What happened at the Head for Points 10th Birthday Party?

Thank you to everyone who came to our 10th Birthday Party on Wednesday evening at the Renaissance St Pancras hotel.

Our last summer party – back in 2019 – was also at the Renaissance and we decided to head back thanks to its big outdoor terrace:

We had around 500 people there, but with the patio it certainly didn’t feel too crowded until we made everyone come back in for the raffle draw.

…. and here it is, during the raffle:

Here is a shot taken earlier when the sun was brighter:

With 500 of you and three of us, we were never going to be able to chat to everyone, but we did our best. Here is Rob, chatting with a couple of guests:

Barclaycard took up a corner of the room and was giving away goodie bags as well as answering all your Barclaycard-related questions. I think this is the first time they’ve been in a room with Barclaycard Avios cardholders and they were thrilled to chat to you all about it.

We want to thank Barclaycard for sponsoring the event and providing the canapes and cupcakes:

It is not an exaggeration to say that without Barclaycard’s help – financially and logistically – an event of this scale would be extremely difficult to manage, and we are grateful for their backing.

Here is Sinead with Esme from Barclaycard and Richard from Malaysia Airlines – respectively our primary sponsor and headline raffle prize provider.

We had a couple of brief speeches from Rob and Esme before the raffle:

We decided to have a shorter raffle for this event, as is traditional for the Summer parties, although we still had an excellent line-up of prizes.

Our grand prize, generously donated by Malaysia Airlines and the Sabah Tourism Board was two Business Class flights to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo, via Kuala Lumpur, plus a two day package in a premium chalet at the Sutera Mantanani Resort on Mantanani Besar island.

This was won by Josh O, who I think it is fair to say was thrilled!

Next up was a two night stay for two people in an Atelier Suite at Excelsior Hotel Gallia, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Milan:

We also had a two night stay for two people in a Deluxe room at Augustine, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Prague:

Plus a two night stay for two people in a Studio Suite at JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa:

Here I am, with one of our winners:

Other prizes included:

• 1 ‘Be My Guest’ voucher which you can use at any Hilton Honors hotel worldwide! You don’t need reward availability – you simply book a standard cash room and hand over your certificate at check-in. No blackout dates, no restrictions. If you want to head to the Waldorf Astoria Maldives for one free night, you can!
• 100,000 IHG One Rewards points – which should get you at least £400 of free hotel rooms
• 10,000 Accor Live Limitless points – these are worth €200 off any Accor hotel cash booking, you can transfer them into Avios or you can redeem them for tickets to a Limitless Experiences event
• 10,000 Avios from Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers
• 1 Japanese alcohol hamper kindly provided by ANA, All Nippon Airways

…. and a big thank you to all the companies that generously donated prizes.

Thank you again to everyone who came and made this event such a success, and especially to Barclaycard, Malaysia Airlines and the Renaissance St Pancras team. See you next time!