Number of Nectar Merchants Continues to Climb

Nectar-collectI was recently emailed by a reader about the list of merchants on the Nectar program, which made me update the page on all the places you can collect Nectar.

The page hadn’t been updated since June 2011, so I was expecting there to be a few more Nectar merchants on the list.

Would you believe the list has grown from 447 to 554 in just over 18 months?  This means you can collect Nectar at over a hundred more places.

This will largely be down to all the new places on the Nectar eStore.  It’s worth checking this each time you buy something online – you’ll be amazed at all the places where you can earn Nectar – there are a lot more than most people realise.

A good tip for identifying sites where you can earn Nectar is installing the Nectar Toolbar – this lets you know whenever you are on a site where you can earn Nectar points.

A hundred new merchants in the last 18 months – I guess there’s no sign of Nectar’s popularity declining any time soon!

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPin it on PinterestShare on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponhttp://www.loyalty-program.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Nectar-150x150.pngSubmit to redditShare on LinkedInShare on MyspaceDigg ThisShare on XingShare via email

How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 4

best deals on avios hotels

This is the fourth – and final – post in a series called How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios.

How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 1
How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 2
How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 3

Right, so I’ve decided which hotel to stay in using my Avios.  So I book online now, don’t I?

NO!  YOU SHOULD NEVER BOOK ONLINE!

I wrote last week about Why You Should Always Redeem Avios Over The Telephone.  In this post I explained that it’s better to book a hotel using your Avios over the telephone because it allows you to:

  1. Haggle
  2. Make Requests
  3. Ask Questions

Booking your stay over the telephone allows you to ask Avios if the cost of the hotel is the best deal they can offer.  When I asked this, they knocked £20 off.  This isn’t a huge amount but it’s still well worth having – it’ll pay for the lounge when I’m at the Airport.  I also made a request for a room with a balcony or a canal view, which wouldn’t have been possible if I booked via the Avios website.  And I asked a couple of questions about the nearest best Airport to fly to and which airlines go there.

Other Tips for Booking a Hotel Using Avios

This series of posts is only really a guide how to identify the best ROI for Avios, it doesn’t take into account the location of a hotel; some people will like to be in the centre with all it’s ‘hustle and bustle’ whereas others would prefer to be on the fringes, so always check you are happy with the location of a hotel before you book.

Another thing to check is if the room rate includes breakfast.  Some hotels will include breakfast on their website but with Avios it will say room only – play them off to get the best deal.  Paying for breakfast every day for 2 (or however many) people can add up.

As I said in my last post, double-check the cash price before you exchange your Avios, both with the hotel directly and via Trip Advisor (which will check against Expedia.co.uk, Booking.com, lastminute.com, ebookers.com, Hotels.com and numerous others).  If you’re not getting a very good deal with your Avios (i.e. upwards of 1p) save them and use them for something else, if you can.

I’m very pleased with the deal I got at the Palazzo Sant’Angelo in Venice.  I hope this set of posts helps you find something you are happy with, too :)  If you’ve liked this set of posts remember you can keep in touch with Loyalty Program by following our the FacebookTwitter and Google+ pages.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPin it on PinterestShare on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponhttp://www.loyalty-program.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Avios-150x150.jpgSubmit to redditShare on LinkedInShare on MyspaceDigg ThisShare on XingShare via email

500 Tesco Clubcard Points on a £9 Book TD-RNMW

Inferno 500 Clubcard Points

tesco.com/direct

Tesco are offering 500 Clubcard Points when you Pre-order Inferno by Dan Brown.

This is a bargain.  500 Clubcard Points are worth up to £20 at selected merchants, so if you’re smart about how you redeem your Clubcard Points you will profit, plus you get the book.

I mentioned last week that Tesco were giving away 500 Extra Clubcard Points when you buy Bioshock Infinate.  Thing is, Bioshock Infinate costs between ££27.84 and £37.99, depending which platform you buy it for.  So, getting 500 Clubcard points for spending just £9 on this book is a bargain.  Follow this link to the product on the Tesco Direct website and enter the code TD-RNMW at check out.  The offer is valid until 3rd March.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPin it on PinterestShare on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponhttp://www.loyalty-program.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Tesco-Direct-150x150.pngSubmit to redditShare on LinkedInShare on MyspaceDigg ThisShare on XingShare via email

How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 3

best deals on avios hotels

This is the third post in a series called How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios.

