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Earn double Avios on restaurant bookings for the rest of the year

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Back in April, Avios launched Restaurant Circle, a new restaurant booking portal that would let you earn Avios when making a reservation.

You will earn 250 Avios every time you make a restaurant booking through the portal.

Avios restaurant circle

How does it work?

You need to create a Restaurant Circle account and add your Avios or BA Executive Club membership number to your profile.

If you live in Ireland, you can add an AerClub number.  There are a large number of Irish restaurants included.

For every booking you make via the site, you will receive 250 Avios.  As long as you turn up for your reservation (!), the Avios will be added to your account within two weeks.

Where can I dine and earn Avios?

You can search for restaurants on the Restaurant Circle website by postcode, city or restaurant name.

And here lies the problem.  The selection of restaurants is not as comprehensive as, say, OpenTable or even ResDiary, the company that runs Restaurant Circle.

No reader has ever told me that they have earned Avios booking a restaurant via Restaurant Circle.  I can imagine that people took one look at the weak selection – if they bothered to look at all – and decided that it was too much trouble.

The problem is partly self-inflicted, because Avios was charging restaurants a monthly fee to be included on the Restaurant Circle website despite the fact that they were already paying be on the parent ResDiary site.  This does not seem to have proved popular.

But things are picking up …..

From this Friday (note: this is not live today), you will double Avios on all restaurant bookings until the end of the year.   That means 500 Avios per booking.

In parallel, Avios is waiving the monthly fee charged to restaurants to be listed on the Avios portal.  This should mean that there is a far greater choice of restaurants to choose from on the Restaurant Circle site.

If anyone gives it a go, please let us know how easy you found it and how quickly the Avios arrived.  Remember that the double Avios offer isn’t live until the end of the week.

You can read more about this partnership on the British Airways website here.


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.

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.

Comments (22)

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

  • Elaine says:

    I’ve used it but only once as the restaurant list is, as you say, very limited. I got my 250 Avios within 7 days of going to the restaurant. It worked fine but I’ve not been in another location with a restaurant I wanted to visit which is on the list.

  • Cat says:

    If anyone does give it a go, is it worth mentioning whether the restaurant itself is any good? I don’t recognise any of the London ones, and I always take reviews on a booking website with a pinch of salt!

  • Elaine says:

    It was The Honours in Edinburgh. Well reviewed and we ate there quite a lot a few years ago. It’s got a bit ‘flashier’ since we were last there though. It’s the lower end Martin Wishart (his main restaurant is Michelin starred) restaurant in the city. But you can also check reviews on places like the List or Time Out for the main city restaurants anyway.

  • Andy Hone says:

    Please remember that if you are traveling in Europe to use The Fork website through Iberia Plus. Normal reservations get 250 Avios but this month you can get up to 750 Avios per booking. Just need to put in your IB+ number whilst booking. iberiaplus.eltenedor.es

    • Zoe says:

      Thanks for the reminder, we are currently in Spain and several restaurants we use within 1km of our apartment are included. Shame I’d forgotten what this was called, never mind we will be back in October.

  • pr99 says:

    Res Diary is not working for me. It insists I already have an account. I don’t.

    • pr99 says:

      OK I am in now by using a different email. But it says the only restaurants within 50 km of Ashford is one in Rochester and another in Southend????

      • Zamfir says:

        Nothing within 50km of Dover, but Southend is regularly picked up (38 miles as the crow flies apparently) on location based searches. If only we didn’t have to go all the way up to the Dartford Crossing…

      • Nick M says:

        I think there was one in Whitstable (Samphire) when it was first mentioned, but nothing showing now…

  • GB+SB says:

    I like it – I’ve used it several times and it pays very quickly. I live in Ayrshire and am fortunate that a local bar/restaurant chain (Buzzworks) have all their establishments listed. In addition my 2 favourite Glasgow restaurants are in it – Dakota Deluxe and Porter & Rye which are both excellent.

  • JK says:

    Can’t find any in the City of London

  • William Avery says:

    Last time I gave it a go it was a complete shambles. Looking forward to reports it has moved on.

    Rob – I note you have used Agoda in the past? How long do you need to wait for points to post?

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

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