Non-flight deals to be had in the avios.com January sale

Avios.com (not British Airways Executive Club) has launched its January sale.  In order to take part, you would need to use the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on ba.com or avios.com to move your points across to avios.com.

Oddly, there are no flight offers available.

Don’t dismiss the sale entirely, however, because there are some genuine deals to be had.

The home page for the sale is here.

Hotels

Avios.com is offering discounts on 100 hotels in key destinations.  This is for travel between March and May 2016, for rooms booked before 24th January.

The cities included are Dubai, Boston, Marrakech, Istanbul, Algarve, Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Copenhagen, Nice, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Here is the interesting bit.  Avios has reduced both the ‘pay with Avios’ price and the cash price.  This means that, even if you have a very small Avios balance, you can still get a good deal here.

One problem is that it is not clear which hotels are reduced.  When you dig around, though, there are some deals.  Let’s take Hilton Dubai The Walk from 16th to 23rd April – a photo of a typical apartment is below.  Hilton.com wants Dh 7,501 for the entry level room including all taxes (£1,387).  The avios.com price is just £616 or 108,000 Avios or some combination of those.

This is a substantial saving.  Before anyone thinks of it – you cannot claim a Hilton ‘best rate guarantee’ against this because avios.com is treated as a ‘membership site’.

Package and cruise holiday discounts

Avios.com has sharply increased the discount you will receive if you redeem your points for a package holiday.  You must book by 24th January for travel at any point in the next year.

The deal is valid with any tour operator that Avios can book, which is most of them.  Simply find the holiday you want in a tour operator brochure and call Avios to book.  You will pay the brochure price.

The discounts are:

Redeem 5,000 Avios and save £100

Redeen 10,000 Avios and save £200

Redeem 15,000 Avios and save £300

The minimum spend required to claim a discount is just £750.  Redeeming 15,000 Avios at a hugely generous 2p per point to save £300 is an impressive deal.

More details can be found here.

The small print online says that “Further discounts can be applied at a rate of £50 per 10,000 Avios”.  However, the document I was sent says clearly that the cap is a £300 discount for 15,000 Avios.  I get a feeling that you can increase the discount beyond £300 but you will only get 0.5p per point if you do.

Car hire

Avis car rentals are reduced by up to 25% depending on destination as long as you pay with Avios points.  You need to book by 4th February for pick up dates before 16th March.

More details on the Avis discount can be found here.

There are also some “earn extra Avios” deals as part of this sale which I will cover later in the week.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.