Avios for hotels
British Airways,  Hotels

Should You Use Avios For Hotels?

As well as using your Avios for redemptions on flights you can also them to book hotels. These are generally poor value compared to redeeming for flights! However if you are sick of flying or are sitting on a mountain of points using Avios for hotels it might make sense…

How do I use my Avios for hotels?

Login in to your executive club here. On the left side where it says Book with Avios or money, change the drop down menu to Book with Avios & choose hotels. Fill in your location, dates and amount of people staying etc. and click search!

What value will I get using Avios for hotels?

Typically hotel redemptions will mean you are getting between 0.5p and 0.6p per Avios point… well below the 1p a point you can get easily on flights! On the example shown above taking the option for 32,100 Avios over the cheapest cash rate at Hilton (£174) you’ll be redeeming at roughly 0.54p a point.

If you are earning your Avios through credit card spend it doesn’t make sense to redeem them in this way. You would be better off redeeming your points for flights or collecting an entirely different thing! For example…

On the Free BA card you get 1 Avios for every £1 spent and on the premium card 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent, redeeming for a hotel at roughly 0.6p per Avios you’d only be receiving an effective cashback rate of 0.6% to 0.9%. The 0.9% doesn’t take into account the annual fee on the premium card either, so in real terms it may well be a lot lower!

You may find it more worthwhile to collect hotel points with a hotel’s credit card (for example the Marriott Bonvoy Amex card which I value the return at 1.2% before the £75 annual fee) or with a FREE cashback card such as Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card where you’d receive up to 1% cashback back.

You won’t get any status benefits or Hotel points…

It’s also worth noting as you are booking through a 3rd party you won’t receive any status benefits or hotel points from hotel chains. If you have status which gets you benefits you value such as free breakfast, lounge access and free Wi-Fi bare this in mind! You will need to book direct to get your normal benefits.

In summary…

As you can see typically this is very poor value when you can easily get 1p+ per point on flights. You are also missing out on any hotel status you have as mentioned above. HOWEVER If you are sitting on a huge stash of Avios and struggle to spend them it may be worthwhile for you.

If you are collecting Avios with a credit card & spending them on hotels you may wish to change the card you use to get a better return on your money!

Have you booked a hotel with Avios points before?

New to Avios collecting? Check out our guide to make a cool 200,000 Avios points here! – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/fast-track-yourself-to-2000000-avios-points/

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