Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 28, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
Today was a relatively quiet day after the past 2 days of craziness related to our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card feature. There really is no news except for the release of another great Club Carlson offer. The fourth and final major Club Carlson stay one night get enough points for a free night offer is now out. This one is for Park Plaza hotels and offers 50,000 Bonus Club Carlson points for a 1 night stay.  The only problem is that there is only one Park Plaza in North America, the rest are in Europe and Asia and one in South America, so unless you are planning any overseas trips you may not need to register for this offer. If you did manage to jump on the other three offers and can take advantage of this one you'll have amassed an amazing 188,000 Club Carlson points. More than enough points for three nights at any of their top category 5 locations in the World or even more nights if you redeem for hotels in lower categories.

Travel Deals
British Airways has trumpeted another amazing Business Class deal that many other airlines have begun to match, it's not as cheap as those during the Diamond Jubilee but still for the middle of summer to have business class deal like this is amazing!

Fly from to London or Manchester from any British Airways Canadian gateway (Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) in Business Class for only $2012 including all taxes and fees! Book by July 3rd for travel between July 16th and September 2nd. For complete details and/or to book please visit British Airways

Virgin Atlantic has gone even cheaper for their Vancouver - London flights with their Upper Class (Business Class) coming in at $1849.31 including all taxes and fees! Book by July 3rd for travel between July 16th and September 2nd. For complete details and/or to book please visit Virgin Atlantic

Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
50,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete 1 eligible stay at any Park Plaza location Worldwide. Limited to the first 20,000 registrants, after that anyone who registers will receive 15,000 bonus points. Register Online (registration is required) then reserve a room online at Park Plaza Until Aug 28, 12

Melia International Mas Rewards
- Double Mas Points for stays at The Reservce at Paradisus Palma Real Punta Cana.  More... Until Aug 31, 12

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- 500 QMiles PER NIGHT when you book the Raffles Business package, Raffles Suite / Villas package or the Raffles Weekend package for stays at all participating Raffles Hotels Worldwide.  More... Until Aug 31, 12

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn up 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at the Element New York Times Square West.  More... Until Dec 31, 12

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Double Stash Rewards Points for all stays at Afffinia Hotels in New York and Washington DC.  More... Until Sep 30, 12
- 2,500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Artmore Hotel Atlant.  More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Aug 31, 12
- 1,000 Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Inn at The Black Olive Baltimore.   More... Until Aug 31, 12
- Earn up to 2,500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at the Cedarbrook Lodge Seattle.  More... Until Sep 3, 12
Plus 27 more Stash offers which can found here

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 27, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
The biggest news of the day for travel rewards in Canada came from WestJet and American Airlines in the form of an expansion of their frequent flyer partnership. As of today, WestJet Rewards members will be able to earn WestJet Rewards dollars on all American Airlines flights while American AAdvantage members will be able to earn AAdvantage miles on all WestJet flights. You can find all the details in our post from earlier today.

Our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card feature was covered by the Globe & Mail's Personal Finance Columnist Rob Carrick and also made the 6 o'clock news on Global Calgary:



This Sunday I will also be on the Informed Traveller on Calgary's AM 770 CHQR discussing the rankings.

Bonus Offers
Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Triple MilleMiglia Miles for every stay at the Atahotels Tanka Village. More...  Until Aug 31, 12
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for every stay at Atahotels Resorts (Petriolo SPA Resort, Atahotel Naxos Beach, Atahotel Capotaormina, Golf Hotel Campiglio).  More... Until Aug 31, 12
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for every stay at Atahotel Executive, Atahotel ExpoFiera and Atahotel Villa Pamphil.  More... Until Sep 30, 12

