Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How to use Avios points for free nights at Iberostar hotels and resorts

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It’s a little known fact that you can redeem Avios with Iberostar, a Spanish hotel chain that runs a lot of 4 and 5 star summer holiday properties.  Iberostar owns hotels in Mallorca, Tenerife, the Dominican Republic and various other places.

The Iberostar website is here if you want to check out their portfolio.

EDIT: Since this article was published, Iberostar has withdrawn as an Avios partner.  Sorry.

Full details of how you can redeem are on the Iberia website here.

Here are the redemption prices which start at 12,500 Avios per night (click to enlarge):

Using Avios from Iberostar

To book, you need to call Iberostar on the number provided.  Whilst this is a Spanish number, feedback from readers in the past is that the call centre can handle English perfectly well and is efficient in booking Avios redemptions.

Note the small print:

The tariffs indicated apply to a standard double room for 2 persons. Please ask about children.

Extras and supplements for 3 persons not available.

Type of board subject to availability at the hotel. Hotels in America, Cape Verde, Greece, Morocco and Tunisia mostly offer full-board.

Avios can only be used for stays. Avios cannot be redeemed on other products the establishment might offer.

Cancellations up to 48h before the arrival date do not carry any Avios penalty.

Subsequent cancellations, no-shows and unexpected departures will be penalized at 100% of the Avios.

The cancellation policy looks particularly attractive, given that you can walk away from your booking up to two days before arrival.

Grand Hotel Portals Nous in Mallorca

Here is an example of pricing.  I priced up the Grand Hotel Portals Nous in Mallorca for two adults from 18th July for seven nights.  Bed and Breakfast costs €3,141 (£2,707) pre-paid or €3,490 (£3,008) if you want flexibility:

How to use Avios on Iberostar hotels

Looking at the chart above it would cost 35,000 Avios x 7 nights which is 245,000 Avios.  At 1.22p per Avios, based on the flexible price, this is quite a good deal. 

Half Board might be even better value, if you were happy to eat in the resort, since you are only using an additional 5,000 Avios per day.

What is not clear is if there are availability restrictions or not, although the (few) reader reports I’ve had in the past have gone through without trouble.

Your Avios need to be sitting in Iberia Plus to book this.  This article explains how to move your Avios from British Airways Executive Club to Iberia Plus.

The Iberostar website is here if you want to learn more about what they have to offer.   Note that you can also earn Avios via Iberia Plus when you stay at Iberostar hotels (150 Avios per night) even as part of a package holiday.

PS.  If you are planning a cash stay at an Iberostar hotel, read our review of the ‘My Iberostar’ loyalty scheme 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:

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 (31)

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

  • Pup says:

    OT but hotel related.

    Have just bought 80,000 Melia points for €336 on the Melia website which is slightly worse than the black Friday deal but still seems a good deal to me!

    • Shoestring says:

      good find there – Pup – but not picked up yet

      gives people the chance to get 50% off

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