In MeliaRewards? Did you get some mystery bonus points?

Back in June, American Express offered a free night at selected five-star Melia hotels to Platinum cardmembers. This offer is still available if you take out a Platinum card now, although the London hotel is now booked up.

I recommended that anyone planning to use this offer should join MeliaRewards. I hope you took my advice, because on Wednesday night Melia dropped a pile of free points (4,000 for most people) into their MeliaRewards accounts.

This appears to be linked to Melia encouraging you to book a ‘cash and points’ room, since you now have enough points to get a decent discount. They ran a similar promotion earlier this year. However, nothing stops you moving these points directly into airline miles.

Even better – the 2,000 points you received for joining can also be transferred into airline miles, now that you have earned some extra points on top.

I have 6,000 Melia points. I had 2,000 for joining and yesterday Melia gave me another 4,000. That allows me to transfer them to:

• 900 Avios (via Iberia Plus)
• 3,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles
• 1,000 American Airlines miles
• 3,000 airberlin topbonus miles
• 2,000 Delta SkyMiles

I have already successfully done a transfer to Iberia Plus Avios, as I don’t have a need for any of the other options at the moment.

If you didn’t join MeliaRewards, you might want to take a punt on this happening again. You can join here, get 2000 points instantly and then sit and wait a few months to see if another random bonus turns up.

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How to get MeliaRewards Gold status from American Express (April 2024)

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

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can discover the benefits of MeliaRewards Gold status on the Melia website here. It includes three vouchers per year worth 20% off any booking.

Small business owners may want to consider American Express Business Platinum instead:

(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.)