Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Where have all the hotel promotions gone? And the best of what there is ….

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Regular readers will know that, once a month, we run an extended article which rounds up all of the current hotel promotions.

We didn’t do one in early January because a few offers finished early in the month and we were waiting to see what replaced them.  The answer, so far, is ….. nothing.

The only programmes currently offering a global bonus points promotion for new bookings are Hilton Honors and Radisson Rewards:

Marriott Bonvoy has not announced anything new since ‘Unlock More’ ended on 14th January

World of Hyatt has not announced anything new since ‘Bonus Journeys’ ended on 31st December

Accor Live Limitless (the rebranded Le Club AccorHotels) has not run a global promotion for a while

IHG Rewards Club has not announced a new ‘Accelerate’ promotion since the previous one ended on 31st December, although the additional ‘4x’ offer it launched is still running until 31st January.  In any event, this is only valid for bookings made by 15th January.

It even seems that IHG has killed off its regular PointBreaks promotion for 2020 – more on that on HfP tomorrow.

If you’re looking for somewhere to credit a stay over the next couple of weeks, this is what to choose from:

Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors – Points Unlimited

Until 3rd May, Hilton Honors is offering 2,000 bonus points per stay.   On top, you will receive an extra 10,000 points for every 10th night.

Based on my valuation of 0.33p per Hilton Honors point, you are looking at an extra rebate – on top of your base points and any status bonus – of £6.66 per stay.  This is a decent deal for anyone doing one-night stays at cheaper brands, but doesn’t move the needle if you’re spending four nights in a Waldorf Astoria.

Our full article on Points Unlimited is here.

You MUST register before your stay by clicking here.

There is no small print – existing bookings DO count and all Hilton Honors hotels are taking part.

Radisson Rewards Spring promotion

Radisson Rewards – 150,000 Bonus Points

I’ve got to be honest.  If you asked me who would come out with what may be the most generous hotel promotion of 2020, my money would not have been on Radisson Rewards.  But it could well be ……

Radisson Rewards covers Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson Collection, Park Inn and Park Plaza hotels.  If you can push a LOT of business their way over the next 8 weeks it could work out very nicely indeed.  Very, very nicely, if I’m honest.  You could be earning £33 of bonus points PER STAY on top of your standard points.

It is a simple one, based on the number of STAYS (not nights) you do between now and 31st March:

  • Complete 2 stays, earn 5,000 bonus points
  • Complete 3 stays, earn 15,000 bonus points
  • Complete 5 stays, earn 30,000 bonus points
  • Complete 10 stays, earn 50,000 bonus points
  • Complete 15 stays, earn 150,000 bonus points

The bonus posts cumulatively.  You receive 5,000 points after your second stay, an additional 10,000 (total 15,000) after your 3rd stay, an additional 15,000 (total 30,000) after your fifth stay etc.

I value a Radisson Rewards point at around 0.33p.  This means, if you complete 15 stays and earn 150,000 bonus points, you will have averaged a bonus of £33 per stay.

This is ludicrously generous if you are doing cheap one-night stays.  If you have to do a couple of nights per week in dingy Park Inn hotels around the UK, you’d probably be getting 50% of your spend back if you hit 15 stays.  These are only your bonus points, of course.  I’m not even factoring in your base points or any status bonus you may have.  Radisson Rewards has a very generous earning rate of 20 base points per $1.

Even better, existing bookings WILL count.  Interestingly, even points and ‘points and cash’ stays will count.

If you don’t hit 15 nights then the bonus is less generous.  However, even if you only manage two stays to earn 5,000 bonus points (worth around £8.25 per stay), it is still a better return that the Hilton promotion which gets you £6.66 of bonus points per stay.

You MUST register in order to take part, which can be done at this page of the Radisson Rewards website.

Our full article on Radisson’s 150,000 bonus points offer is here.

Conclusion

There isn’t much about at the moment.  If neither of the above offers appeal, you might want to look at Hotels.com Rewards (effectively a 10% return on your spending).  Be aware, however, that bookings through Hotels.com do NOT earn you hotel points and you will not receive any status benefits you may be entitled to.

As soon as we get news of a new hotel promotion from IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Bonvoy, Accor Live Limitless or World of Hyatt, we’ll let you know …..

If you’d rather not spend cash on your next stay, this article looks at how to use Avios points to book hotel rooms.

Hotel offers update – April 2024:

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.

Want to buy hotel points?

  • Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 14th May 2024. Click here.
Category

Hilton Honors, Radisson Rewards

Comments (45)

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

  • TripRep says:
    28 Jan28 January 10:17

    “you are looking at an extra rebate – on top of your base points and any status bonus – of £6.66 per stay. This is a decent deal for anyone doing one-night stays at cheaper brands”

    So if you value cooked breakfast at £10/person, £53 for that DT QF bridge view suite I mentioned yesterday is likely only costing approx £23 (after also deducting £ value of Gold base + 80% bonus points of ~1030)

    Hard to get it cheaper. Definitely a Bargain for anyone considering checking it out. Evening food is decent too.
    https://www.theshore-queensferry.co.uk/food

  • Andrew says:
    28 Jan28 January 10:47

    There are a lot of targetted and partner offers out there.

    I mentioned the 5% with First Direct Visa Offers on Holiday Inn yesterday.

    OYO:- “OYONEXTJUMP” secures a discount of 33%, there’s 15% Money return if you are a member of that scheme and a further 10% moneyreturn from the Halifax. Not sure what their hotels are like, they seem to be a kind of AerBnB.

