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News: Gatwick’s Grain Store to temporarily closure, another Hilton LXR leaves the brand

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News in brief:

The Grain Store restaurant in Gatwick’s South terminal to renovate

The Grain Store restaurant in the South Terminal at London Gatwick is to close for two weeks for renovation.

According to the Priority Pass website, it will be closed from 6th May to 20th May.

Why do we bother telling you this? Because, if you have a Priority Pass airport lounge card issued by American Express, there are only two airport restaurants in the world which allow you to get £15 of free food and drink by flashing your pass.

The Grain Store is one of them. The other is Movenpick Cafe in Berlin.

Whilst there are many restaurants worldwide which have ‘free food’ deals with Priority Pass, American Express cardholders are blocked from all except these two.

You can also get £15 of food and drink for a companion if your Priority Pass allows a free guest, which it will if you get it via The Platinum Card.

If you have American Express Preferred Rewards Gold, you could get £60 of free food and drink at The Grain Store for a group of four via the four lounge passes that you get each year – and Amex Gold is free for the first year.

Hilton LXR logo

Another Hilton ‘LXR’ hotel has left the brand

We recently had an exclusive story about The Biltmore Mayfair hotel in London leaving Hilton’s LXR brand. This came into effect from 1st May.

The Biltmore was the first LXR hotel in Europe, but not the first globally. This was the Habtoor Palace Dubai. Habtoor Palace opened as a St Regis before being rebranded very quickly after opening.

Habtoor Palace also left LXR, and therefore Hilton, on 1st May.

The hotel is now trading as Al Habtoor Palace and is not affiliated with any brand or marketing group, although I’m sure this will change.

There are now just nine LXR hotels showing on the Hilton website.

The two others hotels at Habtoor City remain under Hilton brands (Hilton and Curio).

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Category

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Comments (33)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ian says:
    3 May3 May 06:06

    At the grain store – could a couple get two lots of £15 if both have a Platinum card?

    Btw I assume that the business card also allows for this?

    So if a couple holds both the Platinum and the Business Platinum and both have supplementary cards, could they get £60 between them? 😂 😂

    • Rhys says:
      3 May3 May 07:51

      You can get two £15 credits per card. So a single card gets you £30.

      • Peter says:
        3 May3 May 08:26

        I’ve tried to use two cards between two of us to get 4 credits before. They told me I’d have to be seated twice to do it so eat a meal pay and then come back into the restaurant. I wonder if I’d just asked for a table for four whether I’d get away with it.

        • Rhys says:
          3 May3 May 08:41

          Surprised the restaurant didn’t let you, as it’s no loss to them!

        • ankomonkey says:
          3 May3 May 09:38

          A couple of years ago now, but we managed to use two Priority Pass cards to get £60 of purchases by ordering and paying as two separate transactions of ~£30 each at the counter and then taking seats together. Maybe they are offering/insisting on table service now.

        • Danny says:
          3 May3 May 14:14

          They won’t do that anymore. The staff in there now do everything except check your passport to use a priority pass when you want to add a guest.

  • Can2 says:
    3 May3 May 07:02

    Yes, it is £15 per card.
    I don’t know about the Biz Plat.

  • Blenz101 says:
    3 May3 May 07:52

    In other UAE Hilton news .. the Hilton DoubleTree in RAK (not the new one on Marjan island) has closed completely and looks boarded up currently. Used to be a cheap stay with all inclusive options albeit a short taxi to a public beach. It no longer shows on the Hilton website.

    Also, the original Hilton Beach Resort which has recently being undergoing refurbishment (and also does a great all inclusive package) and offers lovely family villas is leaving the brand before the year is out according to the staff. Was told to enjoy my suite upgrade as a Diamond last week as by the end of the summer they don’t know who will be managing the property but it won’t be Hilton. I guess be wary of booking anything advanced purchase later this year you are looking for benefits/points/nights as they may not be honoured.

  • Zee says:
    3 May3 May 08:53

    Hi Rob, Does accumulative spend on multiple stays work for the Marriott promotion?

  • Jono says:
    3 May3 May 09:51

    I’m at Grain Store right now and the staff have confirmed that it is becoming a Pizza Express post refurb…

    • David says:
      3 May3 May 10:43

      Wow, another nail in AMEX PP coffin.

      • Rob says:
        3 May3 May 10:56

        Weird. Wonder why Priority Pass don’t just say its closing for good?

    • Peter K says:
      3 May3 May 19:13

      That’s a poor change in direction quality wise. A real shame.

  • Chris says:
    3 May3 May 09:56

    Be aware that the per-night prices shown on the Marriott Homes and Villas website are grossly misleading. When you get to the check-out page, expect the price to have gone up significantly as a result of non-included taxes and other charges such as cleaning which add hundreds of dollars to a weekly rental.

  • polly says:
    3 May3 May 11:32

    We just love the GS option at LGW. Far prefer it to the crowded lounges, if we ever make it inside their doors, that is. Manager there really cool about running the cards through twice each. No issue at all. Will really miss it if it does become PE.
    Re MHV, it’s a shame not to include cleans and taxes, as it adds on quite a lot. We have done their 20k promos before, and the total dollars counted. Getting a bit meaner now, but at 50k, probably makes sense. At 10k, no, would expect extras included.
    Do we get lounge passes with Biz gold btw?

    • Danny says:
      3 May3 May 14:16

      When did you last go there to do this because they certainly won’t do this anymore this year.

  • Henry says:
    3 May3 May 11:47

    @Rob, out of curiosity – how come and you did not write an article about increased AMEX BAPP SUP?

    • polly says:
      3 May3 May 12:04

      He didn’t as it’s an BAEC direct offer only. So no referrals etc or of value to hfp. Each member got an email directly from BA.

    • Rob says:
      3 May3 May 12:06

      It’s to do with the terms of our agreement with Amex. Remember that what you think is a travel blog is really a fully regulated financial services business.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      3 May3 May 13:16

      There were at least two forum threads on the topic so it was covered.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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