The good news for anyone travelling between London and Amsterdam or Rotterdam is that DIRECT Eurostar return trains are about to start running.
Eurostar has been running from London TO Amsterdam and Rotterdam for a while now.
However, due to on-going work constructing immigration facilities, you could not travel TO London directly. Passengers from Amsterdam needed to get off the train in Brussels, clear passport control and get back onto a different train to complete their trip. Passengers from Rotterdam had to take a Thalys train to Brussels and change.
This nonsense is about to end.
From 30th April, trains will run directly from Amsterdam to St Pancras. From 18th May, you will also be able to travel directly from Rotterdam to St Pancras.
If you book a ticket THIS WEEK (the final date to book is 25th February) for travel to Amsterdam between 30th April and 30th June, or Rotterdam between 18th May and 30th June, you will receive double Club Eurostar points.
I value a Club Eurostar point at 10p-12.5p as this article explains. With this offer, you will be earning 2 points per £1 spent which means a rebate of 20p-25p per £1.
You can also transfer Eurostar points to the Accor Live Limitless hotel loyalty scheme at 1:3 (minimum transfer of 500 Eurostar points). As Accor points transfer 1:1 to Avios in Iberia Plus, you could earn 6 Avios per £1 spent on Eurostar via this offer. We explained how the Accor / Eurostar partnership works in this article.
How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards (December 2021)
Club Eurostar does not have a UK credit card. However, you can earn Club Eurostar points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards. These are:
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 1,333 Club Eurostar points. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with two free airport lounge passes.
- The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 2,000 Club Eurostar points. Card benefits include Eurostar lounge access.
- American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 333 Club Eurostar points. This card is FREE for life.
Membership Rewards points convert at 15:1 into Club Eurostar points which is an attractive rate. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, so you will get the equivalent of 1 Club Eurostar point for every £15 you spend.
American Express Platinum comes with a great Eurostar benefit – Eurostar lounge access!
You can enter any Eurostar lounge, irrespective of your ticket type, simply by showing The Platinum Card at the desk. No guests are allowed but you can get entry for your partner by issuing them with a free supplementary Amex Platinum card on your account.