Double Avios – and other airline miles – with Preferred Hotels Group throughout 2015

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Preferred Hotels Group is not a hotel chain. It is, effectively, a marketing consortium made up of a number of independent hotels from around the world.

Whilst it is one of the British Airways Executive Club hotel partners, I have never covered it before. I thought it was time to correct that.

There are over 650 hotels represented from 85 countries. The three brands used are ‘Preferred’, ‘Sterling’ and ‘Summit’ although almost all of the hotels trade under their historic names. The phrase ‘A member of Preferred Hotels / Sterling Hotels / Summit Hotels’ is usually tacked on the end. Confusingly, some of the hotels are also members of other loyalty schemes!

In London, for example, the group is represented by ME London (also part of Melia Rewards), The Bentley, The Stafford, The Lanesborough (currently closed, was also part of SPG), Lancaster London, The Beaumont, The Mandeville and The Draycott Hotel amongst others.

Preferred Hotels has its own reward scheme called iPrefer. You can see full details here. The good news is that you can double-dip by taking both iPrefer points and Avios or other airline miles.

iPrefer is basically a cashback scheme. For every $1 you spend, exclusive of tax, you earn 1 point. For every 2,500 points you earn, you receive a $50 gift certificate.

There are two problems here:

You need to spend $2,500 post-tax before you receive anything back

You can only use the vouchers against another stay at a Preferred Hotels Group property. Hotels may accept the vouchers against meals or spa treatments if you are not a guest but this is purely at their discretion.

Even though the benefits are pretty feeble, you might as well join for two reasons:

All iPrefer members receive free internet just for signing up

You can, as I mentioned above, double-dip with earning miles so you are not sacrificing anything

Earning Avios with Preferred Hotels

You earn Avios points simply by handing over your British Airways Executive Club card at check in. The standard rate is 500 Avios per stay.

Until 31 March 2016, Preferred is offering double Avios points. That means 1,000 points per stay.

You need to stay for at least two nights to receive double Avios. A number of hotels are also not participating. Further details can be found on the Preferred Hotels site – click on ‘Miles & Points’ and scroll down to ‘Double Miles’.

I am currently updating my master list of all hotel brands which offer Avios points and will publish it soon.

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: