It’s that time of year again when airline loyalty programmes start devaluing — although this time the target is a little unusual: the cost of redeeming hotel free-night vouchers through Finnair has gone up!
This is a rather unique feature of Finnair Plus, allowing you to redeem Avios for free-night vouchers at a number of hotels across the Nordic region. The most popular option is Scandic Hotels, which I recently tested myself. Both vouchers have now increased in price:
- Basic: €74.42 + 500 Avios → €97.41 + 500 Avios
- Premium: €114.40 + 500 Avios → €137.40 + 500 Avios
That’s an increase of 30% and 20% respectively. It looks like a pretty substantial devaluation, but it’s actually not too bad, because these vouchers can still offer excellent value when used in the right places.
I recently used a Basic voucher in Oslo, Norway, for a night that would otherwise have cost more than €250. Even better, the hotel didn’t ask me to show the voucher, so…
Finnair has quite a few other hotel partners as well, and some of them have also seen price changes:
| Hoteel | Original price | Current price |
|---|---|---|
| Sokos | €103.41 + 500 Avios | €107.40 + 500 Avios |
| Clarion Hotel Helsinki | €87.41 + 500 Avios | €96.41 + 500 Avios |
| Hotel Kämp | €322.39 + 500 Avios | €222.39 + 500 Avios |
It’s clear that the Scandic price increase happened very recently, although I’m not sure when the other hotels were repriced. Hotel Kämp has actually become cheaper — was my previous price simply a typo?
Overall, I’d say this devaluation is still fairly acceptable. European hotel prices have gone completely wild over the past few years, and the range of genuinely good-value redemptions has been getting narrower and narrower. So, credit where it’s due — thanks to Finnair for still offering this option!
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