[zio]

Thank you

Your flying from Malaysia 🙂[/quote]

🙂

I’m pretty sure the availability issue will be simply that the flights have all gone. There is just a chance that you are falling foul of the reported issue with return searches, so you could try searching one-way from JNB and see if anything pops up.

[zio]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. It seems as if I might not get the hotel or city at its absolute best but I’ve decided it’s where I’d like to visit.

[zio]

Received wisdom is that you will be fine. Obviously no guarantee, though. I have had 100% “success” rate doing this, but haven’t tried recently. If you do cancel, please report back to add to the collective knowledge.

[zio]

Anyone fancy a small wager?

[zio]

As per today’s open jaw thread, training seems to be lacking among BA agents when using Barclays upgrade vouchers.
If I have understood your booking correctly I agree with @Anna that another phone call is in order.
My data point: 2 weeks ago I booked LON-AUS online with a BUV. 67500 avios + £225. Phoned yesterday to add the return. Charged 67500 + 225 as expected. Agent clearly knew what he was doing; all completed inside 15 mins including wait time.

[zio]

@meta thank you for some interesting and useful notes. A similar trip is definitely on my radar. I look forward to part 2!

[zio]

3 weeks ago, 9am, No1 was full but I got into MyLounge without pre-booking so it’s worth a go. It wasn’t rammed, though a couple of people lying across sofas were managing to take up about 8 spaces. As for the booking fee, I enjoyed my fry up in relative peace but didn’t/ wouldn’t bother reserving entry.

[zio]

In the Barclays app click on the BC line which brings up your list of transactions.
Click on “view your avios” just under the spend bar.
Scroll down. Just under the circular spend tracker is a button saying “explore reward choice” or similar. Click there to make your choice.
If you have premier a/c there will be the anniversary rewards tracker under that, and then a button saying “explore anniversary rewards”. Click there.

[zio]

Worth checking out this thread https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/south-africa-at-the-end-november-and-beginning-of-december/ and the trip report posted afterwards by @YorkshireRich (I’m not sure if posting two links still causes issues, but it will be easy enough to find).
I don’t disagree with anything above from @JDB except to affirm that there is still plenty of beauty along the garden route. I don’t disagree with anything above from @jek but would add my opinion that while Boplaas’ port may be SA’s best it won’t trouble Portugal’s best. Calitzdorp (Boplaas) is apparently SA’s safest town – the only place you will hear “it’s safe to go out after dark here.” After hearing the opposite so frequently (though I have never encountered any issues in SA) it was a real shock to be told this on arrival!
I remain an evangelist for de Hoop (the Mr & Mrs Smith seems to have reflagged) – one of my most memorable afternoons standing on the dunes watching a sea of whales.

[zio]

No restrictions (as far as I am aware). I completed it with cheap one night stays (US and Spain).
The only slight pain imo is that you aren’t eligible if you are already gold. I opened a new account but still have a dormant gold account. I requalified via stays last year but won’t this year. I was wondering how many people do this challenge repeatedly with new email accounts…

[zio]

The reward for card spending triggers when you pass 10k in your card year- the voucher expiry clock starts when you trigger it so you may want to delay (if you have another place to direct cc spend)… but don’t forget to hit the 10k before your card year is up!
The Barclays anniversary voucher comes with their bank account not the Barclaycard, and is triggered on the anniversary of you choosing to enrol in the “avios rewards” scheme as opposed to “blue rewards”.

[zio]

Correct.

[zio]

Yes you can change your mind. I tested it this morning.

[zio]

I think most will value them roughly the same as avios. They both transfer 1:1 from amex MR.

[zio]

Ah! I thought about the music once I was on the plane. I think it would be fair to say you need to like your reggae. Fortunately, to quote 10cc’s cod-reggae, “I love it”. Personally I would call it background rather than loud, but it is there all day. Starts at 7 in the breakfast area and gets a bit louder and more general from 8. Until at least 9pm.
The continental breakfast is definitely gluten heavy, though the aforementioned chocolate dessert was flour free.
Places to explore locally pretty limited: Pigeon Island and Gros Islet town.
I did find my 5 nights at the Curio very restful, but on the whole I preferred my 5 nights around Soufriere.
Glad to have helped, even if only by taking it off the short list.

