Finnair joined the Avios family in March, which opened up more opportunities for us Avios collectors in terms of award flights. In fact, they already made a great contribution with their Doha flash sale 😉
I didn’t know about this, but Finnair obviously has an online shop where you can exchange your Avios into hotel vouchers. There are some very good deals to be had here.
The most prominent names are:
- Scandic Basic – €74.42 + 500 Avios
- Scandic Premium – €114.40 + 500 Avios
- Sokos – €103.41 + 500 Avios
Sokos has close to 50 properties across 30 Finnish cities, whereas Scandic has nearly 300 in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Poland – the Premium collection contains a handful of their high-end properties, and all others are in Basic.
It is easy to check if your voucher is applicable for a particular date and hotel. On Scandic’s website, search with booking code VOY (or VOFINN for Premium), and available hotels will be listed first with “1 Voucher” displayed.
For Sokos, use booking code AYPLUS20 instead.
You can have some pretty good bargains here. The Sokos hotel in Helsinki I’m looking at for example, costs €185 if booking directly. However, the best deal is likely to be at Oslo, which is the most expensive city – those Scandic hotels ask for more than €200 for a Saturday night in the summer.
A few independent hotels in Finland are also available through this system:
- Hotel Kamp Helsinki: €322.39 + 500 Avios
- Maria Hotel Helsinki: €364.45+ 5,000 Avios
- Hotel Haven Helsinki: €145.40 + 500 Avios
- Klaus K Helsinki: €107.40 + 500 Avios
- Hotel St George Helsinki: €226.39 + 500 Avios
- Hotel Lilla Roberts Helsinki: €144.40 + 500 Avios
- Design Hotel Levi: €139.79 + 2 000 Avios
- Naantali Spa Hotel & Resort: €165.40 + 500 Avios
- Ruissalo Spa Hotel: €129.40 + 500 Avios
- Hotel Ruka Ski Resort: €71.42 + 500 Avios
- Hotel Pyhätunturi: €42.43 + 500 Avios
- GLO Hotels: €76.41 + 500 Avios
- Holiday Club Hotels: €145.40 + 500 Avios
- Clarion Hotels: €87.41 + 500 Avios
The catches are:
- Except at Scandic and Sokos, there isn’t an easy way to check award availability
- You must have at least 500 Avios to book, and you can add more (and pay less cash) when checking out
- The voucher expires after six months and is non-refundable, so it can be an awkward position if your plans change
Although Finnair has switched their award currency to Avios already, you can’t yet move Avios between your Finnair and BA / QR / IB accounts. If you have an Amex UK account however, you can transfer your MR points to Finnair.
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