Sometimes it can be a good thing to take a wait and see approach to get a feel of what the market and your competitors are doing. That's exactly what WestJet and RBC have done for their WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and WestJet RBC Mastercard cardholders. For the next two months those who have a card or apply for and get one of the cards will earn 2x rewards on grocery and restaurant purchases once they register for the offer. For these type of purchases this translates to a 3% return for the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and a 2% return on the WestJet RBC Mastercard.
We've seen accelerator offers from a handful of Canada's credit card issuers which have revolved around dining, groceries and/or food delivery and WestJet and RBC have followed suit. Where their offer differs from some of the others is that they are giving you three options to choose from on how you want to receive your double rewards. Those options are double your WestJet dollars (the regular type of earn for these cards), a statement credit (cash back) or a donate those rewards to help support your community.
When you go to the offer registration page you will be asked which reward you want and you'll need to input your 16 digit card number as well as your WestJet Rewards ID.
This is a smart move by WestJet and RBC to offer the various reward options due to the uncertainty of travel for many Canadians right now and have been holding back on using their WestJet cards for purchases. By providing the additional reward options outside of just earning WestJet dollars it will definitely encourage cardholders to shift their spend back to these cards. I have a feeling there will be a lot of those cardholders who will be choosing the statement credit option to help keep finances in check. The good news about the statement credits is that they will post within 3-5 days after each transaction, you don't actually have to wait until your statement date to receive them. Then there will be some who are planning for future travel who will obviously be choosing to earn the extra WestJet dollars while a smaller percentage will say I don't need more WestJet dollars, I don't need statement credits, I'm going to donate those double rewards which by the way will be going to Food Banks Canada.
The double rewards will be awarded on all eligible grocery, restaurant and fast food purchases until August 31 with Mastercard's Merchant Category Codes: 5411, 5812 and 5814. Popular food delivery services likes UberEats and DoorDash are included in those. However some like Costco are not but I do recall some readers of ours letting us know that Walmart Supercentres do code as grocery so it should count towards double rewards.
The double rewards will be offered on all eligible purchases up to $10,000 per primary and secondary card. That means if you have one WestJet card and have a supplementary user on your account you can each earn the double rewards for $10,000 spend on each card ($20,000 in total). For example in our household both of our kids are supplementary cardholders on my wife's account which means each cardholder gets that $10,000 cap or the potential to earn double rewards on up to $30,000 in spending. Add in my separate WestJet card (my wife and I each have our own accounts: Why my wife and I each grabbed our own WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercards) and we have $40,000 total in our household that we can earn double rewards on. I don't think we'll be spending $40,000 over the next two months in those categories but it's nice to know we're not capped like some other issuers who have done so at amounts as low as $1,000.
Click here to learn more and to register your card to take part in the 2x rewards on grocery and restaurant purchases on WestJet Mastercards
If you don't have a WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard or WestJet RBC Mastercard the great news is that you can also get in on this offer. As soon as you apply and are approved for the cards be sure to register for the offer and you'll start earning those double rewards. I would recommend applying sooner than later so that you can maximize the time period you have for earning the double rewards. Ideally you'd want to go for the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard as it has a boosted welcome bonus of 350 WestJet dollars (which has now been extended until October 31) and the ever famous companion flight vouchers and first bag free benefits for when you are ready to travel again but if you don't need those extra benefits or don't meet the eligibility criteria for it the WestJet RBC Mastercard is also a great option.
Images via WestJet/RBC
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