LAST CHANCES: 100% bonus buying IHG Rewards Club points and BA ‘Black Friday’ £495 Club World

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Two good offers close today – you should have a think about whether you should miss out or not.

IHG Rewards Club ‘buy points’ bonus

Today is the last chance to buy IHG Rewards Club – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc scheme – points with a 100% bonus. It is as generous an offer as you will ever see for IHG points.

You receive a 100% bonus with ANY order, however small. This is an improvement on when this offer ran last year, when small orders did not get the full bonus. With a 100% bonus, you would be able to buy 120,000 IHG points for (at current exchange rates) £453.

The page to buy points is here.

At the top end of the IHG Rewards Club portfolio, you have InterContinental properties which top out at 50,000 points per night. That’s what you would pay for InterContinental Le Grand in Paris or the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam.

With a 100% bonus, IHG is effectively selling you a night at these properties for £189 all-in.

There is no doubt that this could be a great deal. Taking a random night in December (7th), InterContinental London Park Lane is £245 (surprisingly cheap, it usually £350ish), InterContinental Paris Le Grand is €354 and InterContinental New York Times Square, pictured above, is an astonishing $726 including tax. All three had reward nights available. In addition, remember that these prices are for non-refundable rooms whilst your reward booking would be cancellable.

Of course, I could run a different list of low season dates at the same properties – or other hotels in the group – where this would not look like such a great deal. That said, I doubt you will ever pay less than £184 for the IC’s above at any time of year.

At a more prosaic level, hotels like the Holiday Inn Commercial Road in London (which is only a couple of years old) are 30,000 points. That would be £113 per night if you bought the points via this deal.

The maximum number of points you can buy is 120,000 (ie 60,000 plus the 60,000 bonus). This ‘buy points’ offer only runs until tonight. You can buy via this link.

InterContinental Times Square

Last chance to book British Airways Club World tickets for as little as £495 + 30,000 Avios

Of all the Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals I covered last week, the British Airways one was clearly the most attractive.

Full details are on ba.com here – but they do not tell the whole story.

Last year BA offered Club World flights for £1,007 return over Christmas. This year the prices are higher and the range of destinations is narrower – you won’t be getting any deals to South Africa this year, for example.

However, there is one twist this year which makes the deals far better than in 2014. You can use ‘part pay with Avios’, at a hugely advantageous rate, to discount your ticket even further.

Here are the discounts available. Note that these savings only apply to departures from the UK.

£700 off for 30,000 Avios
£350 off for 15,000 Avios
£260 off for 11,250 Avios
£175 off for 7,500 Avios
£105 off for 4,500 Avios
£35 off for 1,500 Avios

Here are the destinations and prices for a Club World return flight in the Black Friday sale, assuming you redeem the maximum of 30,000 Avios. Add back £700 to get the headline ‘cash only’ price.

Toronto £597 + 30,000 Avios
Chicago £649
Vancouver £683
Calgary £683
Washington DC £689
New York £685
Boston £689
Miami £698
Las Vegas £1,120
San Francisco £1,149
Los Angeles £1,163
San Diego £1,189
Seattle £1,189
Dallas £1,189
Phoenix £1,189
Chennai £494
Delhi £495
Bangalore £495
Mumbai £495
Hyderabad £515
Dubai £573
Bahrain £695
Chengdu (China) £501
Hong Kong £800
Kuala Lumpur £895
Seoul £2,135
Sydney £2,197

You will definitely earn Avios and tier points for your flight even though you have used ‘part pay with Avios’.

Here are the travel rules:

Book by Monday 30th November
Travel outbound between 21st December and 3rd January
Travel inbound before 10th January

You can see full details of the British Airways Black Friday deals here.

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: