Bits: good deals at Hilton Honors Auctions, more ways to save at No 1 Lounges

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News in brief:

Good deals at the Hilton Honors Auctions site

A few interesting things have turned up on the Hilton Honors Auctions site we thought we should mention.

Don’t let the headlines put you off. As often happens with these auctions, the actual package is a lot more interesting than the headline makes it sound.

A Guided Dinosaurs in the Wild VIP Family Experience with Hilton Birmingham Metropole might not sound too exciting, which is probably why no one has put a bid on this experience so far. However, if you read the small print you see that this experience actually includes a stay in the Penthouse Suite with an adjoining room for the children which makes it far more valuable. The opening bid is 100,000 points.

The other experience worth mentioning is the Romantic Getaway at Conrad London St. James with a current bid of 130,000 points. This package includes:

a personalized St. James bracelet from Storey by Storey
a bottle of G.H. Mumm champagne
Champagne Afternoon Tea at Emmeline’s Lounge
one night stay in a Junior Suite at Conrad London St. James
transfer to/from the airport

Considering that a normal room at this hotel is already 90,000 points – and that this package is for a Junior Suite plus all the extra goodies – this is a potential bargain.

If you only have a few thousand points lying around in your account, you could take 10,000 points and buy outright (no bidding required) two tickets for various acts at the Underbelly Festival on the South Bank in London.

There are also some British Grand Prix packages available (not cheap) and Goodwood Festival of Speed tickets (potentially a bargain).

You can find all current UK auctions on this Hilton Honors website.

More ways to save on entry to No 1 Lounges

Earlier this month we wrote about ways to save money getting into No 1 airport lounges across the UK with various packages offered by Avios and Virgin Flying Club.

However there is another way that can get you into No 1 lounges cheaper.

Reader Colin told us about using dining clubs and other partnerships for cheaper entrance.

As a member of either one of the four clubs listed below you can get up to 40% off your lounge entrance fee:

The image below shows the reduces prices with Hi Life Diners Club, however the prices are the same with the other three cards. If you have any of the cards above (and some offer free trials) then it is worth comparing these prices with the Avios / Virgin deals.

These deals all include a complimentary glass of prosecco which is not included with the Avios or Virgin offers and which may sway your thinking!

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges. Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

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 Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20. You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus. Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network. Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer. Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

Hilton Honors

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

Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

24 May24 May 08:35

Considering that Diners Club, the financial services product, can get you into those lounges for £15, that’s a terrible choice of column header.
rtid says:

24 May24 May 08:57

O/T – i’d appreciate any thoughts on the below regarding Hilton stays if possible

I’ve got a few Hilton stays coming up, however I currently have no Hilton status. Some of the stays have already been booked and paid, the others yet to do so.

If I take out the IHG card, bag 40k Reward points to get IHG Plat, then try a status match to Hilton Diamond, but then cancel the IHG – will my Hilton Diamond remain so I can bag triple points for my next Hilton bookings (as well as get the Diamond benefits for current booked stays)?

Or do I need to keep the IHG card active in order to retain the Hilton Diamond status match?
- Peter K says:
  
  24 May24 May 09:05
  
  You don’t need to spend the money to get the platinum status. You need a night’s stay at IHG in the past year for status match (you might only get matched to Hilton gold btw), but once you are Platinum/Gold in Hilton then you are good to go. No need to keep the IHG card.
Peter K says:

24 May24 May 09:05

You don’t need to spend the money to get the platinum status. You need a night’s stay at IHG in the past year for status match (you might only get matched to Hilton gold btw), but once you are Platinum/Gold in Hilton then you are good to go. No need to keep the IHG card.
Isodrac says:

24 May24 May 09:14

The Goodwood rally or hill climb for 50k or 75k respectively (at the moment) seem great value as the bid also includes the general admission ticket for 2.
- Rob says:
  
  24 May24 May 09:53
  
  The 75k one, which was only added yesterday, is actually full VIP hospitality courtesy of Lambourghini, if you read the small print.
Dennis says:

24 May24 May 09:27

O/T – Supercard will end in July, for new and existing customers. Shame.
- Genghis says:
  
  24 May24 May 09:43
  
  What’s the reason given?
  - mark2 says:
    
    24 May24 May 09:48
    
    ‘the running costs were higher than anticipated’
    - Paul L says:
      
