Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Good Amex offers with B&Q, Rimowa and top UK independent hotels

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Two new American Express cashback offers turned up yesterday which are well worth flagging.

You need to see if you are targetted by looking at the ‘Offers’ page in the Amex app, or on the website, for each card you own.

Before we get into the travel offers, I want to flag a B&Q offer which was scheduled to launch overnight.

As we covered last week, B&Q is now accepting American Express cards. To promote the partnership, you should see a cashback offer of £5 back on a £40 spend showing on all of your Amex cards. It runs until 4th July.

A good return with Rimowa luggage

If you are in the market for some upmarket luggage, there is an interesting deal with Rimowa.

You can take a look at what they offer on the Rimowa website here.

  • on Gold and Platinum cards, and potential some others, you receive 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points if you spend £500 at Rimowa by 31st July
  • on British Airways American Express cards, you receive 10,000 bonus Avios if you spend £500 at Rimowa by 31st July

If you have access to both offers, take the Membership Rewards version. You can convert the 10,000 points into 10,000 Avios if you wish, but you also have flexibility to use them for another partner if you prefer. This flexibility is worth having.

As well as their classic range of suitcases – see image below – Rimowa also sells:

Rimowa American Express offer

£100 cashback at top independent hotels

If you need somewhere to show off with your new suitcase, American Express has also launched an offer with the Relais & Chateaux hotel group.

You will receive £100 cashback on a spend of £400+ by 31st August.

A lot of top independent hotels in the UK are part of Relais & Chateaux. The offer is valid across Europe, however, and is especially strong in France.

Whilst you are asked to book via the Relais & Chateaux website, the offer is triggered by checkout spend.

This means that you could book via American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (if you have The Platinum Card) for the extra benefit it brings. I would also strongly recommend asking our luxury hotel booking partner Emyr Thomas (click here) for a quote as he can usually get you extra benefits on your stay.

From the UK list, I would highlight:

  • Chewton Glen
  • The Vineyard at Stockcross
  • Lucknam Park
  • Gidleigh Park
  • Longueville Manor (for anyone heading to Jersey)
  • Cliveden
  • 11 Cadogan Gardens
  • Grantley Hall

…… but there are plenty more to choose too. My wife also had it on her supplementary Platinum card, so we would save £200 if we spent £800 and split the bill into two at check-out.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (67)

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

  • mark2 says:

    That seems like a pretty poor B&Q offer – 12.5% once on a fixed small amount.
    Whenever there is 10% back at Morrison’s I always stock up with One4All cards which I spend at B&Q as well as WH Smith, M&S, TK Maxx ……………….. and get 10% on any amount!

    • johnny_c-l says:

      Pair it with the £5 off from B&Q club to get £10 off £40 and it looks better.

      Personally I find B&Q more expensive than the likes of Toolstation or Wickes so even then might give this a miss.

      • Erico1875 says:

        Toolstation are 3 avios per £ on
        BA shopping portal too.

    • Tom says:

      I spend a lot of time in B&Q so happy to have the discount – esp across multiple cards! 🙂

      • CarpalTravel says:

        Likewise, particularly the plant section so it’s very welcome news to me.

  • Jonathan says:

    Is the B&Q AMEX offer only in store and not online?

    • BSI1978 says:

      On the basis B&Q do not, as yet, appear to accept Amex online, I think that is a ‘yes’.

  • Nick says:

    Longueville Manor in jersey doesn’t take Amex!!! May want to amend above

  • Jennifer says:

    Does anyone know if the Relais & Chateaux offer would work for a meal only bill (not difficult (unfortunately!) to reach this sort of spend in those with with starred restaurants)?

    • Rob says:

      Usual rule is that if it goes through the hotel till then it is fine. If the restaurant has its own charging system (eg appears as the restaurant name on the credit card slip rather than the hotel name) then it won’t, because the bonus is set up to pay only when the hotel name appears.

      • Jennifer says:

        Rather belated thank you for the clarification, Rob – but much appreciated…

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

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