[Ruralite]

To add to the above, the UAE is also one of the easier holiday destinations for Russians currently to holiday in. We moved back from AUH earlier this year & noticed (in the hotel part of the 5* Aparthotel residence we lived in) a marked increase in Russian tourists on what appeared to be AI type package holidays & other hotels were similarly busy with them.

[Ruralite]

Oct/Nov is going into the high season as the weather cools down. March/April can still be relatively clement (although in the last couple of years they have got hotter). Also depending when Easter falls it is popular for holidays whilst you still haven’t reached the high summer heat & humidity. Around Eid is always expensive due to the public holiday, now often lasting a week for many expat workers & locals, attracting people in to the city & beach resorts.

[Ruralite]

I thought my renewal due next month as my latest monthly statement came with an annual spend/fee statement, so went on chat in app this morning to say with fee increase etc not sure I would continue with Platinum & to ask if any retention offers available in my account. After checking was offered 50K which I accepted. Renewal & annual fee billing is apparently early October so I’m not sure why I got the annual spend statement mid July unless that ties in with my old gold account.

[Ruralite]

Center Parcs until 13/7 spend £1K get £75 back appeared on Plat. card this morning & And Begin (no me either!) spend £20 or more & get £10 back up to 3 times until 14/8 on both Plat. and free BA Amex

[Ruralite]

HampshireHog wrote:

Anyone with experience of booking a UK hotel with a partner rate which states that a deposit will be taken as to whether the full amount is charged in advance or failing that would a phone call prompt them to take it without emailed forms?

I emailed the Indigo, Glasgow directly last summer a couple of days before arrival as the offer was due to run out & asked them to take payment for my cancellable rate from the card held in the IHG account. They just did it with no sending out of forms & it worked with the cashback posting a couple of days later. Have to say I’ve not tried it anywhere else so that could have been a one off.

[Ruralite]

SBIre wrote:

I had a look at September for Dublin, Cork and Shannon, and you are not wrong! I think your best bet is to contact one of the smaller local places directly and see if they will do you a deal directly

Think we will now try that, then if nothing better from a local place will have to decide on either large from Belfast or 2 small cars from Dublin.

[Ruralite]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

All I could think when I read this was the Irish pronunciation veh-hickle

Yes was a bit of veh-hickle repetition reading it again! 🤣🤣

[Ruralite]

Yes I noticed the Melbourne Florida @phantomchicke nz!

I’ve tried a city location rather than airport hire, which would actually be more convenient for pick up when we move on, as we want a few days in the city to sightsee and recover from the flight first of all without paying to park a car we’re not actually using. Funnily enough city location is the one that has mostly either brought up ridiculous sums or just said not available. Maybe I’m too far ahead and should wait a couple of months and try again 🤷‍♀️

[Ruralite]

Thanks everyone. Yes I’m getting some extremes in car hire quotes too which is why I wanted more info, from around £750 for a Yaris or similar with a search via Qatar’s site/Kayak to figures of 4 – 4.5k if I check direct with providers like Avis. It made me wonder if some were too cheap & therefore totally unreliable! I think I’m just going to spend some time over the bank holiday doing a proper trawl & book something that’s acceptable with a cancellable rate if possible in case it reduces later. It looks like, at the moment anyway, with the one way add on the Qashqai at £960 is a good deal for 3 weeks unlimited mileage.

[Ruralite]

Maples wrote:

Good Evening.

Apple iPhone 15 – Spend £800 or more, get £80 back
Mandarin Oriental – Spend £500 or more, get £100 back every time
NET-A-PORTER – Spend £600 or more, get £100 back
MR PORTER – Spend £400 or more, get £80 back
The Economist Sub – Spend £199 or more, get £65 back

All on my Gold card. None of these on my Platinum Cashback Everyday card – it’s only got 4 offers available right now.

All these are on my Platinum card today

[Ruralite]

£100 back on £300 spend at Claridges, Connaught & The Berkeley appeared on my Platinum card this morning – return of hotel offers starting?🤞

[Ruralite]

Reney wrote:

I’m shocked to wake up to no chat on the Emirates spend £800 get back £100 offer.

Also:
AO.com spend £500 get back £50
Samsung experience spend £800 get back 10% up to £250.

Got all those on my Platinum card although I think Emirates is the only offer of any use to me currently.

[Ruralite]

The Ivy gift cards will trigger the credit but I am fairly certain you have to buy in The Ivy rather than online but someone else may know differently.

