Earn triple Avios – 9 Avios per €1 – at Melia hotels to promote its new improved earn rate

The Melia hotel group has changed the way you earn Avios at its hotels.  The company has moved from a flat nightly rate to a revenue based model, and my gut feeling is that most people will earn more Avios this way.

To promote this new deal, Melia is offering a very generous launch offer of 9 Avios per €1 you spend.

This is a good deal.  A £200 spend, excluding taxes, would earn you over 2,000 Avios for example.

About Melia

Melia brands include Gran Melia, Melia, ME, Paradius, INNSIDE, Tryp and Sol.  As well as being the biggest hotel group in Spain, the company has a decent presence elsewhere with 350 hotels in 40 countries.  In the UK you have:

ME London, the Norman Foster designed hotel on the Strand which has a good reputation.  Think of a hotel like The Trafalgar nearby or a more sophisticated W.

Melia White House, a surprisingly pleasant art deco era hotel near Regents Park where we had our 2016 and 2017 HfP Christmas parties

INNSiDE Manchester, the first UK outpost for Melia’s four-star business brand.  I reviewed INNSiDE Manchester and was impressed. 

We’ve also reviewed the INNSiDE New York NoMad here, the Gran Fenix in Madrid here and the impressive Gran Melia Palacio de los Duques in Madrid here.  Reader Nick reviewed the historic Rome property here when he won a Melia-sponsored competition on HfP a couple of years ago.

If you have an American Express Platinum charge card, you will receive free Gold status in Melia Rewards.  

Melia Rewards Gold offers the following benefits – which, to be honest, are not life-changing except for late check-out:

• 30% bonus points
• free breakfast for a companion (so basically 2-4-1)
• free wi-fi
• 3 x 20% off vouchers for room bookings
• 4pm late check-out at city hotels, 2pm at resorts

Late check-out IS guaranteed as long as the hotel is not 100% full.  You will also receive free wi-fi.  There is no upgrade benefit.

What has changed with Melia’s Avios partnership?

Historically, you could only credit Melia stays to Iberia Plus.  This was a bit of a faff if you didn’t already have an Iberia Plus account, because you are not allowed to transfer Avios out of it until the account is 90 days old.

Melia Rewards is now also a partner with Vueling Club.  Because Vueling Club uses your existing avios.com account number, you can tell Melia to credit your stay to a Vueling Club number and the points will pop up in your avios.com account.  This will be more convenient for anyone who does not have an Iberia Plus account.

Avios earning is going revenue based

Under the old model, Melia rewarded you by the night:

Gran Melia / ME / Paradius – 525 Avios per night

Melia / INNSiDE – 225 Avios per night

Tryp by Wyndham – 225 Avios per night

Sol – 150 Avios per night

Under the new model, you will earn a flat 3 Avios per €1 spent.

This includes all spending, including food and drink.  For the first time you are now incentivised to eat and drink in the hotel.

Most people should be better off under this model.  The break-even point, excluding taxes, is £154 for Gran Melia / ME / Paradius, £66 for Melia / INNSiDE / Tryp and £44 at Sol.  In most cases your nightly spend will exceed this and so you will be better off with the new earning rate.

How to earn TRIPLE Avios

To promote their new ‘3 Avios per €1’ earn rate, Melia is offering triple Avios.

Full details are on the Melia website here (for Iberia) and here (for Vueling, ie avios.com accounts).

You need to book your stays by 31st December – but you have until 15th March to actually complete the stay.

In order to have your points credit directly into your Avios account, you need to set up your Melia account online to directly deposit Avios in your Iberia or Vueling (ie avios.com) account.  If you don’t do this, you will earn Melia Rewards points instead.  These can be converted to Avios later in chunks of 100 points, which would get you 30 Avios.

Conclusion

Things are looking up if you earn Avios from hotel stays.  Best Western recently became an Avios partner (see our introductory article here) and now Melia has, in most cases, improved its earning rates too.  The ‘triple Avios’ offer is a good opportunity to pick up a slug of easy Avios on any hotel stays you have planned for the New Year.

You can check out potential properties on the Melia website site.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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.

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

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

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.