News in brief:
Last chance to make Accor bookings for their ‘6000 Avios’ promo
A few weeks ago we wrote about the new Accor (Novotel, Ibis, Sofitel, Pullman, Mercure etc) promotion. You can earn 6,000 Avios or €120 of vouchers for completing 3 x 2-night stays.
TOMORROW – 6th March – is the last day to make bookings that count towards this promo. You have until 2nd September to actually complete your stays.
If you need to book a few two-night hotel stays for the coming weeks then take a look at my original article on how to take part. Registration is required.
The flagship Sofitel St James is pictured below.
20% bonus on transfers to Etihad Guest
Etihad Guest has launched another of its occasional transfer bonuses.
This is not a bad time to take advantage. The recent ‘devaluation’ of Etihad Guest actually made business class flights between London and Abu Dhabi cheaper (read more here) – albeit taxes went up – and it is unlikely that we will see further changes for a couple of years.
Details of the transfer bonus are here.
For UK residents, the key transfer partners which will trigger a 20% bonus are:
Le Club AccorHotels
IHG Rewards Club
World of Hyatt
Club Carlson
Hilton Honors
Shangri-La Golden Circle
HSBC Premier
It is important to note who is NOT on the list – Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and American Express Membership Rewards. You will not get a bonus from these three schemes.
Transfers must be made by 31st March. The bonus will be added in a separate transaction within 15 days of the end of the promotion.
How to earn Etihad Guest miles via UK credit cards
As a reminder, Etihad no longer has its own UK credit card. However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards. These are:
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – 10,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
The Platinum Card from American Express – 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
American Express Rewards credit card – up to 5,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile.
Etihad Guest is also a partner with the HSBC Premier Mastercard (0.5 miles per £1 spent, reviewed here) and HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard (1 mile per £1 spent, reviewed here).
About Head for Points
Thanks for the reminder, didn’t realise the Accor promo was ending for bookings made as soon as tomorrow! On a related note I was looking at their 3 for 2 promo and in places such as Sofitel couldn’t see any difference in prices when booking with or without the promo applied. Was scratching my head then realised you get a 33% discount anyhow when booking over 3 nights, so it more or less makes the 3 for 2 redundant at some premises, especially if you want more flexibility to cancel as the 3 for 2 is a lock in.
Yes, you always need to be careful with hotel pricing. I had a reader email the other day who was annoyed he had booked in the Hilton January sale only for the hotel to drop in price as soon as the sale ended …..
Careful when making transfers from HSBC. Their systems cannot handle ‘large’ transfers and you’re only ‘guaranteed’ for amounts upto 99,998 points (49,999 Miles) to be successful.
If you try higher, the system will allow you to believe you’ve successfully sent upto the ‘limit’, which appears to be 999,998 points (499,999 Miles). This amount will ‘process’ but you will receive only 10% of what you’re expecting i.e. they knock a digit off!
The only way I believe you can see is to check your balance pre and post transaction.
I cannot see how to retrieve a statement of transactions bar on monthly credit card statement.
Transactions have taken between 6 and 16 days (no consistency) to arrive but are dated the transaction date when they eventually do.
To ensure you successfully transfer (and qualify for the bonus) break any transfers down into chunks no larger than 99,998 points (49,999 miles).
Thanks – sounds like best practice is to keep the number of HSBC points under 6 digits for each transfer.
I don’t think this is always a problem every time becaus a few months ago I transferred just under 200k HSBC points (under 100k avios) and it went through fine without any problems.
But after your post I’m not sure I’d risk it next time!
OT
re Marriott transfers.
You can transfer more than 50,000 points to someone else if they need it for a booking they have made without having all the points.
Has anyone ever done this and then cancelled the booking? Since the transfer is manual it seems unlikely that the transfer would be reversed.
I thought you could transfer 50k anyway pa, free for Gold/Plat?
Yes you can, but I want to transfer 60,000 for a booking which is allowed but apparently their system is having problems at present.
It was more of a general query about large transfers between accounts. I wondered if one could make a booking, transfer in the points then cancel the booking in true HfP manner.
I didn’t even realise that was a thing. Thanks
“Members who are transferring points in order to satisfy a specific award may exceed the 50,000 limit up to the amount needed to satisfy the reservation.”
I transfer via SPG (between wife and I) to avoid that anyway and have never had a need to transfer outside of that.
Yes, SPG is the way within the household, but this is for my nephew and our house is already very crowded!
Thanks man, really helpful
I have just over 7000 Etihad Guest points that are about to expire. I can’t use them for an airline redemption right now. Can anyone suggest anything else I might be able to do with them? Can they be transferred anywhere else, or spend on anything worthwhile?
Er, cash?! Transfer to PointsPay. Weak $ means you’d get about £40 I think.
Regarding Etihad does any one know how sensible the tax/fees are and, can still do points and cash? Thanks.
See (for London to AUH) – https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/01/16/qatar-travel-boutique-sale-last-day/
Thanks Rob!
Rob, will you awarded 4000 avios per return flight or 4000 avios for 2 retun flights? If so, you wrote 4.000 avios per return flight.
OT
I have Etihad points that expire in April/May. Could I book flights and then cancel to get the points back to my account but with a longer expiration date?