October 23 Update: World of Hyatt changes coming on November 1, WOW Air to start Vancouver service, updates to HSBC review + more!

Hyatt officially confirmed today some changes to the World of Hyatt program that are taking effect on November 1st. The first change is the addition of a new free night redemption category. You will now be able to redeem World of Hyatt points for Premium Suites. Previously you could only redeem for Standard Suites. These premium suites run exactly double what it costs for a standard room:

They are also eliminating the minimum requirement of booking three nights in a suite when using points. You will now be able redeem for just one night. Adding redemption options like premium suites and removing the three night requirement are the good news. The bad news in today's changes come from the Points+Cash redemption option. The Points+Cash option are moving from a fixed points+fixed cash rate to a fixed points+dynamic cash rate. Here are the new Points+Cash award charts:

You can look at these charts two ways. First as a devaluation as 50% of a standard rate may be higher than the current flat rate. For example the current category 1 standard room Points+Cash option is 2,500 points plus US$50 and now the dollar portion is 50%, so if a hotel has standard room at US$130 you'll be looking at 2,500 points plus US$65 for a Points+Cash redemption. On the other hand there is the slight possibility it can save you money. Take our same example but have the hotel running at US$90 per night and you redeem 2,500 points plus US$45 instead of US$50. The latter seems less likely but the potential is there.

The last change in the program is the addition of using points to upgrade to a premium suite.

You can view all the updates to the World of Hyatt program here

Iceland's WOW Air has announced another new route to Canada! Starting in June 2019 the Ultra Low Cost carrier will fly from Vancouver to Reykjavik six times per week over summer then drop to 5x per week after that.  WOW Air does not have their own loyalty program but are a perfect example of a carrier where you can use proprietary credit card reward program points, find out more about that here. (Source Routesonline)

Thanks to the Rewards Canada community for helping clarify and correct items on our HSBC World Elite Mastercard reivew! HSBC doesn't make it easy for some of the items of the card to find out about. Now we know more and have updated the review. You can read the review here.  Some updates include a new table showing the Point Valuation. If you are like me and don't always want to read a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo a table like this will allow to skip it and see in detail what the card offers. We will be including such a chart in all future reviews and also be adding it to past reviews as time permits!

Continuing on with HSBC we have now created an individual bonus offers page for HSBC Canada. Right now it only has the World Elite Mastercard on it but we will add their other cards to the page shortly. You can check out the page here.

Posts since our last update:

• HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review
  The HSBC World Elite Mastercard is a relatively new card in the Canadian market. This is not their 'Premier…
• Receive a 20% to 40% bonus when you buy Choice Privileges points
  Another buy points bonus to let you know about. This one comes to us from Choice Privileges and offers a…

Travel Deals

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
HSBC Rewards
- Earn up to 75,000 Bonus HSBC Rewards Points when you apply for and are approved for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on your next hotel booking made via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Jan 15 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Choice Privileges
- Up to 40% Bonus Privileges Points when you buy 5,000 or more points online. More... Until Nov 2, 18

Copa ConnectMiles
- Earn 40% Bonus ConnectMiles when you buy or gift 5,000 or more ConnectMiles. More... Until Nov 21, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Double Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Switzerland on the flexible rate. More... Book by Nov 10 for stays Jan 31, 19

Miles & More
- 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at participating Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery or Swissôtel hotels & resorts Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada: