‘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.

This week’s top travel news stories:

LeShuttle adopts Avios – collect and spend on cross-channel car crossings

Virgin Atlantic expands its IndiGo partnership with Delta, Air France and KLM

United goes head-to-head with American Airlines with its new business class seat reveal …. who comes out on top?

Club Iberia Plus has been renamed after just two months

Can you beat earning just two tier points for a transatlantic flight under the new BA Club rules?

What are the best hotel promos for June 2025?

Two new Marriott hotels open in the Algarve

Ethiopian Airlines has some good business class fares to South Africa

Get a Vietnam Airlines (SkyTeam) status match from your HOTEL or airline status

Bid for a stay in a McLaren-themed suite at Hilton’s The Trafalgar hotel, or attend a rooftop F1 party

Get £100 British Airways cashback for NatWest credit card holders

Stories we recommend from other sites:

New Unscripted by Hyatt brand joins group’s Essentials portfolio (Business Traveller)

Unite warns 800 Glasgow airport workers could strike this summer (Travel Weekly)

Loganair starts new Glasgow to Newquay service (UK Aviation News)

How new flight paths are going to change UK aviation (Simple Flying)

London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square completes latest renovation (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

Conny checks out the Hampton by Hilton London Gatwick hotel – connected internally to the North Terminal, is it worth a look? Image above.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Get 50% of ALL Loganair Avios redemptions! Loganair flights are expensive for cash (£500 return from Heathrow to Orkney / Shetland) so this is a great deal.

NEW: Now earn Avios with Uber in Ireland

Good Sixt car rental promotion launched with Accor Live Limitless

Which nine airlines let you convert their miles into Marriott Bonvoy hotel points?

Capital on Tap’s free SME Visa credit card cuts its Avios earn rate but it remains a good deal – if you have a Limited Company then you should take a serious look at it

Earn double Nectar points in June from Sainsburys and Argos when you convert to or from Avios

Earn 5,000 Virgin Points by turning on Tesco Clubcard auto-conversion – and you could win 1 million Virgin Points on top

Get a 20% bonus converting HSBC Premier points to Qantas Points

Earn double Virgin Points with Virgin Trains Ticketing

You can now earn Tesco Clubcard points (= Virgin Points) on EV charging

Earn double Nectar points on premium fuels at Esso

Get £500 for switching your current account to HSBC Premier

Our credit card review series continues:

• Review: the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card
• Review: the Nectar Credit Card from American Express

FIRST EVER OFFER: Get 30,000 Hilton Honors points with the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card

Last year Hilton Honors launched two UK debit cards (yes, debit and not credit).

One costs £150 per year and gives you Hilton Honors Gold status (free breakfast!) for as long as you keep it. The other costs £60 per year and gives you Hilton Honors Silver status for as long as you hold it.

Both cards earn Hilton Honors points on your spending with an extra bonus for spending in Hilton properties. These are also the only travel rewards cards with 0% or 0.5% FX fees, instead of the usual 3%.

Hilton has launched a special offer on both of the cards. It is the first time there has ever been an improved deal on the ‘Plus’ card.

Until 14th August:

• there is a bonus of 30,000 Hilton Honors points when you apply for the £150 Hilton Honors Plus debit card – this is the one which gives you Hilton Honors Gold status (free breakfast!)

• there is a 50% fee discount when you apply for the ‘was £60, now £30’ Hilton Honors debit card – this is the one which gives you Hilton Honors Silver status

You can find out more about the deal here. You can apply here.

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

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.