Bits: BA launching Seychelles today?, new Avios partners, new Hilton Curio in South of France

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News in brief:

British Airways (re)launching the Seychelles today?

According to the rumour mill, which includes tweets from BA pilots, a new route is being announced today. There is a good chance that it will be the return of the Seychelles to the British Airways network.

If you have some Avios and potentially a British Airways American Express 241 to spend, get thinking.

As soon as the announcement is made, two Club World seats for Avios will be released for every flight. No restrictions. It obviously depends when the route is due to start of course – if it is launching in March then only March 2018 to early September 2018 will be available, which is not peak season.

It might not Seychelles of course. I’ll let you know tomorrow. We do know, for certain, that it will be a Boeing 787 route.

British Airways Seychelles

New Avios eStore and Virgin Shops Away in-store partners

Avios and Virgin Shops Away have added eight new in-store partners to their respective eStores.

If you haven’t linked a payment card to your eStore account yet and you like eating at places like Byron, Prezzo and Flaming Grill, you should do so before your next meal. Do NOT link the same card to both stores as you won’t be able to control which site receives the miles.

The new places and earning rates are:

Byron 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Chef & Brewer 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Old English Inns 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Hungry Horse 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Flaming Grill 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Fayre & Square 5 Avios/£1 or 4 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Eating Inn 5 Avios/£1 or 8 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1 (not a typo)

Prezzo 3 Avios/£1 or 2 Virgin Flying Club miles/£1

Virgin also has a long-established deal with Jamie’s Italian at 2 miles per £1.

New Hilton Curio in the South of France – good redemption option?

Hilton is about to open a new Curio Collection hotel in the South of France. The Grand Hotel des Sablettes Plage seems to be Hilton’s first property in the South of France and it looks very pleasant.

The hotel has an indoor and an outdoor pool as well as a private beach.

A standard room Hilton Honors redemption is 60,000 Hilton Honors points or less, depending on the cash price on the day. However, there don’t seem to be any standard redemption rooms available after June 2018 at the moment so you can’t book for next summer.

Historically Ryanair and CityJet have flown to Toulon from London during the Summer, although no flights are currently showing for 2018.

The booking page with more images is here.

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)