‘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 the latest reviews and features from the Head for Points team.

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Special Finnair series:

Join Rhys as he travels to Japan to try Finnair’s new long-haul business and premium economy cabins, as well its short haul business class product and its new Schengen lounge in Helsinki.

The first four articles in the series ran this week, with the remainder to follow:

• Finnair A320 short haul business class review from London to Helsinki
• Review: Finnair’s new Schengen business class lounge, Helsinki
• Review: Finnair business lounge, Helsinki (non-Schengen)
• Review: the TIAD Nagoya hotel, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection

The latest UK business travel news:

The European Court of Justice bans Booking.com from making hotels match its prices on their own websites

New Amex cashback offers launched: Etihad, Marriott, Hertz, The Peninsula, Millennium Hotels

…. plus get £50 cashback at Hilton hotels with a new American Express offer

Eurostar becomes SkyTeam’s first non-airline partner but details are sketchy

Match your SAS status to Finnair (oneworld)

Get £100 cashback on a £250 Amex spend with WorldHotels

Get extra discounts with Virgin Atlantic Holidays until Tuesday, for 2024 travel only

Stories we recommend from other sites:

Aer Lingus joins the TSA PreCheck programme (Business Traveller)

Andrew Flintham to leave Tui to head up British Airways Holidays (TTG)

Loganair boosts ‘same-plane’ island connectivity (UK Aviation News)

Yotel to open £17m Belfast hotel in 2026 (Boutique Hotelier)

British Airways becomes largest airline purchaser of carbon removals (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

Conny concludes her Turkey coverage:

• Review: The Bodrum EDITION (part of Marriott Bonvoy), image above – see what €1,700 per night gets you in Bodrum these days, although she used Marriott Bonvoy points!

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Earn up to 5,000 bonus Heathrow Rewards points on fashion purchases

ENDS MONDAY: Get a 30% bonus converting American Express points to Marriott Bonvoy

What does the refreshed HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard have to offer you? Image above

Get up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points with American Express Business Platinum – this excellent offer only runs to 22nd October, click here to apply

BA Amex 2-4-1 companion vouchers are now extendable by three months – in specific circumstances

Hyatt launches a new promotion for hotels in EMEA and APAC – click here to register

Register now: IHG offering triple points at voco and four other niche brands – click here to register

Dive into the world of Virgin Points redemptions as our introductory series continues:

How to redeem Virgin Points for hotel rooms via Kaligo

Big news – Hilton launches two new UK payment cards!

Hilton has launched two new payment cards in the UK – and the big surprise is that they are DEBIT cards and not credit cards.

The key point is that both come with instant Hilton Honors elite status. The Plus card makes you Hilton Honors Gold whilst the basic card makes you Hilton Honors Silver. You will retain this status for as long as you hold the card.

This is what you get (full details are on the application website here):

Hilton Honors Plus debit card:

• £150 annual fee
• Gold status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card
• 0% FX fees when spending in foreign currency
• 1.5 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in the UK
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties in the UK
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in foreign currency
• 4.5 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties outside the UK

There is a sign-up bonus of 12,000 Hilton Honors points if you apply by 30th November 2024. You need to spend £2,500 in foreign currency in your first six months to receive the bonus.

Hilton Honors debit card:

• £60 annual fee
• Silver status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card
• 0.5% FX fees when spending in foreign currency
• 1 Hilton Honors point per £1 spent in the UK
• 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties in the UK
• 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in foreign currency
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties outside the UK

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,500 Hilton Honors points if you apply by 30th November 2024. You need to spend £1,000 in foreign currency in your first six months to receive the bonus.

Our full article on the launch, and a Q&A about which card is best for you, is here.

You can apply for the Hilton Honors debit cards here.

We receive a small commission from Hilton if you apply via our links – 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

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