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News: HSBC Premier to Avios transfer bonus coming?, Hilton’s Japan / Hong Kong flash sale

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News in brief:

New HSBC to Avios transfer bonus coming?

We may be about to see a new transfer bonus between HSBC Premier credit cards and British Airways Executive Club.

A HfP reader, ZW, found a PDF on the HSBC website.

It shows a 25% bonus on transfers made between 1st December and 31st December.

This could obviously change between now and Sunday, however, so don’t rush out to make a transfer until you’ve seen the offer on the HSBC Premier website.

PS.  Our recent article on the top 10 reasons why you should get the HSBC Premier World Elite credit card is here.

Excellent Hilton ‘50% off’ flash sale for Japan and Hong Kong

Hilton has launched a short flash sale covering its hotels in Japan, Korea, Guam & Hong Kong.

There are some VERY good deals here, particularly for Japan.  I saw in the comments yesterday that a few readers had snapped up a bargain.  Some hotels are only discounting executive rooms or suites, but in these cases it is still worth a look as the prices are often down to the level of the undiscounted standard rooms.

The sale ends at 5am GMT on Friday.  This means, effectively, you need to book before you go to bed tonight, Thursday.

The standard discount is 40% with an additional 10% for logged-in Hilton Honors members.  However, you don’t genuinely get 50% off because the discount is based on the refundable rate.  These sales rates are non-refundable.   You should, however, be saving at least 33% on the usual non-refundable rate.

Stays must be completed by 30th June.

You can find out more on this page of the Hilton website here.   You must book today.


How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points and they come with generous sign-up bonuses. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors 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 (135)

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

  • Shoestring says:

    Hope I can mention this as of course if you go through HFP’s Amazon link, you pay your annual membership!

    Amazon have a decent BF Prime membership deal I just signed up for – 3 months for £11.99. Decent saving & you can cancel before it switches to £79/ year. Check ‘Amazon’ on HUKD.

    *BUT* did you know? – Amazon have bought the exclusive rights to a chunk of Premier League football matches, starting next Weds as it happens with loads more over Xmas and into the New Year – obvs an attempt to buy ‘must have’ football content that they’ll be streaming live/ to get people to use Amazon Prime Video.. You get all the footy included in this offer, expires Dec 2nd.

    • Rob says:

      It’s a lot of games but they pretty much all on the same days 🙂 They have all the midweek games next week and then all the Boxing Day / 27th fixtures.

      • Shoestring says:

        not sure how Amazon Prime Video works as so far only my daughter has used it – but I assume there will be footy on demand for all the Amazon matches you didn’t watch live

        just in case the footy doesn’t appeal to some: there’s also the new Downton Abbey film, which was released 2 days ago on Prime Video

        • Anna says:

          There’s not a huge amount of new stuff but there are some very good documentaries and classic features.

          • Simon says:

            If you’re into rugby (union) and especially the All Blacks, have a look at the series All or Nothing on Prime — fascinating insight into the ABs.

    • Anna says:

      That’s good to know, Harry, I can score brownie points with my OH with this info. We cancelled Sky recently because of the ridiculous cost and have a few gaps in our viewing options now!

      • Shoestring says:

        you know about the NowTV boxes and 1 month/ 1 week cheap Sky Sports subscriptions, right?

        • Anna says:

          Yes but too much faff for me, especially as I’m not the one who watches sport!

    • Sussex Bantam says:

      Nice – thanks Shoestring !

    • Roy says:

      Worth pointing out: Amazon Video and Amazon Prime Video are two different aspects of the same coin. You can use much of Amazon Video pay-per-view without a Prime subscription. OTOH Prime Video is a library of content that you can watch on a subscription basis without further charge – a la Netflix.

      But even with a Prime subscription, by no means Amazon’s entire library is included in the subscription. There is a decent amount of content included, but there’s also a lot of content that is still pay-per-view, even if you’re paying a Prime subscription. Personally I see it as a good thing – the “included in your Prime subscription” offer seems broadly comparable to Netflix in quantity/quality, but the addition of PPV content on top allows them to offer a much larger llbrary – to those who are willing to pay extra.

      What this is all leading up to, of course is: interesting that all the football is included in the promotion. How much of it will be “included in your Prime subscription” in the longer term, is another matter…

  • Nadeshka says:

    Thanks for highlighting the Hilton sale. We had been looking at hotels for our April Japan trip for a while but luckily hadn’t committed. Just nabbed the Hilton Nagoya for 2/3 of what the previous non flex quote was, so definitely genuine savings here.
    The £2,000 virgin holidays voucher I previously mentioned I won covered most of our Tokyo hotel, so we have saved quite a bit. Definitely helpful when dropping to statutory maternity pay this month!

