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We would rarely recommend using valuable airline miles to book stays at a hotel. This generally presents poor value and can't compare to the much better value you'd get by booking flights with your miles. However, there is one little-known opportunity to get great value by using airline miles for very specific hotel bookings. Using Finnair Avios, you can book some hotels in Scandinavia and get 2 cents or more per point in value here.
While this redemption has limited uses, for the right person and the right trip, it could be an excellent use of Avios. Here are all the details you need to take advantage of it.
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Recap on Finnair Avios
Finnair Plus, the loyalty program for Finnair, made news in 2024 by being the latest program to adopt the Avios currency. Avios are the frequent flier points currently used by:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- British Airways
- Finnair Plus
- Qatar Airways
- Iberia Plus
- Vueling Club
Members can transfer Avios between all of these programs freely and instantly, with the exception of Vueling. However, the move to Avios came with a large devaluation of the Finnair reward charts, hiking redemption rates, and changing from a distance-based to a revenue-based program. Still, Avios is a valuable currency for booking flights worldwide.
Finnair Plus and Its Hotel Partners
Finnair Plus partners with several hotel brands, allowing members to earn and redeem points on stays. Some allow point transfers, such as Accor Live Limitless, but this will give you a pretty terrible value for your Finnair Avios: less than 0.5 cents per point. We definitely don't recommend this redemption.
However, some hotel partners allow you to redeem Avios (plus cash) for vouchers. These often provide a solid — even if niche — use of points, as first identified by Frequent Miler. The two most notable brands, Scandic Hotels and Sokos Hotels, are both based in Scandinavia. The larger of the two chains, Scandic, has over 280 hotels across Scandinavia plus Germany and Poland. Sokos is a smaller hotel group, only present in Finland and Estonia with a total of 48 properties.
How To Use Finnair Points for Scandic and Sokos Hotels
To use Finnair Avios for a stay at a Scandic Hotel, log onto the Finnair Shop website and locate the Scandic and Sokos Hotels offers.
Select which voucher you'd like to buy: Basic or Premium. The basic voucher allows you to book a stay at many Scandic properties, with some exceptions noted, for a set rate of 68,21€ (roughly $73.98) plus 2,000 Finnair Avios. If you plan to stay at higher-end properties, you'll need to purchase the premium voucher at a higher price: 106.87€ (~$115.90) + 2,000 Avios.
Sokos Hotels offers a similar voucher priced at 84,41€ ($91.56) + 5,000 Avios. Once the voucher is in your shopping cart, you can adjust the amount of cash and Avios you'd like to redeem after logging in. Play around with these until you find the value that works best for you.
Redeeming Your Voucher
To find a Scandic hotel that you can book with a voucher, head to the Scandic Hotels website and use the booking code VOY to search for hotels in the area you want to visit. Not all hotels will be available for booking with a voucher. Note that if you are looking to book one of the listed premium hotels, you will need to search instead with the booking code VOFINN.
To locate available Sokos hotels, visit the Sokos website and search with the code AYPLUS20. Again, it will display the hotels available for booking with the voucher.
Finding available hotels is pretty simple with the booking codes. The websites are very clear about which hotels you can be booked with the vouchers.
The fine print
While it isn't as simple as booking a hotel directly with points, the voucher system is fairly straightforward. You find an eligible hotel on your dates, buy the voucher with an adjustable combination of Finnair Avios and money, and redeem the voucher through the hotel website. But of course, there are always terms and conditions. These are the important points to note:
Scandic voucher terms
- The voucher can only be used at Scandic properties (not partner hotels).
- You can use it for standard double room only.
- Vouchers are only valid for a weekend stay (Friday to Sunday).
- Vouchers are only valid for six months.
Sokos voucher terms
- The voucher is valid for stays at only Sokos Hotels Original, Solo, and Break hotels.
- Room reservations can't be made earlier than 60 days before the stay.
- The voucher is only valid for six months.
- Eligible room types vary by property.
Both Hotel brands include breakfast (except in Germany and Poland), and taxes are included in the voucher price. Neither program will refund any portion of expired vouchers, so you'll need to know exactly when you are using it before you buy one. That's concerning, as it doesn't leave a lot of flexibility for canceled trips. While Sokos vouchers are more flexible with dates, Scandic's weekend-only policy further limits the vouchers' usefulness.
Other Hotel Vouchers
You can buy vouchers for several other individual hotels and smaller chains on the Finnair Shop website. Some of these also provide excellent value in the right situation, so you may want to explore these if you're visiting any Nordic countries. This lovely property, Naantali Spa and Hotel in Finland, offers vouchers for couples or families. On the date I checked, the hotel provided a 4.5¢ per point redemption rate for my Avios.
Be sure to read the fine print and check availability before making a purchase. Just like a points transfer, once you pull that trigger, there's no getting the points back.
Is It Worth Using Finnair Avios for Hotels?
As with most point redemptions, the value can depend on many factors. That said, there are great opportunities here — and some duds, as well. If you click on the Scandic Hotel you're interested in booking, you'll see rooms priced for both vouchers and cash rates. Take this option in Copenhagen, The Scandic Palace, for example.
Cash prices tend to hover just over $200 here. If I paid roughly $74 and 2,000 Finnair Avios for a voucher for a night, that would give me over 6 cents per point for my redemption! This is an excellent deal. On the other hand, plenty of rooms at other hotels hover around $100 per night, providing a much less attractive offer. This Stockholm option, costing $89 per night, would only give you 0.8 cents per point. I would steer clear of these lower-priced hotel options.
Similarly, Sokos Hotels has some very tempting options for using your Finnair Avios. This property in Helsinki has king rooms costing $212 per night, and you can use a voucher here. This gives you a value of almost 2.5 cents per point.
Compared to the Scandic Hotels, I found that the Sokos properties tend to give a more consistent redemption value, typically around 2–3 cents per point. However, Sokos' footprint is much smaller, giving you limited booking options. Still, under the right circumstances, one of these properties could be a great option.
How You Can Earn Finnair Avios
Right now there are only three main options for collecting Avios:
- Flying on Finnair or a partner airline
- Transferring miles from Capital One
- Transferring Avios from other programs.
As of May 22, 2024, you can link all of your Avios accounts and transfer between them. This opens up your transfer options to all of the major transferrable currencies, including Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou® Points. Move those to British Airways first and transfer over to Finnair.
The Bottom Line
This is an unusually noteworthy redemption for hotel stays using airline miles. However, the stays aren't free, they're useful only in very specific circumstances, and they have some restrictive terms and conditions. Overall, this voucher program isn't a slam dunk, but in the right situation, it could be a great opportunity to use Avios to save some money in Scandinavia.
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