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freckles wrote:

@NorthernLass – well I can confirm he’s not doing that here!! 😉

What happens in the cabanas…

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Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

I worry most about the WASPI women. They won’t have heard about this entry rule change

🤣

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IIRC you have to wait a full year to earn again, it’s not calendar year.

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Rob Burgess wrote:

Lot of bad feedback about this hotel so far, unfortunately.

Which of you is ‘taking one for the team’ to go and review then?

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Just to add to the inconsistency, I stayed at the ICPL over New Year.

Used an Amb free weekend night voucher and somehow managed to escape the service charge. Perhaps because I split and settled the bill before I checked out.

Not sure if jj is referring to a specific type of cup, but certainly found a pair of nicely patterned mugs in my room.

Was allocated the 1st floor above the entrance which was noisy at some points, consistent with Colin’s comments about traffic noise. Found the room reasonably spacious but the bathroom was small and a bit dated. All the fixtures and furnishings were in reasonably good condition though.

Found service and offering in the Club Lounge to be very good, and the gym looked fairly recently refurbished and well equipped.

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JDB wrote:

Scott wrote:

Have you ever woken up in the morning and thought “If only I had a Victorian father who could pontifically lecture me on the error of my ways, that would make me feel much better about myself” ? No, me neither.

It seems you haven’t yet worked out that people arsing about with credit cards is anti-social as it acts to the detriment of most cardholders – higher costs and worse service. If you support that, fine. The experience of previous posts of this nature also suggests we don’t have the full story.

The fact the OP is concerned it’s “a bit cheeky” seems, rather positively, to suggest a degree of embarrassment on their part to have to explain getting into the position in the first place and refusal of credit.

Your comment re ‘Victorian’ is risible and shows you clearly don’t have a background or job where probity and integrity are a sine qua non, even in 2026. Sorry about that.

You might reflect that it’s not so much the message but how you say it that’s ’giving Victorian’.

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Email address I have is guestassistance.international AT Hilton.com

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I’ve got 11 Marriott entries in my TCB Earnings page just from 2025, more than half of which have already been paid and cashed out, so ‘almost never’ seems a bit of an exaggeration.

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There’s an email address for Diamond members?

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Whenever I’ve looked in to Market Brasserie at breakfast, it looks like a bit of a zoo. Always had breakfast in the lounge at IC02. As stated, typical lounge buffet (small selection) but there is also a cook to order menu – eggs benedict, royale, etc. Ask for a menu if not offered one. Whenever I’ve asked for other stuff, like fried eggs, veggie sausage, etc. they’ve brought it for me.

There’s an afternoon tea service as well, selection of cakes and sandwiches – plentiful supply.

Then a typical lounge evening service.

Not sure I’d pay £85pppn, I have the 40nt lounge pass.

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First time I accessed the app since they updated the meters, a popup told me that I’d requalified for Diamond.

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slidey wrote:

Is this being made available to everyone or is there a requirement to be offered it? I dont seem to have an email for it.

I’m on 73 nights with 4 more nights to go this year. I still got the email. 😵‍💫

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Same experience with the Hilton Currensea card in the MySky app for making monthly TV payment.

Didn’t work over phone for VWFS either (although suspect that Currensea blocked it as financial services provider).

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davefl wrote:

Missed this one yesterday. You may also be able to upgrade with skymiles – Instant transfer from Amex.

Yes. There was option to upgrade using either Skypesos or cash – can also use points for baggage fees too.

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Yes, flew JFK to SFO last week on DL booked using VS miles in Y.

Logged into booking using DL PNR on their site and was able to upgrade using cash in seat selection flow – options were Comfort or One at the time of booking (Comfort modest additional cost, One was quite a lot more expensive).

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masaccio wrote:

I am still chewing on where to credit things instead of Avios for a few years while we fly less and I’ve read through the HfP Bonvoy starter articles and the recent debit card articles and it’s all still a mess. It feels like “Oh, you need blue level with a red joker booking Thursdays in the alpha offer period cashing in your monkeys on a 3:1”.

Could people share some real world experiences of value? That includes value of status as my experience of status conferred by Amex Platinum is that it’s valueless. A rubbish free breakfast is still a rubbish breakfast. A room ‘upgrade’ where the next class of room is seemingly indistinguishable from the one I booked is valueless.

Also do Marriott properties ever accept dogs?

I have so many more questions, but those two are probably starters.

