‘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 latest UK business travel news:
Travel on Heathrow Express for just £10 each way in August – in fact, it’s just £6.60 with a Railcard and free for kids
EU261 compensation: Pilot and crew sickness NOT ‘extraordinary circumstances’ says Supreme Court – so BA must pay
Radisson Blu opens a new-build hotel in Sheffield
Amex Platinum cardholders now get Priority Pass lounge booking credits to use at selected UK airports. Guarantee your lounge entry in advance.
A new DoubleTree by Hilton hotel opens in Nice
400 Small Luxury Hotels now bookable via Hilton and there are some good deals to be had
IHG opens voco Belfast following refurbishment of The Gasworks hotel
SWISS partners with Airportr to allow earning and burning of miles on luggage collection and delivery
Up to 10% off Etihad flights with a new American Express offer
Is it the end of the road for Hilton’s Chelsea FC offers?
Marriott’s ‘The Reach at Piccadilly’ opened in Manchester this week
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Business Traveller magazine sold to Ink (EIN Presswire)
Air France, KLM and SAS sign codeshare and interline agreements (Business Traveller)
Jet2 brings forward Bournemouth base launch to early February (TTG)
Aer Lingus pilots suspend industrial action with new pay deal (Reuters)
Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy launches (Business Traveller)
Our latest reviews:
From Paris: Rhys reviews the citizenM Paris Gare de Lyon, image above
Next day, he headed to Hilton’s Canopy Paris Trocadero – what was it like?
Rob heads to Barcelona to review the new Grand Hyatt hotel which is surprisingly good value at weekends, image below
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
Global Hotel Alliance extends its $15 app bonus and free breakfast – plus starts selling points
Bid Avios for a 5-day VIP package to Glorious Goodwood
Get great Avios hotel deals in Scandinavia via Finnair Plus – Rob shows a real-life example of how he got a bargain in Copenhagen
New: transfer Choice Privileges hotel points to Avios
Get double Avios on British Airways flights to the USA for new bookings
Get up to 125,000 Virgin Points by transferring your pension to Virgin Money
You no longer earn Avios or British Airways tier points on Emirates flights
LAST CHANCE, ENDS TUESDAY: Get a 30,000 points bonus (converts to 30,000 Avios) with ‘free for a year’ Amex Gold
American Express has been running a special sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – apply here. Time is running out though.
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 last day to apply is next Tuesday, 16th July.
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.
Head for Points receives a commission if you apply 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