[Ruralite]

Skywalker wrote:

ExpatInBerlin wrote:

The Amex Dining offer (which presumably expired on 3rd October?) has only just shown up on my Plat card offers tab today! When I saved the offer, thinking it might be a new one, I received an confirmatory email from Amex stating: “Your dining Offer is now ready to serve you over 100 dining partners – enjoy 10% back every time until 3 October 2023.” – not very helpful seeing as it expired nearly a fortnight ago…

The email is probably a copy and paste hangover from the last campaign – I think this current offer is until 19/11/23

Expiry showing correctly as 19 November in my saved offers but the email I got to say I’d registered (again) was a cut and paste of the original with the wrong expiry date. If my members week offers are what arrived this morning then it’s totally unimpressive, a new Dyson or another Bose item we do not need. Might use the B & M with a fiver off for a stock up of xmas chocolates etc for gifts but thats about it!

[Ruralite]

BBbetter wrote:

Ruralite wrote:

UPDATE – Applied for the upgrade via the link today (thanks JDB for posting the link, meant I didn’t have to search for it) and was approved almost as soon as I had signed the electronic signature. Both the card showing in my account and in Apple Pay turned Platinum before I even received the confirmatory email and I’m guessing the pro rate Gold refund and any Platinum offers that are different to Gold, plus the Harvey Nicks and dining credits etc, will show over the next few days. Very easy, just need to make sure I get full value out of the fee now!

The Deliveroo offer might also continue for some time.

No use where I live – the clue’s in the name!

[Ruralite]

UPDATE – Applied for the upgrade via the link today (thanks JDB for posting the link, meant I didn’t have to search for it) and was approved almost as soon as I had signed the electronic signature. Both the card showing in my account and in Apple Pay turned Platinum before I even received the confirmatory email and I’m guessing the pro rate Gold refund and any Platinum offers that are different to Gold, plus the Harvey Nicks and dining credits etc, will show over the next few days. Very easy, just need to make sure I get full value out of the fee now!

[Ruralite]

Thanks everyone. May not be guaranteed an upgrade, although they have offered it me via my account every so often, and based on the annual amount I put through my Gold card & my repayment record I’d be very surprised (and annoyed) if they refused me, although you never know!

[Ruralite]

Graviation wrote:

KLM ‘spend £1,000 get £150 back’ offer has appeared on my Platinum. Use by 2 October.

Yes on my Gold Amex too, valid to 02 Oct. I recently used the last one which was Air France discount but can log in via either AF or KLM so offer will work with either airline – I booked via AF but flew KLM.

Also have Peninsula hotel offer today, spend £500 get £100 back to 24 Nov.

[Ruralite]

Andrew J wrote:

A few highlights from the myriad offers launched for the first Monday in April:

Harrods – spend £300, get 10% back up to £50.

A multi-use dining offer on the Gold card for 10% back at a range of different restaurants.

Nespresso – spend £60, get £20 back.

Harrods is in store only on my Gold card and Nespresso only on my BA Blue card. Had no issues with the dining offer links on my iphone although, again, not much there locally for us out in the sticks unless we make a visit into the city 🙂

[Ruralite]

Emirates spend £800 gat £100 back appeared on my gold card today, valid to 30 April for first 10k to save.

[Ruralite]

My £200 for Air France appeared today too. I had forgotten about it and wasn’t actually expecting it to pay out as the flight didn’t start from the UK, it was Accra to UK return but booked from the UK and paid for in sterling. My understanding of the offer was that the flight had to depart from the UK but maybe I was wrong and as long as it’s not rescinded I’ll consider it a nice bonus 😊

[Ruralite]

I’ve had no issues with mine at all and all credits prompt. £20 on Gold Amex credited 2 days after a cumulative payment to bring spend up to £100 & so far today 2 x £15 credits on my BA card for Vision Express and Sportshoes.com purchases I made on Saturday 6th. All purchases show as PayPal* followed by the retailers name when debiting.
Not sure why but on my Gold card the £100 credit (separate offer) for a Tui spend showed as Thomson, the old name before Tui, but via PayPal a debit for them shows as PayPal *Tui – but both still paid out.

[Ruralite]

Update on the Tui cash back, I’ve just got round to checking my account and the £100 credited 2 days after the pending Tui debit went through so, in my experience anyway, Amex seem to have upped their game in processing offers.

[Ruralite]

Thanks YC, I will have a look at them.