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 60,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles & Gold or Platinum Elite Status when you purchase an eligible First Class or Business Class round-trip ticket between the U.S. and Europe, Japan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay. More... Until Dec 15, 12 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone
- Earn up to 60,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles & Platinum Elite Status when you purchase an eligible First Class or Business Class round-trip ticket between the U.S. and Europe, Japan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay. More... Until Dec 15, 12 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Emirates Skywards
- 500 Bonus Skywards Miles + 3rd night free when you stay three consecutive nights at a participating Marriott hotel or resort in the Middle East and Africa. More... Jul 1 - Sep 15, 12

Iberia Plus
- 20% Bonus Avios Points when you purchase, gift or transfer Avios.  More...  Until Jul 8, 12

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Points per night when staying Thursday through Sunday nights at the Renaissance Chicago O'Hare Suites Hotel More... Jul 1 - Sep 23, 12
- 1,500 Bonus Points per stay including any night Monday through Thursday at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Flint Fenton. More... Until Sep 25, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay any Sunday or Monday night at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Kansas City Airport. More... Until Sep 3, 12

Now earn WestJet Dollars on all American Airlines flights

The WestJet Rewards program has just taken another big step in becoming a full fledged frequent flyer program. As of June 27th, WestJet Rewards members will be able to earn WestJet dollars on all American Airlines marketed and operated flights:

As you can see WestJet has decided to go with a flat rate reward for various flight distance flown on AA. Since WestJet is a revenue based program for their own flights (% of base ticket price is awarded as WestJet dollars) they had to figure out a way to reward their members for flights not operated by them and it appears the flat rate distance based amount was the way to go. Why would they go this route? In my opinion if you buy a $10,000 First Class ticket from AA, WestJet would have to dole out at $100 in WestJet dollars for a ticket that do not see any substantial revenue from and since WestJet does not have set redemption levels other than the base $25 they could see a big hit to their own revenues from tickets where WestJet Rewards members are applying their WestJet dollars to.

Overall, this is great new feature to the WestJet Rewards program as any partner earning addition is in the world of travel rewards.  In addition to this new AA partnership, WestJet Rewards members can earn WestJet dollars on WestJet flights, WestJet Vacation Packages, WestJet codeshare flights on AA and Delta, and via the RBC WestJet MasterCards. I figure we will see even airline more partners come on board and perhaps even some hotel partners (I predict IHG) by the end of the year.

For more details visit WestJet Rewards

As of June 27th American AAdvantage members will now be able to earn AAdvantage Miles on all WestJet flights within Canada and between Canada and the U.S., the Caribbean, and Mexico as follows:

Class of Service	Purchased Fares Booked in:	Base Miles	Class of Service Bonus Miles
Economy Class	Y, V, B, Q, L, M, P, G, X, D	100%	0%

Here are all the WestJet T&C's associated with this new opportunity

Eligible towards annual qualifying spend: No

To book a flight and/or to provide your WestJet ID:
Visit aa.com or call 1-800-433-7300

Missing WestJet dollars credit: Please allow up to thirty (30) days for WestJet dollars to be posted to your account.

To request retro credit for flights flown on American Airlines, American Eagle or AmericanConnection, please complete the online form available when you sign into mywestjet.com and select "My Requests". Be sure to include your flight date, origin, destination and ticket number. American Airlines ticket numbers are 13 digits and begin with "001".

Redeeming WestJet dollars: Flights operated by American Airlines are not available for redemption at this time.

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 26, 12

News, Tips, & Tricks
If you are just visiting Rewards Canada or reading the blog feed now you may not have seen the big news of the day, the release of our 4th Annual Top Travel Rewards Credit Card. This ranking has become a mainstay feature on our site and we are please to present it once again! We did not run 'Canada's Choice' this time as we have decided to separate it into its own feature. Watch for it to be released this fall and be sure to vote for your favourite card at that time.

