News: IHG UK flash sale, Southend adds Geneva, Avis Budget adds Glasgow Central Station

News in brief:

IHG launches a one week summer hotel sale

IHG has launched a one week sale on its hotels in the UK and Ireland. See here for details.

Participating brands including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, voco, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton and InterContinental.

Whilst the booking period is only a week, you can book for up to a year in advance as long as you are a logged-in member of IHG One Rewards.

The headline discount is, for IHG One Rewards members, up to 35% off Best Flexible Rate. Rooms booked in the sale are non-refundable, so the pricing is not directly comparable, but the usual discount for non-refundable rooms is only 10%-ish.

Take a look at this special sale page of ihg.com for more details and to book.

Southend Airport adds easyJet flights to Geneva

We’ve run a few stories on Southend Airport recently as it attempts to claw its way back from losing all of its passenger flights during the pandemic.

With its own railway station and direct trains from Liverpool Street, it should be more popular with the London market than it is. The airport is just 53 minutes by train from Liverpool Street and 43 minutes from Stratford.

easyJet has been running a number of summer routes, and has already announced a Paris service for the winter season.

The airline has now announced a new Geneva service from Southend.

Starting on 16th December easyJet will operate two flights per week, departing on Wednesday and Saturday. Fares start at £23 one way.

Avis Budget opens a new location at Glasgow Central Station

Very quietly, the major car rental companies have abandoned non-airport locations in the UK. Enterprise is the only car rental company to still have a network of city centre locations and is where we ended up in York recently.

Avis Budget has taken a tiny step to reversing the trend. This week it opened a new depot at Glasgow Central Station, making it the third branch in the city. Glasgow Central is, apparently, the busiest railway station in Scotland.

Avis and Budget are the exclusive British Airways Executive Club car rental partners as we cover here.

However, you can still earn Avios with most other major car rental groups by crediting them to an Avios account with Qatar Airways Privilege Club and then moving them across to British Airways, as this article explains.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 70,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (July 2025)

If you hire a car in the UK, you can get special benefits (discounts, upgrades, free additional drivers etc) if you have elite status with a car rental programme. You can get elite status for free via certain American Express cards.

The Platinum Card and The American Express Business Platinum Card

The Platinum Card from American Express and The American Express Business Platinum Card come with two free car hire status cards. Your supplementary Platinum cardholder can also receive status in their own right.

From Avis, you receive President’s Club status in Avis Preferred. This gets you up to 25% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a guaranteed one class upgrade. For weekend rentals you will receive a two class upgrade, subject to availability.

From Hertz, you receive ‘Five Star’ status in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. This gets you up to 15% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a one class upgrade, subject to availability.

Hertz also offers Platinum cardholders a 4 hour grace period on rentals. Your final day is treated as 28 hours, so a 1pm pick up with a 5pm return the following day is only charged as one day, not two days. We wrote about the Hertz / Amex Platinum 4 hour grace period here.

The Platinum Card also comes with full car hire insurance with no obligation to pay for the rental via American Express. You can refuse any attempts to sell you additional insurance at pick up. This benefit has substantial value if you rent on a regular basis.

You can find more details on the two Platinum cards, and apply, in our full reviews linked below. You can apply here for the personal card and here for the business card.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is an excellent credit card in its own right. You receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up (convert to 20,000 Avios amongst other things), four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit. Even better, your first year is free.

There are two car rental benefits:

• you receive Preferred Plus status in Avis Preferred

• you receive a special package with Hertz – 10% off best available rates at participating locations, a one class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability, and no additional driver fees

Find out more about the benefits of the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card in our review. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

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