Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

‘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.

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.

Interview of the week:

We speak to Rami El-Dahshan, new Managing Director of No1 Lounges and formerly head of Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses. What’s the future for independent airport lounges like his?

The latest UK business travel news:

Rachel Reeves backs a third runway at Heathrow – this is what the industry had to say, image above

…. whilst London City Airport wants even larger aircraft to be able to land on its runway

Vueling adds two new routes from Heathrow to Spain

IHG’s new The Welbeck hotel emerges from the former Holiday Inn Oxford Circus this week

Heathrow Rewards gives five hours notice of downtime and partner losses

The FREENOW taxi app adds a new ‘Airport Prebook Promise’ worth £60 if you have any problems

Save £150 on a £750 Etihad flight booking with American Express

How to book a low-cost day room at Hilton hotels

A new Mandarin Oriental cashback offer has appeared on American Express cards

Stories we recommend from other sites:

Dual-branded Hyatt property to open in Leeds in March (Business Traveller)

Government backs plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield airport (BBC)

Jet2.com adds two new routes to Budapest from UK (UK Aviation News)

What’s it like to visit Richard Branson’s private Caribbean island? (Travel Weekly)

Lufthansa Group takes minority stake in airBaltic (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

Rhys is the first journalist on board Cathay Pacific’s new Aria Suite business class service from London to Hong Kong. Image above. After many years of anticipation, how is it?

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Register now for Marriott’s new bonus point and double elite nights promotion which gives you a great route to reach the next elite tier quickly – click here to register, image above

HSBC launching a 25% bonus on Premier credit card points conversions to Avios?

What airline credit card is the best for long-term spending? We run the numbers on the various Avios and Virgin Points cards out there.

Generous Avios Balance Boost promo is running until Monday – buy Avios for just 0.92p

How to earn Avios when you fly United Airlines, a member of Star Alliance. Weird but true!

Is IHG One Rewards the best hotel loyalty scheme? Our review series on the six big hotel programmes moves on to a deep dive of IHG.

And finally …. the final reckoning from Barry’s SAS million points challenge! Did he get his million points in the end? What did it cost him? Would he do it again?

Capital on Tap Avios earning credit card

NOW FREE! Got a Limited Company? Get Capital on Tap’s Avios earning credit card

We mentioned this last week, I know, but as a reminder – 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.

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

PS. If you were forwarded ‘The Travel Brief’ by a colleague, you can sign up for a free email subscription by filling in the form here.

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