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Bits: £50 off at eBookers, HfP feedback

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News in brief:

Get a £50 ebookers discount

Ebookers is running a new promotion worth £50 off a ‘flight and hotel’ package costing more than £600.

The ebookers discount code to enter at check-out is the easy-to-remember AFFPKG0417.

You need to book by 7th May for travel before the end of the year.

Terms and conditions are here and you can book here.

PS.  If you have your own travel blog, ebookers is offering free holidays in Barcelona as long as you agree to write about it afterwards.  Details are here.

Hilton / OneRepublic gig

On Saturday night we were at the famous Abbey Road Studios in North London for the Hilton Honors / OneRepublic concert which was an excellent evening.

It was great to meet so many HfP readers.  As you can probably imagine, sometimes you feel like the words you write go into a black hole.  You never quite know happens afterwards.

Back in August 2015, I wrote that Small Luxury Hotels of the World was looking for hotel inspectors.  One couple I met on Saturday had read that article, applied, and got the job.  This year they will visit 11 luxury hotels entirely free of charge.  Apparently they can spend as much as they want during their stay and it is all reimbursed by SLH later.  The downside is that they have to make certain demands of the hotel during their trip. At no point does the hotel realise that the couple is undercover.

I also covered – with, I admit, some scepticism – the auction on eBay for tickets on the ‘preview flight’ to New Orleans by British Airways over Mardi Gras this year.  I spoke to another couple who had bought this package after reading about it on HfP.  It was, apparently, an amazing experience with BA delivering far more than promised, with excellent private seats for the Mardi Gras parade and a host of additional events running pretty much 24/7 over the weekend.

Thanks to everyone who came to say Hi, I appreciate it.  FYI, the person who stood up at the start and introduced himself as ‘Mark from Hilton’ was actually the global head of Hilton Honors who had flown over especially …..

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy 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

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors 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.)

Category

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

Comments (123)

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

  • Alan C says:
    26 Apr26 April 07:40

    Anyone got “Mark from Hilton” email address?
    Cheers

    Alan

  • BigDave says:
    26 Apr26 April 07:41

    rucksack entry seems to be regional dependant – not available in my region (not UK) booooo

    • Genghis says:
      26 Apr26 April 07:47

      I entered with my VPN on earlier. But I always use VPN when connecting to open wifi

      • Henry says:
        26 Apr26 April 19:11

        I have never really understood VPN but keep seeing it on here. Which one do you use and would you recommend getting it?

        • the real harry1 says:
          26 Apr26 April 19:26

          some are a bit dodgy, I have used hola! successfully but you should use it then uninstall program – fine these days but you don’t want to take any chances

        • John says:
          26 Apr26 April 20:12

          I don’t really get VPNs.

          When I was at university I would always use the university’s VPN to make it seem like I was in the UK even when I was not, but I no longer have access to that.

          Sure if you are in China and want to get some uncensored news or in Thailand and want to insult the (late) King, then OK.

          But otherwise I’m not sure how you can trust a VPN provider not to reveal your secrets to the government.

          On public wifis I believe if you use HTTPS, configure your own DNS and trust your browser and the website (within the realms of practicality at least) then you should be safe enough

          • Louise says:
            26 Apr26 April 23:07

            Depends on if the apps you are using are sending your user data with any encryption. Best to use a VPN as a precaution on a public wifi, as you do not know who else is sniffing traffic on the network!

          • Genghis says:
            27 Apr27 April 00:45

            @Louise. That’s why I use it. I use SurfEasy VPN which you have to pay for.

  • Scott says:
    26 Apr26 April 08:46

    Sorry OT, but has anyone got the gold to platinum upgrade link? Thanks

  • Wally1976 says:
    26 Apr26 April 09:01

    OT – I’m trying to transfer some Amex MR to my Club Carlson account for the first time and having trouble registering my account. Are there any tricks? I’ve got a 16 digit Club Carlson number starting with a 6 if that helps. I’ve tried adding zeros to the beginning like you have to do for SPG but that didn’t work. Thanks in advance.