How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 1
How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 2

Photos of Palazzo Sant'Angelo sul Canal Grande, Venice

I have now looked at all hotels the hotels in Venice which I can book using Avios.  I’ve made a note of their Avios / Cash Cost, Star Rating and Trip Advisor Rating.  Now I need to narrow down my results.  To do this I have decided to add the following criteria to my search:

  1. The hotel must be rated 4* or above
  2. The hotel must be within the top 50 hotels on Trip Advisor (out of 400+ hotels in Venice)
  3. It can’t cost me more than £500 on top of my Avios

I enjoy my creature comforts and so does my fiancée (this is a holiday after all) which is why I would like to stay somewhere 4* or higher.  I would also like to stay somewhere with good reviews (there are over 400 hotels in Venice according to Trip Advisor, so a top 50 ought to provide good service).  And, as I’m saving for a car, I set myself a limit of £500 of my own cash which I’m willing to put into my stay.

This dramatically reduced the number of hotel options, leaving just two for me to choose from:

Hotel Avios Cash Star Rating Trip Advisor Rating
Palazzo Sant’angelo 45100 490 4 14
Carnival Palace 43100 250 4 46

I am now going to consider how much it would actually cost to stay at each of these hotels if I paid full price.  This is essential if you are going to make your Avios work as hard as possible for you.

The prices above are the cost of booking the hotel direct.  It’s worth checking that these rates ‘fair’.  This is easily confirmed by checking the rates above on Trip Advisor.  I recommend Trip Advisor because it checks a load of hotel booking websites at the same time (Expedia.co.uk, Booking.com, lastminute.com, ebookers.com, Hotels.com and numerous others).

The prices for booking direct seem reasonable, so I can use them to how much value I am getting from my Avios, based on cost of booking at full price directly with the hotel.

Hotel List Price Cash List Price Minus Cash Avios Net Price / Avios
Palazzo Sant’angelo £1,152 £490 £662 45100  £0.015
Carnival Palace £636 £250 £386 43100  £0.009
  • Palazzo Sant’angelo would cost £1,152 if booked directly.  To stay here I can pay £490 myself and use 45,100 Avios to cover the difference, which is worth £662.
    Avios worth = 1.5p
  • Carnival Palace would cost £636 if booked directly.  To stay here I can pay £250 myself and use 43,100 Avios to cover the difference of, which is worth £386.
    Avios worth = 0.9p

I’m surprised at the difference between these figures.  I had to double-check the numbers to make sure I had got them correct because my Avois are effectively worth 63% more at one hotel than another, but they are definitely right.  It just goes to show that it’s worth putting a bit of effort in to ensure you get maximum value when you redeem Avios.  Anything upwards of 1p per  Avois is a reasonable deal, so 1.5p is very good.

I have a few more tips when it comes to redeeming Avios for hotels and I am going to cover these in my 4th and final post in this set.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPin it on PinterestShare on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponhttp://www.loyalty-program.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Avios-150x150.jpgSubmit to redditShare on LinkedInShare on MyspaceDigg ThisShare on XingShare via email

How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 2

best deals on avios hotels

This post is the second in a series titled How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios.

Click here for How To Identify The Best Hotel Deals on Avios – Part 1.

In my last post I demonstrated that there are a lot of bargains to be found when you book a hotel using Avios, so long as you are willing to do a little research beforehand.  I explained that there was a big difference in cost between hotels with the same Star Rating.  However, if you really want to identify the best hotel you need to look at factors beyond the hotel’s Star Rating.  Today I am going to explain why it is also important to consider feedback on Trip Advisor.

Picking up where I left yesterday, I made a spreadsheet in Excel to note the name of the Hotel, the amount of Avios required, the amount of Cash required and the hotel’s Star Rating.  I am now going to add a further field to this: Trip Advisor Rating.

avios-hotels

This is where the analysis starts to get very interesting.  You can view the full table at the end of this post.

