Tuesday, October 31, 2017

October 31 Update: Podcast Episode 34 discusses credit scores, Renaissance Montreal intimate Navigator’s Table dinner & more

Podcast Episode 34 is here! You can listen to or download it on Apple iTunes, Google Play, our website and Soundcloud. In this episode we welcome Rubina Ahmed-Haq of AlwaysSaveMoney.com. Rubina is a journalist and blogger who covers the world of personal finance in Canada. She gives tips on how to save money on her blog and many media outlets across Canada. For the Rewards Canada podcast Rubina and Jeff delve into the world of credit scores. From what is a good credit score, what can affect your credit score, checking your score and more.

If you are in Montreal next week you may want to check out this event at the Renaissance Montreal Downtown:
Anne-Marie Withenshaw, a Canadian television and radio personality, hosts “Dîner en Couleur,”, a twist on a “Dîner en Blanc.”

Beginning November 6, Renaissance Hotels will be hosting its first-ever week-long dinner series at nearly all of the brand’s 170 hotels worldwide, as an intriguing extension of “The Navigator’s Table,” the brand’s original digital series featuring four-time James Beard award winner and Renaissance Hotels’ global brand ambassador, Andrew Zimmern, that premiered its second season October 17.

Travelers and foodies can reserve one of few spots for Renaissance Montreal Downtown’s intimate Navigator’s Table dinner on November 6 by visiting www.renhotels.com/events, and explore Montreal’s local flair among other culturally curious guests. Inspired by the bold design and colors of the hotel, this dining theme celebrates color - where all meal elements are the same color, from the napkins to the menu card, cocktails, appetizers and plated dishes.



Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
Book 3 nights at the Loews Miami Beach Hotels and get the 4th night free. Valid until Dec 31. Find out more here!

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
IHG Rewards Club
- IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Redeem only 5,000 points for stays at select hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 18

La Quinta Returns
- Up to a 25% discount when you buy La Quinta Returns points online. More... Until Nov 26, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 4X Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at over 700 Accor Hotels in the Asia Pacific region. More... Book by Dec 15 for stays until Jan 31, 18
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Germany, Austria or Sweden. More...Book by Nov 31 for stays until Dec 23, 17

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay at Marriott Hotels and Resorts in Hawaii. More... Book by Dec 1 for stays until Dec 13, 17

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Triple iPrefer Points and up to 30% off stays of 3 or more nights at participating Preferred Hotel Group Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 14,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between St. Petersburg and Doha. More... Dec 19 - Mar 20, 18

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles for stays of 2+ nights at participating Harbour Plaza Hotels in Hong Kong. More... Until Nov 30, 17
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay for at least two consecutive nights on a qualifying rate at Hard Rock Hotel Bali. More... Until Nov 30, 17
- 5 0% Bonus KrisFlyer Miles for hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Oct 31, 17 for stays Until Dec 31, 18
- Earn 4x KrisFlyer Miles when you rent with Hertz Worldwide for two or more days. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+ YouTube Instagram RSS Newsletter
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Link your RBC Credit or Debit Card with Petro-Points to earn more points and save at the pump


Two weeks ago the details were released about RBC's and Petro-Canada's latest offer and expansion of their partnership.

As of today RBC clients can now link their Petro-Points card to any personal or business RBC debit or credit card to instantly receive 3¢ per litre fuel savings and earn 20 per cent more Petro-Points on qualifying purchases made at Petro-Canada. RBC Rewards credit card holders will also earn 20 per cent more RBC Rewards points on their Petro-Canada purchases. Unlike other loyalty programs where the benefits are limited to a specific card, Canadians will be able to use every RBC card in their wallet to save instantly on fuel and earn more rewards points. Clients simply need to link their Petro-Points card to their RBC profile online once by visiting the secure RBC website, rbc.com/petro-canada 

Compared to the last offer that ended yesterday providing a 2 cents per litre discount the discount now becomes greater however you need to tie your cards together from RBC and Petro-Points unlike the previous offer where you just swiped your card to get the discount. This means you have to become a Petro-Points member and link your RBC Credit or Debit card to that account. Not a huge deal.

