(UPDATE: This bonus ends Wednesday March 8th, so if you didn’t hear about it or meant to do it but forgot, you’ve got a limited amount of time to do it!)
Through March 8, 2017. You can convert hotel points to British Airways and receive 35% bonus Avios. The bonus applies to points transferred from SEVEN hotel programs: Club Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Shangri-La, and Starwood. Complete detail of the bonus offer can be found here.
There is no registration required. Bonus points will post in about 4 -6 weeks. For each program, there is a minimum number of points required in order to receive the bonus:
- Club Carlson Gold points – 2,000 points
- Hilton Hotels – 10,000
- Hyatt Hotels & Resorts – 5,000
- Intercontinental Hotel Group – 10,000
- Marriott – 10,000
- Shangri-La – 2,500
- Starwood – 2,500 for regular member, 1,500 for Gold member, and no minimum for Platinum member
With the exception of Marriott and Starwood points, transfer ratio of the other five programs are not good value at all, even with the bonus.
Transfer SPG points to British Airways Avios
SPG points convert into British Airways Avios at a 1:1 ratio, plus 5,000 bonus miles for every 20,000 SPG points transferred. Normally when you transfer 20,000 SPG points, you’d usually get 25,000 Avios. But with this promotion you would get a total of 33,750 Avios. That is 1.6875 Avios per SPG point, which is pretty good!
There are many ways to maximize the value of Avios, such as 12,500 Avios to Hawaii from West Coast, and 25,000 Avios to Tokyo from San Francisco! and Los Angeles. [SEE ALSO: Using Avios to your advantage for a family trip ]
Combine with Marriott Flights & Hotel package
British Airways participates in Marriott’s Flights & Air Package 1. You can transfer 270,000 Marriott points and receive seven nights at a Category 1-5 hotel plus 120,000 Avios. With this promotion, you will receive 42,000 bonus Avios for a total of 162,000. That is more than enough for three around trip tickets from west coast to Tokyo on Japan Airline!
Conclusion
I have a large balance of Avios from the Amex transfer bonus last year. I usually find good use of my hotel points so I rarely transfer them out. I won’t be participating in this promotion. Will you be taking advantage of this promotion?
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Doesn’t seem like a good deal to me. I’m comparing this to the recent transfer hack from hotel to virgin to Alaska which I think was decent for some.
It also makes me think that the Hilton double dip to Avios isn’t so bad for hotel stay earnings.
$162,000!!!
Whoops! That would be nice, wouldn’t it? 😉 Corrected and thanks for pointing it out.
Would this extend the life of my Avios? They are set to expire in July
In theory it should. But you can also extend the life of your avios buy making a purchase through BA’s online shopping portal.