Resumption of mandatory random COVID-19 testing for international travellers & earn 2x points for stays at Sonesta Hotels locations in Toronto

Here's your Rewards Canada update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

The Canadian Government announced the resumption of COVID-19 mandatory random testing for those entering Canada by air. As of July 19 the random tests will return for fully vaccinated travellers arriving into Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Click here to learn more.

Enter the Dragon: DragonPass is now the dominant lounge access program in Canada

July is upon us and that means both Mastercard and Visa Canada are now officially utilizing DragonPass as their business class lounge access provider. Earlier this year Rewards Canada was first to break the news of this unexpected switch for both brands. Mastercard began making the switch throughout April and May while Visa officially launched with DragonPass on July 1st. Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with DragonPass' Andrew Harrison-Chinn about the programs for both issuers and what Canadians can expect from them in the near future.

Mandatory vaccination will no longer be required for domestic travel, 2x points + Free Night Award for private home stays & Neo boosts interest rate to 1.6%

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

One more step was taken by the Federal Government yesterday to returning travel to normal. The feds announced an end to the vaccine requirement for domestic air and rail travel. As of June 20th travellers flying or riding the rails within Canada will no longer have to show proof of vaccination. The rule also holds true for passengers departing from Canada on international flights or rail journeys however there may be separate rules in place for the foreign airlines and/or the country you are travelling to so be sure to know those beforehand. All other requirements still remain in place such as masking on planes and trains and the return to Canada requirements such as vaccination and testing. Click here to learn more about this news

Choice Hotels to acquire Radisson Hotels Americas

 

I can't even count now the number of time that ownership of Radisson Hotels or its subsidiaries has changed hands over the past few decades and it continues this week with Choice Hotels announcing the acquisition of Radisson Hotels Americas. The Americas portion of Radisson only emerged about a year ago after the parent company had to split their Radisson family of brands in two due to Chinese ownership and U.S. privacy rules. Thus they created Radisson Hotels Worldwide and Radisson Hotel Americas, the latter to appease to the U.S. government. It is the latter as well that is subject of this purchase.

U.S. to end COVID-19 testing requirement as of Sunday & earn 25,000 Be Well points this weekend at Rexall

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. Today's update is brought to you by the HSBC High Rate Savings Account with which you can enjoy a total annual interest rate of up to 2.65% on new deposits± Click here to learn more about this offer

Great news for Canadians travelling to the U.S.! As of midnight Sunday June 12 they will be dropping the requirement to have a negative Covid-19 test prior to arriving via air. CNN is reporting that this will be officially announced by the Biden administration sometime today. (Source CNN)

March 23 Update: Canada dropping pre arrival testing for fully vaccinated travellers and new Amex Offers for Hugo Boss

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

Today we are mostly playing catch up on some items from last week!

Technical issues hamper new flight bookings with BMO Rewards, bank tells customers book elsewhere and redeem points for that travel but at a lower value!

 
UPDATE: We did it! This post seems to have made BMO change their course and are now charging 150 points for $1 instead of 175 to $1. Read our update here.

I went to check out the BMO Rewards site as part of my normal rounds of checking out all the issuers sites for anything new or interesting and it appears BMO Rewards is having technical issues for new flights bookings. Their temporary solution is letting customers they can book the flights themselves with whomever they want and they can take advantage of special promotional rate to redeeming points against the charge however that rate is not as good of rate if you book flights through BMO Rewards.  

January 4 Update: Ontario Staycation Tax Credit of up to $400, earn 2,000 miles for joining Emirates Skywards & up to 10,000 points for joining and staying with Radisson

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

There is a new 2022 Ontario Staycation Tax Credit that can be claimed on your 2022 taxes. This is a great incentive for those looking to travel but want to stay a little closer to home. Here are the details as set out by the Ontario Government:

Fully vaccinated Canadians will no longer require a PCR test for trips of 72 hours or less

 
Some good news this week from the Canadian government for those people who make trips outside of Canada. As of November 30 fully vaccinated Canadians will no longer require to have a pre-entry COVID-19 molecular test when travelling by land or air. This is the part of the current regulations where you need to have or provide a negative test result prior to returning to Canada. Now those short weekend  cross border shopping trips will become more appealing. Do note you still have to present a negative if you are flying to the U.S. for any period of time.

The new AIR MILES Flights is here! New dynamic pricing model plus the ability to book any fare class, flights outside of Canada & more! (Part 1)

The much anticipated launch of AIR MILES new flight booking platform has finally happened! The new booking platform was first announced back in early October as part of a wider swath of changes to the programs however is the Flight portion where the biggest changes are happening! We covered most of what would be expected from the new AIR MILES Flights before but now have further details and insight into them.

A standardized Canadian COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination (Vaccine Passport) is now here

 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that a Canadian Vaccine Passport that can be used for international travel will be available soon. The Government of Canada has worked with the provinces and territories to create a standardized proof of vaccination.

October 14 Update: U.S. land border to reopen to vaccinated Canadians and World of Hyatt Peak/Off Peak pricing coming very soon so book your stays now

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500 towards any travel and no annual fee in the first year! 

The U.S. Government announced this week that they will be reopening the land border to fully vaccinated Canadians starting in November. I know most of our readers tend to fly to the U.S. but this is great news for those of you who utilize U.S. border cities for flights like Bellingham, Seattle, Detroit, Buffalo and Burlington to name a few! (Source CTV News)

October 6 Update: Mandatory COVID vaccination for Air & Rail travellers will start October 30, receive a 50% bonus when converting Marriott Points to Etihad & more

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points and no annual fee in the first year! 

 
Back in August the Federal Government stated that COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory for air, rail and cruise ship travel. At the time they didn't put dates in place that this new rule would become effective. We now know from Justin Trudeau's announcement that it will be mandatory for "air travellers departing from Canadian airports, and travellers on VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer trains" to be vaccinated by October 30 however there will be a one month transition period "during which travellers not yet fully vaccinated will be able to travel if they can show a negative COVID-19 molecular test within 72 hours of travel. This transition period will end on November 30, 2021." (Source Government of Canada)

Big changes coming to the AIR MILES program - find all the details here!

 
It didn't take long after AIR MILES unveiled their new look last week to reveal the changes to the program they were alluding to on their updated website. Rewards Canada had the opportunity to speak with AIR MILES at the end of last week to learn about some of the exciting changes coming to the program. Some of these have already taken place, some kick off today and others will be coming over the next few months. Read on to find out what is happening with one of Canada's largest loyalty programs.

Canadian Government to make COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for air, rail and cruise ship travel

 

Our federal government announced today that they intend to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for air, interprovincial rail and cruise ship travel. On top of this all federal public service employees will be mandated to get the vaccine. 

Canada will reopen border to fully vaccinated travellers from the U.S. in August, rest of world in September

 
Canada's travel and tourism industry can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief as the Canadian Government today announced an easing of the border restrictions that have been in place since March 2020. Barring any changes to the current COVID-19 situation in Canada our borders will open up on August 9 for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and on September 7 for the rest of the world.

Fully vaccinated Canadians will no longer have to quarantine upon arrival as of July 5

 

Great news today from the Government of Canada that sees the current travel restrictions for returning to Canada being eased. As of July 6th (well 11:59pm ET on July 5) Canadians who are fully vaccinated will no longer have to quarantine upon arrival and this includes the stay at a government authorized hotel. All other re-entry requirements do remain in place which means you'll need to have a negative COVID test prior to returning and you'll have to test upon arrival as well. 

June 9 Update: Mandatory hotel stay and quarantine requirement to be dropped for fully vaccinated Canadians & 35,000 bonus points on more Avion cards

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 70,000 bonus points and no annual fee in the first year! 

News emerged today from our federal government that we can expect to have the mandatory hotel stay and 14 day quarantine requirements when returning to Canada to be dropped for Canadians and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Travellers who meet the criteria will still be required to have a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding a flight back to Canada and will have to take one more test upon return and quarantine until those test results are received and are negative. It is hoped that these new rules will be in place by the beginning of July so long as our COVID-19 numbers continue to drop. (Source Canadian Travel News)

A look at the Canadian airport lounges that may be left for Priority Pass and LoungeKey come July

 
Last week we brought you the news that Plaza Premium airport lounges will be leaving the Priority Pass and LoungeKey access programs as of July 1. This doesn't mean that you can't access the lounges, you can but unless you get access from a card like the Platinum Card from American Express or are flying business or first class with an airline you won't get the discounted entry that Priority Pass and LoungeKey provide. So that begs the question that our Twitter follower Joshua asked:

And that's what we'll look at that in this post, what lounges will be left for members of Priority Pass and LoungeKey seeing that Plaza Premium operates the most third party lounges in Canada?

Air Canada's planned acquisition of Air Transat has been terminated

 

On Good Friday news came out that Air Canada and Air Transat agreed to terminate the agreement for Air Canada to buy Air Transat. The acquisition of Air Transat by Air Canada was subject to approval and conditions set out by various governments and regulatory authorities and one of them, the European Commission put onerous conditions in place according to Air Canada. Thus even after making some concessions the two airlines have agreed to call it off due to those conditions.