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The AMEX Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card Bonus is Now 38,000 Points (=38,000 Avios, Virgin Points and More)
Representative APR: 87.8% variable
Purchase Rate: 30.4% variable
Minimum Income: £20,000
The American Express Gold card is one of the UK’s most popular travel rewards credit cards. The welcome bonus has been boosted to 38,000 Membership Rewards points (up from 20,000) when you spend £3,000 in the first 3 months of holding the card.
This offer ends on 27th May 2025.
AMEX is showing personalised offers, so you may see a bonus of 30,000 instead.
Eligibility for the bonus depends on which AMEX cards you currently hold or have held recently. You can read all the details in our upcoming AMEX Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card guide.
The AMEX Gold card is free for the first year, then £195 annually. This gives you plenty of time to see if the card is right for you and which benefits you’ll actually use.
Here’s a quick overview of the key card benefits:
- Lounge Access – Get four lounge passes per year via Priority Pass. Read our guide to lounge access with credit cards for more information.
- Deliveroo Credit – Get £5 back up to 2 times per month up to £120 per year.
- Travel Accident and Travel Inconvenience Insurance – Use the card to book your travel and get Travel Accident Insurance up to £250,000 and Travel Inconvenience Insurance up to £200.
- ‘The Hotel Collection’ Benefits – Benefits at over 1,000 hotels when you stay two or more consecutive nights, including 12:00 check-in/late checkout and a one-category room upgrade (all subject to availability). You will also receive complimentary credit valued at US$100 to use towards eligible charges, such as food and beverage, spa, or other on-property charges (terms apply).
- Car Hire Benefits – Benefits when hiring a car with Hertz and Avis.
You will also earn 1 Membership Rewards Point per £1 spent. You’ll earn an increased rate of 2 points per £1 on purchases made directly with airlines (terms apply) and 3 points per £1 spent with AMEX Travel.
There is an additional bonus of up to 12,500 bonus points based on your spending (2,500 per £5,000).
Membership Rewards Points can be transferred into a range of things, from airline miles to hotel points, statement credit, shopping vouchers and more.
This offer is running alongside an increased bonus of 80,000 (up from 50,000) for the AMEX Platinum card. Make sure you read our full guide to the AMEX Platinum card.
IHG One Rewards 100% Bonus: Buy Points, Get Double!
You can now get a 100% bonus when purchasing IHG One Rewards Points before 29th March 2025.
You can purchase up to 200,000 points, and IHG will match the number of points you buy!
The more points you buy, the less each point will cost.
- 10,000 points (doubled to 20,000) will cost you £104, which works out to 0.52p per point*.
- 200,000 points (doubled to 400,000) will cost you £1,542, which works out to 0.39p per point*.
*Based on the current exchange rate
Redeem your points for stays at over 6,000 IHG properties worldwide, including luxury brands like InterContinental, Kimpton, and Regent. Reward nights have dynamic pricing ranging from 10,000 to 250,000 points per night.
In most cases, buying points will not get you the best value redemptions, but with this offer, you could get better value than booking with cash, especially for a luxury stay.
Example: Six Senses Uluwatu, Bali
A reward night at the Six Senses resort in Uluwatu on 11th April 2025 starts from 126,000 points. Buying 126,000 points (63,000 points + the offer) will cost you £485.76, which works out at 39p per point.
The cash value of the same stay is £536. In this case, buying points would save you £50.24 per night.
Things to Note
- Points purchases are non-refundable and don’t count toward elite status.
- Allow up to 72 hours for points to appear in your account.
- The bonus applies to purchases of 5,000 points and over.
Buy IHG One Rewards Points Here >>>
Save 25% on Emirates Skywards Partner Flights and Hotels
If you’ve been saving up your Emirates Skywards miles, now is the perfect time to use them! Until 31st March 2025, you can get a 25% discount on reward flights with select airline partners and Emirates Skywards Hotels for travel dates until 6th January 2026.
25% Discount on Select Airline Partner Economy Class Reward Flights
You can now book reward flights starting at 6,000 miles instead of the usual 8,000 miles. You will get a 25% discount on reward flights with select partner airlines. The great thing about booking with partner airlines is that you can use Skywards miles without travelling via Dubai.
Some reward flights can be booked easily online, whereas others need to be booked via Emirates live chat.
Partner airlines that can be booked online:
- Air Canada
- Azul
- Condor
- Copa Airlines
- Garuda Indonesia
- Japan Airlines
- Korean Air
- Qantas
- United Airlines
To book reward flights, you need to be logged in to your Emirates Skywards account. Go to the flight search page and toggle to ‘spend now’. You will then need to select ‘classic reward’. Select ‘partner’ from the dropdown menu and find your ideal flight.
Partner airlines that need to be booked via the live chat:
- Air Mauritius
- Bangkok Airways
- GOL Airlines
- Jetstar
- Malaysian Airlines
- South African Airways
- TAP Portugal
The discount is automatically applied to the flight price. There are some great discounts available here compared to booking directly with some of these airlines!
If you’re considering booking a flight with one of these airlines, make sure you check the price directly and the price if booked via Emirates.
If you don’t have enough Skywards miles, remember you can convert your points from a range of loyalty programmes (e.g. 4 AMEX Membership Rewards Points = 3 Skywards Miles).
Things to Note
- Only new flight bookings are eligible. You cannot cancel or rebook to take advantage of this discount.
- Taxes, fees and carrier-imposed charges are excluded from the discount and must be paid in full.
Book Your Economy Class Award Flight Here >>>
25% Discount on Skywards Hotels
With the discount, you can book Skywards hotel stays from 5,000 miles. The portfolio includes over 400,000 hotels in 900 destinations.
A hotel stay that usually requires 20,000 Skywards miles could now cost just 15,000 miles!
Here’s a selection of 5* hotels in Dubai with the discount applied:
All these hotels are under £148 if booked with cash, so redeeming Skywards for miles still isn’t excellent value for money.
Things to Note
- Hotel bookings cannot be cancelled, changed, or refunded.
- The discount is automatically applied during the booking process.
- Bookings must be made through the Emirates Skywards Hotels site to be eligible for this promotion.
- There are no restrictions on the property booked or length of stay.
