‘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.
It’s a quiet week this week due to the end of the UK school holidays and a public holiday last Monday.
This week’s top travel news stories:
British Airways abandons plan to scrap individual bottles of water for passengers
How much will it cost British Airways to run the Avios-only flight to Cape Town this Christmas? We do the maths.
British Airways is advertising for a new Head of Loyalty
Mandarin Oriental launches a new £100 American Express cashback offer
Get a good Bangkok business class flight deal with China Southern from Heathrow
What is happening with the BA lounge closure in Glasgow? There was a VERY big flood ….
Marriott adds a new luxury hotel in Krakow, image below
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Emirates adds Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage Champagne to first class menu (Business Traveller)
Hand’s family firm eyes Malmaison and Hotel du Vin takeover (Boutique Hotelier)
Bournemouth airport wins planning approval to combine terminals (Travel Weekly)
Air Canada will not resume Montréal-Edinburgh flights next summer (Simple Flying)
British Airways announces end of summer sale (Business Traveller)
Our latest reviews:
Our reviews section returns next week.
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points by flying Emirates and Emirates Skywards miles by staying in Marriott hotels, image above
Rise in Avios theft causes ‘Combine My Avios’ to Iberia to be pulled
Get IT20 cricket tickets with Hilton Honors, including VIP hospitality options
Get 5,000 Emirates Skywards miles with one hotel booking but you must book today (Monday)
How to earn 400 Avios with the Cabify taxi app in Spain
Get a 25% bonus when you convert HSBC Premier credit card points to Avios
Accor adds tickets for new Wembley Arena events
FINAL MONTH: Get 750 Avios on a Hilton hotel stay
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles devalue (a little) but add Scoot redemptions
Which airlines let you convert their miles into Accor Live Limitless points? Avios, via Qatar Airways, is one option.
How do Emirates ‘My Family’ household accounts work?
We conclude our series on hotel points valuations:
What are World of Hyatt points worth?
Which hotel loyalty scheme is the most rewarding, based on our valuations?
FOUR big new American Express sign-up bonuses launched!
American Express has launched FOUR big sign up bonuses, with one worth 120,000 Membership Rewards points (=120,000 Avios).
As usual, annual fees and T&C apply, 18+, subject to status. You may see a higher bonus on the application forms when you click through because Amex is testing geotargetting in some areas.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
- Get 40,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £5,000 within six months of being approved. The card is free for the first year.
- Do you qualify for the bonus? You must have had NO personal American Express cards in the last 24 months. This will be tricky for many HfP readers, but you may have a family member who qualifies.
Click here for our full HfP review. Click here for a full HfP article on the card, its benefits and how the bonus offer works.
Click here to apply.
The representative APR is 86.8% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.7% variable.
The Platinum Card from American Express
- Get 80,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £10,000 within six months of being approved. The annual fee is £650, refundable pro-rata if you cancel.
- Do you qualify for the bonus? You must have had NO personal American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points in the last 24 months. You DO qualify if you have only held British Airways, Marriott, Nectar or cashback American Express cards in the last 24 months.
Click here for our full HfP card review. Click here for a full HfP article on the card, its benefits and how the bonus offer works.
Click here to apply.
The representative APR is 691.7% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 29.7% variable.
The American Express Business Gold Card
- Get 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 within three months of being approved. The card is free for the first year.
- Do you qualify for the bonus? Yes. There are NO restrictions, at all, on receiving the sign-up bonus. If you are accepted and reach the spend target, you receive the points.
Click here for our full HfP review. Click here to apply.
The American Express Business Platinum Card
- Get 120,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £12,000 within three months of being approved. The annual fee is £650, refundable pro-rata if you cancel. The fee should be tax deductible as a business expense. You will also receive £200 to spend at American Express Travel, which is an annual benefit for all cardholders.
- Do you qualify for the bonus? Yes. There are NO restrictions, at all, on receiving the sign-up bonus. If you are accepted and reach the spend target, you receive the points.
Click here for our full HfP review.
Click here to apply.
We will cover these offers in more detail in the coming weeks. Head for Points receives a commission if you apply via any of the links above – 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 September 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.
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