More avios.com deals when you redeem for hotel stays

Avios.com has been keen to promote its hotel booking platform recently and sent me over a sample of current hotel deals on offer.

In general, redeeming Avios for hotel points is not a great deal.  There is nothing wrong with the selection of hotels they offer, but you will generally only receive a touch over 0.55p per point.  You should be able to do far better than that from a flight redemption.

The other snag when using Avios for hotels is that you will not receive hotel loyalty points or status benefits on your stay.  In theory.  Sometimes you will but you should not rely on it.  This makes paying cash even more attractive.

What makes a difference is when Avios negotiates an aggressive deal with a particular hotel.  This is often possible because avios.com is seen as a ‘membership site’ (ie the public cannot book without signing up) and so hotels can dump excess capacity there without being exposed to ‘best rate guarantee’ claims.

This is a sample of deals currently available:

Coconut Court Beach Hotel, Barbados ***

From 6,300 Avios + £685 for 7 nights room only for 2 people in a Deluxe ocean front double room

Compare with:  Expedia – £1,367 (Avios price cheaper by 47%), BA Holidays – £1,185 (Avios price cheaper by 39%), Hotels.com – £1,324 (Avios price cheaper by 46%)

Capella Marigot Bay, St Lucia *****

From 16,300 Avios + £1,550 for 7 nights with full American breakfast for 2 people in a resort view twin room

Compare with:  Expedia – £2,829 (Avios price cheaper by 42%), Booking.com – £3,059 (Avios price cheaper by 47%), Hotels.com – £2,829 (Avios price cheaper by 42%)

Turim, Lisbon ****

From 3,450 Avios + £175  for 3 nights with a hot buffet breakfast for 2 people in a standard double / twin room

Compare with: BA Holidays – £321  (Avios price cheaper by 40%), Booking.com – £494 (Avios price cheaper by 61%), Hotels.com – £491 (Avios price cheaper by 60%)

It is amusing how avios.com is so keen to show how much cheaper it is than BA Holidays.

In all cases, you can choose to pay with more Avios and less cash if you wish – although the delta is the usual 0.55p – 0.6p so you may want to use as few Avios as you can.

You certainly won’t find many hotel deals on avios.com to be as good as these but they are available.  The three deals above are definitely bookable at the moment.

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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:

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.

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.

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.