RBC Avion to British Airways 50% Transfer Bonus is back

One of the best conversion/transfer bonuses from a Hybrid card in Canada is back! We last saw this offer run from November 2011 to January 2012 and chances are it will be back later this fall as we have seen over the past few years.

The offer is the RBC Avion transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club where you get 50% bonus Avios points when you convert a minimum 10,000 RBC Rewards points to the British Airways Executive Club program. Normally the transfer ratio is 1:1 but until the end of July it is 1:1.5.

This transfer bonus means you can fly between Toronto and New York for only 6,000 RBC Rewards Points (The RBC Avion redemption schedule requires 15,000) as the British Airways Award ticket requirement for a flight on American is 9,000 Avios. Flights to the U.K. run between 40,000 - 50,000 Avios (26,667 to 33,333 RBC Rewards Points) in economy from Canada which means with this offer you have get to spend less on your card for these redemptions. You do have to beware of high fuel surcharges on British Airways redemptions to the UK and Europe, however even with the high fuel surcharges they can still be worthwhile when utilizing the bonus considering how much more money you would have to spend on the credit card to get the redemption without the bonus or if you used the Avion Redemption schedule where you would need at least 65,000 RBC Rewards points before taxes and fees.

For more details on this offer please visit British Airways

Thanks to Christopher L. for the heads up on this version of the offer!

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Rewards Canada Daily Update: July 4, 2012

News, Tips, & Tricks
The Rewards Canada Car Rental Bonus Offer listing has been enhanced recently. If you have visited the page over the past week or so you'll have noticed a new column for minimum rental days. Many lines are still empty as I am only completing it on a go forward basis but figure within 3-4 months it should have cycled through enough that most of the offers will now show the minimum rental length required so that you don't have to click through to the offer if you know you won't meet the requirement. See the enhanced page in action here.

Today was also a good day for new bonus offers, check them out below!

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you park with Park & Jet Calgary.  More... Until Aug 31, 12

American AAdvantage
- 10% to 25% Discount when you buy AAdvantage Miles online. More... Until Aug 31, 12

ANA Mileage Club
- Double Mileage Club Miles 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

Asiana Club
- Double Club Miles 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

Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2 separate times at any 2 unique Best Western® branded hotels in South America. More... Until Aug 31, 12For residents of U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela only

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you book and stay at any participating Taj Hotel Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12
- Double Asia Miles 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

China Southern Sky Pearl Club
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Sky Pearl Kilometers when you fly between Guangzhou and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth or Sydney. More... Jul 15 - Aug 31, 12
- Double Sky Pearl Kilometers for stays at any Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Plus the first 200 new registrants will earn additional 750 Kilometers. More...  Register by Dec 31, 12 for stays Jul 15, 12- Jan 31, 13

Emirates Skywards
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Skywards Miles with Emirate's July Miles Accelerator offers on select routes Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Complimentary Internet (For Ambassador members only) for stays at participating InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.  More...

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 500 Bonus Starpoints per night (up to 2,000 Bonus Starpoints per stay) for stays on the Economy Single Promo at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers. More...  Until Oct 12, 12
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints ) for stays in a Suite or Villa at theThe Westin Resort & Spa, Puerto Vallarta. More...  Until Dec 31, 12

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Rewards Canada Daily Update: July 3, 12

News, Tips, & Tricks
I hope you all had a great Canada Day long weekend! Like many of you today was the first day back at work for me and will be a short week as I am also taking Friday off. The start of the week sees home page updates, sending out the newsletters and other website housekeeping yet I was also able to fit in a lot of new bonus offers that follow below. Be sure to check out the free miles from Aeroplan/Accor, everyone should take advantage of this offer.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you join the Le Club Accorhotels program. More... Until Aug 31, 12

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 250 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for stays at Best Western Plus and Premier hotels in Italy that are booked online. More... Until Sep 30, 12

American AAdvantage
Earn up to 25,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you fly round-trip on American Airlines between Chicago and Helsinki. More... Until Sep 30, 12

China Airlines Dynasty Flyer
- Triple Dynasty Flyer Miles on Avis rentals of 5 or more days in Europe, Middle-East, Africa Guam, Singapore & Malaysia. More... Until Sep 30, 12
- Double Dynasty Flyer Miles on Avis rentals of 3 or more days in US, Canada, Europe, Middle-East, Africa Guam, Singapore & Malaysia. More... Until Sep 30, 12

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Eastern Miles points for flights between Sydney and Shanghai. More... Aug 1 - Sep 30, 12
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Eastern Miles points for flights between Shanghai and Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Niigata, Okinawa, Komatsu, Shizuoka, Toyama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kagoshima, or Nagasaki. More...  Sep 1 - 28, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Double Priority Club Points and get up to 35% off on any vehicle rental in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Europe. More... Until Dec 31, 12

JetBlue TrueBlue (FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double TrueBlue Points for all eligible Emirates flights Worldwide. More...  Until Sep 30, 12

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Courtyard Las Vegas South. More... Until Sep 3, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for a minimum 2 nights stay that includes a Friday or Saturday night at the Milan Marriott Hotel or the Rome Marriott Park Hotel. More... Until Sep 1, 12

Miles & More
- Triple Miles & More Miles for stays at the Shangri-La Garden Wing Singapore. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Southwest Rapid Rewards (FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 50 Bonus Rapid Rewards Points for SuperShuttle shared ride van service that is booked online. More... Until Aug 31, 12

Tesco Clubcard (FrequentFlyerBonuses.co.uk only)
- 1,200 Clubcard Points for New Accounts with a £75 Spend. More... Until ?

