Bits: last chance for 40,000 points IHG credit card bonus, best travel bonus for Bicester Village

News in brief:

Last chance for 20,000 or 40,000 IHG Rewards Club sign-up points

Back in February, IHG Rewards Club sent out emails to people who had held the old Barclaycard-issued IHG Rewards Club credit cards.

The email offered a special bonus if you took out the new Creation-issued IHG Rewards Club cards:

the free card comes with a bonus of 20,000 IHG Rewards Club points instead of the usual 10,000 (representative APR 18.9% variable) when you spend £200 in the first three months – you also receive free IHG Gold status

the £99 card comes with a bonus of 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points instead of the usual 20,000 (representative APR 41.5% variable including fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit) when you spend £200 in the first three months – you also receive free IHG Platinum status

My preferred card is the £99 version because of the free night voucher you get each year after spending £10,000, the free Platinum status in IHG Rewards Club and the generous earning rate of 2 IHG Rewards Club points per £1 spent.  This is doubled for spending abroad or in Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc hotels.

If you received the email but forgot about it, you only have six days left to apply.  The offer ends on 9th June.

You need to apply via this special IHG page.  To be absolutely clear – the terms and conditions says that only people who were emailed by IHG about this offer back in February will receive the special bonus.

Earn Club Carlson points at Bicester Village – the most generous option?

I don’t think this is new, but I came across it last week when updating my article on stopping Club Carlson points from expiring and it wasn’t something I knew about.

Club Carlson, the Radisson / Park Inn / Park Plaze hotel scheme, is a partner with Bicester Village and the other outlet sites owned by the same group.

You earn 10 Club Carlson GoldPoints for every £1 you spend.  I value a Carlson point at around 0.33p, so you are looking at a 3%+ rebate on your spending.

Bicester Village has plenty of other travel partners as you can see here.  Club Carlson seems the most generous – 1.25 Avios per £1 means a rebate of 1.25%.  1 Hilton point per £1 spent means a shockingly bad rebate of around 0.3%.  1 Virgin mile per £1 means a rebate of around 1%.

The ones that come nearest to Club Carlson – but still fall short – are Etihad Guest (2 miles per £1) and Flying Blue (2 miles per £1).

Club Carlson is not listed on the Bicester Village site but you can find the details on their own website here.

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How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 60,000 Radisson Rewards points. 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 120,000 Radisson Rewards points

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 30,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:3 into Radisson Rewards points which is a very attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

Even better, holders of The Platinum Card receive free Radisson Rewards Premium status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here.

(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.)