Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

In MeliaRewards? Did you get some mystery bonus points?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Back in June, American Express offered a free night at selected five-star Melia hotels to Platinum cardmembers. This offer is still available if you take out a Platinum card now, although the London hotel is now booked up.

I recommended that anyone planning to use this offer should join MeliaRewards. I hope you took my advice, because on Wednesday night Melia dropped a pile of free points (4,000 for most people) into their MeliaRewards accounts.

This appears to be linked to Melia encouraging you to book a ‘cash and points’ room, since you now have enough points to get a decent discount. They ran a similar promotion earlier this year. However, nothing stops you moving these points directly into airline miles.

Even better – the 2,000 points you received for joining can also be transferred into airline miles, now that you have earned some extra points on top.

I have 6,000 Melia points. I had 2,000 for joining and yesterday Melia gave me another 4,000. That allows me to transfer them to:

  • 900 Avios (via Iberia Plus)
  • 3,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles
  • 1,000 American Airlines miles
  • 3,000 airberlin topbonus miles
  • 2,000 Delta SkyMiles

I have already successfully done a transfer to Iberia Plus Avios, as I don’t have a need for any of the other options at the moment.

If you didn’t join MeliaRewards, you might want to take a punt on this happening again. You can join here, get 2000 points instantly and then sit and wait a few months to see if another random bonus turns up.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to get MeliaRewards Gold status from American Express

How to get MeliaRewards Gold status from American Express (April 2025)

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE MeliaRewards Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Honors Gold and Radisson Rewards Premium status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can discover the benefits of MeliaRewards Gold status on the Melia website here. It includes three vouchers per year worth 20% off any booking.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners may want to consider American Express Business Platinum instead:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

MeliaRewards

Comments (46)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Stephen says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:57

    I noticed this yesterday and was wondering how to spend them. Thanks Raffles!

  • danksy says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:58

    I noticed this yesterday too! 4,000 Bonus points has allowed me to activate my Iberia Plus avios account 😀

  • Guesswho2000 says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:05

    Excellent! I got the 2,000, but it wouldn’t let me transfer – just checked and there’s now 6,000 and it let me transfer the lot! Thanks for the heads up!

    • Rob says:
      16 Aug16 August 08:46

      The 2,000 are not meant to be transferable, but it seems that adding any other points changes their status.

      • Sideysid says:
        16 Aug16 August 10:53

        Does this work in that case if you ‘recommend a friend to Melia’, where you receive 250 points for every sign up to the rewards program. Upon receiving the points would you then be able to transfer out?

        I have not tried this yet as Im at work, but I will aim to later and report back.

  • DontLikeFruit says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:08

    This is the 5th credit of temporary Melia bonus points (either 4000 or 6000 a time) I’ve had in the last year or so. Had no idea I could transfer them out – just let them lapse each time. Just sent this latest bonus off to Miles and More. Many thanks!

  • Nick. says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:19

    Hi Raffles. Would this offer be available for non platinum amex?

    • Johnny5a says:
      16 Aug16 August 07:38

      this offer is for Melia Rewards – not related to AMEX Platinum

    • Rob says:
      16 Aug16 August 08:45

      The free night is only Amex Plat. These free Melia points come for everyone.

  • toomanylogins says:
    16 Aug16 August 08:21

    Sounds well worth joining up in case this happens again – thanks.

    How did you guys find out about the points being posted – do Melia send an email out or were you just checking your balance regularly?

    • Rob says:
      16 Aug16 August 08:44

      I was told about by someone else. However, I have now added Melia to my AwardWallet account so I will automatically see if there are further changes.

  • xcalx says:
    16 Aug16 August 08:29

    Melia hand out these points quite often and are short lived. These 4000 bonus points expire on the 20th of August, so be quick.

    • xcalx says:
      16 Aug16 August 08:51

      I am having a problem transfering the points. I pick transfer to partner , choose Iberia then the transfer to other Melia member screen pops up.

      • Rob says:
        16 Aug16 August 10:03

        Odd. Worked fine for me yesterday. However, the Melia website is a bit creaky despite the flash look – I kept getting logged out.

      • Sean says:
        26 Aug26 August 17:45

        I had the same problem and it seems that the problem was that I included “IB” in front of my Iberia number, try without and it could work! It just did for me.

    • 21h21j says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:05

      Points will expire on 20/08/2014, so you’ve got a year. Any activity will extend the expiry date by a year.

  • Fred says:
    16 Aug16 August 08:51

    >>This offer is still available if you take out a Platinum card now, although the London hotel is now booked up.

    What does this mean? The offer is valid until the end of November, but ME London is no longer available? Each hotel only offers a limited number of free rooms on a first come first serve basis?

    The website says nothing, I am wondering how you knew it.

    • Rob says:
      16 Aug16 August 10:02

      I’ve had a few emails from people who have tried to book London but been told that the total room allocation for this promotion has now been reached.

      No word on any others that are full. I am going to try for the Fenix in Madrid, because you get the Fine Hotels & Resorts benefits of free dinner for 2 plus free breakfast and late check out.

      • Fred says:
        16 Aug16 August 10:13

        Thanks Raffles, I should have booked it earlier. Shame!

        I have to go to Rome on business, might be considering extending one more night…

        Madrid… I was a theft victim in Spain while ago, it could cost me more than one free night at Melia if that happened to me again… I might just let the opportunity go this time.

        • Pierre says:
          23 Aug23 August 09:51

          I used the Melia night for the Gran melia Rome, I was not disappointed!

      • Alan says:
        16 Aug16 August 10:55

        Haha that’s precisely where I am just now 😀 Will post a mini-TR on FT in a day or two, but am quite impressed with it.

    • xcalx says:
      16 Aug16 August 10:25

      I phoned for Melia Puerto Rico for a range of dates in November and was told the hotels allocation of free nights have gone. Must be a crowd of UK based Plat members in PR that month.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!