Short Trip Rewards

SimonR22

Good afternoon everyone, just a quick question! Can anyone tell me travel companies that offer rewards based on bookings? I’ll put the short version in bold but here’s the longer version.

I do a lot of short trips for watching my football team play abroad; Spain, Germany, France ect. I am quite a frequent flyer but it’s usually with a lot of different companies (whatever one is cheapest pretty much) but I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can build up something like flyer miles (if that’s what it’s called) and hotel points so I can use them when me and my partner are booking trips away? Something like flying with the same airline or using the same website to book flights gives you reward points or booking with a hotel group for a trip that would allow me to use my points with my partner on our holiday together if you know what I mean.

Basically looking for a way that I can utilise my frequent flying trips and hotel bookings throughout the year to earn points or something that I can use for actual holidays with my partner. I know booking.com offers something but when I last checked what they had on offer didn’t look great. Any help appreciated! 

Mark_d

With Amex Gold you get triple points on bookings through Amex Travel

SimonR22

Mark_d said:

With Amex Gold you get triple points on bookings through Amex Travel

Have read quite a few negative things about Amex unfortunately. Not exactly a high spender myself so don’t think it suits me! Also from a quick check on Amex Travel they don’t offer lower costing airlines, which is fair enough but not exactly what I’m looking for. Maybe the thing I’m imagining just doesn’t exist lol

Grumpy_chap

SimonR22 said:

Good afternoon everyone, just a quick question! Can anyone tell me travel companies that offer rewards based on bookings? I’ll put the short version in bold but here’s the longer version.

I do a lot of short trips for watching my football team play abroad; Spain, Germany, France ect. I am quite a frequent flyer but it’s usually with a lot of different companies (whatever one is cheapest pretty much) but I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can build up something like flyer miles (if that’s what it’s called) and hotel points so I can use them when me and my partner are booking trips away? Something like flying with the same airline or using the same website to book flights gives you reward points or booking with a hotel group for a trip that would allow me to use my points with my partner on our holiday together if you know what I mean.

Basically looking for a way that I can utilise my frequent flying trips and hotel bookings throughout the year to earn points or something that I can use for actual holidays with my partner. I know booking.com offers something but when I last checked what they had on offer didn’t look great. Any help appreciated! 

The cheapest flight is usually with the budget airlines and lowest cost does not allow for a reward / points scheme.

Several of the points schemes allow points to be transferred across airlines, for example BA points can be migrated to any of the One World Alliance airlines schemes.  BA points (Avios) can also be converted to Nectar points, or the other way round.  AMEX cards can also provide points that can be converted to Avios.
Within the One World Alliance, it can sometimes be worth checking if the same seat on the same flight can be booked via another partner using code share and at lower cost.  I find that can often work with BA / Iberia.

It is often the same story with the budget hotels - lowest cost does not allow for rewards / points.
Two budget brands that do have reasonable reward schemes are IBIS (Accor) and Holiday Inn Express (IHG).  I particularly like the IHG points as the brands include great hotels for budget and alternative brands for a nicer trip away with the wife.

If you are in Spain, the Melia rewards is worth considering.  A reasonable range of hotel options - mostly Spain and Portugal - but probably not the very budget offerings you may be referring to.  Definitely well located hotels to use the points at for a holiday - who can't make use of a breakaway in the Costas?

You can, of course, accumulate points / rewards for any flight or hotel booking of paying on a reward credit card.

SimonR22

Grumpy_chap said:

SimonR22 said:

Good afternoon everyone, just a quick question! Can anyone tell me travel companies that offer rewards based on bookings? I’ll put the short version in bold but here’s the longer version.

I do a lot of short trips for watching my football team play abroad; Spain, Germany, France ect. I am quite a frequent flyer but it’s usually with a lot of different companies (whatever one is cheapest pretty much) but I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how I can build up something like flyer miles (if that’s what it’s called) and hotel points so I can use them when me and my partner are booking trips away? Something like flying with the same airline or using the same website to book flights gives you reward points or booking with a hotel group for a trip that would allow me to use my points with my partner on our holiday together if you know what I mean.

Basically looking for a way that I can utilise my frequent flying trips and hotel bookings throughout the year to earn points or something that I can use for actual holidays with my partner. I know booking.com offers something but when I last checked what they had on offer didn’t look great. Any help appreciated! 

The cheapest flight is usually with the budget airlines and lowest cost does not allow for a reward / points scheme.

Several of the points schemes allow points to be transferred across airlines, for example BA points can be migrated to any of the One World Alliance airlines schemes.  BA points (Avios) can also be converted to Nectar points, or the other way round.  AMEX cards can also provide points that can be converted to Avios.
Within the One World Alliance, it can sometimes be worth checking if the same seat on the same flight can be booked via another partner using code share and at lower cost.  I find that can often work with BA / Iberia.

It is often the same story with the budget hotels - lowest cost does not allow for rewards / points.
Two budget brands that do have reasonable reward schemes are IBIS (Accor) and Holiday Inn Express (IHG).  I particularly like the IHG points as the brands include great hotels for budget and alternative brands for a nicer trip away with the wife.

If you are in Spain, the Melia rewards is worth considering.  A reasonable range of hotel options - mostly Spain and Portugal - but probably not the very budget offerings you may be referring to.  Definitely well located hotels to use the points at for a holiday - who can't make use of a breakaway in the Costas?

You can, of course, accumulate points / rewards for any flight or hotel booking of paying on a reward credit card.

