‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
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Happy New Year! We’re back after our Christmas and New Year break.
Welcome to your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as our latest reviews and features.
This newsletter is the successor to Malcolm Ginsberg’s Business Travel News which Head for Points acquired. If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up here to receive this free newsletter in your inbox every Monday. Please forward it to any colleagues who you think may be interested.
Malcolm’s new monthly forward-looking Travel News Update is available at travelnewsupdate.co.uk.
This newsletter is longer than usual as we do a catch-up of what we missed over the Christmas and New Year period.
Staff news:
Sinead Archer, our Commercial Director, is now on maternity leave and will return in the Autumn. We wish her well.
We welcome Katie Ridgers as interim Commercial Director in the meantime. Katie has previously worked at Virgin Atlantic (latterly as Global Strategic Partnerships Manager) and American Express (where she ran Membership Rewards for EMEA) amongst other places.
If you want to discuss advertising, a reader offer, a reader competition or a flight or hotel review then drop her a note at katie [at] headforpoints.com.
Special reports:
Here are 10 new business class seats to look forward to in 2024
A look ahead to 2024:
- Here are 10 new World of Hyatt hotels you’ll want to visit in 2024
- Here are 10 new Marriott Bonvoy hotels you’ll want to visit in 2024
- Here are 10 new Hilton Honors hotels you’ll want to visit in 2024
The odd story of how BAE Systems will make a huge profit when Kazakhstan’s Air Astana floats
The latest UK business travel news:
British Airways launches a new route to Izmir (image above), expands Bodrum and Dalaman
Singapore Airlines launches flights from Gatwick
Edinburgh gets new flights to Bergen and Stuttgart
Virgin Hotels Glasgow closes suddenly, all staff made redundant
Norse Atlantic’s 2024/2025 Caribbean routes go on sale – but services are cut sharply
Iberia launches flights to Tokyo
The British Airways First Wing security lane is to close for 3-4 months in January
Marriott is finally renovating the seven Barbados resorts it bought
Marriott and Kempinsksi gain five new hotels from Emaar in Dubai
A new Hyatt opens in Davos, Switzerland
British Airways adds flights to Funchal next winter
Save up to 20% in Hilton’s weekend sale
A new luxury hotel opens in Helsinki
Priority Pass adds three new lounges in Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol
Priority Pass adds two more London City Airport food deals
NEW: Use Avios for O2 concerts, football and rugby tickets and more!
Why won’t BA refund your seat reservation fees if your cancel your flight?
The Waldorf Astoria Ras Al-Khaimah reopens after a full refurbishment
IHG adds Hotel Brooklyn sites in Manchester and Leicester
Our latest reviews:
Rob reviews the Eurostar Lounge in Paris Gare du Nord, image above
Rhys heads to The Trafalgar St James Hotel in London for his latest staycation. It’s part of Hilton’s Curio Collection.
Review recaps of 2023:
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
How does Avios Subscription work – and is it worth it?
How does Avios Balance Boost work?
How do British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Vouchers work?
What Amex sign-up bonuses are you still eligible for? Based on the cards you have (or recently had), let’s see what else you qualify for ….
REGISTER NOW: IHG One Rewards launches its new January promotion
Finnair releases its Avios reward chart … and some partners will be cheaper than booking via BA
You will get a 2024 soft landing from Marriott Bonvoy if you didn’t requalify for status
You can now redeem IHG One Rewards points at Iberostar all-inclusive resorts – but do you get good value?
NEW: Get a status match between Marriott Bonvoy and Singapore Airlines
Get £5 free to spend when you sign up to LNER Perks
Hyatt’s loyalty program changes are now live
What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?
ENDS TUESDAY: Get a 30,000 points bonus (converts to 30,000 Avios) with ‘free for a year’ Amex Gold
American Express is running a special sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – apply here. The bonus is increased from 20,000 to 30,000 Membership Rewards points which converts to:
- 30,000 Avios
- 30,000 Virgin Points
- 30,000 Emirates, Etihad, Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Delta, Finnair, Qantas or SAS miles
- 20,000 Singapore Airlines miles
- 60,000 Hilton Honors points
- 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
- 90,000 Radisson Rewards points
- 2,000 Club Eurostar points
….. and many other non-travel rewards.
You receive 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending £3,000 in three months. You will receive a further 5,000 points if you keep the card for 15 months.
Even better, you get:
- four passes for any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network
- 24 x £5 credits to spend at Deliveroo (max one per order and two per month)
- up to 12,500 bonus Membership Rewards points each year based on your spending (2,500 points per £5,000 spent)
The card is free for the first year. If you keep it beyond the first year there is an annual fee of £195. You receive a further four airport lounge passes and more Deliveroo credits on renewal.
Our main article on the 30,000 points bonus is here. Make sure you read the bit about whether or not you qualify for the bonus.
You can apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website. The offer ends on Tuesday 9th January.
The representative APR is 87.8% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 30.4% variable.
Head for Points receives a commission if you are accepted via our link – thank you.
Thank you for reading
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback.
Rob, Rhys and Katie @ Head for Points
PS. If you were forwarded this email by a colleague, you can sign up for a free subscription by filling in the form here
@thirdpassport 
Rob 
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