‘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 the latest reviews and features from the Head for Points team.
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NOW FREE! Got a Limited Company? Get Capital on Tap’s Avios earning credit card
If you have a Limited Company or LLP, there is some interesting news.
Capital on Tap’s Avios-earning Visa credit card is now free. The £99 annual fee has been removed. (There is no longer a sign-up bonus either, but in the long run you are better off with no annual fee.)
This is a hugely powerful card. You earn points worth 1 Avios or 1p of cashback for every £1 you spend and it comes with no FX fees and no ATM fees.
Even if you have an Amex Business card, it is (especially now it’s free) worth having the Capital on Tap card as a back-up for when American Express is not accepted.
You can find out more in this article. You can apply via this exclusive HfP link. You should select the free card and not the ‘Pro’ card.
Your interest rate is based on your business profile and can be as low as 14.95% APR variable.
In other news ….
The latest UK business travel news:
SkyTeam improves its lounge access rules – many domestic flights now included
Eurostar’s ‘no queue’ iProov.me check-in lane closes on 13th February
How to use Emirates Skywards miles on Qantas, Japan Airlines, easyJet and other airline partners
Lufthansa reopens its lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2 – and it looks good
How to access Lufthansa’s (refurbished) Heathrow lounges with Amex Platinum
How does Club Eurostar work? Here’s our updated full review
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Lumo reveals plans for the Southwest (Business Traveller)
Heathrow expansion could open door for easyJet, says new chief Kenton Jarvis (TTG)
Grantley Hall joins Leading Hotels of the World (Boutique Hotelier)
Finnair and British Airways expand codeshare agreement (UK Aviation News)
Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy launches limited-time elite status offers (Business Traveller)
Our latest reviews:
Rhys is one of the first to fly Iberia business class on the Airbus A321XLR, as he travels from Madrid to Boston. How does this new aircraft perform? Image above.
Whilst there, he checked into Raffles Boston, the first opening for Accor’s luxury brand in North America. How did he find it?
Meanwhile, Rob headed to Paris to review the Maison Astor, part of Hilton’s Curio Collection and a lovely boutique option in a central location.
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
The British Airways Executive Club changes:
How to maximise your Avios from flights if BA tier points no longer matter to you. Credit to whichever of British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, Finnair Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub or Qatar Airways Privilege Club pays most.
Which partners should you fly under the new British Airways tier point system? Some oneworld airlines will earn double the tier points of the rest.
Other news:
Book now: lots of Australia seats (up to 4 business per flight) open for Avios as Qatar Airways doubles its flights to the country. It’s not totally straightforward though.
What is the best value Avios flight per mile? Some routes are better value than others. We’ve done the maths for you.
Save £130 (!) by booking short-haul Aer Lingus Avios flights at aerlingus.com
Book Virgin Hotels London Shoreditch for 45,000 Virgin Points on winter weekends
StatusMatcher – what tier matches can you get from your existing airline and hotel status cards?
Is Hilton Honors the best hotel loyalty scheme? We continue our detailed reviews of the ‘big six’ hotel programmes.
And finally ….
LAST CHANCE: Win two Business Class tickets to Taipei with China Airlines in our exclusive reader competition. It closes on Friday.
Thank you for reading
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.
Rob, Rhys, Sinead and Katie @ Head for Points
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