‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
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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.
Win a VIP night out in our exclusive competition
Thanks to Accor Live Limitless, we are giving away VIP suite tickets for two people to two American Express presents BST Hyde Park 2024 shows in London this summer.
Image above – but you’ll be in a private, fully catered suite with proper seats and covered in case of bad weather!
The latest UK business travel news:
See inside Newcastle’s lovely new Aspire lounges – there are three of them! You’ll even get table service in one …. Image above.
British Airways launches a new route from Gatwick to Larnaca
British Airways opens its renovated lounge in Lagos
Take a look at the latest cabin interiors from Airbus – coming to a plane near you
Amex suspends applications for the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card again
Aer Lingus closes its Heathrow lounge for refurbishment
The new My Lounge at London Luton Airport opened its doors on Saturday
Heathrow starts selling fast track security passes again
United Airlines adds limited edition Wrexham FC amenity kits and pyjamas
Surprise: the Conrad NYC Midtown hotel joins Marriott – but which brand?
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Dalata set to open Maldron hotels in Manchester, Liverpool, Brighton and London (Business Traveller)
Lufthansa – ITA Airways merger plagued by Atlantic joint venture (Simple Flying)
Manchester’s Hotel Gotham sold to Leonardo Hotels (Boutique Hotelier)
Delta resumes Shannon-New York JFK service after five-year hiatus (Business Traveller)
Our latest reviews:
Rhys reviews Aegean Airlines business class to Athens as the airline celebrates its 25th anniversary
…. plus a look inside the impressive non-Schengen Aegean Airlines lounge in Athens. Image above.
Meanwhile, Conny heads to Frankfurt to look at the fully refurbished Westin Grand
Plus, completing our Dubai coverage from last week, a review of The St Regis Dubai The Palm hotel
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
Here’s what you get if you redeem Accor points for the French Open at Roland-Garros. Image above.
How understanding Qatar’s ‘married segment availability’ can unlock additional redemption seats
Virgin Red to close its Red Room VIP box at the AO Arena in Manchester
Get new Amex cashback offers with Macdonald Hotels, Melia Hotels, Avis and Harrods
The Killers VIP suite tickets at The O2 released for Marriott Bonvoy points
Marriott launches a new ‘buy points’ bonus. Click here to buy.
We are taking an in-depth look at all UK travel rewards credit cards, starting this week with reviews of:
Review: The Platinum Card by American Express
Review: the American Express Rewards Credit Card
Review: Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card
NEW: 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.
The representative APR is 87.3% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 30.0% variable.
You can apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website.
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. 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
