Why Earning Miles From Hotel Stays Is Worth Your Attention
If you travel regularly for business or leisure, your hotel stays represent a significant and often underutilised opportunity to accumulate airline miles. While most frequent flyers instinctively think about Avios — the currency of British Airways' Executive Club and Iberia Plus — there is a parallel world of value sitting quietly in Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club programme. The key question many travellers never think to ask is: which hotels don't offer Avios at all, but do allow you to earn Virgin Points?
Understanding the answer to that question can meaningfully change how you approach hotel loyalty, particularly if you are a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club member looking to top up your balance without stepping on a plane. In this article, we break down the logic behind choosing airline miles over hotel points, when Virgin Points become your best available option, and which hotel chains support the Flying Club programme.
Hotel Points vs Airline Miles: Which Should You Choose?
Before diving into the specifics, it is worth establishing a foundational principle: in most cases, you are better off collecting the native hotel points from whichever loyalty programme the property belongs to. Hotel points tend to offer stronger redemption value within their own ecosystems — think free night awards, suite upgrades, and status benefits that simply cannot be replicated by a handful of airline miles.
That said, this logic only holds true when you are a regular guest at a particular chain. If you are staying at a hotel brand you rarely use, accumulating a small number of points in a scheme you will likely never redeem from is essentially worthless. In that scenario, converting your stay into airline miles — whether Avios or Virgin Points — makes far more practical sense. A few hundred miles added to an active airline account is almost always more useful than points languishing in a hotel programme you have no plans to revisit.
The takeaway is simple: be strategic. Never accept airline miles by default, but do recognise the situations where they represent the smarter choice.
Why Virgin Points Deserve a Place in Your Strategy
Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club is one of the most rewarding frequent flyer programmes available to UK-based travellers. Virgin Points can be redeemed for Upper Class seats on Virgin Atlantic, as well as for flights with a wide range of airline partners including Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM, and many others. The programme is well regarded for offering genuine sweet spots — particularly on premium cabin transatlantic routes — which means that building up your Virgin Points balance through everyday spending and hotel stays is a genuinely worthwhile pursuit.
While British Airways Executive Club benefits from a larger number of hotel partners, Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club still maintains meaningful relationships with several major hotel groups. Knowing which ones these are allows you to direct your earning more efficiently.
Hotel Chains Where You Can Earn Virgin Points
A number of significant hotel groups allow guests to earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points on qualifying stays. Here are some of the most notable:
- Marriott Bonvoy: Marriott operates one of the largest hotel loyalty programmes in the world, encompassing brands such as the Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, St. Regis, and over 30 others. Members can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, making any stay at a Marriott property an indirect opportunity to earn Virgin Points.
- Hilton Honors: Hilton also partners with Virgin Atlantic, allowing guests to convert Hilton Honors points into Virgin Points. With brands including Hilton, DoubleTree, Hampton by Hilton, Curio Collection, and Conrad, the coverage is extensive.
- IHG One Rewards: InterContinental Hotels Group, which includes InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, voco, and Kimpton, supports transfers to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club programme.
- World of Hyatt: Hyatt's portfolio of upscale and luxury properties, including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Andaz, and Alila, can also feed into your Virgin Points balance through point transfers.
It is important to note that point transfers from hotel programmes to airline programmes are rarely a one-to-one value exchange. The conversion ratios often favour the hotel programme, which is another reason to collect hotel points natively when you are a loyal guest — and only convert when the situation calls for it.
When These Hotels Don't Offer Avios
Here is where the strategy sharpens. British Airways Executive Club does have hotel partners, but the list is not exhaustive. Some hotel groups that offer transfers to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club do not have a direct equivalent relationship with Avios. If you are staying at one of these properties and you are not a frequent enough guest to make native hotel points worthwhile, Virgin Points may be your only viable airline miles option — making it all the more important to have an active Flying Club account ready to receive them.
Additionally, promotional transfer bonuses from hotel programmes to Virgin Atlantic can periodically improve the value of these conversions dramatically. Keeping an eye on Flying Club promotions and Marriott, Hilton, IHG, or Hyatt transfer offers can mean earning significantly more Virgin Points than the standard rate would suggest.
How to Make the Most of Hotel Stays for Virgin Points
To maximise your Virgin Points earning from hotel stays, consider these practical steps:
- Always register for the hotel loyalty programme before your stay, even if you do not intend to collect hotel points long-term — you need a membership number to elect airline miles or enable future transfers.
- Check whether any transfer bonuses between your hotel programme and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are currently active before converting points.
- Use a Virgin Atlantic rewards credit card for hotel payment to stack your earning across both channels simultaneously.
- If you are a light user of a particular hotel chain, opt for airline miles at checkout rather than letting hotel points accumulate to an amount too small to redeem.
The Bottom Line
Earning Virgin Points from hotel stays is a practical and often overlooked way to build up your Flying Club balance. For hotels that do not partner directly with British Airways Executive Club for Avios, Virgin Atlantic may represent your best route to earning airline miles on the same stay. The key is knowing your options before you check in, being honest about how frequently you use a given hotel chain, and acting on transfer promotions when they arise. A little planning at the booking stage can turn routine hotel nights into meaningful progress toward your next premium flight redemption.