    • Shoestring says:

      that was won on Virgin Red app, right? remind me? thanks

      • Nadeshka says:

        Yep in the August draws when they had a few extra prizes up for grabs.
        Was tough to squeeze it into existing itinerary in Asia with their light coverage – they won’t allow kids on tours and they only offered two hotels in Tokyo. One was the park Hyatt at £1k/night, so we defaulted to the other!

    • Anna says:

      And they take tax and NI off that so you’re left with a real pittance!

    • BJ says:

      Why Nagoya?

      • Nadeshka says:

        We’re flying into Osaka and out of Tokyo (using a BA 241, naturally) and are planning to do some walking on the Nakasendo trail. It looked like a good base for it between the two main destinations.
        Plus it’s always nice to see a new city to see as we’ve covered the usual suspects in previous trips.

        • BJ says:

          Thought it would be something along those lines. Just asked as there might have been something new to learn as it as not on peoples usual radar.

        • Simon says:

          I’ve done Nakasendo twice recently (and used to live in Japan). If you’re doing the Magome–Tsumago stretch, start off in Magome: the more cardio-friendly direction. 🙂

  • Alex M says:

    BREAKING: get up to 20£ when buying through Amazon app this Black friday – just saw this in the app itself.

    • Shoestring says:

      Spend £50 get £5
      Spend £100 get £10
      Spend £200 get £20

      • Alex M says:

        …works only on Sold and Dispatched by Amazon items. Over to you, Shoestring…

        • Shoestring says:

          I don’t really like using the app or have many Amazon things to buy! You can tee up a purchase on the desktop and just leave the app bit until the end, I suppose – my mobile has never been the same since my wife borrowed it at our place in the sun for the free roaming minutes then drove off with it on the car roof! – she found it OK but the screen’s all cracked and only half legible

          got 8 pairs of cheap Levis so far (£21 – £25, less my £4 discount each of course), sorted out my lads

          • meta says:

            Plus don’t forget our favourite site has offers on certain items. Though it’s tracking poorly. Had to chase several of them.

          • Shoestring says:

            well I wasn’t going to go on about it, but eg the Levis jeans started off £21
            – 10% bonus on clothing
            – (say) 11% discount on Amazon 10% + card 1% (more, actually, as I get 15% on my first Tesco MOC)
            – £2 more with the buy 5 items over £20, get £10 discount promotion
            = £14.91

            it’s a stacking game, though first find your BF bargain

  • BJ says:

    OT: Monese fees and allowances changing from late January. See email, nothing to get excited about.

  • Annabel says:

    Revolut emailed me saying gbp direct debit is live! Didn’t know this was possible

  • Annabel says:

    Do you think using revolut account for PCP direct debits would be permitted?

  • DaveL says:

    OT – can anyone help me sign up to AerClub? It seems impossible! If I say ‘yes’ to already having an ‘Avios account’, it will not accept my old avios.com password (because it doesn’t have an uppercase letter or something). When I then try to ‘reset’ my Avios.com password, Avios.com won’t let me create a new password (also throws up an error). If instead I try to register for AerClub but tell them I do not have an avios account, that throws yet another error and will not let me complete registration! ARRGH!

    AerClub support firstly told me to contact Avios.com because I would not work if my Avios account was inactive (but aren’t they all shut down?!) Then they told me to enter by BA executive club account and password – which make no sense to me.

    I’m happy to register with a different email, but am worried that might cause problems with transferring Avios between accounts.

    Can anyone advise please? I want to take advantage of the Groupon offer, but can’t even get an AerClub account opened!!

    Thanks 🙂

    • Lev441 says:

      Just set up a new account- old ones not liked to Vueling or AerClub were disabled.

      • DaveL says:

        Thanks…problem is, I can’t set up a new account with my email address. It doesn’t matter if I say ‘no’ to having an old Avios account, when I press the button ‘Create account’ after telling me to wait I get an error ‘Unfortunately we are unable to complete your registration.’ Tried now 5 times now. This could be an unrelated issue with AerLingus site, but I suspect it something to do with my email…

        If I try creating an account with another email, can anyone confirm if I will be able to transfer OK to BAEC?

        • Lev441 says:

          It shouldn’t make a difference what email address you use, to transfer the balances you use the log-in information to use the combine my Avios function

          • DaveL says:

            Ok many thanks – will try another email

          • Rui N. says:

            Uh? Emails have to exactly match for the combine my avios feature to work.
            OP try logging in with your aer club number as the username on avios.com. It worked for me.

  • Robert says:

    Does anyone have good Hilton hotel suggestions for Tokyo please?

    • Rob says:

      Search for our Conrad review.

      • Robert says:

        Thanks Rob, nice review and at the same time of year I’m looking to get booked up for.
        Sounds comparable to the Intercontinental. Will also check my Hyatt Explorist points and see if I can make the Park, retrace Bill and Scarlett’s footsteps.

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