      24 May24 May 10:13
      
      I’m surprised it lasted this long…I put over £100K through it within 5 months last year when it was Visa.
      - william merrett says:
        
        24 May24 May 12:15
        
        What is a real pity is that they didn’t try it with a revised fee, would still be a great product even with say a 1% fee on forex transactions.
      - Alan says:
        
        24 May24 May 14:31
        
        @william merrett – although at a 1% rate then Curve would be a better option, given it seems to be more reliably accepted than Supercard was
      - John Thr says:
        
        24 May24 May 17:12
        
        Just queried a Curve transaction, and as part of the reply got this gentle reminder about their fair use policy!!
        “noticed that there are quite a few ATM withdrawals on your account. Curve isn’t designed to be a cash card; please make sure you are keeping ATM transactions below 20% of all your transactions in total”
      - Alan says:
        
        24 May24 May 21:48
        
        I must admit that’s partly why I push any transactions which are unlikely to have any potential for S75 claims through Curve rather than directly onto the underlying card!
      - Genghis says:
        
        24 May24 May 18:52
        
        @John Thr. Interesting. How much were you withdrawing a month and as a % of your spend?
- Nick M says:
  
  24 May24 May 11:51
  
  Are they sending out emails or was it a letter?
  - Rob says:
    
    24 May24 May 11:54
    
    Looks like a letter, someone just sent me a scan.
Wally1976 says:

24 May24 May 09:43

For info – Gourmet Society membership can be had for free via Club Lloyds current account (probably other routes too). We have it through one of our Club Lloyds accounts and a free magazine subscription through the other. Have to say we haven’t found a single use for the Gourmet Society membership, though, in about two years of having it!
- Genghis says:
  
  24 May24 May 10:00
  
  With Barclays Premier too though I’ve only used it once! The Taste card I got with the MSE Supercard offer (not the financial product) last year is much more useful.
  - Colin JE says:
    
    25 May25 May 12:51
    
    The CaxtonFX is probably the cheapest/easiest way of getting the No1 offer. Bung £10 on a Caxton pre-pay card and you’ve got membership for life, pretty much. I use it quite a bit because it gives a good exchange rate and you can multiple currencies on it.
- Colin JE says:
  
  25 May25 May 12:45
  
  Yes, but with Barclays I found that you don’t get a Gourmet Society Club membership number, so you can’t use it with No1 Lounges. Do you get an actual membership card with Lloyds?
Simon says:

24 May24 May 10:23

Todays moneysavingexpert has quite a good deal on No1 lounges
https://headforpoints.com/hfp/no-1-traveller/

promo code is MSE25
(Heathrow Terminal 3 (£27), Gatwick North (£13.50), Gatwick South (£22.50), Birmingham (£19.50) and Edinburgh (£18). It is valid on No1 Lounge, My Lounge and Clubroom branded lounges. Book by 11.59pm on Friday 2 June and use a lounge by 31 August 2017.
Robby says:

24 May24 May 10:46

Can anyone provide further details on the dress code for No1 lounges. I have booked a visit to their Gatwick South Lounge and would like to know if shorts and t-shirt will be accepted. Does anyone know of people being refused entry based on their attire? Thanks
- MrFlump says:
  
  24 May24 May 12:26
  
  Having googled “No 1 Lounge dress code”, it says….
  “Smart-casual is preferred, but who are we to judge. However, if we think you’re dressed unsuitably or offensively (too much skin on show, offensive slogans, themed or fancy dress, etc.), we might not let you in. Sorry.”
- Wade says:
  
  24 May24 May 16:46
  
  If you’re mindful enough to ask this question, whatever you wear will be fine!
  - Hingeless says:
    
    24 May24 May 20:19
    
    As far asi can tell you can get into any lounge in the world as long as you have some clothes on, except for qantas domestic lounges in state capitals which have rediculous rules. My partner was turned away as her flip flops where not smart enough, my flip flops where smart enough. We ended up spending a lot of money on some nice new shoes.
    - the real harry1 says:
      
      24 May24 May 20:46
      
      I never could understand the attraction of flip flops/ thongs! Well done to the lounges for banning them IMV – wish we could ban them in this house, my wife flip flops around indoors fgs (making noisy flip flop noises) – whereas the rest of us just go barefoot on the carpets/ tiles/ parquet
      
      lounge wear – shorts & T-shirt should be fine (as long as you don’t smell bad/ look unwashed or look like a thug, I guess)