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:

November 24 Update: Enter to win 30,000 Starpoints, WOW Air expands YYZ/YUL flights, London Drugs LDExtras

News, Tips & Tricks
The fifth and final week of the Rewards Canada 15th Anniversary Celebration is here! Enter for your chance to win 30,000 Starpoints! Check it all out on the 15th Anniversary site!

Also remember that as part of our 15th Anniversary you can earn double MileagePlus Miles on all hotel bookings made via Kaligo! Find out more here.

WOW Air, the low cost airline from Iceland is expanding there service to Canada for the summer 2017 season. Both Montreal and Toronto will now see daily service from the airline. The airline does not have a frequent flyer program but you can most definitely redeem points from Travel Anywhere credit cards for flights on WOW Air. (Source Routesonline)

Posts since our last update:

• Canadian North Systemwide Salebration - 40% off flights + 2x Aurora Rewards Points + 1x Aeroplan Miles (book by 11/25)
  Canadian North has a great Black Friday offer that you can book today and tomorrow for travel January 1…
• London Drugs LDExtras - Canada's latest loyalty program
  This past October London Drugs, the Western Canadian drug store chain launched their own loyalty program called LDExtras. It seemed…
• WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard Review
  Enhanced in early 2016, the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard is a companion travellers dream. The card for Canada's…
• 1,000 FREE Aeroplan Miles when you join Fairmont Hotels President's Club (it's back!)
  Back in Septem

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 1,000 FREE Aeroplan Miles when you join Fairmont Hotels President's Club. More... Until Jan 15, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you join Langham Hotels 1865 program and stay at the Chelsea Hotel Toronto. More... Until Dec 31, 16
- Up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Langham Hotels 1865 program members who stay at the Chelsea Hotel Toronto. More... Until Dec 31, 16
- 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book the Best Available Rate for stays at the Chelsea Hotel Toronto.More... Until Dec 31, 16

AIR MILES (Canada)
- OFFER EXTENDED Triple AIR MILES Reward Miles when you stay at at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. More... Until Jan 31, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- 15,000 Bonus Avios when you apply for and receive the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card. More... Residents of Canada only Ongoing

Other Bonus Offers
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to 20 Asia MIles per HKD10 on hotel bookings booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Brazil. More... Book by Dec 22 for stays until Dec 31, 16

SATA Imagine
- Double Imagine Miles for stays at all Altis Hotels. More... Book by Dec 30 for stays until Mar 15, 17

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- 50% Travel Pass Points discount when you redeem points for award night stays at participating Sonesta Hotels in the U.S. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Follow Rewards Canada:

WOW Air: $99 all in between Toronto or Montreal and Iceland!!

A few short weeks ago we let you know that ultra low cost Icelandic carrier WOW Air announced new service between Canada and Iceland. At the time prices had not been released however whenever they enter a new market they are low. We know in the U.S. their launch prices were $99 each way and figured in Canada it would be $149 but we were wrong! The launch prices are only C$99 between Toronto or Montreal and Iceland! Or go to mainland Europe via Iceland for only $149 each way!

And we checked to make sure and you bet there are seats available at the $99 ALL IN level!

Now what you have to remember however is that WOW Air charges fees for almost everything else so unless you are just taking a carry on to Iceland your fares will be more than this in the end. Still you can end up travelling to Iceland or Europe for very cheap!

Here are examples of the extra charges:

Now think about this, at $99 each way all in you can fly to Iceland for $198. Take a card like the American Express Gold Rewards card that has 25,000 point sign up bonus that is equivalent to a $250 travel credit. So you go to wowair.ca to book your flights with the Amex Gold Rewards card using your sign up bonus to put a credit towards that charge when it shows up and voila, your flights were free and you still have $52 worth of points to use towards extra charges!

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American Express Gold Rewards Card
• New American Express® Gold Rewards* Cardmembers can earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards® points - our HIGHEST Gold Rewards Card offer - just by making $500 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership
• No Annual Fee for the first year; $150 Annual Fee thereafter*
• That's enough for a round trip flight to almost anywhere in North America
• Transfer your points to frequent flyer programs, or 1:1 to Aeroplan®* and Avios
• Earn double points on eligible travel and everyday purchases
• Charge any travel to your Card theøaern pay for it with points
• 1 Free Supplementary Gold Rewards Card (a $50 value*) to help you earn points faster
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now  link.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.
Conditions apply
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* Canadian Residents Only