If you are looking to earn some British Airways Avios points, you can currently transfer points from many hotel programs to Avios and receive a 35% bonus. This promotion is valid for transfers through March 31, 2018. Partner hotels include: Club Carlson, Hilton Honors, Hyatt, IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards and Shangri-La Golden Circle.
Typically, transferring hotel points to a partner hotel program is NOT a good usage of points. The only two programs where this is actually not the case is for Starwood and Marriott. Of course though, it depends on how you typically redeem your points for hotel stays and what you are looking to do with the miles received. Personally, I still get a better value out of my hotel stays, but depending on your needs this might be a worthwhile promotion for you. Unfortunately though, Starwood is NOT included in the list above (unlike the same promotion that ran a year ago), so I will focus only on Marriott.
Transferring Marriott to Avios
While regular transfers from Marriott are never favorable, Marriott’s Hotel + Air packages are a great way to transfer hotel points while earning free Marriott certificates at the same time. With package #1 (you can view all packages here), you can redeem anywhere between 200,000 and 540,000 Marriott points and earn between 50,000 and 120,000 Avios plus a 7-night stay certificate at a particular Marriott hotel category. The number of points you redeem depends on the number of airline miles/points and hotel category certificate you are looking to earn. One of the more popular ones seems to be a category 1-5 Marriott certificate plus 120,000 airline miles/points. IF you were to redeem for that package, with this 35% bonus offer, you’d end up with 162,000 British Airways Avios points, instead of the 120,000 points.
Overall, this can be a great redemption and bonus offer for those looking to earn some British Airways Avios points. Avios points can be used for American Airline flights domestically and there are some really good options for international travel, although you want to avoid flying through London as the taxes/fees are incredibly high. One great option, for example, is flying from Boston to Madrid. Instead of using 30,000 American Airline miles, you can use just 17,000 Avios points!
Will you be taking advantage of this promotion? What are your favorite Avios redemptions?
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