We posed a question back on the 18th was whether tying in an RBC card to the Petro-Points card affects other cards tied into Petro-Points like HBC, More Rewards and so on. We received a response from Suncor (Petro-Canada / Petro-Points parent company)
Our Question:
"currently with Petro-Points you can link multiple other loyalty accounts to your Petro-Points and get the 20% bonus points from each of them and will that be the case with RBC as well? That is if you link your RBC card and your HBC card will you a 20% bonus twice? And what about More Rewards?”

Suncor's Answer:
"You will continue to get points on any of our Petro-Points partners that you have linked your cards up on, the points will be calculated on the base spend."
It looks like you'll continue to earn all the bonuses and points from all linked cards. Currently I have More Rewards, HBC and SPC linked to my Petro-Points card. I add edmy WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard today and that should mean I'll get the 20% bonus Petro-Points three times (RBC, SPC, HBC) and still collect the More Rewards points as well, not to mention saving 3 cents per litre if I choose to use the WestJet card for those purchases but that may be tough as my American Express Gold Rewards card still provides better value than the 3 cents off especially with the jump in prices at the pump we experienced today.

Link your cards here today!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, October 30, 2017

NOW LIVE: IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks - 100 Hotels for only 5,000 points per night

We gave you the preview last week and are happy to tell you that the latest IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks hotel are now available for booking! This set has 100 hotels exactly that can now be booked for 5,000 points per award night for stays until January 31, 2018. Each Reward Night at these participating hotels will be only 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points during the above mentioned dates. Remember the PointBreaks rules are that a member can only book up to 2 reward reservations per hotel participating in the individual offer (ie 2 at PointBreaks hotels and 2 at Last Minute Reward Night hotels).  My tip to get around this would be to book 2 reservations with one IHG Rewards Club account and then have your spouse book 2 more etc. Of course this is dependent on both accounts having enough points to redeem for these awards.  (See below for the buy points offer as an easy way into this). Also be sure to book these ASAP as soon as the list comes out as once the allotted nights are booked at certain locations those hotels will fall off the list.

Why are IHG Rewards Club Point Breaks such a great deal? Because they offer reward nights at participating IHG hotels Worldwide for only 5,000 Rewards Club points. For those of you not to familiar with IHG Rewards Club , normal redemption rates for Rewards Club reward nights run from as low as 10,000 points for some Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations to 50,000 points for ultra-luxurious InterContinental locations and even these locations can participate in PointBreaks. So as you can see you can receive a discount of 50 to 88% off the regular redemption rates. You may be thinking that the high end hotels won't participate but they do depending on the time of year! Please note that like most loyalty promotions these offers are capacity controlled so I advise to book sooner than later to ensure you get the PointBreaks rate. These offers will be bookable via the primary Pointsbreaks page from October 30 to January 31, 2018

If you don't have enough points, even 0, you can buy points right now with a 100% bonus if you buy 5,000 or more points which works out to 0.5 cents per points. That means you can get each of the PointBreaks hotels for as little as US$25 (C$32) per night if you buy 60,000 points. You can buy points with the bonus here until November 3, 2017.

Here is the full list of hotels that are available:

IHG hotels in Canada

ALBERTA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ONTARIO
SASKATCHEWAN

IHG hotels in Asia

CHINA
INDIA
INDONESIA
JAPAN
MALAYSIA

IHG hotels in the Middle East

SAUDI ARABIA

IHG hotels in Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

IHG hotels in South America

ARGENTINA
BRAZIL

IHG hotels in North America

NICARAGUA
PANAMA

IHG hotels in Mexico

CHIHUAHUA
MEXICO STATE
GUANAJUATO
JALISCO
SONORA
PUEBLA
VERACRUZ

IHG hotels in the United States

ALABAMA
ARKANSAS
ARIZONA
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
KANSAS
LOUISIANA
MASSACHUSETTS
MARYLAND
MAINE
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI
NORTH CAROLINA
NEBRASKA
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
SOUTH CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
VIRGINIA
WISCONSIN
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING

IHG hotels in Europe

AZERBAIJAN
BELGIUM
BULGARIA
FRANCE
TURKEY
UNITED KINGDOM
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday, October 27, 2017

