Bits: Park Inn Easter offers, Amex Nectar sign-up bonus now available to everyone

News in brief:

Easter deals at Park Inn hotels in the UK and Ireland

Last week I wrote about the special Easter deals available at Radisson Blu hotels across the UK – free upgrades, free breakfast and free Easter eggs!  This included the Manchester and Stansted airport hotels if you are flying off for Easter.

Park Inn, the cheaper sister chain to Radisson, is running its own Easter deals.

You get a similar package – free breakfast, a guaranteed upgrade and an Easter egg!  The package is valid across 15 hotels in the UK and Ireland for stays until 10th April.

Some airport hotels are included – Heathrow and Shannon.  If you are brave enough for an Easter UK seaside trip, their Southend-on-Sea hotel (photo below) is also included!

You will Club Carlson points for your stay and you could top up your account later with an American Express Membership Rewards transfer if needed.

More details can be found on the Park Inn website here.

American Express Nectar bonus now available to everyone

I wrote a review of the Amex Nectar credit card yesterday.

This card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Nectar points if you spend £2,000 within three months.

This is worth £100 if you redeem it with most Nectar partners.  However, if you saved your points for a special promotion – such as a Sainsbury’s Double Up event – they could be worth up to £200.

The card is free for the first year.

I never discussed this card on Head for Points because it used to have a draconian bonus rule – you were not allowed to have the bonus if you had any other Amex-issued American Express card.

This rule has now been relaxed.  The Amex website now says anyone can have the bonus as long they have not held the Amex Nectar credit card in the last six months.  This means that 99% of Head for Points readers would be eligible.

The unwritten Amex rule is believed to be that you can have two charge cards and two credit cards at the same time.  Anyone with, say, an Amex Gold and a BA Amex should be eligible.  Someone with a BA and Starwood Amex (both credit cards) is more likely to be refused.

For on-going spending, the card offers 2 Nectar points per £1.  This is worth 1% back.  You may be marginally better off with an American Express cashback credit card unless you saved your Nectar points for special redemption promotions – in which case the Nectar points would be more attractive.

Note that there is a £25 annual fee after the first free year and a £30,000 household income requirement.  It has a representative APR of 25.0% variable, including the fee, based on a notional credit limit of £1,200.

The sign-up link for the Amex Nectar credit card is here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

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.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.