Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Avios sale – the 2nd list of ‘50% off hotel’ deals is now live

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The fifth deal in the Avios sale launched today at noon.

For 48 hours, until noon on Friday, you will be able to book selected hotels using your Avios points for 50% off the standard rate.

(Don’t forget that, until noon today, you can still book flights to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Jersey, Lisbon, Madrid, Nice and Rome for just £1 of taxes.  Click here for full details on that deal.)

The list of cities available will be:

  • London
  • Venice
  • Edinburgh
  • Guernsey
  • Florence
  • Milan

You will be able to book for stays up to 30th September.

Is this a good deal?

This is a great deal, because you are getting a 50% discount on what is already a competitive price.  Be very clear about this bit.

However, because Avios is reducing BOTH the ‘pay with Avios’ and ‘pay with cash’ rates, it does NOT necessarily make sense to pay with Avios.

If you do the maths, you will see that your Avios are being valued at 0.57p each.  This is not great, to be honest.  I would recommend, unless you are Avios-rich and cash-poor, that you pay cash for your room and save your Avios for a better-value redemption.

How to book

There were some issues with the hotel booking websites when this offer ran last week.

In theory, you can book either via avios.com or ba.com, using their ‘spend your Avios on hotels’ links.

Last week, the avios.com booking page was flakey and did not display many of the participating hotels.   The ba.com booking link is here, you may want to try both.

The participating hotels are often not clearly marked – you need to work it out by looking at the price they want and then comparing with Expedia.

Cancellation

The small print says “Amendments and cancellation are permitted subject to the Avios cancellation and amendment terms where a fee as stated on avios.com will apply.”  This appears to be a £25 fee for cancellation with 72 hours of arrival with all Avios and cash returned, although PLEASE clarify this before booking.

Good luck – there should hopefully be some good deals available.

(One final point.  Redeeming Avios for a chain hotel via avios.com, or paying for one via Expedia, is likely to mean that you will not earn hotel points from your stay.  You may also not receive any status benefits.  You should bear this in mind when booking, especially if your status would otherwise get you free breakfast or free internet.  For what its worth, Hilton is generally seen as the best chain for giving you your status benefits when booking via a third party.)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (65)

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

  • squills says:
    15 Jan15 January 07:32

    Florence, Venice, Milan – fantastic @ 50% off 😉

    I lived in Florence for a year to perfect my Italian when I was younger – one of the loveliest cities in the world if you’re into art history & all things Italian. Can’t recommend any hotels as I was but a poor student at the time lol

    But what I can suggest is try to avoid high summer (you can’t move for tourists) – all year round these days is a bit busy, deep winter is best but February & the lead up to Easter (ie carnival time) can still be fantastic – still space to get around, not too crowded, great atmosphere. Or September.

  • Kiltedscot says:
    15 Jan15 January 07:55

    I read your footnote with interest as I had contacted Hilton to add my HH
    Diamond number to my booking and they politely declined due to this being booked via an Airline. I will however try my luck at the hotel for an upgrade

    • Waribai says:
      15 Jan15 January 08:32

      You might have more luck contacting the hotel directly rather than central reservations. Also, I think even if you pay everything in cash via avios you still might not get any benefits.

    • Mrtibbs1999 says:
      15 Jan15 January 09:15

      In my experience you can add the hhonors number through the office ppl in the hotel itself. Hilton are good at hhonoring benefits on 3rd party stays.

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
        15 Jan15 January 10:42

        Asking nicely at check-in seems to work well too. I even once had points and stay credit at a Radisson booked through hotels.com because of this.

        • Simon says:
          15 Jan15 January 12:45

          Hilton have added my number at check-in before for a 3rd party booking and the stay appeared on my Hilton statements but I got zero points. I’m only a Silver so wasn’t due any benefits.

          Radisson added my number to another stay booked via a third party and I got the points ok, even got 10,000 bonus points for staying 2 nights!

