Bonus Avios offers with Starwood, Melia Hotels and NH Hotels (and The Economist returns)

As well as the Hilton HHonors promotion I trailed yesterday, Iberia Plus is currently running three other Avios special offers with major hotel groups.

As Avios can be transferred from an Iberia Plus account into a British Airways Executive Club account – as long as the Iberia account is 90 days old – an Iberia promotion is as good as a BA promotion when it comes to increasing your Avios balance.

Here are the three new deals:

1,000 bonus Avios with a 2+ night Starwood stay

Starwood (Le Meridien, W, Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Aloft, St Regis etc) is offering 1,000 bonus Avios points on stays of 2+ nights.

To take part, you need to switch your Starwood Preferred Guest account from earning points to ‘airline direct deposit’ and choose Iberia as your airline partner.

The snag with this offer is that you must book a special rate code, AIRPRO.  You must book via spg.com and add AIRPRO in the promotional code box.  Make sure you compare the price to the standard rate without the code, just in case you are being charged extra.

This offer is valid for stays until 31st December 2016.

1,500 Avios at NH Hotels

NH Hotels is one of those niche European hotel chains that is rarely seen in the UK (although there is one in London) but crops up quite frequently on the continent.  As well as the main NH Hotels brand, the group also includes Hesperia and nhow.

The standard earning rate with NH Hotels, Hesperia and nhow is shown here at iberia.com.  You earn 450 Avios per night for a 5-star, 350 per night for a 4-star and 200 Avios per night for a 2-star.

Until 30th June, you will earn double Avios on a stay which includes a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  All hotels in the chain seem to offer a 3pm check-out and breakfast until noon on Sundays so they are not a bad choice for a weekend break.

Looking at the small print, the text infers that this offer only includes hotels in Spain so the London property may be out but it isn’t totally clear.  More details on the NH / Iberia web page.

Double Avios at Melia Hotels International

It is unlikely this deal will work for many HfP readers but I will mention it for completeness.

Melia is offering double Avios for 5+ night stays at Melia or Sol hotels in Spain.  You must book at melia.com by the end of June for stays by 15th September.

Full information is on the Melia page of iberia.com here.

Earn Avios with The Economist

Finally, Iberia has brought back its Economist subscription offer again.

This is not as generous as it has been but remains an OK deal.  For £179 you receive 8,800 Avios and a one year print and digital subscription.

At just over 2p per Avios this is not a great deal in itself – although the self-employed could write off the subscription as a business expense – but it you read the magazine it is not a bad overall package.

The offer runs until the end of June.

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.)