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

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

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.

The Travel Brief is the successor to Malcolm Ginsberg’s Business Travel News. Malcolm’s new monthly forward-looking Travel News Update is available at travelnewsupdate.co.uk.

Special feature:

As it gears up to launch Edinburgh flights this week, we look at how JetBlue is shaking up transatlantic flying

The latest UK business travel news:

Take a look at BA’s new short haul seating in the wild, image above

British Airways launches a new route to Jeddah

What did we learn from Virgin Atlantic’s 100% sustainable aviation fuel ‘Flight100’ experiment?

easyJet to open a base at London Southend airport

The Regent Berlin hotel is leaving IHG

American Express opens a new lounge at Stockholm Arlanda for Platinum cardholders

Which British Airways lounges have pre-flight dining?

Accor launches a new hotel sale and all rooms are refundable – click here for the special booking page

Sofitel Al Hamra Beach opens in Ras Al-Khaimah – but which hotel was it previously?

…. and also in Ras, the Hilton Ras Al-Khaimah Beach Resort is switching to Rixos

How to access Lufthansa’s Heathrow lounges with Amex Platinum

Get a Hilton Honors Diamond status match to 2026 with 14 nights – and Gold for 90 days

Which InterContinental hotels give FREE club lounge access via a ‘preferred partner’ agent?

Stories we recommend from other sites:

Wizz Air launches MultiPass flight subscription plan in the UK (Business Traveller)

Eurostar to order 50 new trains as revenue reaches €2bn in 2023 (International Railway Journal)

Hundreds of Virgin Atlantic cabin crew sue for unfair dismissal (The Guardian)

easyJet chief Johan Lundgren to step down (Travel Weekly)

Ibis Styles Gatwick opens following renovation and expansion (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

It’s JetBlue week on Head for Points:

Rhys reviews JetBlue’s Mint Studio from New York JFK to London Heathrow – these are the two seats in Row 1 with a lot of extra space. Image above.

Here’s our review of JetBlue’s Mint Suite business class from London Heathrow to Boston

Meanwhile, Rob heads to Budapest to visit the new Dorothea Hotel, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. Image below.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

How to earn miles with 40 different airlines with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card, which currently has a 60,000 Bonvoy points bonus

IHG will let more partners award its points – because it can now keep the money

American Express launches a limited time Heathrow Express cashback deal

Thinking of cancelling your Amex Gold or Amex Platinum? This is what you should do to keep your points

Three UK travel rewards credit cards worth keeping, unused, just for their benefits

Get a 20% bonus buying World of Hyatt points – click here to buy

Redeem Hilton Honors for T20 cricket hospitality in Manchester

…. and for KLM Open golf hospitality in Amsterdam

BIGGEST EVER BONUS: Get 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points sign-up bonus with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card

Launched this week, you can get a huge sign-up bonus of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. You can apply here.

This is the biggest bonus ever offered on this credit card, and is TRIPLE the standard amount.

This is worth roughly £300 of free Marriott stays, based on our 0.5p per point valuation, or 25,000 Avios or other airline miles if converted.

There are four good reasons to hold this card long term, and not just for the sign-up bonus:

• you get 15 elite night credits EVERY YEAR in Marriott Bonvoy – this means, for example, that Platinum only requres 35 nights instead of the usual 50. Even better, these nights count towards Lifetime Status.

• you get Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy every year, because it is triggered automatically by the 15 elite night credits

• you get Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy if you spend £15,000 on the card in a membership year

• you get a free night voucher worth up to 25,000 Bonvoy points if you spend £25,000 on the card in a membership year

There is an annual fee of £95 per year. The on-going earning rate is 2 Bonvoy points per £1 spent.

To learn more, click here for our full article on the offer. Please read the bit about whether you qualify for the sign-up bonus.

You can apply here. We receive a small commission if you apply via our link – thank you.

The representative APR is 53.7% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.0% variable.

Thank you for reading

Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.

Rob, Rhys and Katie @ Head for Points

PS. If you were forwarded ‘The Travel Brief’ by a colleague, you can sign up for a free subscription by filling in the form here