Is it worth using Avios points for hotels?

Is it worth using your Avios points to book hotel rooms?  Today I want to look at whether hotel bookings give you a good return for your hard-earned Avios points.

The good news is that you CAN use Avios to book hotels.

The bad news is that this is not the best use of them.  As you will see in this article, you are generally getting under 0.6p per Avios when using them for hotels.   Click here to read an article on what an Avios is worth when used for flights – you should usually be able to get well over 1p.

At the end of the day, however, you might be struggling to find Avios flights for the dates you want, or you might simply be sick of flying!

How do I book a hotel with Avios?

You can book a hotel with Avios points via this page at ba.com.

Experience has shown that you you will get a value per Avios of 0.54p – 0.56p per Avios if you make a booking.

This also assumes that the Avios Hotels price is fair. In reality, you will often find that hotels offer better pricing via their own websites, especially if you are a member of their loyalty programme. This reduces your ‘pence per point’ even further.

If Avios Hotels prices are always going to be ‘above market’ then you cannot consider 0.55p per point to be the genuine value.  The real value is probably closer to 0.5p which is the value you tend to get when redeeming for other ‘non flight’ redemptions.

If you earn your Avios points from credit card spend then you are unlikely to find 0.54p – 0.56p acceptable. We would expect you to be able to achieve 1p when using Avios for premium cabin flights – click to see our maths.

If you earn all of your Avios from business travel then you have no ‘opportunity cost’ for your Avios. You may find a hotel redemption worthwhile if you are struggling to find suitable flights, even if it isn’t the absolute best deal.

You don’t get status benefits or hotel points on Avios bookings

Here is a final point.  You may not know that redeeming Avios for a chain hotel via ba.com, or indeed paying for one via Expedia, Hotels.com etc, means that you will not earn hotel loyalty points from your stay.

You will also not receive any status benefits.  You should bear this in mind when booking, especially if you have hotel status which would otherwise get you free breakfast or an upgrade.

Booking hotels with Avios is not great value

As you can see, bookings hotels with Avios points is not a great idea.

On the face of it, it’s no worse than using Avios for car hire, seat selection, wine or any other non-flying redemption, because you get around 0.5p to 0.6p per Avios.

However, because you won’t earn hotel loyalty points or receive any status benefits because your booking was made by a third party, it makes the Avios route even poorer value.

If you focus on premium cabin flight redemptions, you should be able to get nearer to 1p per Avios.

You can find the Avios Hotels booking link on this page of ba.com.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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