Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Avios hotels sale now live – get 50% off on cash as well as Avios bookings!

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The Avios ‘50% off hotels’ sale is now available for booking.  However, I recommend you use this ba.com booking link as that one seems to be working properly (ie displaying all the hotels, not just a few).

What I did not expect is that the ‘pay with cash’ price has also been halved. 

Avios wing 11

This means two things:

You are only getting 0.57p per Avios if you choose to use your miles to pay, since they have halved both the ‘pay with Avios’ and ‘pay with cash’ prices.  I wasn’t expecting that.

With cash prices halved, there are some exceptional deals to be had.

The super-luxe Conrad Algarve, for example, is available through the peak Summer season at half-price.  Even the half-board packages are half-price!  August 3-9th, for example, is £1,290 (or of course you can use Avios) for a Deluxe Double half-board. On hilton.com, you would be paying €3,546 Euro for (advanced purchase) dinner, bed and breakfast.

In Prague, 14-16 March, the InterContinental is available for 950 Avios and £105, the total for 2 nights, WITH breakfast.  The cheapest rate at intercontinental.com is €192 WITHOUT breakfast.

In Budapest, one of the best hotels in Europe – the Four Seasons Gresham Palace – is available for Valentine’s weekend (14-16 February) for £230 + 4,400 Avios for two nights, with breakfast.  fourseasons.com wants €590 for the same thing.

You need to book by noon on Monday for travel by 30th September.

The small print says “Amendments and cancellation are permitted subject to the Avios cancellation and amendment terms where a fee as stated on avios.com will apply.”  Not sure what these are though!

The participating cities in this round are, as a reminder:

Vienna
Dubrovnik
Prague
Copenhagen
Berlin
Budapest
Istanbul
The Algarve

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (115)

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

  • John says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:28

    Two nights in Prague for 105 when expedia lists as 281 and three nights in Vienna for 105 when expedia lists as 460. Plus I get breakfast and it only ‘cost’ me 2,000 avios! Throw in a couple of RFS flights and I’m a happy bunny.

  • Jay says:
    13 Jan13 January 17:12

    I got 3000 Avios as my birthday gift from Avios to use by March 1st. I could use that in the sale for Hotels. As you spotted, I got a weekend stay at Intercontinental Berlin for 2 days .

    Raffles,
    Have you stayed in those. How are they ? That will be my first stay in Intercontinental. Does it make any difference being a IHG Platinum member for an Avios reservation ? Will they allow an early/late checkout ? Or does it count towards big win qualification or any promotions ?

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 17:22

      It will make no difference on an Avios redemption if you are Ambassador (unless the hotel is feeling generous) and you won’t get points / Big Win credentials.

      IC Berlin is generally well regarded although not stayed there myself. You can’t go wrong at this price though, wait until you see the price of breakfast if you had to pay for it ….!

  • Pommyboi says:
    13 Jan13 January 18:33

    I think I’m doing something wrong, no deals jumping out to me. When I looked at Dubrovnik Hotel More, it’s 22,000 miles and £20 more than Trivago is quoting. The same when I look at a few hotels in Vienna, K&K Maria, £270+ 8150 Avios or £258 via Trivago 🙁 This is for 2 nights in June

    I’ll keep looking before the offer ends…

    • squills says:
      13 Jan13 January 18:40

      I think the fat lady has sung, which is why you’re not seeing anything special 😉

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 21:36

      Already ended …. at 12pm today! More hotels coming at noon on Wednesday though.

  • It's back! 50% off Avios/Cash Hotel booking in 6 European Cities This Weekend Only: $65 Star Hotel Rooms This Summer...and a Car Rental, TOO! | First2Board says:
    15 Jan15 January 14:14

    […] Head for Points broke this deal over the weekend and I used it last round for Prague. […]

  • Jay says:
    27 Jan27 January 12:00

    Sorry to dig up this thread. As I told you earlier, I booked I C Berlin using £100 and 4,000 avios in March. If I have to reschedule the dates, will I be paying the new rates or just the re-scheduling fees of £25 ?

    Did anyone try this ?

    • Jay says:
      27 Jan27 January 12:01

      I booked for 2 nights using the avios sale.

    • Rob says:
      27 Jan27 January 12:58

      Good question, as Avios is not used to dealing with this situation. You will need to call and ask.

      • Jay says:
        27 Jan27 January 13:45

        On web chat, they told me that I have to pay what it costs as of now and get credit for what I already paid for. So in effect I have to pay the difference.

        Do you think calling them up will make any difference.

        • Rob says:
          27 Jan27 January 14:05

          No. It doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. After all, the sale prices were not available for all days in the first place, so letting you change without repricing would be unfair as you could move to a date which was never even in the sale.

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

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