Bonus Offers
Accor Leclub
- 210 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for every weekend stay at one of the 628 certified sustainable hotels participating in the Le Club Accorhotels program Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 15, 12

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy of gift Flying Blue Award miles. More... Until Jul 18, 12

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 1,500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you book the Mercure Summer Offer at over 300 Mercure hotels in Europe. More... Book by Jul 22 for stays Jul 9 - Aug 19, 12
- 500 MilleMiglia Miles per stay at Starhotels in Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Trieste, Saronno, Milan, Bologna, Parma, Turin, Genoa and Bergamo. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 12
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you make reservation for dinner online at a participating Starwood Hotel restaurant in Rome and Florence. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Iberia Plus
Double Avios Points for all Iberia flights Worldwide that are booked online. Valid on Iberia, Air Nostrum and Puente Aéreo shuttle flights. More... Book now for travel Jul 1 - Aug 31, 12
Restrictions
Excluding IB7xxx, IB5xxx or IB4xxx code flights.

Scandinavian EuroBonus
- 5,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points when making a reservation with Avis and Best Western Hotels in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 12

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Earn Triple FlySmiles Miles for stays at any participating Taj Hotel & Resort Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 12

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Double Miles & Smiles Miles when you book and stay at any participating DoubleTree by Hilton™ Hotel or resort worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards for 2012

Today on RewardsCanada.ca we posted our fourth annual picks for Canada's top travel rewards credit cards. We have combed over 70 different credit cards offering travel rewards for Canadians and of those there are a few that really stand out. While it is practically impossible to give this question a perfect one card answer, we can breakdown the market of Canadian Travel Rewards credit cards into five major categories that these cards fall into. Without further ado, here are the top travel rewards credit cards for 2012 as picked by RewardsCanada.ca:

Top Travel Points Credit Card (with annual fee)
1. Capital One Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard®
2. TD First Class Infinite Visa

Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)
1. American Express Blue Sky Credit Card
2. Capital One Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard

Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card (with annual fee)
1. American Express Gold Rewards Card*
2. RBC Visa Infinite Avion

Top Airline Credit Card
1. CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite
2. Capital One Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard

Top Hotel Points Credit Card
1. Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
2. Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One

For the complete article, details on each card plus runners up in each category please visit the full Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Card for 2012 page on the Rewards Canada website

Care to comment on our choices? Want to voice your opinion on the good and the bad of all the Travel Rewards Credit Cards in Canada. Share you views and experiences by leaving a comment below.

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 25, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
Nothing new to really add here as I worked primarily on a big feature being release on Rewards Canada tomorrow.

Bonus Offers

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points on all eligible stays at the Best Western Cape Suites Hotel Cape Town. More... Until Jul 31, 12
- Double Rewards Points on all eligible stays at the Best Western Golden Prairie Inn & Suites Sidney. More... Until Jul 30, 12
- Triple Rewards Points for Sunday thru Thursday stays at the Best Western Plus Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center Bethleham. More...  Jul 1 - Sep 6, 12
- Double Rewards Points on stays of 3+ nights ont Standard, Corporate, AAA or AARP Rates at the Best Western Cresson Inn. More... Until Aug 17. 12

Hyatt Gold Passport
Earn up to 30% Bonus Gold Passport Points when you purchase Gold Passport points online.
Buy 1,000 - 9,000 points and get a 10% Bonus
Buy 10,000 - 29,000 points and get a 20% Bonus
Buy 30,000 - 40,000 points and get a 30% Bonus
Full details Until Aug 31, 12

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 22, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
One of our readers, Bill passes along this story on getting bonus Air Miles reward miles from Shell:

A quick note with regards to Shell and their current bonuses. Until July 8th, they are running 2 promotions. The first one is get 3X or 10X Air Miles (depending on grade)with minimum $30 fuel fill. This one does not require any coupons and is administered automatically. The other one is for bonus coupons with merchandise purchase in-store. Each of these 4 coupons offer 3 bonus points per coupon. These are also conditional on a fuel purchase being made, except that they only require $20.

