Earning Avios via EC hotel partners (a draft guide)
 

Whilst we all travel a fair bit and in addition to accumulating Avios through flying, we also take advantage of BAEC's growing list of hotel partners to bolster our EC balances.

Now, a new guide is in the writing and it would be great if you could share the pros and cons of crediting hotels stays to the EC versus crediting to the respective hotel programme. I know with Hilton it is possible to earn Avios and HHonors points? Are there similar examples elsewhere?

I've listed out the broad benefits relating to each hotel group from a Avios earning view. All the details have been plucked from ba.com. Is there anything missing or something deserved special emphasis?

Thanks,



Accor Hotels
Participating brands and earning rates
Sofitel: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Pullman: 1 Avios per €1 spent
McGallery: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Novotel: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Suite Novotel: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Mercure: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Adagio: 1 Avios per €1 spent
Ibis: 1 Avios per €2 spent
All Seasons: 1 Avios per €2 spent

Convert 4,000 Al Club points into 2,000 Avios



Carlson Hotels
Earn 500 Avios per stay at Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Radisson Blu, Radisson Edwardian, Park Inn and Park Plaza properties

Gold Points can be exchanged into Avios in increments of 10,000 GPs into 1,250 Avios or in 2,000 GP increments at the rate of 8:1



Global Hotel Alliance
Earn 500 Avios per stay at Anantara, The Doyle Collection, First Hotels, Kempinski, The Leela.Palaces, Lungarno Collection, Marco.Polo, Mirvac, Mokara, Omni Hotels, Pan.Pacific, Park Royal, Shaza and Tivoli Hotels.

If you are a Gold.EC member you can also enjoy a complimentary room upgrade (subject to availability at time of check-in)



Hilton
Depending on your HHonors preference Avios can be earned on stays booked directly via Hilton at the following rates:

Fixed Avios and HHonors Points
:
500 Avios per stay and 10 HHonors Points per US$ spent at Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton.Garden.Inn, Hilton Grand.Vacations, The Waldorf.Astoria, and Home2 Suites 
or 100 Avios per stay and 10 HHonors Points per US$ spent at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites

Variable Avios and HHonors Points

Earn 1 Avios and 10 HHonors Points per US$

Variable Avios

Earn 1 Avios per US$ spent

Exchange HHonors points into Avios in increments of 10,000 points at the rate of 10:1



Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Earn 500 Avios per stay at the Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Summerfield Suites, Hyatt Vacation Club

Hyatt Gold Passport points can be exchanged into Avios in increments of 1,250 points into 500 Avios (5,000 HGP points minimum conversion). When you convert 50,000 points, you will earn a 5,000 Avios bonus



Intercontinental Hotels Group
Earn 500 Avios per qualifying stay at InterContinental, Crowne.Plaza, Hotel.Indigo, Holiday.Inn, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood.Suites, or earn 100 Avios per qualifying stay at Holiday Inn Express.

Members must join Priority Club Rewards, IHG’s loyalty programme in order to earn Avios.

Exchange Priority Club points into Avios in increments of 10,000 points at the rate of 5:1



Langham Hotels
Earn 500 Avios per night (max 1,500 Avios) at The Langham Hotels and Resorts, and Langham Place Hotels and Resorts

Earn 250 Avios per night (max 750 Avios) at Eaton Hotels and Delta Chelsea, Toronto



Mandarin Oriental
Earn 800 Avios per stay at Mandarin Oriental. In addition to Avios for the stay you enjoy the following benefits during your stay

Blue and Bronze members

• Fruit and flowers
• Complimentary newspaper and use of the hotel's health facilities
• Express check-in and check-out

Silver, Gold and Premier card members

• All Blue and Bronze card benefits
• Special discounts on room rates at participating Mandarin.Oriental hotels
• Upgrade to the next room category (subject to availability) at reservation stage for Premier card holding members and check-in stage for Silver.and Gold members
  Late check-out (subject to availability)

Marriott
Earn 2 Avios for every US$ spent at JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz Carlton, and Edition brands

Earn 1 Avios for every US$ spent at AC Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn, SpringHIll Suites, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Marriott Executive Apartments

Marriott Reward Points can be exchanged into Avios, as follows:
2,000 Avios per 10,000 MRP
5,000 Avios per 20,000 MRP
10,000 Avios per 30,000 MRP
25,000 Avios per 70,000 MRP
50,000 Avios per 125,000 MRP



Preferred Hotel Group
Earn 500 Avios per eligible Preferred Hotels and Resorts, Preferred Boutique, Summit Hotels and Resorts, and Sterling Hotels stay



Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Earn 500 Avios per non discounted or non corporate rate stay at Shangri-La.Hotels, Shangri-La.Resorts, Traders,.and Kerry Hotels



Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton. St Regis, Four Points by Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Element, Le Méridien, Aloft, Westin, and W brands

SPG Preferred members earn 2 Avios per US$1 spent
SPG Gold/Platinum members earn 3 Avios per US$1 spent

SPG members can transfer Starpoints into Avios at the rate of.1:1, with a 5,000 Avios bonus with each transfer of 20,000 Starpoints



Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces
Earn 500 Avios per eligible stay at Taj Luxury Hotels
Earn 250 Avios per eligible stay at Vivanta by Taj and The Gateway Hotels

I did not know about the Intercontinental tie up.

Is that instead of PC points?

Yes, you add your PC number to your booking, and instead of receiving PC points, they send you 500 miles per stay (could be more depending on bonuses etc) to your BAEC account.

Ah... Ok. No double dipping like Hilton then...

I will stick with PC points, worth more for me.

Unfortunately not :D

They are worth more, I stupidly set up my PC account like this years ago - and always have forgotten to stop the auto-credit to BAEC. Ah well to late now :rolleyes:

I would. I made this mistake once. for a 4 night stay in a HI Express, I got 100 BA miles (at the time). Would have been far better to top up my PC account and transfer to BAEC at a later date.

Great stuff Prospero - good to have this resource and Avios focused.

One point. Seems obvious but should be clearly stated Avios / Hotel points only awarded on "qualifying stays"; some brands >> others.

As an aside, taking the Avios will normally be a sub-optimal use of the Hotel Programme's potential ... but nevertheless a decent benefit not to be passed over.

It is. I think you are better off with collecting PC points and then converting them later, because if you choose to get miles, you don't always get the various bonuses on offer.

Prospero .... you should also look at the Iberia Plus programme. They have some additional hotel chain partners, and you could credit to an IB account before transferring over to BAEC.

May be worth summarising the credit card sign-up bonuses and earnings opportunities as well, plus whether a hotel is also a UK Amex MR partner (so you can top up your hotel account to the necessary amount for a transfer).

Feel free to pillage info from here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ting-list.html

I wanted to add a paragraph for each method but haven't got round to it yet unfortunately :)

Just to update the Mandarin Oriental bit.....

The Excelsior Hong Kong give me 500 / 750 Avios per stay, depending on room rate and type (though I'm still to work out where the line is between the two).
Don't get any of the other bonuses due to Gold card, though (but they do often upgrade me anyway, and give me small gifts as a regular guest)
Caveat: I get a good rate at the Excelsior and sometimes they don't give me points, others they do.

Does anyone know if it's possible to claim missing miles on Park Plaza (Carlson) hotels?

Have stayed in the Park Plaza Amsterdam a few times and whilst I book using my club Carlson account (linked to my BAEC) for a few trips I have no miles.