Bits: last call for Hilton and Marriott buy points bonuses, FCA open banking rules, win with Gatwick

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News in brief:

Last chance to buy Hilton and Marriott points with a bonus

It’s your last chance to pick up some Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy points with a bonus. It could be worth a look if you are thinking of a last minute break over Christmas or New Year, when points often turn out to be great value.

(A reader dropped me a note this week to say he’d booked W Muscat in Oman on Bonvoy points over Christmas. On a five night stay it averaged out at 32,000 points per night vs £375ish for cash – a great redemption.)

ENDS TODAY: Get a 100% bonus buying Hilton points

Hilton is offering a 100% bonus when you purchase 15,000+ points.

Some people, but not all, are also being offered a higher annual purchase limit of 160,000 points, which would double up to 320,000 points with the bonus. 320,000 points is what you need to book a 5-night stay at an 80,000 points per night luxury hotel, given the ‘5 for 4’ deal given to all elite Hilton Honors members.

This is the deal I used to book 5 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah Dubai over Christmas 2020, saving over 60% on the cash price. I wrote about how I did that in this article.

You are paying 0.5 cents (0.37p) under this offer. This is slightly higher than our target valuation of 0.33p per Hilton Honors point, but this is a target which is easily beatable at peak times.

The page to buy points is here if you are interested. The offer ends TODAY, 7th December.

ENDS TOMORROW: Get a 45% bonus buying Marriott points

Marriott Bonvoy is offering a 45% bonus with a minimum purchase of 2,000 points.

You can buy via this page of the website. The offer runs to tomorrow, 8th December.

The annual purchase cap has now been permanently raised to 100,000 points. With the bonus, this means that you could pick up 145,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. At the top end you are paying $1,250 (£940) for 145,000 points.

My rule of thumb is that a Marriott Bonvoy point is worth 0.5p so this offer is not great at 0.65p per point.

However, you might find it worthwhile if:

you are topping off your account before making a points booking, or
you are close to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and want to make a transfer into airline miles (you get a bonus of 5,000 airline miles when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points into 20,000 airline miles), or
you are planning a stay at a property where you know you will get outsized value, as our reader is doing at W Muscat and as I did last Christmas at The Ritz Carlton Al Wadi Desert in Ras Al Khaimah

The page to buy is here.

FCA removes the ’90 day’ rule for open banking transactions

If you are signed up to the Nectar Connect points earning scheme, which lets you earn points when you spend at participating stores with your registerd payment card, life will get easier.

(You can learn about Nectar Connect in this article.)

At present, you need to give a fresh authority every 90 days for Nectar to retain access to your bank account.

There is arguably some benefit to the 90 day rule to restrict the access that third parties have to your bank records.

On the other hand, the 90 day rule was clearly impacting the uptake of programmes such as Nectar Connect. Attrition rates of 20% to 40% are being reported.

As Finextra reports, the 90 day re-authentication rule will be abolished. Customer consent will still need to be given every 90 days but the customer will not need to reauthenticate their bank details.

It isn’t clear whether ‘implied consent’ will be possible (ie access to your bank account continues unless you specifically say ‘no’) or whether you will actively need to click a ‘yes’ button every 90 days.

You can read more here.

Win a big pile of goodies in a Gatwick Airport competition

Gatwick Airport has launched a simple Christmas competition to get you in the festive mood.

It is VERY easy to enter – just fill in the form here – and you could win one of three prize bundles.

In prize bundle #1:

From Case Luggage – Large Ted Baker suitcase
From WH Smith – A signed copy of David Walliams’ Mega Monster book
From Pure – £20 food & drink voucher for Click & Collect orders
From Shake Shack – Selection of food vouchers (2 x free burgers, 2 x free shakes, 2 x free cups or cones of frozen yoghurt, 2 x free fries, 2 x free concretes and 2 x free hot dogs)
From Plaza Premium Lounge – Lounge access for two adults at Plaza Premium Lounge North Terminal London Gatwick, Terminal 2 Heathrow or Terminal 5 Heathrow, valid until 31/12/22
From No1 Lounge – £100 voucher to use at any No1 Lounge, valid until 20/11/22
From Gatwick Airport – £25 off Official Gatwick Airport Parking booking
From Gatwick Airport – 2 x free Premium Security passes

In prize bundle #2:

From Case Luggage – Medium Ted Baker suitcase
From WH Smith – A signed copy of David Walliams’ Code Name Bananas book
From Pret – £50 gift card
From Starbucks – Bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend whole bean coffee
From Plaza Premium Lounge – Lounge access for two adults at Plaza Premium Lounge North Terminal London Gatwick, Terminal 2 Heathrow or Terminal 5 Heathrow, valid until 31/12/22
From No1 Lounge – £100 voucher to use at any No1 Lounge, valid until 20/11/22
From Gatwick Airport – £25 off Official Gatwick Airport Parking booking
From Gatwick Airport – 2 x free Premium Security passes

In prize bundle #3:

From Case Luggage – small Ted Baker suitcase
From Accessorize – Kylie drawstring backpack
From WH Smith – A signed copy of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club book
From Wagamama – £70 gift card
From The Nicholas Culpeper – Bottle of Nicholas Culpeper gin made at Gatwick Airport
From Tortilla – 1 x Cholula Hot Sauce, 2 x Nuts bags, 2 x Chocolate Brownies, 2 x Hard Gum bags
From Plaza Premium Lounge – Lounge access for two adults at Plaza Premium Lounge North Terminal London Gatwick, Terminal 2 Heathrow or Terminal 5 Heathrow, valid until 31/12/22
From Gatwick Airport – £25 off Official Gatwick Airport Parking booking
From Gatwick Airport – 2 x free Premium Security passes

You can enter via the Gatwick Airport website here. Good luck! Entries close on 31st December.