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News: Aspire lounge re-openings in London, another 100% Hilton buy points bonus

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News in brief:

Aspire lounge re-openings in London

If you are passing through Heathrow Terminal 5 soon, Aspire has confirmed that its Club Aspire lounge will reopen on Tuesday 25th May.

The Gatwick North lounge opens earlier, on Friday 21st May. The South Terminal at Gatwick remains closed, so if you are flying from Gatwick you will be in the vicinity of this lounge.

Our review of Club Aspire lounge at Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal lounge is here.

Our review of the Club Aspire lounge at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 is here.

Both lounges are accessible via Priority Pass.

The Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5, which is the only other independent option, does not yet have a published reopening date. The Plaza Premium lounge in Terminal 2 has been open for some time.

Hilton Honors buy points 100% bonus worth it

(Another) 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors hotel points

Well, would you believe it?

Hilton has brought back its offer of a 100% bonus when you purchase 15,000+ points, just a week after the previous ‘100% bonus’ offer closed.

The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here

The annual purchase limit has been increased again for some people. If targetted, you can now buy 160,000 points, which would double up to 320,000 points with the bonus.

320,000 points is what you need to book a 5-night stay at an 80,000 points per night luxury hotel, given the ‘5 for 4’ deal given to all elite Hilton Honors members. 320,000 points would cost $1,600, which is currently £1,125 or 0.35p per point. This is virtually what I value them at, so it’s hard to lose money here.

This is the same deal I used to book 5 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah Dubai over Christmas, saving over 60% on the cash price. I wrote about how I did that in this article.

If you don’t see the 160,000 points offer, your purchase cap will be 80,000 points with a 100% bonus on top.

The page to buy points is here if you are interested. The offer runs to 8th July.


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. 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 (26)

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

  • JAXBA says:

    This US non-elite member can only buy up to 80K HH points, which doubles to 160K. Even the GIF banner I get says the same. $800.

    • Rob says:

      Interesting. I have 160k. Will amend the text.

      • MD says:

        I’m definitely seeing buy 160k + 160k bonus. Diamond, if that matters.

      • MW says:

        I’m a (UK) HH Gold and its only 80k+80k here.

      • Dave B says:

        Also a UK Gold and get 160K + 160K showing

      • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

        My Gold a/c shows 160+160 (as does Mrs T’s). My other standard a/c shows only the 80+80…

      • Sunil says:

        Also 160 + 160 for me as Diamond. Also something I’ve just noticed – if you purchase in increments of 15,000 (so 30k with bonus), the points post instantly. I did this twice. I then tried 22,000 and am still waiting (says can take up to 48 hours). May be a coincidence but if you are buying for a large redemption and worried about availability going, try breaking it down into small chunks.

  • tony says:

    Does anyone have data on when the other Aspire lounges are opening? The Executive Lounges dot com website (which I think is owned by Aspire) allows you to book into the T5 one for today. The Priority Pass app also has reopening dates of May 17th.

  • Adam says:

    Off topic but my Amex Gold is now offering 15,000 points for referral. Thought the 12,000 earlier this month was strong!!! Wife’s card only offering the standard 6,000. Interesting to see what the range of offers people are seeing.

    • DT says:

      This has been discussed since the day after the previous offer ended. Some Golds get 15k and some Plats get 24k, currently targeted. New Plat SUB is 70k which is shame to the two Plats I referred during the previous offer.

      • Adam says:

        Didn’t see that. Thank you.

        All great offers although I think everyone I know got the last 12,000 offer.

        • Tom1 says:

          Do you see a different referral rate on the app vs website?

  • TimM says:

    A search on BA for lounge availability at Manchester now redirects to Oneworld showing

    “Aspire Lounge (temporarily closed) (MAN) Manchester Airport Terminal 1” and
    “Escape Lounge TEMPORARILY CLOSED (MAN) Manchester Airport Terminal 2”

    All BA flights to/from MAN have now been moved to T1 as notified by email in the last couple of days. Is there any word on the MAN T1 Aspire lounge re-opening?

  • Dave B says:

    Will buying some points for Hilton count as activity, I am now 15 months away from my last stay.

    • Rob says:

      Yes, I believe so. Booking and cancelling a redemption may also count – need to check.

  • Doug says:

    seethe … I don’t know how many points I can buy as the site uses cross site tracking.

  • GJS says:

    Rob – thanks for the heads up last week that the Hilton bonus was coming back. We now have enough points for five nights in Snowdonia. What chance of another increased Amex Platinum Business bonus this summer? I’d quite like to get HH Gold before our stay in July.

  • Chris D says:

    Given the previous recommendation for Qured, I thought I should detail a relative’s experience with them…

    Sat 14 May – ordered a test. Web site said Monday despatch.
    Tue 17 May – no sign of test. Emailed them and got a nonsensical response that orders placed on Monday would be despatched on Tuesday(?) for arrival Wednesday.
    Wed 18 May – no sign of test, no response to emails, later a generic email that they will be dispatched soon.

    The test now cannot arrive in time and a more expensive last minute alternative has been procured. A search on Twitter reveals many people with the same issue. It is a pretty big failing to sell more tests than they have.

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