[zio]

@Peter K – Curio Harbour Club. (Sorry this is a bit of a thread hijack as it definitely isn’t adult only).
First of all I should say that a ‘flop’ type of hotel is not at all my usual style so I am probably lacking some important comparatives. However… I thought the pool area was great, with 5 separate pools, so cabana area (half day use comped for diamond) is separate from the pool for swim-up rooms, which is separate from the ‘main’ pool with swim-up bar… Rooms were finished nicely, and the hotel is quite new. Everything was push-button, no switches or knobs. Excellent aircon. Nespresso, fridge, safe, Noir by White Company toiletries, comfortable bed etc. Food was decent without being outstanding. A tasty goat curry, chocolate dessert and 2 local beers was 55USD inc tax, 10% added service and 5% extra tip. Breakfast for diamonds was continental, with not a huge spread. For unexplained reasons 2 days out of 5 I was given a coupon for the cooked buffet, which was again decent but not spectacular. As a data point there was no attempt to charge for these randomly given cooked breakfasts.
If you have ambitions to do more than flop then the hotel is not as convenient as it might seem. You are just a couple of minutes’ walk from the marina restaurants but despite the physical proximity of reduit beach it is an unpleasant 25 minute walk or 5-10 minute drive. The transfer to the airport is 95USD and if you aren’t hiring a car be prepared to drop a sizable amount on taxis on the island.
Given that the hotel is going for a flop market, I think your overall enjoyment is going to depend greatly on your room. The hotel is built right on the main road, sandwiched between it and the harbour. If you get a basic room or one with island or mountain “view” I think you will be very disappointed. I was upgraded (diamond on a points stay) to a marina view balcony room, which I loved and found a very relaxing spot. As far as I can tell there are only 32 of these rooms (plus a few suites and 8 swim-up rooms).
Apologies for the ramble. If you have any specific questions I will do my best with them.

[zio]

Peter K wrote:

zio wrote:

I’m currently at curio harbour club st Lucia and did get 5th night free.

This is on my radar, but mixed reviews seen. How are you finding it?

I can use my time at the airport tomorrow to pull some thoughts together. I’ll post in the destinations thread which has been active recently.

[zio]

I’m currently at curio harbour club st Lucia and did get 5th night free.

[zio]

omicron wrote:

Is Bendy Curve? Can’t figure out Yonder!

Yes, this question dates you like a pair of flares.

[zio]

Good luck with the phone call. Please do report back. I think I am in the same situation. Unexpectedly, being a long time Barclays premier customer and early adopter of the avios CC, I had 25k and an email saying I’ll be getting the 100k.
I assumed my email triggered because the two products didn’t link properly for 6 months and I was still quite optimistic the 100k would land in the fullness of time until your post.

[zio]

jj wrote:

I accepted the offer, thinking that I could easily reopen with FOS if necessary.

I’ve been credited with November’s points, but October’s are missing. I had spent £10,000 and my anniversary date was in the shut-down period, but haven’t received a voucher (I think – where are you all seeing yours?).

I think I have also had November but not October points.

Voucher visible if I log into IHG on my mobile, go to “my account” and then scroll down. I think that is where they always used to appear when on a mobile.

[zio]

So far we have vouchers for 3 refuseniks, and for one who accepted. No voucher for one refusenik, and no voucher for jj (sorry if it is upthread but I don’t recall if you accepted.)
A little random.
Everyone seems short of points. Maybe only one month has been transferred (so far).
Just wondering exactly what Creation are doing!

Edit- my numbers are already out of date! Floodgates about to open on the thread again…

[zio]

Thank you for the heads-up. I also rejected the offer and have had the free night voucher and 18 points of goodwill gesture added. Will need to go back and check how this relates to the points I was owed… it is one month of spotify sub I forgot to cancel but I think there was another month of negligible spend.

Agreed this is an odd way of going about it, but we seem to have the vouchers quicker than by taking the offer!

When rejecting the offer, I made it clear I wanted nothing else and was happy to accept once I was told I was “eligible” for the voucher.

I’m feeling resolution, for me personally, is close despite my FOS complaint remaining active. When they next get in touch I might mention the fee refund but that wasn’t part of my complaint claim. In fact, anyone checked their suspended cc account and found a refund?

[zio]

This has been asked before, but not since yesterday. I’ll post the same link as @SteveJ https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/ba-pp-amex-downgrade-or-cancel/ It gives the answer and has some discussion around related topics. Plenty of more recent discussion about all of these topics in the forum.

[zio]

My top two would be Iguazu and Machu Picchu. Obvious, but there we go.

However, a triangle between those two and Santiago will take at least three of your nine days up in travel (I’m not sure you will get from Santiago or Iguazu to MP in a day). To me that feels like a lot of flying and not much holiday- you’ve set quite a challenge to fit a continent into nine days.