Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Warning: the Hilton / Iberia promotion has a stupid, stupid catch

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Hilton has two ‘quadruple Avios’ promotions running at the moment.

I wrote about the British Airways version here and the Iberia version here.  Each version offers double Avios on your 1st stay, triple Avios on your 2nd stay and quadruple Avios on your 3rd and subsequent stays.

On paper, the Iberia version is better:

Iberia earn 15 Avios for every $10 you spend at Hilton

British Airways earns 1 Avios for every $1 you spend at Hilton

Hilton Park Lane

The only reason to choose BA is that Hilton earnings via Iberia are capped at 1,000 Avios per stay.  However, the bonus is not included in the cap and you still need to spend (1,000 / 15 * 10) $666 per stay to reach it.  If you are doing short stays this is rarely an issue.

However …. a Head for Points reader has found a problem.

Iberia is capping the base points at 1,000 Avios per stay AND the bonus at 1,000 Avios per stay.

This is ludicrous.

Let me explain why.  From your 3rd stay, you are getting quadruple Avios per stay so your bonus is 300% of your base Avios.  You will hit this after you spend just $222.

(Why? $222 x (15 Avios per $10) x 3 = 1,000 bonus Avios)

This is what the reader received:

Stay 1 – 750 base miles plus 750 bonus miles (correct, Avios were doubled)

Stay 2 – 1000 base miles plus just 1000 bonus miles (he hit the cap on base miles but should have received a bonus of 2000 for his 2nd stay)

Stay 3 – 210 base miles plus 630 bonus miles (correct, Avios were quadrupled)

Stay 4 – 1000 base miles plus just 1000 bonus miles  (he hit the cap on base miles but should have received a bonus of 3000 for his 4th stay)

Our reader has made a claim to Hilton for the missing Avios but it remains to be seen if they will adjust the rules.  Unless you are making very cheap – £100 or so – Hilton stays you may want to switch to the BA version of this promotion.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

You can apply for either card here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th April 2025, the annual fee on the basic Hilton Honors debit card is halved from £60 to £30. The sign-up bonus is also easier to earn – you need to spend £1,000 either in the UK or abroad within three months. The usual bonus rule requires you to spend the full £1,000 outside the UK.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

10,000 bonus points, Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, Hilton Silver status and 0.5% FX fees Read our full review

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

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

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

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

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton Honors points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors, Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (23)

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

  • @mkcol says:
    4 Jun4 June 08:48

    Unsure if you’re aware but this article hasn’t gone out in the email….well, not mine anyway! I got the other 2 fine.

    • Rob says:
      4 Jun4 June 08:56

      Yes, just noticed. Not easy to fix as in Germany.

      • James67 says:
        4 Jun4 June 15:28

        Also, I’m frequently getting ‘service unavailable’ when trying to connect to HFP during past 48h despite trying a number of devices and connections

        • Rob says:
          4 Jun4 June 17:32

          Not sure what the problem is. The site is never down but the server is limiting access. That said, page views are only modestly off.

          I am in Germany with no PC so I can’t do anything until Monday.

          • James67 says:
            4 Jun4 June 20:10

            It’snot a huge problem Rob, it usually connects if you try just a few minutes later. I was just bringing it to your attention in event you were unaware of it. My connections were all chrome via android or windows.

          • Rob says:
            4 Jun4 June 20:35

            It is a problem – not for you guys, but for someone who might click a Google link, fail and then go elsewhere. Not sure if it is now fixed or if I am having a lucky run tonight.

          • James67 says:
            5 Jun5 June 21:04

            I’ve tried searching and typing in address directly a few times each today Rob and no further problems for me at least. Not sure if it had anything to do with google but if it did then that wouldn’t surprise me, I really feel they are abusing their dominance and diminishing the web browsing experience these days. That said, you do seem to be doing the right thing to get HFP come out near top in searches.

        • xcalx says:
          5 Jun5 June 08:50

          Same here, I was not able to access HFP until after 4pm yesterday.

    • Genghis says:
      4 Jun4 June 09:40

      +1

  • littlefish says:
    4 Jun4 June 11:46

    Raffles …. this is on Hilton. Its their promo T&C we sign up to.
    Now, first, it needs to be established this is not a one-off for 1000 base situations (and fuzzy Hilton IT). If HHonors clarilfy the bonus at max 1000 then need to refer them to their promo T&Cs which actually state: “Clients will be collecting the standard Avios amount for each paid stay, but also their Bonus Avios during the Promotional Period “.
    In other words, the bonus avios are in no way limited and are promoted by HHonors.
    Interesting how this one plays out; but thinking fuzzy IT at this point.

  • KP says:
    4 Jun4 June 12:50

    Hi

    I’m facing the same problem. Even my bonus points are being capped at 1000 on Iberia. How frustrating !

    I have stays in London coming up every week (4 nights) for the next 6-7 weeks. So not sure if I should wait for it to be sorted out on IB or move to the BA promo??

    Regards, KP

    • John says:
      4 Jun4 June 12:56

      Maybe move hotel every 2 nights to reduce the total bill?

      That’s what I’m going to do. Though understandably frustrating if it’s 7 weeks of stays

      • KP says:
        5 Jun5 June 03:11

        Yes I’ll have to do that. But I stay at Conrad which runs at £200/night…. And if they cap the bonus then I’ll have to jump to BA… decisions decisions…

        • lady London says:
          5 Jun5 June 12:20

          If it’s anything to do with Iberia IT and chasing up points for an Iberia promotion then based on the feedback on here I wouldn’t take a chance. I’d switch to the BA promo whenever I’m in danger of hitting the limit – rightly or wrongly.

          • KP says:
            5 Jun5 June 17:23

            Yes that would make sense for now. I’ll have to take the hit on points on the first two stays whilst crediting to BA, until I’m on the 4x band from 3rd stay

  • Alex W says:
    4 Jun4 June 18:32

    Because I am sad, I have just done a spreadsheet to work this out. At the Quadruple earning rate, BA becomes more lucrative >$400 spend (before tax).

    BA = $400 x 4 = 1600 Avios.

    IB Base Avios = $400 x 1.5 = 600 Avios
    IB Bonus avios = 600 x 3 = 1800 but capped at 1000 Avios
    IB Total = 1600 Avios

    • John says:
      4 Jun4 June 19:36

      So if Brexit, then change to BA, but if Bremain, then use IB?

      • John says:
        5 Jun5 June 20:36

        BA in Bremen were always more often than not a bit more tricky to handle than their UK counterparts, that’s for sure…

  • Gareth Morgan says:
    5 Jun5 June 18:11

    My 8 nights in Seoul will be my next (3rd) Iberia stay but would be 1st BA. I think I’m better staying and arguing.

  • Nick Burch says:
    15 Jun15 June 20:22

    I’ve had this hit me too, and I emailed the Hilton Diamond desk to query it. They’ve come back and said that the promotional avios should post within 6 weeks of the stay.

    So, calendar reminder set, and we’ll see what they say in a few weeks time, assuming the extra 2000 avios don’t appear magically in the mean time!

  • Mark says:
    23 Jun23 June 14:55

    Is this matter resolved yet? I need to choose IB or BA before I check in tomorrow – a stay of 6 room nights, total USD 1200 ish.
    Any last minute info, anyone?

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

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