Full list of the 100 IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Hotels bookable on Monday for stays until January 31, 2018


As we mentioned earlier today, IHG would give us a preview of the full list of hotels that you will be able to book on Monday for only 5,000 points per night in the latest PointBreaks. They are out now and this time we have an even 100 hotels available with 5 of them in Canada. Remember when Monday roles around the PointBreaks rules are that a member can only book up to 2 reward reservations per hotel participating in the individual offer (ie 2 at PointBreaks hotels and 2 at Last Minute Reward Night hotels).  My tip to get around this if you need more than two reservations is to book 2 reservations with one IHG Rewards Club account and then have your spouse or partner book 2 more etc. Of course this is dependent on both accounts having enough points to redeem for these awards (See below for the buy points offer as an easy way into this). Also be sure to book these ASAP as soon as the list comes out as once the allotted nights are booked at certain locations those hotels will fall off the list.

Why are IHG Rewards Club Point Breaks such a great deal? Because they offer reward nights at participating IHG hotels Worldwide for only 5,000 Rewards Club points. For those of you not to familiar with IHG Rewards Club , normal redemption rates for Rewards Club reward nights run from as low as 10,000 points for some Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations to 50,000 points for ultra-luxurious InterContinental locations and even these locations can participate in PointBreaks. So as you can see you can receive a discount of 50 to 88% off the regular redemption rates. You may be thinking that the high end hotels won't participate but they do depending on the time of year! Please note that like most loyalty promotions these offers are capacity controlled so I advise to book sooner than later to ensure you get the PointBreaks rate. These offers will be bookable via the primary Pointsbreaks page from October 30 to January 31, 2018

If you don't have enough points, even 0, you can buy points right now with a 100% bonus if you buy 5,000 or more points which works out to 0.5 cents per points. That means you can get each of the PointBreaks hotels for only ~C$32 per night if you buy points for the stay. You can buy points with the bonus here until November 3, 2017. You'll want to buy right away so the points are in your account by mid Morning Monday when these go live.

Here is the full list of hotels that will be bookable on Monday.


IHG hotels in Canada

ALBERTA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ONTARIO
SASKATCHEWAN

IHG hotels in Asia

CHINA
INDIA
INDONESIA
JAPAN
MALAYSIA

IHG hotels in the Middle East

SAUDI ARABIA

IHG hotels in Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

IHG hotels in South America

ARGENTINA
BRAZIL

IHG hotels in North America

NICARAGUA
PANAMA

IHG hotels in Mexico

CHIHUAHUA
MEXICO STATE
GUANAJUATO
JALISCO
SONORA
PUEBLA
VERACRUZ

IHG hotels in the United States

ALABAMA
ARKANSAS
ARIZONA
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
KANSAS
LOUISIANA
MASSACHUSETTS
MARYLAND
MAINE
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI
NORTH CAROLINA
NEBRASKA
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
SOUTH CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
VIRGINIA
WISCONSIN
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING

IHG hotels in Europe

AZERBAIJAN
BELGIUM
BULGARIA
FRANCE
TURKEY
UNITED KINGDOM
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

IHG PointBreaks Preview - Bookable on Monday for stays until January 31, 2018


In less than an hour the full IHG PointBreaks list will be released. You won't be able to book them yet but at least you can start planning for Monday to see what hotels may be on your radar and also see if you need to take advantage of the current buy IHG Rewards Club points 100% bonus which can get you each night via PointBreaks for only C$32.00 per night! Bookings and stays will be from October 30, 2017, through January 31, 2018 (subject to availability).

IHG has sent us a preview of some of the hotels that you can expect to be on the list:

Here is a sampling of the more than 100 properties that will be featured:

·       Holiday Inn® Cochin (India)
·       Holiday Inn Express® Chengdu Wenjiang Hotspring (People’s Republic of China)
·       Crowne Plaza® Belfast (UK)
·       Candlewood Suites® Nashville Metro Center (US)
·       Staybridge Suites® Fort Worth (US)
·       Holiday Inn® Cordoba (Argentina)
·       Holiday Inn® Lyon – Vaise (France)

No preview yet of what will be available in Canada but we typically see between 4 and 6 hotels in our great country!

