Sometime ago our Facebook follower Jeremy B. introduced us to the Envision World Mastercard and I'm finally getting around to putting the card's details on the Rewards Canada site and will begin to consider it for any potential rankings, portfolios and so on that I publish. This is credit union card that offers a straight 2 points per dollar
spent on the card which translates to a 2% return when you redeem
towards travel so it could be considered a replacement for the Capital One Aspire World Elite Mastercard however there are some pros and cons to it. From what I can tell you must have the full amount points in your account to redeem for travel (no partial redemptions) and you have to book via their travel portal. I did a quick one time search for flights on their portal between Toronto and Montreal in late August and the price on Envision's site for the Air Transat flight was 19,135 points ($191.35) while Air Transat was selling the same flight for only $160. This is something that may need more research as it reminds of the BMO Rewards travel portal where many of readers tell us the pricing found there is typically higher than booking direct with the airline.
The card also provides a cash back option however the reward site won't
let me see what that redemption rate is but if it is anything like their
gift card rates then it should be pretty good!
I have added the card to the Rewards Canada All Travel Credit Cards and Travel Points Credit Cards
comparison charts. I do plan on providing more coverage of the card in
the near future but here are some quick takeaways on the card if you
want to check it out right away:
- To apply for the card you have to be a member of the credit union which you can join for $5
- It has a 2% return for travel but note that you have to have the
full amount of points required for that travel. No partial redemptions
are allowed.
- From what I can tell you have to book the travel via their travel portal
- The gift card redemption rates actually look pretty decent. For
example a $100 gift card is 10,495 points which would take just over
$5,200 in spending or about a 1.9% return. A $25 gift card however drops
down to about 1.6% which is still quite good.
- It has a pretty good insurance package with travel medical, trip
cancellation, price protection and more. The only insurance it seems to
be missing is flight delay insurance.
Learn more about the Envision World Elite Mastercard here
Hotel occupancy rates in Canada continue to rise slowly. For the week of July 19-25 the number rose to 35.4% from ~33% the week before. (Source HNN)
Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other
sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change
and right now they are changing frequently!
TAP Air Portugal will be increasing their flights
between Toronto and Lisbon to 5x weekly as of September 1. Meanwhile the
Toronto - Ponta Delgada route launch appears to have been pushed back to
September 3 while Montreal to Lisbon will operate 3x weekly in August. (Source RoutesOnline)
Posts since our last update:
Deals:
Hilton Whislter Lodge has a deal via Travelzoo where you can stay for as little as $149 per night including parking and resort fee. Find out more here.
If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here
Enterprise: Enjoy a free rental upgrade on rentals until August 28, 2020 Find out more here.
Fairmont Hotels Stay Close - Buy Night 1 Get 1 Night free at select hotels in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Find out more here
SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here
WealthSimple Trade: Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)
Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of
the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank
you in advance if you do.
Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
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Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
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