Avios.com launches a ‘50% off hotel sale’ – any good?

Avios.com has launched an ‘up to 50% off hotels’ sale.  You need to book by September 14th but you can stay at any point up to the end of the year.

The avios.com page you need is here.

The first thing to note is that the home page above implies that you can only use a mix of cash and Avios.  This is not the case – you can use 100% Avios to book.  The second thing you will notice is that the selection is not exactly huge.

Let’s see if the deals stack up.

Firstly, I picked good old Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, where I have spent a lot of time in the past.  This is a clever choice of hotel – you pay 65% less than an equivalent beach hotel but are given passes to use the beach, kids club, pools etc at Madinat Jumeirah and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.  This deal is going away in January 2015, however.

The Dubai discount is ‘up to 20%’.  For 25-29 October avios.com quoted 149,250 Avios or £821 bed and breakfast.  That works out at 0.55p per Avios if you pay with Avios.

Jumeirah’s own website quotes Dh 5,376 including tax, or £888.  This rate EXCLUDES breakfast, however, which will be expensive.  Assuming £50 per day for breakfast for two people, you would be saving 25%.

Secondly, I looked at Courtyard Vienna Schoenbrunn in Vienna.  This advertises a 50% discount when booking a 3-night stay.  For 5-8 November, avios.com quotes £109 or 19,300 Avios points (0.56p per Avios) for a double with breakfast.

On marriott.com, the hotel is charging €67 per day ROOM ONLY.  That is £160 for a 3-day stay.  The hotel charges €16 per person for breakfast which would take the total to £237.  The avios.com hotel sale does genuinely save you over 50%.

Slightly to my own surprise, I have to concede that the avios.com hotel sale does look pretty good.

A different question is whether you should pay with cash or with Avios points.  Receiving 0.55p per Avios point is very poor, to put it mildly.  However if you are Avios rich you do at least have the option.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.