Rewards Canada will be away for a few hours so we won't have the full list up onto the blog here until later today but it should be up on this page right at noon ET!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, October 26, 2017

October 26 Update: Qantas Frequent Flyer enhancements, 3,000 easy Club Carlson points & British Airways closing Toronto lounge

If you are lucky enough to be a frequent traveller to Australia, not only are we jealous of you but now you can earn more points if you are making those flights on Qantas! Australian Business Traveller reports that Qantas Frequent Flyer has increased the points and status credits earned on Premium Economy and Business Class tickets from Vancouver, Los Angeles and San Francisco to Australia. Meanwhile they have also lowered some of the points requirements for upgrades out of Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: Australian Business Traveller

Over on our global site, FrequentFlyerBonuses.com we highlighted a very easy way to earn some bonus Club Carlson Gold Points. Via thier app, Club Carlson has added an Extra Partners section where you can shop and earn Club Carlson points for doing so. They are promoting the section by awarding 3,000 Gold Points on your first eligible purchase (many of which only require US$1) and iTunes music purchases seems to be the way to go. The only thing we are unsure of is whether Canadian accounts will work. If you give it a shot let us know how it goes just make sure you are spending enough in C$ to be over US$1 (so I would go with C$1.35 at a minimum). eBay and Groupon also look like easy options for us Canadians. Find out more here.

Per this FlyerTalk thread British Airways will be closing their lounge at Toronto's Pearson airport on October 31 and will begin to use one of the Plaza Premium lounges for their elite members and people fliyng in a premium class. Not good news at all as this lounge was one of their better offerings in North America according to many flyers.

Posts since our last update:

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Points for completing your first transaction with any of Club Carlson's Extras Partners, including iTunes, eBay, Groupon and more via the Carlson App. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Choice Privileges
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Privileges Points when you buy 5,000 or more points online. More... Until Nov 14 ,17

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles for stays at Oberoi Hotels & Resorts worldwide and Trident Hotels across India. More... Until Mar 31, 18
- Triple Skywards Miles for stays of 2+ night at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh or Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor, Siem Reap. Exclusive offer for EK388 passengers. More... Book by Dec 15 for stays until Dec 20, 17

IHG Rewards Club
- 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  More... Until Nov 3, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus QMiles when you earn miles from 2 or more Privilege Club travel (non airline), service or financial partners. More... Nov 1 - 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+ YouTube Instagram RSS Newsletter
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Groupon expands mileage/point earning to six more airline & hotel programs


Back in May we detailed Groupon's first foray into the world of miles and points with their partnership with fellow Seattle based company Alaska Airlines. Now exactly a year after we met with Groupon to discuss details of them offering points and miles for purchases they have expanded their offerings with six more programs now available. In addition to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan you can now earn points and miles on Groupon purchases with American AAdvantage, Choice Privileges, IHG Rewards Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, La Quinta Returns and United MileagePlus.

Here are all the earning details:

For American Airlines AAdvantage® program, Alaska Mileage Plan™, JetBlue TrueBlue®, United MileagePlus®:
  1. Earn 5 miles or points per $1 spent on Groupon Local
  2. Earn 4 miles or points per $1 spent on Groupon Getaways
  3. Earn 3 miles or points per $1 spent on Groupon Goods
  4. New Groupon customers whose first purchase on Groupon is a Local offer that is $30.00 or greater before taxes will receive an additional 1,000 miles or points in addition to the 5 miles or points indicated above.
For Choice Privileges®, IHG® Rewards Club, La Quinta Returns™:
  1. Earn 10 points per $1 spent on Groupon Local
  2. Earn 8 points per $1 spent on Groupon Getaways
  3. Earn 6 points per $1 spent on Groupon Goods
  4. New Groupon customers whose first purchase on Groupon is a Local offer that is $30.00 or greater before taxes will receive an additional 2,000 points in addition to the 10 points indicated above.
After signing into Groupon via the special Loyalty page you'll click on the program of your choice, input your reward program number and once you have you'll be presented with the following (will vary by program):


Make sure you input the promo code at check out, which you can confirm is applied when it states Miles post within 14 days:


