Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How to earn Avios points when you stay with Airbnb – 2 points per £1

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British Airways partners with Airbnb to offer Avios with each stay you book. This sits alongside BA’s existing hotel partners on this page of ba.com.

You earn 2 Avios per £1/€1/$1 spent at Airbnb.

Regular readers may have noticed that the earning rate has been cut at some point this year from its previous level of 3 Avios per £1. It had been as high as 6 Avios per £1 during promotions.

You only receive Avios on the net sum spent, excluding all taxes and fees. This can often be a fairly large percentage of your booking cost.

You MUST book via a dedicated link on ba.com.  You will not receive any Avios if you go via the standard Airbnb home page.

The terms and conditions state that you will receive your Avios within 60 days of completing your stay.

I have seen a lot of complaints in the past about Avios not posting. There is now a clear statement in the T&C that not allowing cookies when prompted will block your cashback (it is the same for most cashback or reward offers, although a lot of sites don’t tell you this).

The T&C now contain a dedicated email address to contact if your Avios do not arrive, so it should be possible to chase them up if necessary.

You also earn Avios with Airbnb Experiences

These are, to quote:

Enjoy unique experiences designed and hosted by locals that go beyond typical tours or workshops. Experiences offer guests the chance to explore new places and cultures – both virtually or in-person.”

You will earn 2 Avios for every £1/€1/$1 spent on Airbnb Experiences.

You can find out more about the general offer, including the detailed terms and conditions, on the Airbnb page of ba.com here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

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.

Comments (13)

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

  • jannis says:

    Once spent 6 months exchange dozens of emails attached with recipt to get my tiny amount of avios credited ……

  • Stephen says:

    I’m currently in a dispute with BA about this. 6 bookings over the past year, no Avios credited, they claimed I never clicked via the referral link which is wrong. I want the Avios for the principle of it. They can’t lure people into booking via Airbnb and then refuse to pay the reward.

  • DL says:

    After a US roadtrip at the beginning of the year, and a few emails (including me chasing them a number of times after 12+ weeks of nothing), the last being a repeat sending of booking confirmations on Nov 16, I finally got the points retrospectively added Nov 28. A few thousand points in total across 5 bookings all made by the link (but prices cross checked on other devices!).

  • Susie says:

    I’ve never succeeded in getting avios fro. Airbnb bookings, and the process is so complicated and time consuming trying to chase that I don’t bother any more. Feels like a con. Most places are on booking.com too these days so unless there’s a big price difference I just use them.

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

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