Earn 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at renovated Starwood Hotels in the US & Canada

Looks like Starwood has dropped the continuous double Starpoints offer for stays at renovated Starwood locations Worldwide (the old url was www.sheraton.com/renovated) to an offer that requires registration and has a time restriction. Still this bonus offer of 1,000 Bonus Starpoints can worth more than the old double points offer especially on shorter length stays plus if I recall correctly the old promo was tied into a specific rate whereas this new one is not. For this version of the promo you can earn the bonus points are over 25 locations in the U.S. and Canada until June 30. You must register by June 15 to be eligible for the points. Complete details including the registration link can be found here. Similar to this renovation offer is Starwood's ongoing Double Starpoints offers for stays at new Starwood locations worldwide, for more detail on the new hotel offer see here.

The participating properties in the Renovations Worth Celebrating - Earn 1,000 bonus Starpoints promo are:

CANADA

British Columbia
Four Points by Sheraton Kamloops

Ontario
Four Points by Sheraton Toronto Mississauga
Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
Sheraton Gateway Hotel In Toronto International Airport

Quebec
Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel

UNITED STATES

Arizona
The Phoenician, Scottsdale

California
Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel
The Westin Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego
Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles

Colorado
The St. Regis Aspen Resort

Florida
Four Points by Sheraton Orlando Studio City
Sheraton Lake Buena Vista Resort

Hawaii
Sheraton Kauai Resort

Illinois
Sheraton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel

Indiana
Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel at Keystone Crossing

Massachusetts
Sheraton Needham Hotel

Michigan
Sheraton Detroit Metro Airport

Missouri
Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center

Nebraska
Sheraton Omaha Hotel

New Jersey
Sheraton Parsippany Hotel
The Westin Governor Morris, Morristown

New York
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers
W New York - Union Square

Pennsylvania
Sheraton Society Hill Hotel

Texas
Sheraton Dallas North Hotel by the Galleria

Virginia
Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner
Sheraton Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel

Washington
Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Seattle Center

Priority Pass adds Edmonton Transborder lounge to their network

Priority Pass, the independent airport business class lounge access program has added the Plaza Premium Lounge (USA Transborder) in Edmonton to their roster of lounges. Edmonton becomes the 6th Canadian city to have a lounge or lounges available to members of the Priority Pass program. The lounge is located airside near gate 88 and is open 4:30 - 18:30 daily.

The Priority Pass program allows anyone to join with membership fees ranging from US$99 to US$349 and lounge visits costing from US$27 to free depending on which membership you get. Some credit cards in Canada like Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard and the BMO World Elite MasterCard give their cardholders the basic membership ($99) for free as part of their benefits package. For more information please visit Priority Pass (Priority Pass is running a promo right now for 20% off memberships until April 4)

American Express Gold Rewards Card Bonus Points have posted

As a follow to my post from late December on the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the ensuing comments about cardholders receiving a targetted bonus for completing a certain amount of spending, I am happy to report that I received my 5,000 Bonus Membership Rewards points earlier this week. When I checked the terms of the offer it did say it could take up to 60 days after the end of the promo (Jan 15) for the points to post and Amex kept to their T&Cs.

I would like to know if anyone else received their targetted bonus this week? Do so by commenting below

Free Hertz #1 Club Gold Membership

The first 'elite' level of Hertz's Loyalty program which normally costs $60 is being offered for free until April 30th. Essentially the best feature of the #1 Club Gold membership is expedited service for picking up your rental car and at 40 specific airports worldwide you don't even have to check in at the counter, you just go straight to your car. This is a similar service to National's Emerald Club program.

To join Hertz #1 Club Gold for free please visit Hertz.com and apply by April 30.

Redemption Stories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This will be a new feature on Rewards Canada where we reach out to our subscriber and viewer base to tell us their stories of reward program redemption. We want to hear good stories, bad stories and of course plain old ugly ones! We will compile a few of the stories together and post them right here on our blog. For our first post we might as well go with Canada's longest running frequent flyer program, Aeroplan.

