Tag Archives: Club

IHG Snow Globe Christmas Competition

03 Sunday Dec 2017

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10th December 2017 update: So far the items that have appeared as prizes have been pretty rubbish – there have been many days when I didn’t even bother to enter. So don’t be too disappointed if you shake the globe and find you’re offered something completely useless.

Intercontinental/Holiday Inn have a daily competition until December 25th 2017. The promotion is open to all legal residents in the European Union aged 18 years and over, excluding residents of Italy, Turkey, Russia and Poland.

To enter, you visit this site: http://adventcalendar.ihgrewardsclub.com/

You click ‘SHAKE’ and prizes start falling down the globe. You’ll also see that day’s date is among the falling items – click on that to discover the prize draw you can enter. If you don’t click on the date, you can always shake again.

Today, 3rd December 2017, the prize draw was for a Clinique Sonic Cleansing Brush & Sonic Soap Set.

Answer is 61000 Points but was easy to find on the redemption catalogue https://www.globalcatalogue.ihg.com/IHGCcsp?uXWKl8bWg6E=

If you’re a member of IHG Rewards Club, you are given an extra entry. It’s free to sign up for that. After you submit the form, you can gain extra entries by sharing on social media.

Good luck!

Royal China Club Restaurant, Baker Street, London, England

18 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Restaurants and Bars

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Royal China Group have several restaurants in London. Royal China Club is probably one of their more expensive, fine dining locations.

The restaurant is just a short walk from Baker Street station.

The interior is nice, although nothing special.

The tables are set with both chopsticks and western cutlery.

For me, the biggest draw, apart from meeting friends, was their Dim Sum menu. I think these are called ‘potstickers’ in the USA.

And the Dim Sum were absolutely delicious. In fact, I wish I’d ordered more Dim Sum as a main course, especially as we were sharing. Here’s what was left by the time I managed to take a picture.

The food prices weren’t bad for central London. The wines were expensive, with the lowest priced bottles at £40.

I had 1/4 crispy duck (£15.50) as a main course. Crispy duck (shredded), with the Hoisin sauce, cucumber sticks, spring onions and pancakes is a classic dish in England – but not easy to find in central Europe – that’s why I went for crispy duck. It was okay, but really not better than any local Chinese restaurant.

Would I return? Well I went to meet friends who really like this restaurant and so would do so again just for their benefit. Next time, I think I’ll stick to dim sum and have a few large glasses of wine before I arrive.

Royal China Club
40-42 Baker Street
Marylebone
London
W1U 7AJ

http://www.theroyalchina.co.uk/rcc.html

+44 207 486 3898
info@royalchinagroup.co.uk

Vlkova 26 Bar/Club, Prague, Czech Republic

03 Saturday Jun 2017

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Vlkova 26 is a bar/club in Prague’s Žižkov area. The Žižkov has a reputation for being a bit rough with plenty of late-night bars. But the area has undergone urban renewal and isn’t really rough – although there are plenty of late-night bars.

Vlkova 26 is the name of the bar and also the street address – which makes it easy to find, especially as the bar doesn’t have a sign outside:

Inside is a large dark room – the bar on the right and a dance floor and DJ stand at the back:

The place has a cool vibe and fits well into the Žižkov. Just off the dance floor are the toilets, which were clean and functional, but this is Žižkov and so you’d be disappointed if there wasn’t any graffiti:

I was actually here to see the first DJ performance of two Swedish girls Ellen & Ottie:

The event invitation on Facebook is here.

The guys behind the bar were friendly, the measures seemed generous, the prices good – although I can’t actually remember how much I paid in the end.

I was the oldest person there but didn’t feel out of place.

Ellen & Ottie did a good job – my measure of success being that they played music I liked and people danced:

Here are Ellen & Ottie enjoying their set:

I enjoyed my time getting down with the kids in Vlkova 26 and I’d go back again if they let me.

Vlkova 26
130 00 Prague

Opens 20:00 – 05:00

https://www.facebook.com/Vlkova26/

British Airways Business Class Sale – book by midnight (UK time) 4th December – LHR-LAX £1002 return

29 Saturday Nov 2014

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BA have launched what I think are some great deals on long-haul business class (Club World) fares over Christmas. These can also be combined with BA holidays. These are advertised as two-for-one fares but when you check the terms and conditions, it is pretty clear that a single traveller could book one of these flights. I managed to get all the way to the payment page when I chose one adult. I didn’t actually book.

There seems to good availability for return flights priced at £1007. That is an amazing price for Club.

Flights must be booked between 12:00 GMT 28 November 2014 and 23:59 GMT 4 December 2014 for travel between 21 December 2014 – 3 January 2015. All outbound travel must be completed by 03 January 2015 and inbound travel must be completed by 11 January 2015.

The promotion applies to return Club World (business class) tickets booked during the booking period for selected travel routes:
London Heathrow (LHR) to;
USA & Canada: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York (JFK, EWR), Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver.
Africa: Abuja, Accra, Cairo, Cape Town, Entebbe, Johannesburg, Lagos, Luanda, Nairobi.
Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Almaty, Amman, Bahrain, Baku, Beirut, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh.
Asia: Bangalore, Beijing, Chengdu, Chennai, Delhi, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo.
Central & South America: Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo.

Manchester (MAN), operated by American Airlines to:
Chicago, New York (JFK).

I checked LHR-LAX over Christmas and there was good availability on direct BA flights:

BA Club Sale

BA Club Sale

I tried putting entering a PRG-LHR-LAX return and it gave me the standard high fare. So if you are in another European city and want to use this deal then you’ll need to make your own way to London.

Hilton HHonors Gold Status until Feb 2015 for $50 (or maybe free)

11 Friday Oct 2013

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10th June 2016 update; There is a status match offer from Hilton – please go here.

Hilton Gold Status is pretty useful when staying at Hilton properties worldwide. You’ll usually get an upgraded room, almost always receive free wi-fi and mostly access to the Executive Lounge where you can enjoy free drinks and snacks. Getting this status the hard way means staying at least 16 nights.

There are some ways to get Hilton Gold for free. For example, at the moment there’s an offer open to Visa Infinite cardholders in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. If you have one of these cards and live in those countries, you’ll be upgraded to Hilton Gold for free. The link to that promotion is here.

I think the link above checks your IP address to see if you are in the country you say you are in. So if you get a ‘we can’t process your request’ then chances are you can’t sign up. I’ve heard that many Asia-Pacific countries have been able to use the link. So if you wanted to be sneaky, you could:

  • Connect from a country where the link works.
  • Change your Hilton HHonors profile to an fictitious address in that country.
  • Enter a valid Infinite Visa number.

But that would be very naughty of you and Hilton do say:
“This offer may be terminated without notice. Anyone found to have obtained status without holding a valid Visa Infinite card as detailed above may have their status rescinded. “

A much better and official route is to sign up for MilePoint Premium Membership for $50. This gives you Hilton Gold until Feb 2015 and a host of other benefits. The way to do this is as follows:

After that you’ll be provided with instructions on how to upgrade to Hilton Gold. Plus how to claim all the other benefits they offer which include National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status and 1,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles.

Just to confirm, I have no connection with Hilton (apart from being a Gold member) or MilePoint (apart from just signing up for Platinum Membership today).