‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter

Welcome to your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as our latest reviews and features.

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Malcolm’s new monthly forward-looking Travel News Update is available at travelnewsupdate.co.uk. The December edition will be published on Thursday.

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The latest UK business travel news:

The oneworld alliance is in talks with China Southern about joining. This comes four years after it left SkyTeam.

Fly Atlantic has announced its plans to start transatlantic flights from Belfast International in Summer 2024.

Virgin Atlantic rules out UK regional expansion. Shai Weiss was speaking at Airlines 22 last Monday.

Iberia will launch flights to Edinburgh next Summer. Surprisingly, Iberia does not currently fly to the Scottish capital.

IHG will add 70 Iberostar beach resorts, mainly in Spain, to its system, creating an 18th brand. IHG One Rewards ‘earn and burn’ is coming soon.

Plaza Premium has taken over the El Al lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4 and opened it to all. Kosher food will remain. Image above.

Hilton has launched its Motto brand in Europe, in Rotterdam. It’s a cross between a ‘posh’ hostel and a budget hotel.

Singapore Airlines will terminate three of its seven weekly Changi – Manchester – Houston flights in Manchester with the aircraft heading straight back.

Business travel stories we recommend from other sites:

Virgin Atlantic partners with Lovefly to help customers beat fear of flying (Business Traveller)

Aegean to launch flights between Newcastle and Athens (@SeanM on Twitter)

Eastern Airways launches Southampton to Belfast flights (Hampshire Chronicle)

The Clubrooms lounge at Gatwick’s North Terminal has finally reopened post covid (LinkedIn)

London City Airport to allow laptops and liquids through security in hand luggage from April (The Guardian)

Hilton will open its first UK Motto hotel in Glasgow in 2024 (Glasgow Evening Times)

Our latest travel reviews:

Rhys reviews the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4. Recently refurbished, but the pool has gone. Image above.

The next day, in Singapore, he checked into Aerotel Singapore, the airside transit hotel at Changi. It has an outdoor pool overlooking the runway.

Rob headed to New York to review The Thompson Central Park, a Hyatt hotel. This is the old Le Parker Meridien, gutted.

Caroline’s Thailand trip concludes at the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, an impressive beach-front resort (image below).

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

LAST CHANCE: The offer of 100,000 Avios for joining Barclays Premier and getting the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card ends on Wednesday. Check eligibility on the Barclays site here.

Iberia’s new ‘earn Avios based on your spend’ scheme gets messy before it even launches.

Get extra benefits at InterContinental, Indigo, and Kimpton hotels. IHG’s Luxury and Lifestyle Collection offers a number of bonuses when booking via a luxury travel agent.

Get 1,000 free points when you download the IHG One Rewards app for the first time. No booking required.

Black Friday flight and hotel deals:

We collated the best of the airline, hotel and car rental deals, although none are truly amazing. The majority of deals are still running today (Monday):

• Get up to £300 back in the British Airways Holidays Black Friday sale
• Get £200 off Aer Lingus business class flights from Manchester
• Save 40% on a Priority Pass membership
• Black Friday roundup #1: Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Qatar Airways, Marriott, CitizenM, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Norse Atlantic
• Black Friday roundup #2: British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Holidays, Etihad, Iberia, TAP, Lufthansa, Europcar, Apex Hotels, Travelodge and No1 Lounges
• Gift card offers for Accor Hotels and D&D Restaurants

The best deal is from Air France and KLM, who are offering Business Class flights from Spain to the United States from around £1,000 return. There is good availability for much of 2023.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading.

Head for Points is the UK’s largest business travel and frequent flyer website with 2.3 million page views per month. The majority of readers are London-based professionals who travel heavily for business and leisure. We have won five Business Travel Journalism Awards including ‘Editor of the Year’.

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See you next Monday.

Rob, Rhys and Sinead @ Head for Points

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