Get a 25% bonus on transfer of hotel points to Avios

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Roughly once every nine months or so, British Airways Executive Club runs a promotion offering a 25% bonus when you convert hotel loyalty points into Avios points.

Yesterday, I received an email from Hyatt Gold Passport which included the following:

Turn your Hyatt Gold Passport points into Avios with British Airways. Now when you convert your Hyatt Gold Passport points into Avios, you’ll earn a 25% bonus through July 15, 2013. Simply select “British Airways” when converting your points and the bonus Avios will be applied to your account.

At the moment, there is nothing about this promotion on the British Airways Executive Club website. I therefore cannot be certain that it applies to ALL hotel loyalty programmes and not just Hyatt Gold Passport. However, based on BA’s record over recent years, I fully suspect that it will apply to all schemes.

This is an especially juicy deal for those people who took out the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex card recently with the 20,000 bonus Starwood points! Those would normally convert into 25,000 Avios, but under this promotion you will receive 31,250 Avios! Not bad for a credit card sign-up bonus.

The main hotel schemes that you can convert into (BA) Avios are Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Club Carlson, Le Club Accorhotels, Priority Club, Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Even with a 25% bonus, of course, you are usually better off using your points for free hotel nights if you think you can earn enough. The Hilton conversion rate to Avios is particularly poor, so I would only transfer those as a last resort. The Starwood conversion rate is particularly generous. Similarly, the Club Carlson transfer rate is not too bad at higher quantities (100,000 Carlson = 18,000 Avios, so 22,500 under this deal.)

Let me stress again – apart from Hyatt, there is no 100% guarantee at the moment that this promotion applies to any other hotel programme. Do not make a transfer until British Airways makes an official announcement.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus: