Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: quick way to find Hyatt ‘cash and points’ awards, new Sheraton resort in Cascais

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News in brief:

How to quickly find Hyatt ‘cash and points’ availability

Via US blog Will Run For Miles comes an easy way to search for ‘cash and points’ nights using Hyatt Gold Passport points.

These have been bookable online for a few months now.  You had to check hotel by hotel to find availability, however, which was slow in cities with a number of Hyatt properties.

It turns out that using corporate code 51440 at hyatt.com when searching for a particular night will clearly indicate, by virtue of the low price shown, which hotels have ‘cash and points’ available.  This is a real benefit in US cities with many Hyatt properties.

Sheraton Cascais

New Sheraton resort opens in Portugal

With little fanfare, an interesting addition to the European Sheraton portfolio launched two weeks ago.

The former Vivamarinha Hotel & Suites is now the Sheraton Cascais Resort (photo above).  The PR blurb says:

[It] boasts an enviable location on Portugal’s sweeping Atlantic coast just 30 minutes from Lisbon and 2 kilometres from the famous Guincho Beach, one of the finest surfing spots in Europe. Comprising of 138 rooms and suites, Sheraton Cascais will feature a signature restaurant and two bars, as well as a wide range of leisure facilities including a state-of-the-art fitness centre, outdoor swimming pool and an expansive spa with six treatment rooms and hydrotherapy suite. A perfect location for golfers, the resort is surrounded by seven of Portugal’s top golf courses, all within a 30-minute drive – one for each day of the week.

Rooms are priced from €140 in June, with suites (1,000+ square feet) from €300.  SPG free nights cost 10,000 points.

Redemptions do not look great value at €140 but, at €200 in August, it would be a decent way to spend your Starwood Preferred Guest points.  The hotel home page is here.


How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (13)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Kathy (Will Run For Miles) says:

    Thanks for the mention! By the way, I’ll be in London 4 days surrounding the London Marathon = even though I didn’t get accepted in the event via the ballot I decided to go anyway. Haven’t visited in years, so most excited.

  • Nick M says:

    Completely OT….

    We currently live in Kent and the main use of Avios recently has been RFS as we have an 18 month old and nearest airports are in London. It is quite likely that we will be moving up to the North East in the near future and so I imagine that RFS will look less attractive due to time/extra cost of going via London. I currently have around 30k MR to find a home for (before plans will be finalised), does anyone have any recommendations for where I should consider? Or should I stick with Avios as a defacto?

    I’m finding this a bit harder to think about as we don’t have any “goals” in mind at the moment…

    • Genghis says:

      If you are not closing your MR account, leave them as MR points as they can be converted to many things, especially since you don’t have any points savings targets. If you have to convert, I’d convert to avios.

      • Nick M says:

        Thanks Genghis and Dom.. coming to the end of the free first year, so will be recommending my wife and closing my account shortly so want to transfer them out…

        We currently also have circa 60k Avios, and will have my wife’s MR points available so a long haul isn’t necessarily too far out of reach – especially if we go for a BAPP 241 after the Gold card. – It’s just whether this would still be good value when you factor in the recent ex-EU sales…

        • Genghis says:

          I’d convert to avios still and use the BAPP to save up for a 241. Do you really want to be embarking on an ex-EU flight with a small child?

  • Dom says:

    Agree RFS is not as attractive for the north, but for short-haul flights there isn’t really anything better. Save up for long-haul? Or, maybe sit tight until aer-club launches in june to see what is offered? (Aer Lingus currently has good regional links with UK airports)

  • Genghis says:

    OT but my PayQwiq invite arrived this afternoon for both me and my wife. We applied on the day Raffles published the PayQwiq HfP article. Easy 500 Tesco cc points for me and wife. Cheers Raffles for heads up.

    • Alan says:

      I received an email from them today but no offer of 500 pts so haven’t installed it yet!

      • Genghis says:

        Does your email not say, “To thank you for signing up, we’ll give you 500 Clubcard points the first time you pay with the app until 23rd March 2016!”?

        • Alan says:

          Nope, just says…

          “We’ll keep you updated…

          Thanks for registering your interest with PayQwiq – the speedy, simple and secure payment app from Tesco.

          We’re testing the app with a small number of customers at the moment, but you’ll be the first to know when PayQwiq is ready for you to use!

          Speak soon,

          The PayQwiq Team”

          Did you actually go ahead and activate? My impression from the article was you had to wait for an email offering you points before doing so?

          • Genghis says:

            The first email I received offered the points. Perhaps they’ve now filled the testing quota?

          • Gavin says:

            Hopefully mine will show up soon.

          • Alan says:

            Possibly. The only other email I had from them just said thanks for registering your interest.

            Frustrating as for once they had an Edinburgh option to try it out!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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