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Bits: free in-flight books and magazines with Amazon Prime, Hilton Asia-Pacific flash sale

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News in brief:

Free books and magazines with Amazon Prime

If you are looking for reading material for your next long-haul flight, you will be interested in the latest perk that Amazon Prime has added to its list of services – Prime Reading.

With Prime Reading you can download 1,000 books and 40 magazines – the latest issues – for free.  The magazine selection looks pretty decent with Vogue and Wired being just two of the magazines I’m personally interested in (YMMV).

All you need to access the titles is a Kindle or the Kindle app on an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet.

If you aren’t an Amazon Prime member yet, you can sign up here for a free 30-day trial.  You can take a look at the full selection of books and magazines included in Prime Reading here.

Millennium Hilton Bangkok

Hilton running a ‘40% off’ APAC flash sale

Hilton is currently running an Asia-Pacific flash sale.  Discounts offer up to 40% off the Best Available Rate, although the sale rooms will be non refundable and require pre-payment.

Offers are focussed on the following countries:  Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Maldives, India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia.  The Millennium Hilton Bangkok is pictured above.

Note that China, Macau and Japan are excluded.

You need to book by Sunday night (well, 8am Monday morning to be precise) for travel before 31st December.

Full details are available via the Asia Pacific Hilton website here.


How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (65)

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

  • Dale says:

    Slightly less OT than most in this thread…..but don’t Hilton usually run a series of flash sales? I’m looking for Americas and hoping that will follow in quick succession tot he Asia one? Any thoughts?

    • Rob says:

      There is going to be a big EMEA Summer sale next month but not sure about the Americas – we only get visibility of EMEA stuff.

      • JP says:

        Is it likely to be beginning, mid, end of month…Rob?

        Also, any insight regarding a regular economy BA sale? (I believe there was one last June)

        Thanks

  • Colin JE says:

    Thanks for the heads up about the Amazon Prime magazine readers. Fairly good range, for both men and women. I assume it works for the family, provided they’re registered to the ame address, in the same way as the free shipping does?

    Agree re the Readly offer, especially as the range of mags is wider, but as I’m already a Prime member that’ll do nicely in the meanwhile. I might have a look at the Readly offer next time I’m about to go on holiday.

  • S879 says:

    OT but about HH. I have booked 5 nights with points with 5th night being free. My hotel seems a reasonable price in £s. If I book 2 additional nights will I get points for those? Also if I do Points and Money and book all 7 nights using some points and some £, which would be a better strategy re more points? I have read before that if some nights are through points and some paid, you get no points. I am the one with Diamond status so I can’t book some nights in my partner’s name as he is only Silver in case someone suggests I check out. I do want the bookings linked so we hopefully get to keep the room.

    • Rob says:

      You’re right. Hilton has a nasty little programme rule which says if you combine points nights and cash nights in the same stay, you don’t earn points for the cash nights. This is not always imposed but it is the rule and it does happen.

      Book 2 nights in your partners name. As long as those nights are at the end of the stay, they won’t cause you any trouble unless the hotel is 100% full. They also won’t make you physically check out.

      • Alan says:

        I remember it from previously but I thought that was meant to have changed with the new system of points vs money slider, given you now earn points on the cash component?

    • Charlie says:

      If you add paid nights to a reward stay with no ‘check-out’ in between it will combine to one stay and you get no points.

      Could you not book a night in your name for cash and diamond benefits, book one in partner’s name (forcing you to theoretically check-out, but not physically), and then do the reward stay? It’s likely they’ll leave you in the same room if you tell them at check-in, but you’ll get points for the first night at least.

      Or of course reverse it so the paid ones come after the reward stay.

  • S879 says:

    Thanks Rob and Charlie. Won’t I be given a better room if paid nights come first? If i do the free nights first, am thinking they won’t offer a really good upgrade. I might do what Charlie said and book the second paid night under my partner’s name. I could try and get the points on my account though if any are offered.

    • Rob says:

      The Diamond should get a better room irrespective of cash or points unless a hotel has a bad reputation for treating points stays badly.

  • Boi says:

    Seychelles and Mauritius on sale too….noticed that while searching today

  • the real harry1 says:

    blimmin’ BA seat booking! (tomorrow off to place in the sun yee hah!)

    so far I have logged in numerous times, seen limited options changing & eventually got the 3 kids up from the toilet row to row 10

    I’m in a window seat further down & was hoping for a free Exit seat tomorrow – they look to be all taken

    rotten system seems to want to place you in the worst seats in the hope you’ll pay for a better one

    • the real harry1 says:

      as in – we got given 4 toilet seats when I checked in early! I hate those toilet seats 🙂

      • the real harry1 says:

        let’s hope the patented Harry system of getting a free Exit seat works tomorrow! lol

        of course I pinched it off CWS 🙂

  • Sally Graham says:

    Is there an easy way of seeing if goods are supplied AND shipped by Amazon? I’ve tried to use the discount AMEX16SWP on a number of purchases only to find out before payment that although fulfilled by Amazon the goods are not sold by them?
    Thanks

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

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