Get a 25% bonus when you convert TopCashback money to Avios points

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

• Phil says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:51

  The really surprising thing is that Hyatt has award inventory even during times of very high demand. Last year I got an excellent rate using cash+points at the lovely Hyatt Centric in Ginza at the height of cherry blossom season. (I did book earlyish though and award availability disappeared closer to the time.)

  For this June I have been able to book 4 nights in a SLH property on Naxos using Hyatt points. Again a considerable saving at a time when rates are high.

  • Rob says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:25

    Hyatt makes reward nights available as long as standard rooms are available for cash. It is a key benefit of World of Hyatt.

    You only get issues if hotels start gaming what a ‘standard’ room is and making it a small category.

    • Mr Entitled says:

      3 Apr3 April 09:06

      Is this unique to Hyatt? I thought Hilton do the same, and then if no standard room is available, offer a higher category for an inflated point total. Perhaps others do too?

      • Rob says:

        3 Apr3 April 09:28

        No, Hilton has capacity controls. ‘Premium rooms’ are just Hilton buying your room for you at full price, giving you 0.25p or so per point.

      • Kai says:

        3 Apr3 April 12:27

        Marriott has the same policy. Hilton doesn’t, but I have only see very few occasions where standard rooms available for cash cannot be redeemed for points.

  • Scallder says:

    3 Apr3 April 15:06

    I loved Naxos when there for a few nights as part of a sailing trip a few years back. Apologies if you’ve been before, but in case not, make sure to check out Yasouvlaki! on the harbour front – great gyros, so can get a very good dinner for £3!

    Would also recommend popping into Eggares Olive Oil Museum if you’re passing by, interesting to see the older methods of producing olive oil plus you can buy some of their produce – it’s incredible and rarely makes it off the island as the locals usually keep it to themselves, it’s that good.

    Also check out Naxos Castle – during the summer they have music on in the evenings in the courtyard which is a lovely experience, especially as the castle overlooks the bay

• Matt says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:34

  Hi Lee I thought that too but I’m so glad I percevered last week. 2 outbound F seats were available for Feb 2020 so I nabbed them using 2-4-1 last month before they went. I then waited 2 weeks till D-355, and although I had to call up at midnight on 3 consecutive I locked in the J inbound seats on the third attempt!

  Certainly a ball ache but I feel it was worth it for sure.

  • Mr Entitled says:

    3 Apr3 April 07:40

    On the first two attempts when you called had someone beaten you to it or were the seats not made available?

• Matt says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:36

  Alex W i just booked F out, J back recently, and taxes were around £805 mark.

  • Alex W says:

    3 Apr3 April 09:32

    And F both ways is £926

• LewisB says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:51

  OT – Flybe to close it’s entire base at Doncaster, Cardiff and Exeter. Devastating for Exeter Airport, I would question if it’ll survive. Ryanair to make an announcement for Cardiff later on today, I’m assuming they’ll savage the best performing Flybe routes.

  • LewisB says:

    3 Apr3 April 07:53

    At least 24 Flybe cancellations across the UK today also due to crew shortages, seem to be leaving in packs…

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Apr3 April 07:56

    Goodbye Exeter = bad news for people in the South West, was at least an option on some routes.

  • BJ says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:11

    When is this happening? We were planning to fly from Edinburgh to Exeter this summer and pick up a hire car to explore south west. Looks like we will now need to drive or use Bristol or perhaps Ryanair fly to Bournemouth.

    • LewisB says:

      3 Apr3 April 08:13

      After summer 2019. Staff were emailed last night. I’d expect a news story to come out shortly.

      • BJ says:

        3 Apr3 April 08:53

        So, safe for us probably but a great pity for the region. I’m abigfan pfsmaller localairpirrs if they can get routes to work.

    • Shoestring says:

      3 Apr3 April 08:19

      Edinburgh/ Glasgow to Newquay? Direct, if it still continues…

      • BJ says:

        3 Apr3 April 08:56

        Thanks, didn’t know about that one, will look into it. Exeter would have been better as we were going to use the Hampton as a cheap base using points or cash.

  • Marcw says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:18

    Flybe is about to close……

    • Rob says:

      3 Apr3 April 08:21

      Flybe is perfectly fine. I know some of the senior people there and they are all happy. People who were looking for other jobs have now decided to stay.

