Bits: Wizz Air Abu Dhabi shuts down, new IHG voco in Ireland, Marriott ‘buy points’ bonus

News in brief:

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi shuts down

Wizz Air, the youngest of the major European low cost carriers, is shutting down its Abu Dhabi subsidiary.

Unlike easyJet and Ryanair, which have consistently focussed on Western Europe, the Hungarian-airline has always looked further East. In 2019 it made a bold play for the Middle Eastern market under a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company.

Unfortunately, the situation in the Middle East is not looking quite as rosy as it did in 2019. The airline has decided to withdraw from Abu Dhabi and consolidate its operations in Europe, where it operates a number of bases including at London Gatwick.

All flights operated by Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will be cancelled by 1st September 2025, which will cause problems for a lot of existing ticket holders.

According to the CEO, problems included:

• Less efficient operations due to the higher wear and tear on engines from the hot and harsh environment, including dust
• No access to the Indian and Pakistan markets it had been promised, preventing it from competing in the key migrant labour sector
• Worsening geo-political tensions in the region leading to airspace closures and costly unplanned disruption

Wizz Air has 12 Airbus A321s based in Abu Dhabi and operated a network of around 30 routes, including direct flights to Eastern Europe. This made VERY cheap London to the UAE trips possible if you were happy to self-connect between two Wizz Air flights!

Flights operated by the UK subsidiary of Wizz Air (flight code W9) are not affected. This includes the direct flights to Saudi Arabia on the airline’s wizzy new A321XLRs.

With an additional 12 A321s back in Europe, we may see some downward pressure on fares as additional capacity is unlocked at short notice. That said, Wizz Air has a large number of aircraft laid up at present due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines used.

IHG opens a voco hotel in Co Kildare

An interesting new addition to IHG One Rewards has appeared in Co Kildare – see here.

The Club Hotel at Goffs opened in 2023, very close to the Goffs bloodstock auction site. At the time it was described as:

A unique, luxury, boutique hotel has opened in the heart of Horse County. A place with an equine soul that speaks to County Kildare’s rural culture, combined with contemporary city style.

Arrive to our warm Irish welcome and sink into a stay filled with sophisticated country-club comfort and quality service, all right next door to the illustrious institution that is Goffs.

Experience classical modern dining. Drink in the atmosphere sat beside the stunning horseshoe bar or cosy lounge.

Discover the treasure trove of local attractions that lie just beyond our green paddock – Kildare Village, Castletown House, the Irish National Stud and world-famous Japanese Gardens, and Championship Golf at The K Club, Carton House and Palmerstown House Estate. The Club Hotel at Goffs – make our stable your home away from home.

The hotel has now rebranded as voco The Club Dublin Gateway – see the IHG website here.

It appears to be playing up its position to Dublin Airport (25 minutes away) more than it was, as well as its ‘easy access to Limerick, Cork, and Waterford via motorway.’

Thanks to Sharon for flagging.

Get a 30%-50% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points

Marriott Bonvoy is winding up its latest bonus if you buy their hotel points. The offer ends tomorrow, 16th July.

You can check your bonus via this page of the website.

It appears to vary between 30%, 40% and 50%.  The annual points purchase cap has been raised from 100,000 to 150,000 points plus your bonus on top.

At the top end, buying 150,000 points with a 50% bonus gets you 225,000 points for $1,875. This is 0.63p per point which is above our target valuation of 0.5p for a Marriott Bonvoy point although it isn’t difficult to exceed this.

You might find it especially worthwhile if:

• you are topping off your account before making a points booking, or
• you are close to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and want to make a transfer into airline miles (you get a bonus of 5,000 airline miles when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points into 20,000 airline miles in most programmes), or
• you are planning a stay at a property where you know you will get outsized value

Outsized value is still possible despite Marriott Bonvoy moving towards revenue-based redemptions. With no reward charts available, however, you need to look at it on a case by case basis.

Our review of The Bodrum EDITION showed how I got a room costing €1,750 per night for just 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.

This was 1.76p per point – more than double what you can buy them for here – although I admit that such deals are generally only found at peak dates.

Your Marriott Bonvoy account must be 90 days old before you can buy points, or 30 days old if the account has some other activity on it such as a hotel stay.

The page to buy is here. Remember that you need to jump in before Wednesday night.