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Dividend Miles when you share Dividend Miles with your family or friends. Bonus miles are deposited into the Family or Friends account. More... Until Jul 31, 12

500 Free Aeroplan Miles for joining Le Club accorhotels

Free miles are always nice and you may recall seeing this same offer for Delta SkyMiles a few weeks ago. Now it is Aeroplan's turn, you can earn 500 Aeroplan Miles for joining Le Club accorthotels or if you are an existing member for changing your earning preference to Aeroplan. Here is the offer as pulled from our Aeroplan page:

500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you join the Le Club Accorhotels program and in your Le Club Accorhotels membership profile, select "Aeroplan" as your preferred loyalty program and enter your Aeropla membership number. If you already are a member of Le Club Accorhotels, login to your account and follow steps 2 and 3 to earn your bonus miles. Full Details Until Aug 31, 12

Hotel Review: Sheraton Parkway Toronto North

Recently I had to jet off to Toronto again, this time for some meetings with American Express Canada and I wanted to stay near their offices in Markham. There are few hotels to choose from across all the major brands and with me wanting to working to build up my Starpoints balance I asked them to book me into the only Starwood hotel that was close, The Sheraton Parkway Toronto North in Richmond Hill.

The stay was for one night and my flight from YYC was due to arrive into YYZ at 23:45 so I figured I could be at the hotel by 00:30 or so. Of course, the plane YYC went mechanical and left nearly an hour late so I didn't get to the Sheraton until a little after 1:00am. I must say I do love the highways in Toronto in the middle of the night, they actual get you places fast, not like during the day!

So here I was arriving at the hotel for roughly a 7 hour stay. At 1am there was no one checking in except for me so I can say it went super fast although they required my SPG number as it was not on the reservation even though I had called SPG about two weeks before to add my number to the reservation, not sure where the disconnect happened here. Since I don't have SPG status yet I tried finagling for free internet seeing as I had a short stay and would only use it for 15 minutes or so but was denied as the check in clerk said I would be automatically charged for it and wouldn't waive it.  He was only doing his job which he did well, I just thought I would try, doesn't hurt to ask does it? In the end I just checked email via my phone.

I was assigned a King Guest room on the 6th floor of the York Tower which is a small trek from the lobby. The room was spacious, clean and well appointed and was perfectly suited for a 7 hour stay!  Honestly the stay was so short I can't say too much more about the hotel but I walked away with no complaints, so chances are I will stay here again for future meetings with Amex unless there are some good point or free night promotions from another brand as there are properties from most of the major brands all in the same area.

You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos due to the lack of natural light and only having my iPhone to take photos:

The Sheraton Parkway Toronto North
SPG Category: 3
Points required for a free night: 7,000 Starpoints
Cash+Points Requirement: 2,800 Starpoints + $45 per night

Links:
The Sheraton Parkway Toronto North

Aeroplan Best Western Quadruple Dip extended

Aeroplan and Best Western have extended the
offer to earn 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan miles for every $100 Best Western Travel Card purchased to August 31st. You may recall my post from on how it can be combined with Best Western's Aeroplan stay bonus and credit card use to complete a quadruple dip!

What follows is a repeat of my explanation on how to earn up to 3,700 Aeroplan miles for a $100 Best Western stay with this Quadruple dip

Here is the scenario, I am going to buy a $100 BW Travel Card on my American Express Gold Rewards Card and use that for a Best Western stay that comes in at the $100 mark:

Dip #1: Purchase a $100 Best Western Travel Rewards card with my American Express Gold Rewards Card which will earn 2 Points per dollar as it is travel purchase. Those 2 points can be converted to Aeroplan at 1:1 so I effectively earn 200 Aeroplan miles. If you hold other Aeroplan cards you will earn between 50 - 150 Aeroplan miles depending on the card.
Dip #2: Earn the 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for purchasing the $100 Travel Card
Dip #3: Book and Stay on a mileage or point qualifying rate at any Best Western. Once completed I will earn 250 Aeroplan miles as the standard stay bonus
Dip #4: Earn 1,750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles as part of the Best Western/Aeroplan summer stay promotion.

Total Aeroplan miles earned is 3,700! Not bad for a $100 stay. If you are lucky enough you may even find some hotels below the $100 mark and have some money left over on your BW Travel Card however with it being summer season I don't figure there will be many below the $100 range, chance are they will be around the $120-$160 mark. If that is the case you can put the remaining balance of $20-$60 on your Aeroplan earning credit card or even better buy more BW Travel Cards as you will earn 1,500 Miles for every $100 purchased.

Here are the links to the two bonus promotions:

Travel Card purchase:
1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every $100 BW Travel Card purchased. Full details Until Aug 31,12

 

Bonus Miles for Summer Stays 1,750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles per stay at participating Best Western hotels Worldwide. Bonus can be earned on a maximum of 3 stays.. Full details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required) Jun 17 - Aug 19, 12

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Great Business Class fares from Canada to the U.K. - Book by July 3

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

Air Canada has matched the sale as well although it is not advertised like BA or VS. I love seeing pricing for Executive First being less than Tango Plus! Visit AirCanada.com to book

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.