Reminder: London NYE hotel bookable now on points
Just a quick reminder that, if you need a hotel for the New Year’s Eve, they have already been loaded into the system and bookable using points now.
If you are looking to watch the fireworks, the most convenient option is Marriott Country Hall. It is located in the White zone and all hotel guests receive wristbands prior to their stay. You could walk down literally 15 minutes before midnight to watch the show.
My friend who went last year had some troubles though as the staff insisted they must have tickets to get on the bridge. It was confusing and horrible, but luckily they got in eventually. You may also see (some of) the fireworks from inside the club lounge and certain guest rooms.
Availability of Marriott County Hall hasn’t been loaded yet but I expect it to be soon. It will be priced at around 120,000 points, and unlikely to sell out even close to the date.
Another similar option is Great Scotland Yard. It is not as close to the show as the Marriott, and you cannot see anything from inside the hotel. But it is in the Blue zone which has an arguably much better viewing angle.
Also it costs only 29,000 Hyatt points per night. Reward night is currently not available but a friend of mine managed to book it a few days ago.
Fireworks aside, here are some hotels that are good value on points:
- InterContinental London Park Lane – 84,000 points
- Holiday Inn London Oxford Circus – 42,000 points
- Holiday Inn Express London Limehouse – 36,000 points
- Bankside Hotel (Marriott) – 92,000 points
- London Hilton Park Lane – 80,000 points
- Hyatt Regency Blackfriars – 23,000 points
- Hyatt Regency Embankment – 23,000 points
Devaluation: Choice Hotels & AirHelp Plus
No one likes the word devaluation, but it is kind of unavoidable in the world of frequent travellers. It has just happened to two schemes which we introduced very recently.
As posted by Travel-Dealz, a few Strawberry hotels have become more pricey when redeeming Choice points. It seems that Strawberry hotels now cost a minimum of 16,000 points, and the adjustment is in line with such guidance. The Clarion Sign Hotel in Stockholm when I reviewed here for example, is no longer as cheap as 10,000 points.
However, I wouldn’t make too much a deal out of it. The best value of Choice points lie within the high-end Strawberry hotels. These properties, including At Six (Stockholm) and The Thief (Oslo), still cost only 20,000 points which is a steal.
A much harder hit comes from AirHelp Plus, an insurance program I spoke very highly of in a recent post. My baggage was delayed by BA just three weeks ago and I got the €150 payout very quickly, which more than triples what I paid for the insurance.
A reader reached out a few days ago regarding a negative change to the Complete plan as shown on their website. At that time the phrasing changed from “unlimited trips” to “12 trips”. As of now it got even worse, down to just “7 trips”.
I’m still awaiting a response from AirHelp after requesting more details of the change. However as far as I’m concerned, the new limit shouldn’t affect existing customers who had signed up previously.
The original terms of the Complete plan was, without any doubt, way too generous and too good to be true. I can’t say I’m surprised at the cut, but it’s much more difficult to justify its value given the new stingy limit now.
As a “trip” could be a return with connections it covers (many) more than only 7 flights in a plan year. It might still make sense to sign up, but only register your trips with most flights or that are more likely to be disrupted.
Hyatt status challenge offer for corporate clients
Hyatt has brought back its exclusive elite tier offer, which allows members who work for select companies to earn Explorist and Globalist status much faster.
- You need your Hyatt membership number and a company email to register
- Once enrolled, you are on an Explorist trial for 90 days
- Stay 10 nights during the trial to extend your Explorist status through Feb 2026, or
- Stay 20 nights to earn Globalist status
To know if a certain company is eligible, just try with a random email address with the respective domain (e.g. [email protected]) and see if there’s any error message. Just like the current Hilton offer, it seems to be very widely available, and targeted companies include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Huawei, Bloomberg, Cisco, KPMG, Accenture and more.
You’ll receive an activation email if the company email is qualified. Note that however, once you’ve confirmed the 90-day clock starts right away, and you can only sign up once every three years. The timing is important.
For those who are in need, it’s a great offer to earn Hyatt status in an accelerated way. For me however it’s a non-starter: I only stay at Hyatt hotels occasionally, and with the positive 2024 changes it’s really easy for me to enjoy Globalist benefits with my friends’ GOH privileges.
My review of the Amex Centurion Lounge, Stockholm
American Express has only two Centurion lounges in Europe, one in London and the other, quite surprisingly, in Stockholm. I’m intrigued by the reasoning behind, and as I’m flying from Stockholm I get to try it out.
Stockholm ARN is also one of the airports where Amex Platinum cardholders are entitled to security fast track. They have recently upgraded the screening technology, so you can carry large-volume liquid and don’t have to remove anything from your bag, which is a game changer. Hope all airports follow suit as soon as possible!
As you can tell from its strange name, it is a pop-up lounge rather than a conventional one. The formal lounge is still under construction so the pop-up is just a temporary alternative. If I remember correctly the pop-up was also recently relocated due to a dispute with the airport operator.
It is located at Pier F before border control.
The lounge look quite… temporary:
Thoughtful of them to have established a private section for Centurion members though:
It looks more of a restaurant than an airport lounge:
A small work zone:
Newspapers appear to be all in Swedish:
It’s a-la-carte dining only.
