Get a 25% bonus on hotel programme transfers to Avios

Just a quick reminder that the 25% bonus for transferring hotel points into avios via BAEC is still available and runs until 20th June.  The rules imply that this is the last date to initiate a transfer rather than the date that the transfer arrives at BAEC, but better safe than sorry – if you are planning to transfer, it does no harm to do it now.

Full details can be found here at ba.com but the bonus covers transfers from Hilton, Marriott, Priority Club, Club Carlson, Starwood, Hyatt, Shangri-La and Accor.

Is this a good deal?  Well, if you were thinking of transferring your points to BA anyway, then clearly you will be 25% better off by doing it now.  In general, it is best to use points in the scheme in which they were originally earned because a transfer generally results in a loss of value. 

The exceptions are if your points are going to expire, if you have too few for a hotel redemption and do not see yourself earning more in the future, or if (eg Shangri-La) your travel plans are unlikely to take you anywhere with a suitable hotel.

If you compare the points required for a top level hotel redemption to the number of avios received, some transfers are clearly better value than others. 

A Hilton Category 6 redemption (eg Hilton Park Lane) is 50,000 points, which gets you only 5,000 avios.  The InterContinental next door on Park Lane is 50,000 Priority Club points, but these are worth 10,000 avios.  With the bonus that is 12,500 avios, worth c £100 at my default 0.75p valuation.  The hotel room would still cost more, but you are getting closer. 

With Starwood, a top level London room at the Park Tower in Knightsbridge would be a whopping 25,000 SPG points in peak season.  This is worth a huge 30,000 avios normally, and with bonus you would get 37,500.  Frankly, I would be taking the miles here and paying for a hotel room somewhere else.

Hotel offers update – December 2021:

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Want to buy hotel points? There is currently a special offer running with IHG Rewards (80% bonus to 4th January 2022) and World of Hyatt (30% discount, equivalent to a 43% bonus, to 30th December 2021).