Get a 30% transfer bonus from Hilton HHonors points into Avios

This is a first, as far as I can remember.

Until April 30th, Hilton HHonors is offering a 30% transfer bonus if you transfer your points from Hilton and across to British Airways.

This offer is not showing on the Hilton website but it was in the monthly Hilton HHonors email last week.  It does not appear to be targeted.

This is NOT a great deal, even with the bonus.

I would value 10,000 Hilton HHonors points at £30 or so.  You will get even more than that if you redeem for one of the few 10,000 point redemptions in the UK such as the Hampton in Sheffield pictured below.  A room there will usually cost £65+.

10,000 Hilton points usually gets you 1,000 Avios points.  With this bonus, you would receive 1,300 Avios.  You are losing about 60% of the value of your points.

It is not even the best Hilton transfer option.  Virgin Atlantic has a standard conversion rate of 10,000 Hilton HHonors points to 1,500 Virgin miles.  Even without a bonus it is a better deal.

Oddly, you cannot transfer Hilton HHonors points into Iberia.  Whilst Iberia IS a Hilton partner when you credit to an airline on a stay-by-stay basis (and it is 50% more generous than the BA earning rate) you cannot transfer an existing points balance to Iberia.  Weird.

If you have 10,000 Hilton points sitting around and you have no interest in Virgin miles then, of course, this is a better deal for emptying your account than you would otherwise have got.  Remember that Hilton points expire after 12 months of no activity on your account so it is better than nothing if expiry looms ….

The Hilton page for making airline transfers is here.

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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.