‘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.

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.

HfP summer party update:

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the Head for Points summer party – the UK’s biggest frequent flyer event, with over 500 attendees – will take place on Thursday 19th June at Christ Church Spitalfields.

We have finalised the main raffle prize and it is the biggest and most valuable prize we have ever offered. If you’ve been to a HfP party before you’ll know that’s a very high bar, but we’ve managed it.

Tickets will be sold on Tuesday. To find out exactly when, visit headforpoints.com first thing on Tuesday morning – an article will be up with the launch time and the link.

If you would be interested in sponsoring the event, contact Sinead Archer at sinead [at] headforpoints.com. We can’t accept any airlines because of the clash with our star prize donor, but hotels, credit cards, lounges, car hire approaches etc are welcome.

This week’s top travel news stories:

United Airlines and JetBlue partner – first step to a takeover?

Do you have unused British Airways eVouchers from the pandemic? The expiry date looms. There is an online way to check.

Cathay Pacific starts refurbishment of its Hong Kong lounges

Get £100 American Express cashback on a Relais & Chateaux hotel stay

Save up to 45% at Domes Resorts this summer

Save £100 on a £300 spend at Small Luxury Hotels with American Express

Buy Global Hotel Alliance stay credit at a 15% discount – is it worth it?

Stories we recommend from other sites:

Zedwell to open windowless hotel close to Tower of London (Business Traveller)

Hilton’s LXR brand debuts in France with the opening of Sax Paris (hospitalitynet)

Gatwick boss elevated to group role after 15 years (Travel Weekly)

Global Airlines realigns A380 focus after New York flights (Simple Flying)

Grantley Hall to open country pub this summer (Boutique Hotelier)

Manchester Airport opens new security hall at Terminal 2 (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews (an Orkney special):

I used Avios to fly Loganair from Heathrow to Orkney – how was it?

Tickets to Orkney and Shetland from Heathrow are around £500 return for cash on Loganair, so the new Avios partnership (13,500 Avios return) is amazing value. Conny tried it out.

And whilst she was there ….

Review: Kirkwall Hotel, Orkney (and a few tourist tips)

Other reviews:

Meanwhile, in Malta, we visit La Valette Club lounge at Malta International Airport, used by BA, KM and Priority Pass.

In London, Katie spends a night at The London Hilton on Park Lane.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

See my pitchside seat for Paris Saint Germain vs Arsenal with Accor – and you can do the same, image above

Why Etihad’s ‘Win 5 Million Miles’ challenge is going to be a mess

Great ‘Hilton for Business’ offer – 5,000 bonus points PER STAY, up to 15,000 points

What are the cheapest and priciest Virgin Upper Class redemptions under dynamic pricing?

Astonishing F1 deal – get two VIP British Grand Prix tickets for 175,000 Hilton points – you missed this deal, but it was astounding value

The Zipcar / Avios partnership ends on 30th June

Club Eurostar launches a generous deal if you’re booking a Hertz car rental

Bid for Oasis and Coldplay VIP packages with your Hilton Honors points

Get up to 70% bonus when you buy Avios via Qatar Airways Privilege Club

WorldHotels launches 10,000 points offer to stack with £100 American Express cashback

Our annual series of travel credit card reviews continues:

• Review: the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard credit card
• Review: the HSBC Premier Mastercard credit card
• Review: the Lloyds Bank World Elite Mastercard credit card

BIGGEST EVER BONUS: Get 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

With a new offer launched this week, you can get a huge sign-up bonus of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card. You can apply here.

This is the biggest bonus you ever see on this credit card, and is TRIPLE the standard amount.

This is worth roughly £300 of free Marriott stays, based on our 0.5p per point valuation, or 25,000 Avios or other airline miles if converted.

There are four good reasons to hold this card long term, and not just for the sign-up bonus:

• you get 15 elite night credits EVERY YEAR in Marriott Bonvoy – this means, for example, that Platinum Elite only requres 35 nights instead of the usual 50. Even better, these nights count towards Lifetime Status.

• you get Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy every year, because it is triggered automatically by the 15 elite night credits

• you get Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy if you spend £15,000 on the card in a membership year

• you get a free night voucher worth up to 25,000 Bonvoy points if you spend £25,000 on the card in a membership year

There is an annual fee of £95 per year. The on-going earning rate is 2 Bonvoy points per £1 spent.

To learn more, click here for our full article on the offer. Please read the bit about whether you qualify for the sign-up bonus.

You can apply here.

The representative APR is 53.7% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.0% variable.

Head for Points receives a commission if you apply via our link. Thank you.

Thank you for reading

Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback.

If you are booking a hotel this week, click here to read our summary of the best bonus points offers for June from the big chains.

See you next Monday,

Rob, Rhys, Sinead and Katie @ Head for Points

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