The kicker is that one will override the other. So, you automatically get the 3X or 10X just by fuelling up, but if you use one of the coupons, it will cancel out the first promo. So, if you buy $30.00 of premium fuel, you get 10 Air Miles. But, if you use the coupon on this purchase, you will only get 3 Air Miles, not 13 (10+3).

One of the clerks at my local Shell told me about this, so I called Air Miles. They couldn’t find anything that specifically indicated that this was the case, but the CSR I spoke with tended to agree that this is how it worked. I told him that if this is how the program is set up, then the coupons are worthless, they have no value (you can’t use them without a fuel purchase). No point in using the coupons to actually get less Air Miles. He suggested buying $30.00 worth of gas and paying for it on one transaction, then buying another $20.00 and using the bonus coupon. (I did enough of the small transactions (Esso) getting the 15,000 Aeroplan miles last month….).

Air Miles checked my account and said that I did get the 10X bonus for the 2 transactions I did last week, but there was no indication that any 3 point bonuses were being credited to my account. He did add the 6 points onto my account right away. He said that if the bonus points do come through, then I will have an extra 6 points. If not, then at least I got the points. That was fair enough and not expected, but appreciated.

I’ll let you know if I actually do get the bonus points credited, but Shell is notorious for posting points loooooooong after the promotion is over…..

I am glad Bill sent this over as I had no idea it worked this way as I don't really use Shell that often. So the moral of the story here is to make sure you only take advantage of one offer and that should be the one that provides you with the biggest bonus!

Are you holder of a Capital One Aspire Travel World or Platinum MasterCard? Have you redeemed any of your miles yet? If so please tell us your redemption story and if it was good, bad or ugly. You can do so here.

Finally, if you are Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express check out the offer below for 1 Bonus Starpoint for every dollar spent at Starwood hotels until the end of July!

Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for all Best Western stays in Denmark that are booked via the Best Western Denmark site. More... Ongoing

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles on Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Addis Ababa or Ahmedabad. More... Nov 1 - 30, 12
- Double Guest Miles for stays at the TilalLiwa Hotel. More... Until Aug 15, 12

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
- Double Gold Plus Rewards Points on all weekly rentals of an Economy through Full-Size car at airport locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 12 Valid for residents of the U.S. and Canada only

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- 1,000 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles for Hertz rentals of 3+ days at participating locations Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Double QMiles for stays on the Jumeirah Summer Breaks package at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah Dubai, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Dubai, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel Dubai and Jumeirah Emirates Towers Dubai. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1 Bonus Starpoint for every eligible dollar charged to your Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express at over 1,000 participating hotels and resorts worldwide in the SPG®* program. More... Until Jul 31, 12 Residents of Canada Only

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 21, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
Congratulations to @cecilialu who won the $100 Best Western Travel Card with our Twitter Contest! Thanks to everyone who participated! Make sure you keep following us for all the latest travel rewards news, information, bonus offers and of course for more contests!

The Star Alliance welcomed Avianca TACA and COPA Airlines into the alliance which means that you can earn and burn Aeroplan miles for flights on these airlines. These latest additions to the alliance give them some strength in Central and South America that has been lacking since losing Varig a few years ago. Watch for Avianca TACA LifeMiles buy miles offers which seem to run every 3 months or so where they give you double miles and the opportunity to fly in Business Class on the cheap.

Bonus OffersAmerican AAdvantage
- 100 AAdvantage Miles for 'liking' American Airlines in Facebook and joining the Summer Miles challenge. More... Until ?

