Can you check in your hand luggage when flying British Airways on HBO?
When it comes to honouring elite members’ benefits, different airlines may interpret it very differently even if they belong to the same alliance. On the one hand, Cathay Pacific allows Ruby passengers to select any seat for free at the time of booking; on the other hand, Sapphire and Emerald passengers can use only “fake” or third-party lounges when flying Qatar Airways.
Marriott’s great 25% off + breakfast offer in UK and Europe
This offer has actually being going on for a while. I didn’t plan to write about it in the first place but just realised recently that it’s actually quite decent, so will briefly talk about it today.
(more…)Get Virgin Atlantic Silver status with one short-haul return!
When we wrote about the Flying Blue programme, we mentioned its partnership with Virgin Atlantic and a trick for you to get Virgin Atlantic status very quickly. Let me elaborate on it today.
£199 Staycation deal at London Hoxton hotels
A friend saw this promotion on Instagram and shared with me. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to locate any more details, so just sharing what I know.
(more…)Join or renew IHG Ambassador membership for a free night voucher
I personally value the IHG Ambassador programme highly, and have written an introduction to it. It appears that a great offer is coming your way, if you are due to buying or renewing your membership.
The offer is not live yet, so there isn’t any official page at this point. But you can already see all details in the Ambassador programme’s terms and conditions.
In a few words, if you join and renew the membership during the offer period, you will be awarded a free night voucher after one qualifying stay! And more details:
- Offer period: 30/07/2020 – 15/11/2020
- You need to stay once by 31/01/2021
- The stay must be paid, and at one of the following three brands: InterContinental, Regent and Kimpton
- The voucher is valid till 30/04/2021
- You will still get the weekend night certificate (BOGOF voucher)
The voucher entities you to an award night stay, up to the value of 40,000 points. There doesn’t seem to be any brand restriction, however I’d assume most people would want to use it on top hotels. After the introduction of dynamic pricing, many of Kimpton, InterContinental or even Regent hotels in Europe can be had for this price.
You don’t need to sign up to this offer, just purchase or renew your membership as usual. However, one can only renew the membership within 60 days of the expiry – my membership expires September next year after two extensions, so unfortunately I have no chance to participate.
A data point of BA’s “Avios Refund”
We covered British Airways’ new refund policy a week ago: it is official now, that in the case of flight cancellation you could request a refund in Avios instead of cash.
Is British Airways’ Best Rate Guarantee worth a look?
If you are not familiar with the term, Best Rate Guarantee, or usually referred to as BRG, is a special service that hotel groups and airlines (as well as many other businesses) offer to entice customers to book direct instead of via third-party channels. If you find a lower price elsewhere, they will match it and sometimes provide more incentives.
Impressive 50% off sale at some UK Marriott hotels
I’m going to Scotland for a few days in the next week and have been monitoring hotel prices for a while. This morning I saw a rate at Courtyard Edinburgh, so low that I thought there’s a system glitch or something. It turns out though, that some Marriott hotels in the UK are running a flash sale.