  • pazza2000 says:
    15 Jan15 January 09:39

    At least for London, certainly not live as of yet. Although if truly half price+ of what is being currently, then good value to be had.

  • Stewie says:
    15 Jan15 January 10:08

    While not very relevant to many hfp readers, Hyatt is actually the best chain with regard to giving status benefits on third-party booked stays – they officially offer benefits on all stays, even those booked on Priceline/Hotwire

    • Mrtibbs1999 says:
      15 Jan15 January 10:16

      I did not know that! Good news given you can get unlimited diamond status trials!

      • pazza2000 says:
        15 Jan15 January 10:21

        How?

        • Rob says:
          15 Jan15 January 10:51

          There is a formal process, quick Google should bring up a million US blog entries on it. Best bit IIRC is that you get Diamond immediately with a deadline of x stays in y days to keep it. You even get suite upgrade vouchers to use during your trial.

          • Sid says:
            15 Jan15 January 12:05

            I know you can get a single diamond trial. Do you know if it’s really possible to get ‘unlimited’ trials?

          • Rob says:
            15 Jan15 January 12:11

            No idea, never done it!

          • Alan says:
            15 Jan15 January 12:23

            Wow didn’t know they did that – could have made use of it on a stay a few months ago, although that was on an FHR rate and I received an upgrade to a suite anyway 🙂 Will keep in mind for any future stays though.

          • Mrtibbs1999 says:
            15 Jan15 January 13:32

            Different middle initial, home address and email address 😉 also after the trial if you don’t succeeded they’ve made me platinum for the year!

    • GUWonder says:
      15 Jan15 January 12:01

      Hyatt and Marriott are the two chains that provide all at-hotel elite status benefits even on third party bookings. Points earning and stay credit, however, don’t usually apply for such Hyatt and Marriott stays — but lounge access, upgrades, breakfast, non-point welcome amenity do.

  • squills says:
    15 Jan15 January 10:18

    As of 1 Jul 2011, a stay in Florence will carry a compulsory local tax of 1 to 5 EUROS per person per night (per hotel star rating) Charges may be subject to change. Payable to hotel.

  • H K says:
    15 Jan15 January 12:09

    Deal pages are up but prices seem to be the same in London? Need a play for two weeks (yeah!) so 50% off would be a real blessing!

    • Rob says:
      15 Jan15 January 12:12

      Yes, something odd – no discounts that I can see so far!

      • Ed E says:
        15 Jan15 January 12:15

        I have been looking on Avios.com for a station hotel in Florence in March and have a good 50% off the cash price compared to other prices I can find. 1 night stay comes up as below, Avios cash price and the best Trivago price.
        Hotel Avios Trivago
        DELLE NAZIONI 25 54
        CORONA D’ITALIA 31 59
        MONNA LISA 32 69
        GRAND HOTEL BAGLIONI 41 81

        • Ed E says:
          15 Jan15 January 12:34

          The same search on BA.com is not bringing up any reductions… I am going to book on the avios.com site to secure the room, even though I could do with the double credit card points for booking on BA.com

  • Macca says:
    15 Jan15 January 12:10

    Every time I go to the BA link I a different hotel list in Venice. I check availability and it is unavailable for my days. I re-enter the link and get a different hotel and the last one has gone.

    Is this on purpose or are they still releasing the hotels?

    Am I best of just using the usual Spending Avios link and comparing the prices of all hotels shown to Expedia?

  • mackemcat says:
    15 Jan15 January 12:32

    Venice seems to price OK until you go to book it, then reverts to original (pre-sale) amount of Avios.

    • pazza2000 says:
      15 Jan15 January 12:34

      London / Milan still at pre-sale prices

    • Macca says:
      15 Jan15 January 13:01

      I’ve checked dates in August and September for 5 difference Venice hotels and they all say no availability. Do you mind me asking what month you priced for?

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