Hilton HHonors
Earn up to Triple HHonors Points when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. Earn Triple points for stays on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights, Double points for stays on Monday through Thursday nights. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking
For a list of excluded properties please see here
Jul 1 - Sep 30, 12

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay Thursday-Sunday (Friday or Saturday required) at the Boston Marriott Burlington. More... Until Sep 2, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points + a free Upgrae for stays at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel. More... Until Aug 31, 12
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. More...  Until Sep 3, 12

Miles & More
- Earn up to Triple Miles & More Miles for stays at any Shangri-La hotel, Shangri-La resort, Traders hotel or Kerry hotel Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 12

United Mileage Plus
1,000 Bonus Mileage Plus Miles on rentals of 3 or more days at any participating National location in the United States or Canada. Full Details Until Dec 31, 12

Rewards Canada Daily Update: June 20, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
Air Canada is offering an Elite Status Match for bmi Diamond Club Elite members in an effort to keep them flying with the Star Alliance versus oneworld. Learn more...

Don't forget to enter our Twitter contest, just over two hours left at the time of posting this!

Travel Deals
Air France sale to North Africa, Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto to Casablanca, Tunis or Rabat from $749 incl taxes roundtrip. Book online at AirFrance.ca

Emirates Two Week Business Class Promotion - $1000 Off Restricted and Advanced Purchase Fares from the U.S. to Dubai including Seattle, so this is a good offer for those of you in Vancouver/Victoria area. More... Book by Jul 5 for travel until Aug 31, 12

Receive breakfast for 2 and a late checkout or Save up to 25% by booking early for stays at Sheraton, Westin, St Regis, W, Le Méridien, Four Points and Aloft hotels in Asia Pacific. Full Details & Online Booking Book by Jul 31 for stays until Aug 31, 12

Bonus Offers
Avianca TACA LifeMiles
- Double LifeMiles for Avis rentals in United States, Europe, Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean. More... Until Aug 18, 12

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 500 Bonus Asia Miles when you stay at any of Ascott’s participating serviced residence Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12
- Double Asia Miles when you stay or dine at Hotel ONE in Taichung, Taiwan. More... Until Aug 31, 12

Miles & More
- Quadruple Miles & More Miles + Complimentary Internet for stays at all Movenpick Hotels in Europe. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 12

Scandinavian EuroBonus
- Double EuroBonus Points and 20% off for stays 2+ nights that are booked at least 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Sheraton Fuzhou Hotel. More... Aug 1 - Dec 31 ,12
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at the Sheraton Asunción Hotel. More...  Until Dec 31, 12
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Starpoints for dining out at the Sheraton Golf Parco de Medici Hotel & Resort Rome. More... Until Aug 31, 12
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Air Canada Aeroplan Status Match for bmi Elite Diamond Club members

You may have noticed this in yesterday's Daily Update but it is significant enough to warrant its own blog post. Now that bmi (British Midland) has been taken over by British Airways, the airline is no longer part of the Star Alliance. To try and keep the higher spending elite flyer in the Star Alliance and more so move them over to Air Canada, AC is offering a status match for bmi Diamond Silver and Gold Diamond Club members as follows:
Diamond Club Gold = 2012 Air Canada Elite status
Diamond Club Silver = 2012 Air Canada Prestige status

Here are the details straight from Aeroplan's UK site:

About this offer: 

Your current bmi Diamond Club membership status will be matched as follows:

• Your request must be submitted between June 15 and July 15 2012.
• To be eligible, you’ll need to be an Aeroplan member. Not a member yet? Sign up now.
• You can expect to receive your new 2012 Air Canada Top Tier status within 6 to 8 weeks.
• The 2012 Air Canada Elite or 2012 Air Canada Prestige status will be valid until February 28, 2013. 
• Any Miles accrued with your bmi Diamond Club membership will not be transferred into your Aeroplan account.

How to request your Air Canada Top Tier status match:

• Submit your request between June 15 to July 15 2012, by email with the following information:
  • Your full name
  • Your current Diamond Club membership number
  • Your Aeroplan number. Don’t have one? Sign up now.
  • A scanned copy of your current bmi Diamond Club membership card. Please make sure the name, status and expiry date are clearly visible.
  • Your consent to the Terms and Conditions related to this offer.

For complete offer details please visit the BMI Status Match Offer on Aeroplan.com