NEW: You can redeem Virgin Points for Virgin Hotels – and it can be a decent deal

You can, finally, redeem Virgin Points for six of the eight Virgin Hotels properties – London, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Nashville and Dallas.

The two hold-outs are Las Vegas (not surprising, as its also part of Hilton Honors) and Edinburgh (no good reason at all!).

I found some decent deals for New York, but London is a washout. The lesson is ‘do the maths’.

How do you redeem Virgin Points for Virgin Hotels?

It’s initially a bit fiddly, but once you’ve set it up once you should be good to go.

You need to register for ‘The Know’ (click here), the Virgin Hotels membership programme. Once registered, you can link your Virgin Red account to your ‘The Know’ account.

(If you only have a Virgin Flying Club account, not a Virgin Red account, you will have to download the Virgin Red app and register there first. Link your Virgin Flying Club account so your points balance is shared. You can then register with ‘The Know’.)

Once your Virgin Red account is linked, you get a simple button on the Virgin Hotels booking page allowing you to toggle between cash and points.

What do I need to know?

As far as I could tell, if a Chambers Room (entry level) is bookable for cash, it is bookable for points.

No other room categories are bookable. Upgrades are not available. However, you WILL be offered a points deal as long as a Chambers Room is for sale.

What is the value?

It’s not clear, if I’m honest. Let me explain.

Virgin Hotels London Shoreditch – terrible value

I checked a sample of dates for Virgin Hotels London Shoreditch. Here are the cash vs points combinations offered:

• £239 or 60,000 points (0.40p per point)
• £243 or 72,500 points (0.34p)
• £275 or 72,500 points (0.38p)
• £284 or 75,000 points (0.38p)
• £342 or 72,500 points (0.46p)
• £365 or 90,000 points (0.41p)
• £483 or 72,500 points (0.67p)

Most Virgin Red redemptions get you 0.5p per point of value. You are well, well below that here apart from the last example. In fact, I don’t think any other Virgin Red redemptions give you such a low points value.

I accept that the cash rates quoted above are Advanced Purchase, whilst a points booking can be cancelled within 72 hours of arrival, but this still doesn’t explain the low valuation.

Virgin Hotels New York City – good value!

I did a similar experiment with Virgin Hotels New York City. For a fair comparison, I reduced the cash rates to reflect the fact that some city taxes are still due on reward nights.

You can read our review of Virgin Hotels New York City here.

Suddenly the maths changes. In most cases you are getting well above the standard Virgin Red valuation of 0.5p per point, and pretty close to the 1p you’d get with a Virgin Atlantic Saver flight – and those are hard to find these days.

Here are seven examples from seven different months:

• $254 or 35,000 points (0.56p per point)
• $302 or 55,000 points (0.43p)
• $331 or 35,000 points (0.73p)
• $414 or 35,000 points (0.92p)
• $480 or 55,000 points (0.68p)
• $587 or 55,000 points (0.83p)
• $665 or 55,000 points (0.94p)

As with London, I compared non-refundable ‘The Know’ member cash rates with a points rate which can be refunded, so the value is even better than this if you need flexibility.

I like the look of this, frankly, on certain dates. If you are heading to New York then you should be pricing up this hotel on points.

Conclusion

If you are heading to the US soon, you may find some value redeeming Virgin Points for a Virgin Hotels redemptions.

It’s a shame that the UK options are a fail, with Edinburgh not taking part and redemptions in London currently showing weirdly poor value.

Remember that there is currently a 30% transfer bonus if you move American Express Membership Rewards points to Virgin Flying Club. If you can get close to 1p per Virgin Point for a Virgin Hotels redemption then you’d be getting great value for your American Express points.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Virgin Points. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Virgin Points! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)