Bits: the best hotel in Frankfurt for €55, no more free Etihad spa treatments

News in brief:

Book Jumeirah Frankfurt for €55 for one day only

The Jumeirah hotel in Frankfurt is generally regarded as the best in the city and is arguably the best business hotel in the country.

The hotel is five years old this September.  To celebrate, it is selling weekend nights for just €55.  This is how it works:

You can only book today, 5th May

You can only book for 55 minutes between 5.55pm CEST to 6.50pm CEST.  That is 4.55pm to 5.50 pm UK time.

You can only book on jumeirah.com

You can only book one night at this rate

Frankfurt is not the most attractive of cities but there is definitely enough to see to fill a one-night weekend break.

Etihad removes free spa treatments for business class passengers

Over the weekend, Etihad quietly rolled out a sharp reduction in the lounge benefits offered.

Business class passengers will no longer receive a free treatment in the lounge spas at Heathrow and Abu Dhabi.  They already had to pay for treatments in the Style & Shave salon in Abu Dhabi.

First Class passengers and Etihad Platinum tier members will receive one free treatment, either in the spa or Abu Dhabi’s Style & Shave salon.  You could previously have one free treatment in both.

If you have paid $20,000 for the A380 Residence one-way, you still get two free treatments!

To be honest, I can see business in the Heathrow spa dropping to pretty much nil under this model.  With only 9 First Class seats on an A380 there won’t be much free demand (I didn’t bother when I flew the First Apartment recently) and I can’t see many Business Class passengers paying.  Let’s see how this pans out.

Full details of the new policy can be found on the Etihad website here.

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How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 40,000 Etihad Guest miles.

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 10,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.