Typically there are three different types of travel loyalty credit cards you can apply for:
- cards you get just for the sign-up bonus
- cards you get primarily for the strong on-going earnings rate
- cards you get but don’t use because they come with generous perks
Head for Points tends to focus on the first two types. I thought it was worth another look at the three loyalty cards which offer decent on-going perks even if you don’t use them.
For clarity, my list does NOT include perks which require you to hit a spending target each year to receive them such as the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher or the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard upgrade voucher.
All of the perks discussed below are yours simply because you took out the card.
The place to turn for full details of all airline and hotel loyalty credit cards is, of course, our ‘Top Credit Card Offers‘ page, which summarises all of the cards and deals currently available.
Looking through the list, these are the three cards you might want to get but keep in your desk drawer gathering dust:
The Platinum Card from American Express
The Platinum Card from American Express
Bonus: 60,000 points
SPECIAL OFFER
Read our full review
Sign-up bonus and earn rate:
- Get 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 within six months
- You will also receive £200 to spend at Amex Travel after hitting the £6,000 target
- This is a special offer which runs to 13th June
- Earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent
- Points transfer at 1:1 into Avios, Virgin Points and other airline and hotel schemes
Other information:
- Two Priority Pass cards, each allowing two people into 1,400 airport lounges
- Elite status in four major hotel loyalty programmes
- Comprehensive travel insurance
- £300 per year of restaurant credit
- £100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols
- Annual fee: £575
Representative 462.4% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £575 annual fee. Interest rate on purchases 29.4% APR variable.
Apply here
See if you qualify for the 60,000 points sign-up bonus and £200 Amex Travel credit +
You will receive 60,000 American Express Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card if you spend £6,000 within six months of signing up.
You will also receive £200 to spend at Amex Travel when you hit the spending target.
These are both special offers which run to 13th June.
Membership Rewards points are hugely flexible. You can transfer them into Avios, Virgin Flying Club or other airlines (at 1:1) or into various hotels schemes, into Club Eurostar or use them for shopping vouchers.
This is the ONLY personal American Express card where you still qualify for the bonus if you already hold a British Airways American Express card.
To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card which earns Membership Rewards points. This includes The Platinum Card and Preferred Rewards Gold.
You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s American Express account.
You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held any other American Express card, including the British Airways, Marriott and Nectar cards.
If you cancel The Platinum Card at any point, you will receive a pro-rata refund of your membership fee.You will not lose your sign-up bonus.
For clarity, you can still apply for The Platinum Card even if you do not qualify for the bonus. You would still benefit from the long list of other benefits.
Learn more about the card benefits +
The Platinum Card from American Express comes with an unrivalled list of benefits for the keen traveller.
Your personal travel patterns will determine which of these is the most valuable. The key benefits are:
Full comprehensive travel insurance for you, your family and the family of your supplementary cardholder, subject to enrolment
Two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows the holder and a guest unlimited free access to 1,400 airport lounges
Elite status in four major hotel loyalty schemes: Marriott Bonvoy (Gold), Hilton Honors (Gold), Radisson Rewards (Premium), MeliaRewards (Gold)
Access to Eurostar lounges, irrespective of travel class
£150 per year to spend in over 160 UK restaurants
£150 per year to spend in over 1,200 international restaurants
£100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols, instore or online (no minimum spend required)
£300 per year of dining credit – £150 to be spent at 150+ UK restaurants and £150 to be spent at 1,200+ restaurants outside the UK
The Platinum Card from American Express is the most complex and most debatable card here.
Because you can get a very generous 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (converts into 30,000 Avios or 30,000 Virgin Flying Club miles amongst other things) it may be worth giving the card a try to see if it works for you.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.
There are a lot of long-term benefits that can have real value:
- 2 Priority Pass cards, each getting you and a guest into 1,300 airport lounges for free. If you give your second card to your partner, you have a family of four covered. London lounges include the Aspire lounge in Heathrow T5 and the Club Aspire and No1 lounges in Heathrow T3, as well as a number of Gatwick options.
- Access to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 as well as the other Plaza Premium lounges in Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and globally. Whilst these lounges are not in Priority Pass, you can get in – with a guest – by showing your American Express Platinum card.
- Eurostar lounge access (cardholder only, no guests, although your supplementary Platinum cardholder can get in with their card)
- Lounge access with Delta in the US
- Access to Amex’s upmarket ‘Centurion’ lounge network at selected US airports, Hong Kong and London Heathrow Terminal 3
- Marriott Bonvoy(Sheraton, Le Meridien, Aloft, St Regis etc) hotels Gold status,
- Hilton Honors (Conrad, DoubleTree, Waldorf Astoria, Hampton etc) Gold status
- MeliaRewards (Melia, INNSiDE, Tryp, ME) Gold status
- Radisson Rewards(Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn) Premium status
- Travel insurance, subject to enrolment, which is fully comprehensive (some minor benefits such as lost luggage requiring you to pay for your flights and hotels with an American Express card, although ‘big stuff’ like medical cover is covered regardless) – although read the small print if you have pre-existing conditions
- Comprehensive car hire insurance
- Discounts and/or added benefits in luxury hotels via the Fine Hotels & Resorts programme
- £150 per year to spend in 150+ UK restaurants (no minimum spend required)
- £150 per year to spend in 1,200+ restaurants outside the UK (no minimum spend required)
- £100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols, online or instore (no minimum spend required)
…. plus some other bits and pieces, including car hire status.
A lot of people, including myself, have a Platinum card for the benefits but – because of the weak 1 point per £1 earning rate – do not use it much.
HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard
HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard
Bonus: 80,000 points
Read our full review
Sign-up bonus and earn rate:
- Get 80,000 HSBC points, paid over two years
- Earns 2 HSBC points per £1 spent
- Points convert at 2:1 into Avios or 10 other programmes
Other information:
- Only available to HSBC Premier account holders
- Receive free airport lounge access with LoungeKey
- Annual fee: £195
Representative 59.3% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £195 annual fee. Interest rate on purchases 18.9% APR variable.
Apply here
See if you qualify for the 80,000 points sign-up bonus +
The sign-up bonus on theHSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is 80,000 points.
This is paid in two parts. You receive 40,000 HSBC points (worth 20,000 Avios or other airline miles or hotel points) for spending £2,000 within three months and a further 40,000 HSBC points (=20,000 points) for spending £12,000 within twelve months.
The annual fee is £195 and you need to pay the fee for the second year in order to receive the second half of the bonus.
There is no restriction on receiving the bonus if you have previously held the card, as long as you cancelled it over six months ago, or are upgrading from the free HSBC Premier Mastercard.
Learn more about the card benefits +
The points earned with the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard can be transferred to 11 airline and hotel loyalty schemes – Asia Miles, British Airways Executive Club / Avios,Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Flying Blue (Air France KLM), Qantas Frequent Flyer, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, TAP Miles&Go, IHG One Rewards and Wyndham Rewards.
They can also be redeemed for other items including retailer gift cards.
Cardholders can access any airport lounge in the LoungeKey network for free. No guest are allowed, but you can get your partner a supplementary credit card on your account for an annual fee of £60. Children would be charged at £20 per visit.
You need to be a HSBC Premier current account holder to apply for this card. HSBC Premier comes with a range of additional benefits including comprehensive travel insurance.
The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is only available to HSBC Premier current account holders, and a substantial financial commitment to HSBC is required to receive one.
You receive free airport lounge access at 750 airports worldwide via the LoungeKey programme. Guests are charged at £20, although if you regularly travel with the same adult it would be cheaper to pay £60 to get them a supplementary credit card on your account. It is a cheaper way of getting lounge access than buying your own Priority Pass card.
If you get the standard version of the HSBC Premier Mastercard, you also get a LoungeKey card but are charged £20 per lounge visit, no freebies.
You would also get comprehensive travel insurance, although this is technically a benefit of the free HSBC Premier current account and you would receive this even if you decided not to take out the credit card.
The card has a chunky £195 annual fee BUT you receive a sign-up bonus – paid over two years – of 80,000 HSBC points. These convert to 40,000 Avios or 11 other airline and hotel programmes. If you value an Avios at 1p then the card is effectively free for two years if you offset the £390 of fees against the 40,000 Avios received if you hit the bonus targets.
Our full review of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is here.
Marriott Bonvoy American Express
Marriott Bonvoy American Express
Bonus: 40,000 points
SPECIAL OFFER
Read our full review
Sign-up bonus and earn rate:
- Get 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points when you spend £3,000 within 90 days
- You will also receive a free night voucher, valid at any hotel costing up to 25,000 Bonvoy points
- These are both special offers which run until 30th May
- Earn 2 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1 spent
- Earn 6 points per £1 spent at Marriott hotels
- Points convert at 3:1 into Avios or other airline miles
Other information:
- 15 elite night credits per year to help you towards higher status
- Free night, up to 25,000 points, when you spend £25,000 per year.
- Upgrade to Gold Elite status when you spend £15,000 in a card year
- Annual fee: £75
Representative 47.4% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £75 annual fee. Interest rate on purchases 29.4% APR variable.
Apply here
See if you qualify for the 40,000 points sign-up bonus and free night voucher: +
You will receive 40,000 points as a sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card if you spend £3,000 within 90 days of signing up.
You will also receive a free night voucher for any Marriott Bonvoy hotel selling for up to 25,000 points per night.
These are both special offers which run to 30th May.
To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card.
You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s American Express account.
You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held a Business American Express card.
For clarity, you can still apply for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card even if you do not qualify for the bonus. You would still benefit from the 15 elite night credits per year, the free night (up to 25,000 points) for spending £25,000 and Gold Elite status for spending £15,000.
Learn more about the card benefits +
You will receive 15 elite night credits per year in Marriott Bonvoy. The first batch will arrive within 60 days on applying and then in Spring in each subsequent year.
15 elite nights will automatically get you Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy and put you nearer to Gold Elite and higher tiers.
If you spend £15,000 per card year, you will be upgraded to Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy.
If you spend £25,000 per card year, you will receive a free night voucher, valid at any hotel where reward nights cost up to 25,000 points.
The Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 15 free elite night credits per year.
15 night credits means that you will immediately qualify for free Silver Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy. This has few real benefits, except for a 10% bonus on base points earned from Marriott hotel stays, so it is debatable whether it is worth the £75 annual card fee on its own.
However, it also puts you 15 nights nearer the very valuable Platinum Elite status which usually requires 50 nights. Platinum Elite comes with guaranteed lounge access, breakfast benefits and a guaranteed 4pm check-out.
You will also receive 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points as a sign-up bonus, if you qualify and meet the spending target.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is doubled to 40,000 Bonvoy points – and you get a free night voucher too! Apply here.
Our full review of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card is here. You can apply here.
Conclusion
Overall, there are some interesting deals to be had with some credit cards which makes them worth keeping, even if you don’t use them.
For bigger spenders, especially heavy travellers, The Platinum Card from American Express is worth a look.
The generous sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points, airport lounge access and the free hotel status cards mean that you don’t have much to lose by giving it a try, despite the heavy fee.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.
PS. In case you are wondering, I deliberately excluded The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card. Whilst you get four free airport lounge passes per year, these do not justify the £160 annual fee from Year 2 onwards. Of course, in Year 1, it is a different story.
Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.
Category
American Express Platinum card, HSBC Premier Mastercard, Marriott Bonvoy American Express