Hotel and Flights Loyalty Schemes and points

kinnth

I've just got a new job that is going to invlove a lot more travelling worldwide and within europe. I have to book and organise all of my own flights and hotels and then claim back expenses. We don't have any partners through which to book so i'd like to know some advice on the following.

I generally use quidco / tcb to pick a hotel and usually use hotels.com as I get the best return in cashback and I also earn the free night stay after every 10 nights. Is this the best method or might it be better to pick someone like hilton and consistently book there? It's not super important for me to have the single cheapest night but I want good 4* or higher rooms with decent internet and my budget is around £100 per night max including breakfast.

I then use Skyscanner.com to find the best / cheapest flights. I always book based on cost / ease of catching a plane here (I live in north london) and tend to not get too many points. I do have a BA Amex card so if possible I use BA but I find their loyalty scheme not that rewarding.

Finally when i'm in foreign countries I use the Halifax Clarity card which gives me 0% fee on international purchases in foreign currencies so that when I claim expenses back im not burned by the costs.

Can people give me some better recommendations for how to book hotels to start earning decent loyalty. Also which loyalty scheme covers the largest number of flying partners.

FYI - I travel 5-10 times a year to europe, 3 times to china and 2 times to USA.
:money:

richardw

BA has the most options for redeeming.

Will you be able to claim long haul business class and premium economy flying on expenses?