The rewards credit card sounds more like what I’m after to be honest. Have you got any recommendations for one that would suit me quite well? To be honest for our short trips it’s usually Ryanair, easyJet with connections ect & a fairly cheap hotel in whatever city we are in. Would these count for points? 

daveyjp

Far simpler to  have a cash back credit card which rewards all spending,

SimonR22

daveyjp said:

Far simpler to  have a cash back credit card which rewards all spending,

Have you got any recommendations of what ones to look into? Currently have an RBS credit card but would be open to changing

Grumpy_chap

SimonR22 said:

The rewards credit card sounds more like what I’m after to be honest. Have you got any recommendations for one that would suit me quite well? To be honest for our short trips it’s usually Ryanair, easyJet with connections ect & a fairly cheap hotel in whatever city we are in. Would these count for points? 

I am not up to speed on all the currently available CC offers and the associated rewards available.  you may be able to look on the comparison website or ask in the Credits Cards area of these forums (first sub-section under Banking & Borrowing).  If you create a thread there, it may help to link to this thread to maximise context.

FWIW, I use the Barclaycard Rewards CC.  It gives a simple cash back as a (low) percentage of all spend everywhere.  It is also good for overseas spend as the conversion rates are good and there is no fee or cash advance penalty for using the card to withdraw from an ATM in Europe (some ATMs charge, but not the Barclaycard - you can often find a free ATM at a proper bank branch such as Santander). 

Other rewards cards may offer more by way of maximum financial gain but at more complexity and driving spend behaviours.  I like the absolute simplicity of the straightforward flat-rate cash back and can also couple that with the lowest price - so Ryanair on Monday, Easyjet on Tuesday, Iberia on Wednesday (or whatever).  From the thread, it sounds as though you might also appreciate the simplicity.

I have not verified the current Barclaycard offers available but I do understand that the Rewards CC remains open to new applications.

You may find with Barclaycard that they are rather more rigorous in their acceptance criteria and offer lower credit limits than other CC providers.

I am not making a recommendation, merely sharing my understanding of one product.  

SimonR22

Grumpy_chap said:

SimonR22 said:

The rewards credit card sounds more like what I’m after to be honest. Have you got any recommendations for one that would suit me quite well? To be honest for our short trips it’s usually Ryanair, easyJet with connections ect & a fairly cheap hotel in whatever city we are in. Would these count for points? 

I am not up to speed on all the currently available CC offers and the associated rewards available.  you may be able to look on the comparison website or ask in the Credits Cards area of these forums (first sub-section under Banking & Borrowing).  If you create a thread there, it may help to link to this thread to maximise context.

FWIW, I use the Barclaycard Rewards CC.  It gives a simple cash back as a (low) percentage of all spend everywhere.  It is also good for overseas spend as the conversion rates are good and there is no fee or cash advance penalty for using the card to withdraw from an ATM in Europe (some ATMs charge, but not the Barclaycard - you can often find a free ATM at a proper bank branch such as Santander). 

Other rewards cards may offer more by way of maximum financial gain but at more complexity and driving spend behaviours.  I like the absolute simplicity of the straightforward flat-rate cash back and can also couple that with the lowest price - so Ryanair on Monday, Easyjet on Tuesday, Iberia on Wednesday (or whatever).  From the thread, it sounds as though you might also appreciate the simplicity.

I have not verified the current Barclaycard offers available but I do understand that the Rewards CC remains open to new applications.

You may find with Barclaycard that they are rather more rigorous in their acceptance criteria and offer lower credit limits than other CC providers.

I am not making a recommendation, merely sharing my understanding of one product.  

That does sound more like what I’m looking for to be honest mate yeah. Like I said before maybe the idea I have doesn’t actually exist but that sounds not too far away from it. Thank you

MyRealNameToo

Airmiles requires loyalty to a brand and arent offered by budget airlines so unless you are always going to the same places your only real option is BA. Airlines also have tiers of membership so you get better rewards as you ascend their tiering (eg more miles per flight, free seat reservations, access to the business class lounge even when flying economy etc). 

Hotel chains are very similar and again your basic hotels dont typically offer them. 

There used to be some travel agents, most notably hotels.com, that ran their own offers for loyalty but not sure how many of them are left. 

When you and your partner go away are you also looking at budget options or something more upmarket? If its also budget then yes a basic cash back arrangement or something like Tesco clubcard/nectar etc may be best for you. 

SimonR22 said:

Mark_d said:

With Amex Gold you get triple points on bookings through Amex Travel

Have read quite a few negative things about Amex unfortunately. 

What have you heard negative about AmEx? The only one you typically hear is certain retailers not accepting it but thats very dependent on where you are and where you shop. Around here even the local market stalls accept it as they all use Zettle, Square or SumUp which all take amex at the same cost as any other card. 

Gold card is free for the first year and includes a handful of lounge passes so if you do want to start earning points for a one off higher tier flight they can be a good option and you can then downgrade the card to the free one so keep the points alive indefinitely whereas they'd expire with BA if you go X months without either earning or using them. 

Airmiles can be worth vastly more than any cash back card is going to offer you but to do that you need to be travelling Business or First and probably a late booking. Even then if you dont value the benefits of flying business there is a significant question on if they are really worth what they saved you. 

jbrassy

As others have said, Easyjet, Wizz, Ryanair, etc  don't have loyalty schemes. You could collect Avios points for BA, but you'd have to fly with them or have an Amex which requires a lot of spending to make it worth it. Rewards on non-Amex cards are generally quite poor.

If you haven't already, you should sign up to Booking.com and their Genius loyalty programme. This gives you discounts on some hotels and hire cars.