Yes, many welcome dogs – Aloft positively welcome them for example.

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Agree, think this one is reaching the point of life support. Won’t be long before it’s RIP.

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Flew MAN to LHR on Weds afternoon. Thought security was actually better than LHR T5 – mainly because 5 tray loading stations in MAN vs only 3 positions in LHR.

The bottleneck at scanning seems to be the approval operator though. As all the trays seem to be tracked and directed by the automation, I suspect the process could probably be optimised by putting more people through each scanner and having dual operators parallel processing the scans…

Otherwise similar experience on departure from gate A3. Went to Escape lounge and was admitted despite there being a ‘we’re full’ sign on the corridor. 1903 looked like it only had a couple of people in it. Seemed like a fair bit of confusion about admittance eligibility (Club wasn’t acknowledged) and I think my white boarding pass in Passbook may have confused them. Showed RJ Gold card and they let me in, so 🤨

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bm_999 wrote:

Ive never got into the amex lounge here. probably been way to late to be fair
Then again everyone nowadays has an amex loll

Useful to know that you can get in with your standard entry ticket if you are in a suite (and I believe if you have booked Amex Advantage entry tickets). Only need to queue at the bag drop hatch if you have a non-suite ticket. It does annoy me that there is no published opening time for the Amex rep to be there though, and other O2 staff never seem to know either. Far too whimsical.

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AndyGWP wrote:

Food is free. Drinks were limited to two per person from a limited range (what they have in the fridge… ie house white, house rose, beer, cider, soft drinks etc)

You could buy premium drinks tho (spirits) – they ordered on the till and went off to get them for you so saved queuing etc.

Weirdly, no non-alcoholic beer options!

Food was buffet style and consisted of a nice pizza, katsu chicken burgers, waffle fries, salad stuff, tortilla crisps etc

Food was much better quality than I expected for a buffet. Wine was average. Good for a freebie tho (and my partner wasn’t drinking so I had their free ones and bought them soft drinks 🤣)

We also had a couple of free wines from the Amex lounge on the way in so pretty cheap night.

Side note – I’m not fussed by Lady Gaga but she put on a really good show to be fair. Was opening night hence the late start. Apparently practice session ran over. My partner loved it but she’s more of a fan. Wanted to use the lounge offering as we’ve sold our Audi and I never got round to trying it so wanted the experience

Really useful feedback, thanks

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Wasn’t bowled away by Paris, although didn’t have lounge access at the time. Breakfast in the main restaurant was excellent however.

Have always had excellent service at the O2, especially in the lounge, although I only stay there for events.

Went to Berlin last year and was pretty decent. Good upgrade and lounge service good, although food not 100% to my taste.

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AndyGWP wrote:

Thanks again. Went last night and all plans were a bit scuppered as doors didnt open till 6:30ish so queues were massive. Found the suite queue on the left tho but entry was delayed versus the other queues.

Audi suite was good tho, decent position, and food was alright!

Out of interest, is the food and drink free in the Audi suite or limited? I check the website from time to time to see if there’s anything available (all the most popular acts are waitlisting right now).

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LeeG wrote:

I’m giving it a go in 3 weeks or so when we’re over for a night to see the Inside No 9 stage show.

I mailed them shortly after booking to confirm they would recognise both Diamond benefits and the Lounge Pass and got the nod on both of those. I’ll report back after staying, particularly if I get the Ambassador credit (which I’m not expecting on this trip).

I stayed a couple of weeks ago, as a Diamond Amb.

Booked under my Hilton account some time ago, but they applied my IHG number and was rewarded full points and night credit.

No mention of Amb, no additional benefits. Got free breakfast as Diamond welcome amenity, and wording of the welcome letter made it sound like they give Club lounge access to all Plat and Diamond…

Lounge service seemed unchanged from Hilton days. As was breakfast, although didn’t feel like a full spread (think occupancy/breakfast entitlement may not have been high).

Very stingy with late checkout (was declined!!!) but continued access to the Club lounge was freely offered.

Doesn’t seem like they have external members for the health club anymore, certainly far less busy than previous visits, but I could be wrong.

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Cable car and park at Excel probably a better idea (unless you need to go south). Or park at Stratford and take Jubilee line.

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Suites entrance queue is the far left hand side near to the escalators that go up to the shopping mall. Queue should be a lot shorter (and moves quicker due to different scanners) so try not to end up in the potentially massive main queue!