Overall this is great news as there are lots of you who use Groupon to save some money on local deals and even travel purchases and now you can earn more miles for doing so! Will you start earning miles and  on your Groupon purchases? Now the question has come up about using an online shopping mall for Groupon purchases since you'll earn miles and be able to use discount codes. The mileage earned through online malls does vary (for example Alaska is 3 miles, so less than the 4 or 5 here potentially) but you can then add in coupon codes to save on the purchases. So the choice is yours but if you have never shopped via Groupon before make your first purchase directly via the Groupon loyalty page to take advantage of the first purchase bonus and then decide on future purchases what the better route is.

Click here to learn more about this partnership and to start earning miles on Groupon purchases
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Hilton Honors Weekenders offer - Save on Saturday and Sunday night stays

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=3624&awinaffid=159284&clickref=&p=http%3A%2F%2Fexplore.hilton.com%2F

The best way to prepare for Monday? Make the most of Saturday and Sunday. Join the weekenders at Hilton. Take advantage of weekend sale rates for stays at select Hilton Hotels around the globe.

Book online here!

Book by November 6, 2017.

Sample rates:

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

100% Bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club Points - timed to coincide with the new PointBreaks


Later today we should be getting a preview of 5-10 hotels that will be on IHG Rewards Club's newest PointBreaks list that should be bookable on Monday. Tomorrow we should have the full list. So it doesn't seem like coincidence that IHG has just released another 100% bonus on buying their points until November 3rd. Once you see the previews today or tomorrow you can decide if buying points is right for you and use them on Monday to get in on those amazing 5,000 points per night offers!

Not only have they timed this to be right when PoinBreaks are coming out but they have lower the price of their points! Last month buying 60,000 points (120,000 total with bonus) cost US$690 now the price is US$600! This means each point will only cost you 0.5 cents. That's 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks option which works out to only about C$32.00 per night! Since the bonus starts right at 5,000 points you could choose to buy only 10,000 points if you only 1 or 2 PointBreak nights or go for more!

 

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 5,000 points. Buy Points Here. Until Nov 3, 17

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

October 24 Update: Book an Air Canada flight with Masterpass & get a $60 eGift card, 5x Plum Points on books and $50 off Hainan flights

If you are Canadian, use Twitter and follow a lot of travel based people/companies on Twitter you have then most likely seen this offer. Simply use Masterpass to pay for an Air Canada flight and are one of the first 12,500 people to do so or book by Nov 19, whichever comes first, you'll receive a $60 Air Canada eGift card! Looking at the T&C's there does not appear to be a minimum flight price so you could buy a pretty cheap one way flight to get in on the offer! The amazing thing with Masterpass is that you can actually connect a Mastercard, American Express or Visa card to it so you are not limited to Mastercard. Find out more here

5X Plum Points on Online Book purchases at Indigo (Oct 24 - 26)
5X Plum Points on Online Book Purchases




Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
Hainan Airlines is offering a $50 Coupon code for their flights to China out of Calgary and Toronto. Simply book by Dec 31. Find out more here!


Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 300 bonus Aeroplan Miles when you service your Toyota at a Canadian Toyota Dealership or purchase a set of four (4) qualifying winter tires. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Avios and save up to 25% for stays at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai. More... Book by Jan 18 for stays until Jul 27, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at over 250 participating Accor hotels in South America. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for Thursday-Sunday nights stays (Friday or Saturday required) at Marriott Hotels in South Africa. More... Nov 15 - Jan 23, 18

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when stay at least two consecutive nights in a Deluxe Plus room at the Concorde Hotel Singapore. More... Until Nov 30, 17
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you book a stay through Constance Hotels & Resorts website. More... Until Nov 30, 17
- 1,000 KrisFlyer miles for stays of at least 2 consecutive nights at the Best Available Rate or selected special room packages at any of the 8 Fullerton & Sino Hotels in Singapore or Hong Kong. More... Until Jan 14, 18
- 1,000 KrisFlyer miles, 35% off your stay, and other privileges when you spend a minimum of three nights at Gili Lankanfushi Maldives. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+ YouTube Instagram RSS Newsletter

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,