[dadbod]

RobH not Rob wrote:

Iberostar Joia Salome in Tenerife is great. Seven restaurants onsite, private pool.

15% cashback through Top Cashback and a flash sale is on at the mo.

Adults only so that’s no good for us 🙂

[dadbod]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Useful thread. I am intrigued by Iberostar but also, ahem, a bit fussy. It’d be great if anyone who has stayed could compare the property to a different hotel chain and suggest where said Iberostar property would best fit, e.g. did it feel like a Marriott, or more like a Westin

We’ve stayed in a few. I really like them, but I have young kids so it works for us. They’re not the most luxurious, but they’re clean and functional and the staff are brilliant. Depends on what you’re after I guess but as I say, as a family we really enjoy staying there.

[dadbod]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
At the moment I’m looking at Barcelona, Ljubljana and Warsaw.
Mostly because I’d like to go to those cities 🙂
Anyone have experiences there?
I’m not familiar with the lounges having never stayed in an intercontinental. I assume from the comments not all the hotels have one. Are they only for certain room categories or you can get access if you have status?

[dadbod]

I’m at the Malaga Playa Iberostar and they couldn’t have been less interested in my Platinum status. Charged me €3 a day to use the safe which I find astonishing.

[dadbod]

AndrewT wrote:

The marketing is generic not targeted. Somewhere it will say ‘subject to eligibility’.

Ok thanks.

[dadbod]

davefl wrote:

Only from your own records. You can’t rely on Amex customer service to give yuo a correct answer.

Does that mean the fact that it shows I get a bonus, even when I’m logged in is incorrect?

[dadbod]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

BTW the booking in your account will show you what the base earnings for the booking are and a separate line for the bonus points based on your current statute and takes into account you only earn on the base cost excluding taxes.

Ah yes. Thank you. Seems like I’ll get around 130k base points so getting ambassador would be a good bet.

[dadbod]

Ah it’s 45k points. Still, based on my calculations it seems to be worth it. Will definitely register a couple of weeks before travel to maximise the time of being platinum.

Thanks all, have a lovely weekend

[dadbod]

If I eat in the OXO tower, does this count as the £50 credit? I know you can use HN gift cards in there but not sure about direct spend.
Thanks

[dadbod]

memesweeper wrote:

dadbod wrote:

Could someone who went last time to the similar event tell me what happens exactly? Do you meet at the hotel and then walk to the restaurants on the list?

Basically, yeah. We were split into three groups to avoid all being in the same place at the same time.

Cool, thanks. Is it a social affair where you sit and eat in a big group or does each pair have their own table?

[dadbod]

Could someone who went last time to the similar event tell me what happens exactly? Do you meet at the hotel and then walk to the restaurants on the list?

[dadbod]

Will probably give La Manga a swerve then. La Zabra looks lovely but the lack of a heated outdoor pool is a bit of a worry for the little ones in easter.

[dadbod]

I used mine at the Andaz Liverpool street for a stay next year. They didn’t charge the card so I called and asked them to do it for me.
All went through and got the credit a couple of days later.

[dadbod]

Misty wrote:

Apparently it appears to have been withdrawn.

Ah no way! That’s a real shame.
Finding it really hard at the moment to think of reasons to keep my Amex, especially with the cost increase.

[dadbod]

Professor Yaffle wrote:

It looks from the offers pages that both the Harvey Nichols and two dining benefits are expiring at the end of 2024. Does anyone have any idea if these are extending into next year, or being replaced at all?

Without these, I would seriously doubt the Plat fee remains justifiable.

I am considering cancelling anyway, as my personal offers have been way less valuable this year compared to years past. Also, Priority Pass is of next to no value these days – not due to access issues, but the awful quality of most lounges and the people that inhabit them…
Am planning on dropping to either gold or a basic card, and getting insurance via the Nationwide Flex account (which also has phone insurance, which I would value).

Nationwide flex is increasing its fee in December I believe to £18 a month from £13. Just an fyi

[dadbod]

Sorry, let me add a bit of context. In terms of earning or spending, it is both really as I want to earn more so that I can spend them. I have around 100K at the moment, but what I would like to know is as a family of 5, can you still extract good value from Avios if you have to always have to fly in the school holidays? If I managed to get 4 business class reward seats but then have to spend £3k on the 5th one, then to me that is probably not that good value.
For the BA holidays, I’d be interested in hearing more about that but everytime I look I find it more expensive vs booking separately.

[dadbod]

How did you manage to accumulate 1million avios in a year, if you don’t mind me asking?

[dadbod]

I don’t think it is an issue if the number of Amex offers is low, it more to do with the fact that most of them have been quite useless over the last few months!

[dadbod]

Yeah I got 35k on my platinum too. Pushed for more but they didn’t budge.
Got 20k on my gold a few months ago.

[dadbod]

I’m not going to make it to any of the destinations where they have the credit abroad. Does anyone know if you can use this in the UK instead?

[dadbod]

John wrote:

Why not just mostly stick with UK timings the whole trip, Arabian timezones are close enough to the UK anyway.

On our recent trip to Asia my 4yo child didn’t really adjust, but waking at noon and sleeping at 2am is sort of normal in some of Asia anyway…

At 15 months I think we would just have had to let him sleep in the baby carrier if we were taking a flight at 2am (= 11pm UK time). The problem is if he is awake and very tired but not enough to just fall asleep no matter what, then he will start screaming and fighting. To avoid that happening at 11pm he would probably need to have a nap at 6-7pm without that being his main night sleep, which means he would have had to wake up at 9am or later that day. And trying to plan timings doesn’t always work anyway (what if the flight is delayed)

Yeah that’s a really good point, I never really thought about it that way!

[dadbod]

Richie wrote:

I’d pick QR3 or QR5 to LHR, leave the day before and avoid the cheap hotel.

Gatwick is only 20 minutes from us, whereas Heathrow is just over an hour. I know the options to LHR are significantly better so I definitely need to think about it! Thanks for the info.