Bits: Hilton buy points bonus, cashback with Virgin Holidays and Malaysia Airlines

News in brief:

Last day to get a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points

Hilton Honors has been running a 100% bonus for buying 5,000+ Hilton Honors points. The offer ends TONIGHT, 24th July.

If you’ve never bought hotel points, it can be a great deal. There’s an example below of how you can save 64% on an August holiday in Sardinia, for example, although you need at least Silver status in Hilton Honors to save this much.

Some people may see a smaller bonus percentage, or a price discount, as part of Hilton’s market testing. These offers are less generous.

The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here. 

The annual purchase limit is 160,000 points pre-bonus. The cost for the maximum 320,000 points (160,000 + 100%) would be £1,320 which is 0.41p per point. This is above our target valuation for a Hilton Honors points at 0.33p but you can still do ok at this level because Hilton caps the points cost of hotels on peak dates.

Here’s an example at Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia from 18th to 23rd August. The refundable cash rate is €1,061 per night for a King Deluxe room, so €5,305 for five nights.

For points, five nights will cost you (if you have status and get 5-4-4 on reward bookings) 400,000 Hilton Honors points. You could buy these – you’d need your partner to buy the final 80,000 and transfer them to you for free – for £1,650 which is €1,904.  You would save 64%.

Do note that Hilton restricts new members from buying points immediately. The rule is:

“A new Hilton Honors Member may purchase Points 30 days after enrollment if the account reflects activity including a stay (as defined herein) or earning Hilton Honors Points through a Hilton Hilton Honors Marketing Partner. After 90 days of enrollment, a new Member is eligible to purchase Points regardless of their account activity.“

The page to buy points is here if you are interested. The offer ends TODAY, 24th July.

PS. If you are looking for a quick way to Hilton Honors Silver status to get ‘five reward nights for the points of four’, remember that the Hilton Honors Debit Card comes with free Silver status. Your status is updated immediately when you activate the card. Click here to apply.

Two American Express cashback offers launched

Two interesting new or extended cashback offers have appeared on American Express cards.

Virgin Atlantic Holidays

Virgin Atlantic Holidays has extended its current deal, it seems.

You will receive £250 back when you spend £5,000 by 23rd September. It was due to end on 19th August.

You need to look under the ‘Offers’ tab in the app or on the Amex website for each card you have, although you are unlikely to find this on British Airways or Marriott Bonvoy cards.

The small print has a couple of gotchas if you’re not careful:

• cumulative spend counts
• only website bookings count, not transactions completed in Virgin Atlantic Holidays stores
• bookings made on the Virgin Atlantic Holidays mobile app do NOT count – it must be on the website
• ‘flight only’ bookings do not count
• part payments or deposits do not count (although how Amex would know this I have no idea)
• purchases made on finance or ‘buy now pay later’ do not count
• gift card and voucher purchases do not count

The bottom line is that you need to visit the website (and ONLY the website) and spend £5,000 in one or more transactions in full payment for a holiday (not just a flight) to get the £250.

Remember that you can earn bonus tier points in Virgin Flying Club when booking with Virgin Atlantic Holidays, as well as earning additional Virgin Points.

The Virgin Atlantic Holidays website is here.

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines has launched what I think is its first cashback deal with American Express since 2020.

You will get £60 back on a cumulative spend of £650 by 30th August.

There is NO specific requirement for flights to start in the UK. However, the rules also say ‘Offer only applies to spend made in Great British Pound (GBP) on the Card to which the Offer is saved.’

This latter clause always appears on Amex offers so may not mean anything. However, if you book a flight departing from anywhere except the UK it won’t price in Sterling so arguably may not count.

You must book on the Malaysia Airlines website here.