What are the best Tesco Clubcard travel deals?

A decade ago, Tesco Clubcard was a goldmine for Avios collectors. British Airways was a key partner, and points would flow like confetti from Tesco Direct and Tesco Wine deals, as well as in-store promotions such as the long-running gift card deal.

Slowly it all fell apart. Tesco decided to pull the plug on its money-losing non-core subsidiaries – which even included Dobbies garden centres at one point – and Avios switched its allegiance to Nectar. Hilton, probably the most useful of the other travel partners, withdrew in 2021.

Whilst some Avios collectors will have switched to Sainsbury’s, many of you will still be shopping at Tesco for convenience or other reasons. What can you do with your Clubcard points now?

In truth, Hilton and Avios were never the best use of Clubcard points unless you put a very high value on an Avios.

Hilton was one of the partners where you never got full value from Tesco points because you were locked into paying an uncompetitive rate. At 2.4 Avios per Clubcard point, you’d be better off with a partner deal which got you a ‘genuine’ 3p per Clubcard point of value.

For a number of years, I got a better return than I would have from Avios by paying a regular Safestore bill with Clubcard vouchers.  This got me a genuine 3x face value for my vouchers, so 3p per point.

When Safestore withdrew, I switched to Uber.  Again, I got a ‘real’ 3p of Uber and Uber Eats credit for every 1p of Clubcard points I converted.  This was better than 2.4 Avios.

Uber then withdrew too!  The few Tesco Clubcard points that I now pick up – and it’s no more than a few hundred per year – are converted into Virgin Points.

Remember that Tesco devalued its partner redemptions from 3x face value to 2x face value last year. Old timers will remember that it used to be 4x.

What are the best Tesco Clubcard travel deals?

There are, of course, many non-travel deals available with Tesco Clubcard points.  This article focuses exclusively on the travel options.

Clubcard redemptions with airlines:

Whilst Avios withdrew from Clubcard, Virgin Flying Club remains a partner.  You receive 2 Virgin Points for every 1 Clubcard point you convert.  Occasional transfer bonuses can add 10% to 20% to this.

If you value a Virgin Point at 1p, this is as good as any other Tesco Clubcard partner offer. In fact, as many Tesco partners force you into paying higher rates than you should if you redeem with them, Virgin Points are actually a good deal.

Under no circumstances should you convert Clubcard points to Virgin Flying Club with the intention of moving them on to IHG One Rewards (1:1) or Hilton Honors (2:3) points.  You will lose huge amounts of value, given that I value an IHG point at 0.4p and a Hilton point at 0.33p.

Details of the Virgin / Tesco partnership are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Clubcard redemptions with trains, buses, ferries and airport parking:

Although no train lines are directly represented, you can get 2x face value for your Clubcard points by redeeming for a Railcard. This used to be a ‘true’ 2x redemption but it is far more common than it used to be to see Railcards being sold at a discount elsewhere.

The ferry partners (Irish Ferries, P&O, Stena Line, Wightlink) are also 2x face value.  I never book a ferry so I am not sure how easy it is to get discounts via other routes which would reduce the value of Clubcard.

National Express and Megabus both offer 2x face value.  You can also use Clubcard vouchers to pay for a National Express Coachcard at 2x face value.

Eurotunnel does offer genuine value.  Feedback from HfP readers is that you pay the same price as shown on their website, availability is the same as shown online and the vouchers get you a ‘real’ 2x face value as Eurotunnel rarely discounts.

APH Airport Parking is also worth considering. I don’t know how easy it is to find APH discount codes, which cannot be combined with Tesco vouchers, elsewhere. The fact that you need to book via a special Tesco page suggests that better deals may be available.

Clubcard redemptions for cruises:

Tesco works with many of the top cruise groups such as Cunard, P&O Cruises and Royal Caribbean.  These are all at a headline rate of 2x face value.

Back in ”the old days’ when Tesco was throwing around Clubcard points like confetti, I read some great stories about people who had ‘free’ holidays via Clubcard points.  The rules have been tightened over the years and of course it is now harder to earn 10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000+ points per quarter. The conversion rate has also been halved from 4x face value to 2x.

You need to do the sums to see if these deals make sense. How much cheaper can you get the product if you book elsewhere? Look out for any caps on the amount of vouchers you can use, any minimum stay requirements and any advance booking rules. With cruise deals you are generally required to book the brochure price which may often be discounted via brokers.

If you are staying in the UK for a while, it is worth having a look at cottages.com and Hoseasons.

Clubcard redemptions for hotels:

This is also the land of small print.  You can use Clubcard deals for 200% of face value with Butlins and Warner Hotels.  All of the other hotel partners (Hilton, Accor, Macdonald etc) have left.

Hotels.com has the greatest flexibility, allowing redemptions at 2x face value.  The only snag is that you will not be able to earn Hotels.com Rewards in conjunction with Clubcard vouchers.  This reduces the ‘real’ value by at least 10% because Hotels.com Rewards gives, effectively, 10% of your pre-tax spend back in free night credit. With Hotels.com Rewards being scrapped this summer, however, the Tesco deals become better in comparison.

Conclusion

Fundamentally I have never been able to get my head around the small print with many of the Tesco Clubcard travel deals. Even Hilton didn’t work for me for that reason.

Hotels.com is probably the best travel option remaining unless you collect Virgin Points.  That isn’t to say that some of the other deals are not worth it – they just don’t work for me.

If you’ve got any experience of redeeming Clubcard vouchers for travel or other deals for genuine bargains then do post below.  All of these deals can be found at the Clubcard ‘travel deals’ page here.