Earn double Avios on restaurant bookings for the rest of the year

Back in April, Avios launched Restaurant Circle, a new restaurant booking portal that would let you earn Avios when making a reservation.

You will earn 250 Avios every time you make a restaurant booking through the portal.

How does it work?

You need to create a Restaurant Circle account and add your Avios or BA Executive Club membership number to your profile.

If you live in Ireland, you can add an AerClub number.  There are a large number of Irish restaurants included.

For every booking you make via the site, you will receive 250 Avios.  As long as you turn up for your reservation (!), the Avios will be added to your account within two weeks.

Where can I dine and earn Avios?

You can search for restaurants on the Restaurant Circle website by postcode, city or restaurant name.

And here lies the problem.  The selection of restaurants is not as comprehensive as, say, OpenTable or even ResDiary, the company that runs Restaurant Circle.

No reader has ever told me that they have earned Avios booking a restaurant via Restaurant Circle.  I can imagine that people took one look at the weak selection – if they bothered to look at all – and decided that it was too much trouble.

The problem is partly self-inflicted, because Avios was charging restaurants a monthly fee to be included on the Restaurant Circle website despite the fact that they were already paying be on the parent ResDiary site.  This does not seem to have proved popular.

But things are picking up …..

From this Friday (note: this is not live today), you will double Avios on all restaurant bookings until the end of the year.   That means 500 Avios per booking.

In parallel, Avios is waiving the monthly fee charged to restaurants to be listed on the Avios portal.  This should mean that there is a far greater choice of restaurants to choose from on the Restaurant Circle site.

If anyone gives it a go, please let us know how easy you found it and how quickly the Avios arrived.  Remember that the double Avios offer isn’t live until the end of the week.

You can read more about this partnership on the British Airways website here.

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.)