If you want to share your Aeroplan Redemption story with the rest of Canada whether it is good, bad or ugly, please email us at info@rewardscanada.ca. You can send us a couple of sentences, a whole story or feel free to submit a video! Watch for the first Redemption Stories on Aeroplan to be posted within the next few weeks.

1,000 Free Starpoints for a quick survey

As posted on Flyertalk by Starwood Lurker, SPG members can take a really short survey and be rewarded with 1,000 Starpoints. Note: Please add your SPG account number to the field for name and email address. The survey is open until March 9.

You can complete the survey here

Accor Platinum Status for free again? Perhaps....

Another free Accor A|Club Platinum status offer has been released for a specific target market but according to some other frequent flyer bloggers anyone signing up for the link is receiving the status. This is targetted to Citi Premier Miles World Elite MasterCard program in the United Arab Emirates so please use at your discretion but sign up sooner then later if you do as these offers tend to get pulled early. As always buyer beware as you may be asked in the future to provide proof of being a Citi UAE cardholder in which case you may have your status revoked.

To sign up for free platinum status visit Accor Hotels

Join Etihad Guest for a chance to win 2 Economy Class tickets anywhere they fly

Etihad Airways is making a push to have more people join their program. Normally promos like this require a flight or some mileage earning action but for this contest, all you have to do is join the Etihad Guest program for a chance to win two Coral Economy Class tickets to any destination in the Etihad network. For those of you who may not be aware, Etihad serves Toronto three times weekly from Abu Dhabi with an extensive network out of their U.A.E. that can be connected to.

To enter visit Etihad Airways

Hyatt Gold Passport dropping 4 airline partners, including Air Canada/Aeroplan

Taken from Hyatt:

"After March 15, 2012, Hyatt will no longer offer guests the option to earn miles with Aeroplan (Air Canada), Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines and US Airways for hotel stays. You may continue to earn miles with these airlines for completed stays through March 15. Additionally, after this time period, Hyatt Gold Passport members will no longer be able to convert Hyatt Gold Passport points to miles with these airline programs."

Unfortunate for Aeroplan (and the other airlines) to lose Hyatt as a a partner, although for myself and most frequent travellers I believe this isn't a huge issue as there is more value in earning Gold Passport points on Hyatt stays rather than miles (except on the odd occasion where there were big mileage bonuses offered)

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite: Up to 50,000 Bonus Avios

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, the new version of the RBC British Airways Visa was released today. The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite replaces the old BA Platinum card that has been around for a number of years. With the Infinite branding comes a better suite of insurance benefits (though not as complete as the RBC Avion Infinite and Infinite cards from other banks) and card perks namely 31 day out of province medical insurance. The sign up bonus remains the same at 15,000 Avios however to celebrate the launch of the card, 35,000 additional Avios will be awarded to any new cardholder who applies by May 31 and spends $5,000 within the first 3 months of card membership. This brings the total of the signup bonus to 50,000 Avios, which ties past and present offers for the AeroplanPlus Platinum card and the special RFD Capital One Aspire World Travel MasterCard as the highest mile/point offer for a credit card. The card comes with an annual fee of $165 for the primary card and $75 for supplementary cards.

What can you get for 50,000 Avios? A round-trip economy class flight to England on British Airways (+taxes/fees) from anywhere in Canada or 10 one way trips between Toronto and New York (+taxes/fees). There many other options as well including upgrading paid tickets to the next higher category on BA flights (i.e. Economy to Economy Plus; Economy Plus to Business etc)

Some additional details of the card are:
- Earn 1 Avios for every $1 CAD you spend on the card.
- Earn double Avios for every $1 CAD you spend on British Airways purchases
- Receive a complimentary Companion Award Ticket~ when you spend $30,000 or more on your card in any calendar year*.
- Enjoy Comprehensive Insurances including 31-day Out-of-Country/Province Emergency Medical Insurance.
- Minimum credit limit of $5,000 (provided income requirements of $60k personal or $100k household are met).

For more details or to apply for the card please visit: rbcroyalbank.com

In the next couple of weeks watch for a complete review of this card in our standard Rewards Canada fashion as well as the new features of the card to be added to all of our credit card comparison charts.