More avios.com deals when you redeem for hotel stays

Avios.com has been keen to promote its hotel booking platform recently and sent me over a sample of current hotel deals on offer.

In general, redeeming Avios for hotel points is not a great deal.  There is nothing wrong with the selection of hotels they offer, but you will generally only receive a touch over 0.55p per point.  You should be able to do far better than that from a flight redemption.

The other snag when using Avios for hotels is that you will not receive hotel loyalty points or status benefits on your stay.  In theory.  Sometimes you will but you should not rely on it.  This makes paying cash even more attractive.

What makes a difference is when Avios negotiates an aggressive deal with a particular hotel.  This is often possible because avios.com is seen as a ‘membership site’ (ie the public cannot book without signing up) and so hotels can dump excess capacity there without being exposed to ‘best rate guarantee’ claims.

This is a sample of deals currently available:

Coconut Court Beach Hotel, Barbados ***

From 6,300 Avios + £685 for 7 nights room only for 2 people in a Deluxe ocean front double room

Compare with:  Expedia – £1,367 (Avios price cheaper by 47%), BA Holidays – £1,185 (Avios price cheaper by 39%), Hotels.com – £1,324 (Avios price cheaper by 46%)

Capella Marigot Bay, St Lucia ***** (photo above)

From 16,300 Avios + £1,550 for 7 nights with full American breakfast for 2 people in a resort view twin room

Compare with:  Expedia – £2,829 (Avios price cheaper by 42%), Booking.com – £3,059 (Avios price cheaper by 47%), Hotels.com – £2,829 (Avios price cheaper by 42%)

Turim, Lisbon ****

From 3,450 Avios + £175  for 3 nights with a hot buffet breakfast for 2 people in a standard double / twin room

Compare with: BA Holidays – £321  (Avios price cheaper by 40%), Booking.com – £494 (Avios price cheaper by 61%), Hotels.com – £491 (Avios price cheaper by 60%)

It is amusing how avios.com is so keen to show how much cheaper it is than BA Holidays.

In all cases, you can choose to pay with more Avios and less cash if you wish – although the delta is the usual 0.55p – 0.6p so you may want to use as few Avios as you can.

You certainly won’t find many hotel deals on avios.com to be as good as these but they are available.  The three deals above are definitely bookable at the moment.

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 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 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:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)