Which hotels don’t give Avios but DO let you earn Virgin Points?

If you travel on business, earning airline miles from your hotel stays is an easy way of running up your Avios balance. 

You should never take airline miles by default, as it is normally better value to take hotel points from your stay in the relevant hotel loyalty scheme. This only makes sense, however, if you are confident of earning enough to get to a decent redemption.

If you are staying at a chain which you do not intend to visit again, you might as well take airline miles instead of hotel points.

British Airways has a number of hotel partners (and Airbnb). The list gets bigger when you include chains like NH Hotels which are partners with Iberia which can be credited to Iberia Plus.

Qatar Airways also has a number of exclusive hotel partners which earn Avios in Qatar Airways Privilege Club and can be transferred to a BA account – Shangri-La Hotels is the key one.

In the past, there were a number of hotel chains who did not work with Avios but who did partner with Virgin Flying Club.  However, in recent years Virgin Flying Club has been culling its hotel partners.

Losses include YOTEL, Jumeirah, Marco Polo Hotels, Millennium & Copthorne, Morgans Hotel Group and Red Carnation Hotels.

You can see the full list of remaining Virgin Flying Club hotel partners here.

Which hotels chains earn Virgin Points?

There are a number of hotel programmes which are partners with both Avios and Virgin Flying Club, so you get to choose which airline to credit to, assuming you don’t want to redeem for hotel rooms. These include:

• Hilton Honors
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt (no longer a BA partner but you can credit to Qatar Airways Avios)

Of the major hotel schemes we cover, Accor and Radisson are the biggest outliers who offer transfers to Avios but not Virgin Points.

This is what is left in terms of hotels which offer Virgin Points but do not offer Avios:

Best Western

Click here for details of the Virgin Flying Club offer. You will receive 500 Virgin Points per stay at a participating hotel.

You can also match Virgin Flying Club status to Best Western Rewards.  A Virgin Flying Club Silver member will receive Best Western Platinum whilst a Virgin Flying Club Gold member receives Best Western Diamond.  Full details are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Virgin Hotels

Click here for details of the Virgin Flying Club offer. You will receive 5 Virgin Points per $1 spent, before taxes, at Virgin Hotels.

You need to have an account with The Know, the free Virgin Hotels membership scheme, and link your Virgin Red number to it.

I reviewed the new Virgin Hotels Edinburgh here whilst Rhys was in New York for the opening of the Virgin Hotels property in NoMad. However, you cannot earn Virgin Points at the Edinburgh hotel.

There are extra benefits at Virgin Hotels for Flying Club elite members. Flying Club Gold members will receive a complimentary breakfast daily and an upgrade, subject to availability.  Silver members will receive a complimentary upgrade, based on availability.

You can also redeem Virgin Points for stays at Virgin Hotels.

Virgin Limited Edition

Virgin Limited Edition is the boutique hotel company operating Sir Richard Branson’s collection of properties around the world. Whilst the company was recently merged into Virgin Hotels, it still has specialised earning rates.

You can earn a whopping 55,000 Virgin Points for a one-week stay on Sir Richard Branson’s private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands – but it doesn’t come cheap!

Different earning rates apply across the remaining properties:

• 2,500 points per night at Son Bunyola
• 1,500 points per night at Mont Rochelle
• 7,000 points per night at Ulusaba
• 7,000 points per night at Mahali Mzuri
• 2,500 points per night at Kasbah Tamadot
• 4,500 points per night at The Lodge, Verbier

You can also redeem Virgin Points for stays at Virgin Limited Edition.

WorldHotels

The WorldHotels consortium of independent upscale hotels gives you 500 Virgin Points per stay.

WorldHotels is no longer listed on the Virgin Atlantic website as a partner BUT it is owned by Best Western (which gives 500 points per stay, as we mentioned above) and it is still listed on the WorldHotels site here.

Is it worth earning Virgin Points from a one-off hotel stay?

Even if you regularly stay at one of these chains, you may have decided against bothering with Virgin Points because you would never earn enough for a flight redemption to a destination you want to visit.

This is no longer the case, however. The launch of Virgin Red has added additional ways to spend your Virgin Points, starting at just 1,000 Virgin Points for a £5 Costa Coffee or Caffe Nero gift card.

You can even transfer Virgin Points into Hilton Honors or IHG One Rewards points if you want to redeem Virgin Points on hotels rather than earn them.  The minimum number of Virgin Points required is 10,000 and the transfer rate is 1:1.5 into Hilton and 1:1 into IHG.

This isn’t great value based on our 0.33p valuation of a Hilton point and 0.4p valuation of an IHG point but the option is there. It also means, oddly, that you could be indirectly earning Hilton or IHG points by staying at Best Western, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Limited Edition or WorldHotels!

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (March 2025)

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 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. 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 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

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