AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
This promotion has ended; please review current/active promotions.
Virgin Velocity is offering a promotion giving members a 15% transfer bonus on transfers from six global hotel partners. The promotion is valid for transfers through May 31, 2023. This promotion is even better for residents of Australia, who can receive a bonus when transferring points from a host of local, flexible point currencies.
Key Terms of This Virgin Velocity Transfer Bonus
- You can receive a minimum of 15% bonus when converting hotel points to Virgin Australia points.
- The promotion is valid for transfers through May 31, 2023, 11:59 pm AEST.
- Six hotel programs plus a host of Australia-based financial services providers are participating in the promotion.
Virgin Velocity Transfer Bonus Partners
You can receive a 15% bonus when you transfer points from any of the following six hotel loyalty programs:
Hilton Honors
- Transfer 10,000 Hilton Honors points and receive 1,150 Virgin Australia points with the promotion.
- The minimum transfer is 10,000 Hilton Honors points.
- Allow between 30 and 60 days for the points to post to your Virgin Australia account.
Marriott Bonvoy
- Transfer 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and receive 1,150 Virgin Australia points with the promotion.
- The minimum transfer is 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
- Allow up to six weeks for the points to post to your Virgin Australia account.
Accor Live Limitless
- Transfer 4,000 Accor ALL points and receive 4,600 Virgin Australia points with the promotion.
- The minimum transfer is 4,000 Accor ALL points.
IHG One Rewards
- Transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points with the promotion and receive 2,300 points.
- The minimum transfer is 10,000 IHG One Rewards points.
- Allow between two to six weeks for the points to post to your Virgin Australia account.
Shangri-La Circle
- With the promotion, transfer 1,000 Shangri-La Circle Points and receive 1,150 points.
- The initial minimum transfer is 1,000 Shangri-La Circle points. After that, points the conversion is in 500-point increments.
- Allow up to six weeks for the points to post to your Virgin Australia account.
Choice Privileges
- Transfer 2,000 Choice Privileges points with the promotion and receive 920 Virgin points.
- The initial minimum transfer and increments is 2,000 Choice Privileges points.
- Allow between two to six weeks for the points to post to your Virgin Australia account.
Additional Financial Services Participating Partner
There is also a wide range of Australian financial service providers participating in the promotion. You can receive a transfer bonus when transferring flexible points from the following:
- Australian Membership Rewards program members.
- ANZ Rewards & ANZ Business Rewards.
- Westpac Altitude Rewards.
- NAB Rewards.
- Citi Rewards.
- HSBC for Platinum and Premier credit card holders.
- Diners Club Rewards.
- Card Services Rewards.
- Suncorp Credit Card Rewards.
- BOQ Q Rewards.
- George Amplify Rewards, BankSA Amplify Rewards, Bank of Melbourne Amplify Rewards.
- CommBank Awards.
Making the Most Out Of Virgin Australia Velocity Points
Virgin Australia has a distance-based award chart. The chart features several excellent award sweet spots in Australia or with international partners. Highlights of the sweet spots include:
- Flights under 600 miles within Australia start at 7,800 points plus taxes and fees. With this transfer bonus, you'd need to transfer 18,000 Choice Privileges points.
- Domestic flights between 601 and 1,200 miles will set back from 11,800 points plus taxes and fees. Transferring Shangri-La with the promotion, you would need to transfer 10,500 points for the award.
Remember, not all of the best value to be had is on domestic awards, and there is some excellent value with international partners. Transatlantic business class awards- flights under 3,600 miles are excellent value. These include New York to London routes, with United or Virgin Atlantic. These will set you back 49,500 points plus taxes and fees one way.
Transferring Accor points with promotion, you would need to transfer 44,000 points. Consider that Accor points have a fixed redemption rate of €40 per 2,000 points. So, the value is clear to see. In short, you are exchanging €880 worth of value for a business class award which would be worth many times that amount.
Virgin Australia Expiration Policy
Importantly, Virgin Australia Velocity points typically expire if your account has had no activity for 24 months. However, the airline is generous when it comes to what it deems classes as qualifying activity for the purposes of resetting the validity of your points.
Although in the fine print, Virgin states that transfers from family members or pooled transfers from other accounts are ineligible for extending your points validity. However, it does not expressly disqualify transfers from credit cards or hotel partners. Therefore, transferring points with this promotion to Virgin Australia should, by all accounts, extend the validity of your points if they are close to expiration!
Our Take
With such a wide-ranging promotion, you need to crunch your numbers to see if it is right for you. One thing to keep in mind is no matter how good the deal is, it is never worthwhile to transfer flexible points speculatively. Tying them into one program can end up limiting them substantially. Only initiate a transfer if you have a specific redemption lined up.
One use of this promotion is extending the validity of your Virgin Velocity points. If you have a few points due to expire after 24 months of inactivity. Transferring some points during this promotion will count as activity and reset your mileage expiration clock.
However, keep in mind that the terms of this Virgin Australia transfer bonus say that points can take six weeks to transfer to Virgin. So, if you want to transfer points and book an award relatively quickly, this promotion is not the best way to go.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.