    ALL – 15% Money Return is near permanent if you have the right employer.

    IHG, Hilton & Marriott are sitting at about 5%, but have all had 12%-15% money return so far this month.

    Our Corporate Travel Agent are offering 15% money return on all completed bookings at their negotiated rates. These are *sometimes* reward elegible.

    Even Britannia are offering 5% continuously.

    • RussellH says:
      28 Jan28 January 11:58

      OYO are an Indian Company. I assume that they are not buying up the hotels, just operating a marketing scheme. I doubt if there is any implied quality standard.
      From what I have read, they are offering small, local hotels.

      There is one quite local to me, though I have never set foot in it. It was repainted on the outside and aquired an OYO sign at the end of last year. It is ranked 9 out of 9 hotels in and around the town on Trip Advisor FWIW. Even the more positive reviews describe it as very dated.

  • eli says:
    28 Jan28 January 13:36

    OT just got this from Virgin money:

    We need to let you know that Mastercard have recently changed the way they treat top-ups to your Revolut account from your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card. From 17 January, using your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card to top up your Revolut card will be classed as a cash advance. This means there’s a fee for doing it.
    We’ve only just been told this and couldn’t pass on the info any earlier. If you’ve made a Revolut top-up recently, you may spot a cash advance fee in your transactions. Don’t fret. We’ll be refunding that fee and we won’t charge any interest on that Revolut transaction. So you won’t lose out.
    But it’s worth making a mental note that from now on future Revolut top-ups will be treated as cash advances, with a fee for doing them.
    Kind regards
    The Virgin Atlantic Credit Card Team

    absolute scroungers for this rule change and for telling me about it a week after it happens

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Jan28 January 14:03

      its not VM that has changed the way the category is treated

      it’s that Visa/Mastercard (or Revolut’s card services company) have changed the category that Revolut top ups are posted as.

  • joe bloggs says:
    28 Jan28 January 14:02

    any evidence that the hilton promo is posting the points along with each stay, or is it as per the T&C 6-8 weeks after the end of the prom

    • joe bloggs says:
      28 Jan28 January 14:05

      ….errr I meant 6-8 weeks after each stay. I had a stay on the 10th Jan, no points for this promo as yet.

      “Please allow 6-8 weeks from the completion of your stay for the Bonus Points to appear in your Hilton Honors account.

    • Brighton Belle says:
      28 Jan28 January 14:14

      My bonus points are rolling in when the points from a stay execute to my account. So far it’s 2 days after a stay.

  • PaulW says:
    28 Jan28 January 15:39

    Spend £250 get £50 back appeared on a Platinum & BA AMEX cards today (and all supp cards) in our household. Valid until 30 April (there be the Spring sale by then)

  • TGLoyalty says:
    28 Jan28 January 16:48

    anyone have some tips on a hotel/hostel somewhere than would extend my Hotels.com credit?

    • Rob says:
      28 Jan28 January 17:07

      For the sake of a fiver I’d book a random hostel in Bangladesh and see what happens!

    • Peter K says:
      28 Jan28 January 17:14

      I used a cheap hostel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (£4?) Feb last year which worked for me.

    • Markpeterborough says:
      28 Jan28 January 17:41

      I have three ‘stays’ over the years at the Vibol Happy House in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Each time it credited with no issue, my last stay cost £2.41

      • rams1981 says:
        28 Jan28 January 23:25

        +1

        • Rob says:
          28 Jan28 January 23:30

          Another benefit of doing this, I’ve found, is to bring down the value of your free night. If we book an expensive independent hotel via Hotels.com then the free night can end up being annoyingly high value, making it trickier to use as you don’t get any change. A $2 night would bring down the average value.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        29 Jan29 January 00:24

        Thanks I was actually looking in that part of the world and booked somewhere for £3.50. Let’s see if that does the trick 🙂

        Also good idea re bringing average night value down though I have to say I can’t remember the last time booking via hotels.com actually worked out a better deal as with FHR, Emyr or the big brands have most covered with a better overall package/return.

  • Ricatti says:
    28 Jan28 January 18:15

    Good observation that given low occupancy Winter, there is no promotion campaigns.

    Perhaps, IHG/Marriott/Hilton hoped to ride 2020 without much promotion spending, and already counted in the profits of a busy year, with economic growth everywhere globally and US elections events. Coronavirus development likely to change that: unfortunate, bad development but Asian resorts must be emptier.

    I also see more and more ads on Facebook, nearly every hotel and destination I have checked with Marriott — they clearly spending marketing money there. The logic seems: why giving loyal customers generous points promotion, when our sexy Facebook ads and Instagram collaborations will bring us up and coming, trendy millennial customers…

  • Robert says:
    28 Jan28 January 19:04

    I need a hotel for 6 adults in Dubai, for 6 nights around NYE time, any suggestions please, or can the HFP hotel guy hook me up?

    • Rob says:
      28 Jan28 January 19:34

      You’re going to need to be more specific than that, especially as many decent places will be approaching £1k per night at New Year.

      • Robert says:
        28 Jan28 January 23:42

        Thanks Rob, I’m trying to keep to a reasonable budget and don’t really have any specific requirements other than close to one of the metro stations as we’ll be spending 3 of the days at Expo 2020. 4 of the travellers are 65+ so that’s free Expo entry and metro travel, and no need for any of the fancy modern chic hotels. I checked my Hyatt app earlier and found the Grand Hyatt coming in at a reasonable 1,005/night/room from 30th Dec.
        Never been to Dubai before so any tips much appreciated thanks.

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

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