Save 20% on almost all hotels, everywhere via an Aer Lingus AerClub promo

AerClub is the Avios-based reward scheme for Aer Lingus, BA’s sister airline.  The ability to pay for hotels (and car hire and experiences, but we’re focusing on hotels here) has just been introduced to AerClub.

AerClub has been running an interesting offer.  You can save 20% on all hotels bookings made using Avios – or, more interestingly, part cash and part Avios.  You must book by 19th July but can stay until 31st December 2018.

You can find out more on the AerClub site here.

This deal has been implemented in a slightly odd way which makes it good value for using Avios – but very good value for using cash.

When you use Avios to book a hotel, you are given a number of options.  One is ‘all Avios’.  The last is usually ‘1000 Avios plus a lot of cash’.  There are few options in the middle.

Because the ‘all Avios’ option has been reduced by 20% under this promo, all of the other options have been reduced by 20% too.  This includes the ‘1000 Avios plus a lot of cash’ one.

I know this isn’t too clear.  It is easier to explain with an example.  Here is the Hilton London Paddington for 16th August booked via the BA ‘Avios for hotels’ booking portal which is not running this promotion:

…. and here is the same hotel via the avios.com hotel portal when you log in via an Aer Club account (if you don’t have one, open one at aerlingus.com and then log in at avios.com with the details):

How does the pricing compare?

The cash price of this room booked via hilton.com for non-members of Hilton Honors is £209.

This is in line with the price via the BA hotel portal, at £200 plus 1000 Avios.

Using the avios.com hotel portal (logged in with an Aer Club account) we get a far better deal – £160 plus 1000 Avios.

To book ….

You could book this hotel with ‘all Avios’ but you’re only getting the usual 0.55p per point of value compared to Aer Club’s heavily discounted cash price.

It is far better to just move 1,000 Avios from British Airways to your AerClub account and then, in this case, pay the £160 cash.

This same deal seems to work for ALL of the hotels in ALL countries on the avios.com booking site.  Some do not let you go as low as 1,000 Avios, however, so you may need to burn more points.

Remember that bookings via the Avios / BA hotel booking sites do NOT earn you loyalty points in the hotel scheme and do NOT earn you status benefits.  If you can get a 20% discount on the usual cash price via this Aer Lingus offer, however, you will struggle to beat that at most properties even if you are sacrificing points earning.

If you want to see the full details, look at the AerClub site here.

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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.