Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Small Luxury Hotels stops giving Avios points after launching its INVITED loyalty scheme

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Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a consortium of 520 luxury hotels in 80 countries. These are primarily independent properties, many of which are well known in their respective markets.

Last Autumn SLH decided to beef up its own loyalty offering.  The previous scheme,called The Club was replaced by INVITED.  The details of how INVITED works are here.

Clearly taking their cue from the stupid tier names used by the new World of Hyatt programme (Discoverist, Explorist, Globalist), SLH now calls its tier levels Invited, Inspired and Indulged.  

What is interesting is that you get decent benefits just for joining.  As an ‘Invited’ level member, which is what you get for signing up, you will receive free continental breakfast, early check-in if available, late check-out if available and free wi-fi.

If you are not already a member of INVITED, this link for American Express cardholders lets you join at ‘Inspired’ level.  This usually requires one previous stay so it is useful if you only have a one-off Small Luxury Hotels trip.  ‘Inspired’ gets you all the benefits of ‘Invited’ plus a birthday gift and a one-category room upgrade if available at check-in.

Whilst there has been no announcement, it seems that the launch of INVITED has led to Avios – and other airline partnerships – being dropped.  You can no longer earn 500 Avios per stay when you visit a Small Luxury Hotels property.

The full list of remaining British Airways hotel partners is here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

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

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

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

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

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.

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

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.

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (35)

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

  • Ant says:

    OT: my Amex account is showing that I have received a companion voucher but it is still not showing on my BA account. How long does it usually take?

  • Genghis says:

    OT what’s the going rate for a broken USB socket on BA these days?

    • Nick says:

      Not heard of anything for that, it’s not a guaranteed facility anyway, but good luck asking! In any case they would give nothing for a dodgy seat if there was a spare (in the same cabin) you could have been moved to – and they can check against the AML to make sure you definitely reported it during the flight in question!

    • JamesB says:

      Probably 0.01 avios, good luck and let us know please.

      • Genghis says:

        All ok in the end. A lounge agent came up to me and said, “Mr Genghis, your upgrade has been denied” (I didn’t ask for one) and “your usb socket isn’t working” (it was). Unless there was another Mr Genghis on the flight…

  • Froggitt says:

    “Remember that you CAN access the Terminal 5 Plaza Premium lounge with an American Express Platinum charge card”

    I have an Amex Platinum Credit Card…..does that count?

    • mark2 says:

      so have you got Platinum credit but not charge?
      If so, why? This prevents the six month wait from starting.

  • JamesB says:

    OT: Anybody got any ideas and experience with respect to AsiaMiles standard award availability? I am currently working on a Marriott travel package and thinking AsiaMikes might be a better option than BA for me as their Zone D covers 5000-7500 miles for 70000 miles one way J for CX plus one other carrier. Unlike BA, I would hope this puts almost all of seAsia including KUL and SIN in the same zone but I will need to check that to be sure.

  • Simon says:

    Can anyone actually log into their SLH invited account at the mo?

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

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