Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Starwood opens Hotel de Berri, a brand new luxury hotel in Paris, this week

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

In what may be the last major opening before Starwood and Marriott fully combine their loyalty schemes next month, SPG’s The Luxury Collection is officially opening Hotel de Berri in Paris on 20th July.  It actually opened a couple of days ago, however, for a ‘soft’ launch.

This looks like an attempt at a very high-end property.  It has, astonishingly for a city centre hotel, a 3000 square metre private park.  This is shared with the occupants of just 75 rooms, including 35 suites.

The decor looks a bit …. eclectic …. but let’s see.  Here is one example:

Hotel de Berri Paris open

…. and here is another:

Hotel de Berri Paris open

Situated on rue de Berri, it is a very short walk from the Champs-Elysees.

At a reassuringly expensive €500 per night, it is decent value even as a Category 7 Starwood redemption at 30,000 points per night.  However, from mid August when SPG and Marriott Rewards merge, it will be bookable for just 60,000 ‘new scheme’ points (the equivalent of 20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points) which will be excellent value.

The Hotel de Berri website is here if you want to find out more.


How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

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

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

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

Comments (120)

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

  • Ken Middleton says:

    I still haven’t got my head around this SPG/Marriott merger and how it will affect my SPG points. Advice please. I have just over 20000 SPG points, obtained through my SPG Amex card. I would like to keep them for a while as I may want to use them with one of their partner airlines. Is it likely I will lose out if I hold on to them? Or, would I be better just cashing them in now for 25000 Avios (probably what I would eventually do anyway)? Unlikely to use them on hotel rooms, much as i would like to stay in this new Paris hotel. Thanks in advance for advice.

    • Genghis says:

      Based on info provided, you don’t need to do anything. Points will transfer 1:3 sometime in Aug and airline transfers will exist effectively at the same rates

      • Ken Middleton says:

        Many thanks for the reply. That sounds like a plan. Do we know if the new points scheme will have 5000 (SPG value) points bonus when converted 20000 points to an airline scheme?

        • Genghis says:

          It’ll be 15k new Marriotts bonus for every 60k (ie same as current SPG at 3:1)

  • Steve says:

    I paid £118 for that same toothbrush at the end of last year…what a joke for them to claim it’s £300 normally!

    • Jack says:

      Amazon pricing is always a joke – the highest it’s ever been is £279.99 on 31 July 2016 and the lowest is £84.94 on 24 November 2017.

    • Concerto says:

      Well P&G have to generate extra money somehow to pay their massive salaries and subsidize their second holiday home and expensive cars.

  • Tony says:

    Is it now mid-August — rather than from Aug 1 — that top Cat Marriott/old SPG Hotels will be bookable for 60,000 Marriott points? Had thought it was from Aug 1? Either is fine by me, but just wanted to be sure.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      There isn’t published date, just in August. Aug 1st was never on the cards.

      • Rob says:

        They did say 1st August once but it seems to have been an error. I was told last week I will get free brekky in Venice on 26 August!

        • Pangolin says:

          The way things are going with Marriott the launch date will be January 1.

          What a dumb idea to launch the new combined program mid-year.

  • Mike says:

    Harry – Thanks

  • koroleon says:

    OT: What’s the best way to switch from the plat amex to the free amex rewards card? Ask amex to convert the card or just apply for the new one and cancel the plat afterwards? Can I refer myself to the free card (knowing I won’t get any signup bonus)?

    • John says:

      Referring yourself should still get the referral points. Can you refer someone else and wait 6 months?

      • Alan says:

        I didn’t think there were any referral points available for referring to the free MR card. Maybe I mis-remembered reading that.

        • koroleon says:

          Apologies I think I made a mistake. I followed the referral link and then clicked on ‘Learn more’ for the green card and there was a link to a free card. However, it is the Amex Basic card, not the free MR card. So I don’t think there’s any way to refer someone to the free MR card.

  • the real harry1 says:

    Anybody with an Amazon student a/c can get £15 off £60 from noon midday today – use code STUDENT15.

    You can also get a free 6 month Prime trial (as a student).

    To get a student a/c, you’ll need a .ac.uk email address. You can google these though obviously I don’t suggest you impersonate somebody else.

    • Genghis says:

      “To get a student a/c, you’ll need a .ac.uk email address”. Not necessarily…

    • Alex says:

      Not true. It’s a joke but I’ve got a student account through the royal college of physicians. If you look through their list, you may very well find something you can use legitimately. I’ve seen one for chartered accountants, there’s definitely one for nursing… just start typing your job and see what comes up

      • Claire says:

        I’ve got an Amazon student account, which I got just by sending them a pic of my NUS card. Which I got by applying on the NUS website, when I did an online course last year.

    • Robman says:

      Thanks Harry – more alcohol for my cabinet at £15 cheaper. Very happy.

  • JPV says:

    OT: For hilton’s “5th night free” for points redemptions, if you search for a five night stay on points, at which point is the “5th night free” adjustment made?

    I’m searching for a redemption for which I’ve not yet transferred points to my hilton account.

    When I search for 5 nights vs 4, for one room it’s 270k for 5 nights vs. 240k for 4 nights. For another room, it’s 515k for 5 nights vs. 444k for 4 nights

    In both cases, it doesn’t seem that the 5th night is “free” – it looks like it costs about 50% of the points that it should.

    Am I misunderstanding something? Is there something else I have to do to activate “5th night free”?

    • Genghis says:

      Are you logged in (i.e. 5 for 4 is min Silver status)? But when you’re logged in, you can’t price up if you don’t have the points…

      • JPV says:

        I’m logged in to my account with gold status, but I don’t have the necessary points in my account, so perhaps that is why I’m not seeing the 5th night free rate?

        Although in that case I’m also confused as to why the 5-night rate I’m seeing is lower per-night than the 4-night rate at all! (i.e. 54k per night vs. 60k per night)

        • Memesweeper says:

          Also the rate per night can change during a stay, which always confuses everything.

        • Liz says:

          If you price up all 5 nights individually you will get the true cost of ewch night. When you have enough points and search for all 5 nights together it will reduce the cost across all 5 nights and not just show the 5th night free. I assume it will reduce it by the cost of the 5th night which may be the cheapest night – it’s more difficult to work out sometimes as the price of the room can vary from night to night.

    • Relaxo says:

      Yup…what Liz said. It is a different process from the Marriott 5th night free which is a “true” 4+1. I think the guys over at insideflyer wrote an article about it last year if you want to search for it.

  • Steve says:

    O/T, Marriott reward related: What is the difference between a suite night award and a check in upgrade? Is it only that it guarentees the upgrade at point of booking/applying SNA rather than being dependant on availability on check in or is it something else?

    Planning to book a room in Ritz Al Wadi Ras Al Khaimah and debating whether to apply SNA or hope for availability on arrival

    • Pangolin says:

      See my reply below (I accidentally posted it as a new post)

      • E says:

        You can apply the SNA but there’s no guarantee it will be accepted. They have until 5 days (I think) before your arrival to decide whether they’ll accept it you so you won’t get a guarantee till quite close to arrival. And they could still, 5 days before arrival, decline your SNA at that point and you then get the SNA back to use for another stay. It’s not really a guarantee but you should be ahead of those allocated to people with no SNA.

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.