Avios collection at Bicester Village is now card-linked – so can you double dip?

Avios – and indeed most other major airline programmes, plus some hotel groups – has an ‘earn’ relationship with the luxury Bicester Village outlet shopping centre in Oxfordshire.

The earning rate is 5 Avios for every £4 you spend, up to a limit of £30,000 per year.

Beyond £30,000 it drops to 5 Avios per £20 spent, although I doubt that will bother many of us ….

The way that this partnership worked in the past was that you would take your receipts to the Guest Concierge Centre at the railway station once you had finished your shopping. You would hand them over, along with your travel loyalty scheme details, and the points would post some time later.

During covid, an online claim system was also put in place, allowing you to email your receipts – but only within 24 hours of purchase – to claim Avios.

This has, in the main, now been replaced by a card-linked offer.

You now need to register your credit card in advance to earn Avios

Avios earning at Bicester Village has now moved to a card-linked offer.

You can see full details on the Avios shopping site.

The idea is that you register your credit card with the Avios shopping portal before you visit. Purchases at Bicester Village will be automatically picked up by Avios (you need to give them permission to access your credit or debit card transaction data) and points awarded.

There are some caveats …..

You can only register credit cards issued in the UK, USA and Ireland. It isn’t clear what you are meant to do otherwise, and this restriction seems likely to impact tourists.

Certain merchants are also unavailable:

For American Express cardholders, you can’t earn directly at:

• Vero Latte, The Mayfair Chippy, Pandora, Vilebrequin, Swarovski, Veuve Cliquot, Grind Coffee, Self Portrait, Ganni, Ralph Lauren Classic, Ferragamo, Charlotte Tilbury, Pangaia, Tommy Hilfiger Woman & Kids, Astrid & Miyu, Ami Paris, Neom, Palm Angels, Marc Jacobs, La Tua, Lindt, Beaute Prestige, Christian Louboutin, Under Armour. 

For Visa cardholders, you can’t earn directly at:

• Vero Latte, The Mayfair Chippy, Pandora, Vilebrequin, Swarovski, Veuve Cliquot, Grind Coffee, Self Portrait, Ganni, Ralph Lauren Classic, Ferragamo, Charlotte Tilbury, Pangaia, Tommy Hilfiger Woman & Kids, Astrid & Miyu, Jo Malone, Stone Island, Marc Jacobs.

For Mastercard cardholders, you can’t earn directly at:

• Vero Latte, The Mayfair Chippy, Pandora, Vilebrequin, Swarovski, Veuve Cliquot, Grind Coffee, Self Portrait, Ganni, Ralph Lauren Classic, Ferragamo, Charlotte Tilbury, Pangaia, Tommy Hilfiger Woman & Kids, Astrid & Miyu, Jo Malone, Marc Jacobs, La Tua.

In these cases, you need to make your claim manually – either in person or by email.

Obviously you can still use Amex, Visa and Mastercard products in these stores, but no Avios will automatically appear.

Can you now double dip?

This new structure raises an interesting question – can you double dip?

Does anything stop you earning the card-linked bonus and then getting your shopping credited via the Guest Concierge Centre or the email service to another programme?

After all, Avios is not the most generous option for Bicester Village shoppers.

Oddly, and I only recently realised this after many years, the most generous Bicester Village travel partner is hotel programme Accor Live Limitless. See here for details.

As you can see, the standard earning rate is 3 Accor Live Limitless points per £1 spent. As 1 Accor point = 2 Eurocents off your next hotel stay (albeit redeemed in chunks of 2,000 points) you’re getting roughly 5% back. This is more generous than taking Avios but only makes sense if you are already an active Accor member.

However …. I should warn you that, on my last visit to Bicester Village two months ago, I asked the Guest Concierge Centre to credit my Accor Live Limitless account and nothing ever appeared. This is despite the concierge typing in my account details as I stood next to her. My Accor account number contains a letter and this has stopped me getting partner points in the past, so I don’t know if this is a widespread issue or not.

Can you triple dip?

It’s also worth reminding you that Bicester Village is one of the most prolific users of credit card cashback offers. These will definitely double up with the Avios offer.

American Express cardholders regularly get these deals, but I have also seen them across my Visa and Mastercard cards recently.

Can you quadruple dip?

Holders of certain credit cards can get a VIP 10% discount card from the Guest Concierge Centre. This includes American Express Platinum and HSBC Jade / Private Banking. It isn’t valid at all brands but most do take part.

Holders of Amex Centurion, HSBC Jade / Private Banking as well as Accor Live Limitless Diamond members (amongst others) can also pre-book access to The Apartment, the VIP lounge at Bicester Village (walk-ups not accepted) and be allocated a parking space in the VIP area nearest to the stores.

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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:

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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