Trip Advisor is much better than it used to be at providing accurate, real-world experiences of hotels.  There was a time, years ago when results were a bit ‘spammy’ because hotel owners would create fake accounts to leave negative reviews on competitors, however the site is now so popular that it filters out a lot of this.

tripadvisor

I really like Trip Advisor for getting an idea of how good a hotel is.  What’s best is that it ranks a hotel on what people think of it, relative to their expectations.  Surprisingly, the number one hotel in Venice at the moment is actually a 2* hotel (there is a lot to be said for under-promising and over-delivering!) but this hotel isn’t actually on Avios.  Given that the only hotels on Avios were 3* and up I do wonder if this is the minimum Star Rating for Avios?

Tip – there is always the option to pay cash for a hotel and save your Avios for something more rewarding (generally speaking, Business/First Class Flights and Upgrades tend to be better value than hotels, unless you find a bargain of course)

I updated the Excel document accordingly and you can see it at the end of this post.  Again, there were some very interesting findings:

  • If you expected the top Trip Advisor hotels comprise of expensive 5* ones – you’d be wrong
  • The top our hotels are all 4*
  • There are only two 5* hotels in the Top 10
  • There is even a 3* hotel on the Top 10 – this instantly says to me that this 3* hotel is worth considering

But…

While a hotel’s rating on Trip Advisor can help you identify some relative bargains (and any hotels which are overrated) it doesn’t reflect how hard your Avios points are working for you.  To do this, you need to consider what it would actually cost in the real world to stay at your hotel and see how this compares with the Star Rating and Trip Advisor Rating.  This is what I will cover in the next post.

Hotel Avios Cash Star Rating Trip Advisor Rating
Aqua Palace 28250 930 4 13
Palazzo Sant’angelo 45100 490 4 14
Londra Palace 47650 650 4 15
Ruzzini Palace 42800 580 4 24
CA’SAGREDO 33450 1100 5 37
Locanda Vivaldi 46950 640 4 39
Luna Baglioni 41150 1355 5 40
SATURNIA & INTERNATIONAL HOTEL 25200 830 4 43
Carnival Palace 43100 250 4 46
DELL’OPERA 38950 420 3 47
STARHOTELS SPLENDID VENICE 30850 1015 4 49
Duodo Palace 43700 255 4 54
BEST WESTERN HOTEL OLIMPIA 48550 285 3 59
Palazzo Giovanelli 45000 265 4 68
Concordia 45850 495 4 70
BEST WESTERN PREMIER HOTEL SAN 35250 380 4 71
PALACE BONVECCHIATI 28650 945 4 73
BISANZIO 35650 385 3 77
Bauer Il Palazzo 21500 2370 5 80
Boscolo Venezia 31700 1045 5 90
Westin Europa & Regina 36050 1190 5 92
FIRENZE 44850 265 3 97
Bauer 36350 1195 5 105
PALAZZO PRIULI 48200 280 4 109
Danieli 42600 1405 5 118
CANALETTO 45700 145 3 125
BEST WESTERN HOTEL MONTECARLO 38850 420 3 130
Monaco & Grand Canal 25100 825 4 134
BELSITO 41950 245 3 142
Kette 43100 250 4 149
CASA NICOLO PRIULI 39150 230 3 161
Bonvecchiati 41900 570 4 176
Santa Marina 43500 255 4 180
Ca Dei Conti 46500 270 4 185
SAN ZULIAN 43900 255 3 202
CA PRIULLI(ANNEXE) 38200 225 3 209
Rialto 38150 415 4 210
Gabrielli 34850 380 4 229
Malibran 43700 140 3 232
LA FORCOLA 45100 70 3 246
Tintoretto 43400 140 3 251
CORTE CONTARINA 46650 70 3 269
Casanova 44000 255 3 271
Lux 39450 230 3 295
BEST WESTERN SAN MARCO 43800 140 3 308
BRIDGE 41200 130 3 315
PANTALON 45850 70 3 318
Ambassador Tre Rose 46400 145 3 334

 

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPin it on PinterestShare on TumblrSubmit to StumbleUponhttp://www.loyalty-program.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/avios-150x150.jpgSubmit to redditShare on LinkedInShare on MyspaceDigg ThisShare on XingShare via email