    • Rob says:
      26 Apr26 April 09:05

      I have tried to link my wife’s card to SPG for the last month with no joy. Looks like a call is needed.

      • Matthew says:
        26 Apr26 April 09:55

        Add 0000 to the beginning of your SPG number Rob and it will work.

        • aliks says:
          26 Apr26 April 10:19

          I’ve always had to call Amex to get a points transfer to Carlson – I have never managed to register my Carlson account against an Amex card.

        • Rob says:
          26 Apr26 April 10:49

          You are the man! Thank you. It worked.

          That saves me the painful task of making my wife ring Amex to do it. Points off to SPG, Gold will be closed. A good days work.

    • Wally1976 says:
      26 Apr26 April 09:32

      To answer my own question – just read the terms and it tells you to drop the first 6 digits of the account number and leave the remaining 10. Done that and it seems to have worked 🙂

      • Sam G says:
        26 Apr26 April 12:47

        Yep – can confirm this is what you need to do!

      • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
        26 Apr26 April 19:27

        If only that could be automated somehow on their system. I did get 500 MR points as a sorry when I called them for them to add it manually…

  • Gill says:
    26 Apr26 April 09:15

    OT:
    How do I transfer Iberia avios into my BA account?
    Sure I’ve done it before but is now telling me only into IB is possible from both BA and Avios

    • Rob says:
      26 Apr26 April 09:17

      IT error. Use avios.com as an intermediary, that works.

    • Genghis says:
      26 Apr26 April 09:17

      Have you tried logging into avios.com and then pulling from IB+ and then pushing to BAEC?

      • Gill says:
        26 Apr26 April 12:01

        Thx, I knew there was a work around. Had to phone Avios in the end though because IB pin wasn’t recognised even though I’d logged into IB with it minutes earlier.

  • Brian says:
    26 Apr26 April 10:34

    OT – not sure if somebody has already mentioned it – but Accor have brought back their promotion for up to 6,000 points (120 Euros worth) for three 2-night stays from 9 May. You can book now, though, so might be worth looking into for some.

  • Rob says:
    26 Apr26 April 10:45

    AW is a lot easier if you use the app.

    However, irrespective of that, it should auto-update once a week, I think. If you want more frequent checks then you need to run it manually and doing it via the app is the best way.

    If you have the premium version of AW then it updates a lot faster as it runs in parallel and not one at a time. Email me if you want a free code for a 6-month trial of the premium version.

    • Ian says:
      26 Apr26 April 12:20

      However doing it via the app is hard for any sites that require captcha – hard to see 🙂

      • Rob says:
        26 Apr26 April 13:32

        AW seems to override this.

        • Alan says:
          26 Apr26 April 23:34

          Not quite (as it wouldn’t be technically possible given they don’t have control over the site they are scraping the content from) – I suspect they have a setup that presents the CAPTCHA to a human being to enter. This is more obvious when doing it on the desktop where it is quicker for you to enter the code when the page appears, but if you don’t they will (after a delay) normally complete it for you.

  • MarkH says:
    26 Apr26 April 11:07

    OT – I have the BAPP and the new card year has just started but I am currently putting spend towards my partner’s Gold bonus and also want to take advantage of the Lloyd’s Reward double avios.

    So I was thinking to downgrade to BACC to save paying the annual fee and in 6 months start spending towards the companion voucher, wait till I spend £9k ish and then upgrade back to BAPP to hit £10k and get a 2 year voucher. Is that possible?

    Or would it better to upgrade back to BAPP in 6 months time after Lloyds double period has finished and then spend towards the companion voucher on the BAPP?

    I’m not too concerned with the extra 5k avios I would get for spending on BAPP vs the half year fee that I would save.

    • Genghis says:
      26 Apr26 April 11:15

      It is possible. That’s what @Polly does I believe.

      Another alternative: Cancel your BAPP now and then sign up again in 6 months’ time for a 19k/26k sign up bonus?

      • MarkH says:
        26 Apr26 April 12:47

        You make a very good point esp as I am not planning to use it for the next 6mths anyway. Thanks!

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

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