Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: new Radisson UK sale, a good IHG London redemption, double Avios with Avis

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News in brief:

Radisson launches its UK Summer Sale – with free breakfast

Radisson Blu and Radisson Edwardian have launched their Summer Sale.  This covers all of their properties in the UK and Ireland, with savings of 10% to 25% off regular rates.

You need to book before 31st August for stays until 4th September, or 30th October for weekend stays.

If you book direct via the Radisson website here you will also receive free breakfast at all hotels except for Cardiff.  Not sure what the problem is with Cardiff but there you are!  This is probably a more valuable benefit than the cash discount you receive.

For those readers with children, remember that children under 16 stay free when sharing their parents room and children under 12 eat free when a parent buys a meal.

You can find full details of the Radisson sale here.

Remember that American Express Platinum cardholders can benefit from their Club Carlson Gold status when staying at Radisson properties.  If you stay for 2+ nights before the end of July you can also earn bonus points with the Club Carlson spring promotion.

Holiday Inn Camden Penthouse Studio

Another interesting IHG Rewards Club redemption in London

If you are looking at redeeming your IHG Rewards Club points for a room in London, here is an interesting option I spotted yesterday.

The Holiday Inn Camden Lock is offering its Penthouse Studio for redemption.  As you can see from the picture above, this is a b-i-g room.  It also has a balcony.  At just 40,000 IHG points per night, this room offers excellent value compared to many other IHG options in London.

Note that the maximum capacity allowed is two people, presumably due to fire regulations, despite the room being huge.  The balcony may also not be good for kids.

I have visited this hotel when family have stayed there and found it OK.  It directly overlooks Camden Lock and the market.  The general rooms are a little dated but the lobby has recently had an impressive makeover including a small takeaway cafe.  

Whatever you think of Camden Market, there is a lot to be said for being able to walk across the canal to the market in about 30 seconds and take advantage of the huge range of eating options, even if the range of goods on sale is not to your taste.

The Penthouse Studio may have been listed in error, so if you are interested in booking it I would jump in ASAP at ihg.com.  You can always cancel your redemption without penalty at any point.  The hotel website is here if you want to find out more.

Avis Avios partnership

Double Avios with Avis

Finally, you can earn double Avios (10 per £1 spent) when you book Avis car rentals via avios.com.

You need to book by 7th July and you must book at this page of avios.com.

You will NOT get the exclusive British Airways / Avis benefits, such as a free second driver, if you book this way.  Those benefits are only available via the special BA / Avis website.  You might want to get a price from both sites and weigh up the combinations of price, Avios and benefits from each.


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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (24)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • zsalya says:

    The other thing I now see at http://www.avisba.com/termsandconditions

    is that the payment card should give Avios in additional to the ones from the rental.
    I don’t think I have ever got this – time for a 12-month (8-rental) claim:

    250 bonus Avios when you pay for your Avis rental using your co-brand finance card (participating cards only)

    Qualifying rentals must either be pre-paid using a participating British Airways co-brand finance card (via ba.com, avisba.com, BA Call Centres or Avis Call Centres) or if a pay-later reservation has been made, the rental must be paid for at the rental location when the car is returned using a participating British Airways co-brand finance card..

    Participating cards (list correct at January 2015):
    British Airways American Express Card (UK) ….

    I hope they do not interpret “the rental must be paid for at the rental location when the car is returned ” as excluding out-of-hours returns.

  • Relaxo says:

    The Radisson links do not work, and the summer sale code does not work either. Is it not live yet?

    • Rob says:

      Yes, it should work ok – it was fine last week.

      • Relaxo says:

        No it does not work. Says promotional code is invalid for this city when you try clicking through the summer sale banner on the radisson page. Tried for multiple cities. Weird.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.