Bits: Hilton sale reminder, £1240 Garuda to Singapore, £25 Airbnb sign-up bonus

News in brief:

Hilton Summer Sale enters its final stretch

The Hilton sale has been running for so long you may have forgotten it was still on.  It is now entering its final stretch so you may want to take a look if you have plans for September or early October.

The Big World Sale has decent weekend discounts available across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  You can book for any weekend until 9th October.

The sale offers a discount of up to 30% off the standard Best Available Rate if you are a Hilton HHonors member, albeit that sale rates require prepayment and are non-refundable.  You receive a smaller discount (25%) if you are not logged in.  You also receive a smaller discount (15%) at Hampton by Hilton properties.

More limited sale deals are also running in the Americas (weekends only) and parts of Asia.  In the past, many hotels have also loaded sale rates for weekdays so do check.

You need to book by 4th September.  Ignore the closing date shown on the sale website home page – when you go into the small print, it specifically states 9th October as the last day to stay for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Hilton has a special website for the sale which can be found here.

£1,240 Garuda to Singapore

A reader dropped me a line to highlight some very good Garuda Indonesia business class fares from London to Singapore currently on offer.

Pricing varies depending on where you book.  Based on 14th-21st September,  Opodo is pricing it at £1,240 which appears to be the lowest.  Booking on the Garuda website will cost you £1,340.  The outbound flight has a stop in Jakarta whilst the return is direct.

Garuda is a SkyTeam member so you will earn miles in KLM / Air France Flying Blue, Delta Skymiles or any other SkyTeam programme.

£1,240 isn’t as low as some of the ex-Europe Qatar Airways fares we’ve seen recently but for a flight starting from Heathrow this is a very good deal.

I reviewed the Garuda Indonesia 777-300ER business class seat last year and was impressed.  The 1-2-1 layout is superior to BA Club World.  However, the Garuda website shows a vague ‘777-200/300’ for ‘aircraft type’ at the moment so it is not clear if you would get this or not.

Airbnb sign-up bonus increased to £25

Finally, if you were thinking of giving Airbnb a try over the next month or so, the refer-a-friend sign-up bonus has gone up to £25 for a limited period.  Anika’s link is here if you need a referrer and here is her article on how she found Airbnb in Los Angeles.