Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Atlantic conversion rate cut to £1 = 200 Virgin Points

If you have a Tesco Clubcard account, you should have had an email last week about a substantial devaluation of Clubcard partner rewards.

From 14th June, the conversion rate for all partner rewards drops from 3x face value to 2x.

This means, for example, that £10 of Tesco Clubcard points will only get you £20 of Hotels.com credit instead of the current £30.

To soften the blow slightly, any Tesco Clubcard vouchers you redeem now for partner vouchers will be valid for 12 months instead of the usual six months. This offer runs until 13th June. The idea is that you can cash in now and think later about what you will use them for.

With Avios and Hilton Hotels gone as Clubcard partners, the scheme has become less relevant for HfP readers. We wrote this detailed article here about the best travel-related partner offers still available.

What about transfers to Virgin Points?

Whilst Avios withdrew from Clubcard in early 2021, Virgin Points has (and will continue to be) a Tesco Clubcard partner.

The email sent out by Tesco last week was not clear about the future of transfers to Virgin Points.

I have spoken to Virgin and the position is this.

Transfers into Virgin Points from 21st July 2023 will convert at the rate of 100 Clubcard points (£1) = 200 Virgin Points.

This is a drop from the current rate of £1 = 250 Virgin Points.

21st July is the change date for those who auto-convert, to avoid confusion over the rate reducing midway through a Clubcard statement period. If you convert manually, the rate will change on 14th June.

The ratio between Virgin Points and other redemptions has improved

Whilst you are clearly getting fewer Virgin Points for every £1 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers you redeem, Virgin Points are – proportionately – going to be better value.

Here’s an example.

At the moment, 100 Clubcard points gets you £3 of partner vouchers or 250 Virgin Points. You are effectively ‘paying’ 1.2p per Clubcard point, because you are giving up £3 of partner vouchers.

Following the change, 100 Clubcard points gets you £2 of partner vouchers or 200 Virgin Points. You are now effectively ‘paying’ just 1p per Virgin Point.

(In reality these numbers are inflated, because very few Clubcard partner redemptions genuinely get you 3x face value. Bookings at Hotels.com using Clubcard vouchers do not earn Hotels.com Rewards credit, for example, which is worth 8% of your spending.)

If you didn’t previously consider Virgin Points to be good value compared to other Clubcard redemptions, you may want to think again.

If you want to earn more Virgin Points, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here (15,000 bonus points) and our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card is here.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)