Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Hilton / Amex cashback, bonus Avios with stationery, Avios debit card now available again

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News in brief:

Hilton / Amex cashback deal now open to all Amex cards

American Express has been running a cashback deal recently with selected Hilton Group hotels across the UK and Europe.

You receive a £50 statement credit when you spend £250.  Whilst it is not stated in the rules, the spend appears to be cumulative and does not need to be hit in one stay.

The offer has now appeared on the Amex Connect website – click here.  This means that any personal American Express card can be registered even if it is issued by MBNA, Barclays or Lloyds.

You need to stay (or have a prepaid booking charged to your card) by 8th May.  Don’t forget to register and remember to check the list of participating hotels before you stay.

HILTON PARIS OPERA

2,400 Avios or 2,500 Virgin miles with £70 of stationery

Tesco Direct has launched a new style of promotional deal – with stationery.  Until 27th April, if you spend £70 on these stationery items at Tesco Direct you will receive 1,000 bonus Clubcard points.  These transfer into 2,400 Avios or 2,500 Virgin miles.

Only Avios-earning debit card now available again

Tesco Bank has reopened its current account to new applications.  It recently relaunched with an exceptionally generous deal but, swamped by applicants, it was withdrawn and the criteria tightened.

You receive:

a debit card which earns 0.3 Avios per £1 spent (you actually get 1 Clubcard point per £8 spent which gets you 2.4 Avios per £8 spent, note that you need to spend at least £8 per transaction to earn any points from it)

you will earn 3% credit interest on up to £3000, guaranteed until April 2019

your debit card will earn 1 Clubcard point for every £1 you spend on it in Tesco – this is a very generous 2.4 Avios or 2.5 Virgin miles – and this rate is guaranteed until April 2019

There are new rules on opening an account:

you must set up 3 direct debits

you must pay in £750 per month

If you make a lot of debit card payments or spend a lot in Tesco – or just want to earn an easy £90 per year in interest on £3000 of your savings – this is worth a look.  You can apply here.  

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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:

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.

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

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (201)

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

  • James67 says:
    11 Apr11 April 21:16

    OT: Munoz appears to have changed his tune
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39572841

  • Bob says:
    11 Apr11 April 21:24

    The stationery offer is great for the self employed. There is three boxed paper options (5 reams) options. From £17 which is compariable to other retailers pricing. You can mix 3 of these and 1 of the £21 one to get to £72 with £3 for delivery or free store collection..

    I’m on old grandfathered rates so getting about 3500 avios for £75 spend which I can reclaim VAT and use as a tax deductible (£44 or less) and will make use of the paper in the office.

  • Alex W says:
    11 Apr11 April 22:43

    Would the Tesco debit card get Clubcard ponita on foreign currency purchase?

  • John says:
    11 Apr11 April 22:47

    O/T – I wish to book BA flights for myself & partner travelling together, one on a cash ticket, one on a RFS reward ticket. Can this be achieved online somehow? (I doubt it)

    And if by telephone, presumably it can be done but I shouldn’t be charged for the pleasure?

    Ideally I want same PNR for free seat selection (I have BA silver, partner has nowt) unless there is a way round this?

    Thanks

    • Ian says:
      11 Apr11 April 23:28

      I’m not sure Amadeus can mix two fare basis codes for the same flight in the same PNR, so even if they were willing to do it I don’t think it’s even possible to have one pax on a cash fare and the other on a redemption in the same PNR.

    • Alex W says:
      11 Apr11 April 23:39

      You could try 2x one ways. Or 2 returns with part pay with Avios.

  • John says:
    12 Apr12 April 00:42

    Thanks guys, I agree, I don’t think its possible (the cash fare will be on expenses, so can’t mess about with one-way options or use part pay with Avios unfortunately) – separate seats it most likely will have to be!

    • the real harry1 says:
      12 Apr12 April 01:00

      worth asking whoever authorises your expenses if you can buy 2 tickets on part pay with Avios (or whatever) then claim the correct cash back based on online information of the right amount?

      I did this with a friendly boss & swapped a business return to USA for a RTW ticket in cattle so that I could start my hols after the business trip & scuba dive off the Great Barrier Reef for 2 weeks

      he saved the business nearly a couple of £thou and I got to Australia for free

    • Alex W says:
      12 Apr12 April 07:36

      If you can go Virgin, get the black credit card, spend £7.5k and get the companion voucher 🙂

  • roger says:
    12 Apr12 April 04:44

    OT- MBNA has upped their EK card sign up bonus to 25K miles on paid (£150 fee) card.

  • Lisa says:
    12 Apr12 April 06:23

    Apologies if already mentioned but with the Tesco debit card you get the 1 point per£1 spent for using your card plus the normal 1 point per £1 spent from Clubcard . Tesco bank will add up the bonus points every quarter and add it to your statement.

  • Oliver says:
    13 Apr13 April 12:02

    Hi Rob, i believe the best tesco debit card is now the best way to get avios when buying fuel? Tesco debit card at tesco filling station. Using the Tesco credit/debit card as your clubcard and paying with the tesco debit card you would now get 2 points per £ which is 4.8 avios per £? or 5 virgin miles per £

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

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