Non-flight deals to be had in the avios.com January sale
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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.
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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
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