      • Michael says:

        3 Apr3 April 08:29

        So what’s the score now then – are they being folded into Virgin or are they remaining as flybe?

        • Rob says:

          3 Apr3 April 08:31

          Remains as is. It has to, because Virgin does NOT own Flybe, it only owns 40% of it. Even when the name on the plane changes, they will remain separate legally.

      • marcw says:

        3 Apr3 April 09:20

        It is not perfectly fine… otherwise they wouldn’t cancel many flights for no reason with less than 24 h notice. Furthermore, no airline says we are gonna collapse in the next 2 weeks.

        • Rob says:

          3 Apr3 April 09:27

          Buying insolvent businesses can work and it can fail (eg BHS). The key is how quickly you can jettison the loss making bits and how that impacts the remainder. Let’s see what the Winter timetable looks like.

      • Alan says:

        3 Apr3 April 09:50

        Shame about Exeter as I know they have invested a lot there. Presumably they are just slashing routes to concentrate on being a feeder.
        Probably also makes sense to have their head offices/maintenence departments at the same place as Virgin (even if they are seperate it would still make sense financially)

    • Travel Strong says:

      3 Apr3 April 12:22

      They have already closed to me. Dead to me. Never to be flown again. Had enough of the delays and cancellations to last a lifetime.

    • Brian W says:

      4 Apr4 April 00:49

      Marcw, a lot of your posts are comical and based on nothing but a finger in the wind gamble. You often make me chuckle, especially when your responses to common sense replies to your original offering are again based on nothing but hearsay.

  • Lloyd says:

    3 Apr3 April 09:38

    Don’t think this is correct. As I understand it Exeter will remain a base for Q400 operations only. Only the Jet operations are to close at Exeter.

    • LewisB says:

      3 Apr3 April 09:42

      Correct, the original source I viewed has now updated the story. Cardiff and Doncaster to lose their base, Exeter to lose jets and Q400 to remain.

• Shoestring says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:52

  My calculation of what you’re paying goes as follows:

  1. Premium members get an extra 5% top-up vs Classic members.
  2. Alternative to cash payout is choosing virtual prepaid Mastercard, which comes with a 6.5% bonus.
  3. So my starting point (as a Premium member) would be (under normal circs) that 1 Avios = 0.95p
  4. But there’s a 25% Avios bonus, so 1.25 Avios = 0.95p.
  5. = 1 Avios = 0.76p
  6. But I can get a 6.5% bonus if I prefer Mastercard payout, so under normal circs 1 Avios = (0.95 x 1.065) = 1.012p
  7. But there’s a 25% Avios bonus, so 1.25 Avios = 1.012p
  8. = 1 Avios = 8.1p (for Premium members)
  9. For non Premium members, normally 1 Avios = 1p.
  10. Non Premium members could prefer Mastercard payout (with 6.5% bonus), so 1 Avios = 1.065p.
  11. With the 25% Avios bonus, 1.25 Avios = 1.065p
  12. = 1 Avios = 0.852p (for non Premium members)

  A bit more than the article says, because of the prepaid Mastercard payout option. You can spend this on anything, I’ve been using mine to pay BT & Sky as you can immediately use up the M/C balance in total & won’t forget about it.

  • BJ says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:47

    8. = 1 Avios = 8.1p (for Premium members)

    • Shoestring says:

      3 Apr3 April 09:02

      0.81p

• Barry says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:02

  O/T Amex supplementary cards
  I already have the free first one on my Platinum but if I pay £170 to add a second:
  1) Will I get any bonus points?
  2) Will the 2nd supp get all the Platinum benefits including Priority Pass?
  3) Is the fee refunded pro rata if I cancel it a few months later?
  Thanks!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:13

    1) If you got the bonus points for your first no
    2) Yes
    3) Yes

  • Kai says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:48

    I know someone who added five and got bonus for each, but YMMV…

• TGLoyalty says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:12

  Lee in this case I would have withdrawn the cash and bought a cash ticket.

  • Alex W says:

    3 Apr3 April 09:39

    Exactly. Or withdraw as a virtual MasterCard with a 6.5% bonus. He’s nearly half way to a cash ticket in QR J which is as good or better than BA F

• Shoestring says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:16

  nice work – cheap life insurance policies currently the easiest/ cheapest way to earn a few Avios on that site, we’ve got 6 (2 each) in the works so £630 due in a few months (6 month minimum term, about £2-£2.50/ month per policy)

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