“Crayfish” caught my eyes immediately and I ordered it without a second of hesitation. However, it came out totally different to what I had expected, err something similar to the Italian bruschetta?
It’s served cold and can’t say that I’m impressed. Luckily I’m not hungry so the soup and coffee will do.
If you are in a hurry there are takeaway bags in the fridge by the entrance. I didn’t look inside but my bet is on sandwiches.
As it’s just a temporary lounge it would not be fair to judge it by the normal standard. There are places to sit, hot food and drinks to order, which is adequate I suppose.
Great offer: £100 off any Virgin Atlantic flight
(UPDATE: Virgin’s voucher codes have run out)
Trip.com brought back its very generous Virgin Atlantic promotion, and your can claim your offer code on the promo page.
- Book by January 31st
- Limited supply
- Save £100 on any VS flights departing from the UK
It applies to all cabins, and £100 saving could be substantial for economy / premium economy flights. It also stacks with the permanent £10 app discount so the total saving is £110.
A return flight in economy class from London to New York costs under £270:
And flights to other destinations aren’t much more expensive:
There’s a similar offer for Malaysia Airlines, where you can get £50 off (£60 with the app discount) for bookings by Jan 22nd.
Instant GHA Titanium status with Mastercard
GHA has a long-term partnership with Mastercard, allowing cardholders in Asia Pacific for an instant status match. Geographically it might not fit the majority of our audience, but it’s worth a refresher.
If you have a Mastercard World Elite issued in Asia Pacific, you can claim GHA Titanium status by registering at the Mastercard redemption portal. Note that they now verify full card number, expiry date and CVV so you must have a valid card, although they don’t run a name check.
Despite that I have an eligible card, this approach doesn’t work as I couldn’t see the GHA match offer in my account. There’s an alternative though – you could register with Mastercard Travel & Lifestyle Services, link the card and email [email protected] for a manual match.
After two days I received a response along with a link to activate my Titanium status, which came through and is valid till the end of 2025!
I don’t stay at GHA hotels often at all, but when I do the double upgrade and 4pm late checkout are very useful.
IHG flash sale: 15% off award night globally
IHG’s regular award night flash sale is back, and you can save some points if you have upcoming travel plans.
The official announcement hasn’t come through yet, but here’s what we know:
- Book by Jan 14
- Travel by February 22
- Valid at all IHG hotels globally
- Save 15% off on award stays
You can search and book directly on IHG’s website. The offer is only available to IHG co-branded cardholders at the moment, but will open up to Platinum and Diamond members on the 11th.
Use BA’s companion voucher on Iberia flights
I was never a fan of the British Airways Premium Plus Amex card, mainly because I was, for the most time, a solo traveller. Its companion voucher went through a major overhaul in 2022 though which made it much more appealing, and I will take a close look it today.
The Travel Together Ticket issued by the Chase British Airways Visa Signature card is, as far as I know, exactly the same, so the following discussions hold for both.
To earn the companion voucher, you need to spend £10,000 in a card year. The voucher is issued right after you’ve met the spending criteria, and valid for two years from that date.
- Applies to redemption tickets on BA, EI and IB metal
- The cardholder must travel
- The origin can be anywhere
- Works on one-way, return and open-jaw itineraries
- Works on all cabin classes
- Save 50% in Avios for one or two persons
- Full taxes and charges are still payable
There are two major improvements: firstly, solo travellers can use it for 50% discount; secondly, it’s extended to Iberia and Aer Lingus flights too.
Unfortunately due to the constant efforts of BA to devalue Avios, long-haul redemptions are, very often, no longer very good in value even when the voucher is applied. For short-haul redemptions the math works out better, but in absolute terms you aren’t saving a lot.
The best way to use this voucher lies with Iberia, as they have a very generous redemption chart.
A one-way flight from Madrid to New York, in business class, costs only 34,000 Avios. For South America it’s 42,500 or 51,000 Avios. This is incredibly cheap compared to BA.
Taxes and fees are also very reasonable. For Madrid – Buenos Aires return it costs 102,000 Avios + £236.30 – superb value! Note that the chart above is for off-peak dates, and it will cost more in peak season.
With the companion voucher applied, departing from Madrid in off-peak season, you will pay the following figures for a return trip per person:
- New York – 34,000 Avios + £215.60
- Bogota – 42,500 Avios + £224.20
- Buenos Aires – 51,000 Avios + £236.30
Note that you need to book on ba.com rather than iberia.com to use the voucher. You could add your positioning flight to / from Madrid in the same booking with the 50% discount applied too. However:
- Don’t add London – Madrid to the same booking, otherwise it incurs the hefty APD
- Don’t mix with BA flights, otherwise it increases the cost significantly
My recommendation is to book e.g. Madrid – New York – Madrid – London using the voucher, and then sort out London – Madrid separately. Here’s my trip to Bogota:
It costs 48,875 Avios + £244. As it’s an open-jaw booking, it’s not possible to do it online – confirm online that there’s availability and then call BA to book it, mentioning that you want to use the companion voucher.