Marriott: This summer earn 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per night at 14 locations across Canada

This offer seems to be a recurring one that we see a couple of times each year although each time the hotels that participate do vary. For this summer's version of the promo 14 Marriott Hotels across Canada have jumped on for stays between June 10 and August 31. The bonus 1,000 Rewards Points per night for a maximum of 5 nights per stay. I did a couple of spot checks on rates and the bonus offer is the same as the regular and/or standard rate at all the locations I checked (3 out of the 14). The only rate I could find cheaper was the AAA/CAA rate which was $10 less. With varying accounts of what a Marriott Rewards point is worth those 1,000 Bonus Points per night can be valued between $5 and $10. So if you are a CAA member you are probably better off going with the AAA/CAA rate however if you are not paying for your room (ie Screw your employer rate) than paying the bonus offer rate will reward you more.  You can also increase the amount of points you earn by putting the hotel stay on the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa. (Read my review of the card here)

Here is the offer as it was posted on Rewards Canada earlier today:

1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at any one of 14 participating Marriott locations in Canada (Maximum of 5,000 bonus points per stay) .Full Details and Online Booking Jun 10 - Aug 31, 13

Participating Hotels:
Courtyard Calgary Airport
Calgary Marriott Downtown Hotel
Residence Inn Calgary Airport
Montreal Airport Marriott Hotel
Edmonton Marriott at River Cree Resort
Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel
Ottawa Marriott Hotel
Vancouver Airport Marriott Hotel
Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel
Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel
Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel
Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel
Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel
Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel

Apr 26 Update: Air Canada & Etihad to offer reciprocal Frequent Flyer benefits, 1,000 Bonus Points at select Marriott's across Canada

Last day of the week brings us the following and be prepared as next week is going to be a big week for RewardsCanada and even bigger for FrequentFlyerBonuses.com! Stay tuned...
 
News, Tips & Tricks   
Air Canada and Etihad Airways have sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance their relationship beyond an interline agreement to a full fledged codeshare partnership to offer customers through-checked bags, reciprocal codeshare services and frequent flyer benefits. The following is from Etihad's press release:

The MoU provides for reciprocal codeshare services to Etihad’s Abu Dhabi hub and select points in North America served by Air Canada via its Toronto hub.  The two parties have commenced discussions to finalize details with the objective of introducing codeshare services in the third quarter 2013.

The agreement will also allow frequent flyer mileage accrual on codeshare flights by members of Etihad Guest and Aeroplan programs and reciprocal premium lounge access at Toronto and Abu Dhabi airports for eligible passengers of both airlines.

This announcement follows the recent decision by the Governments of the UAE and Canada to restore the previous visa regime which means Canadian nationals can once again obtain a free visa on arrival in the UAE.

The reciprocal Frequent Flyer benefits is great news for us Canadians and I am looking forward to them! RewardsCanada.ca has a great relationship with both Aeroplan and Etihad (both were sponsors Rewards Canada's 10th Anniversary back 2011) and this may present more opportunities for such events as I imagine Etihad will want to make a bigger push for the Canadian market as has been witnessed by Emirates and their push for Canadian traffic via WestJet and Alaska Airlines (my Emirates contact tells me that they have quite a few of us Westerners using Alaska Airlines to connect to Emirates' Seattle-Dubai flight)

In the bonus offer section we once again see a decent per night bonus from Marriott for stays at select Marriott Hotels across Canada!


Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at participating BW Hotels in Ireland. More... Until ?

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles on Cathay Holidays Limited packages to Australia. More... Book by May 31, 13 for travel until Mar 31, 14
- Double Asia Miles + up to 1,500 Bonus Miles when shopping Chic Outlets in Europe. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 13

Emirates Skywards
- 500 Bonus Skywards Miles for stays at any of 14 Marriott Resorts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Jun 30, 13

IHG Rewards Club
- 1,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Points per stay at any IHG hotel Worldwide. Stay must be made within 90 days of registering. More...Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at any one of 14 participating Marriott locations in Canada More... Jun 10 - Aug 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points PER NIGHT at the TownePlace Suites Pensacola. More... Until May 28, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay at the Courtyard Naples. More...Until May 31, 13

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for LOT flights between Warsaw and Chicago, New York, or Beijing More... Until May 31, 13
- Double Miles & More Miles for LOT flights between Warsaw and Milan, Stockholm, Madrid, Amsterdam, Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, or Budapest and on the routes Katowice to Munich and Wroc?aw to Frankfurt. More... May 1 - 31, 13

Olympic Air Travelair Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Travelair Miles for stays at Atlantica Hotels & Resorts in Rhodes, Kos, Crete or Corfu. More... May 2 - 7, 13

Air France KLM overhauls Intercontinetal Flying Blue Award Tickets (Good and Bad news)

In what can be seen as a great move for those who fly Transatlantic in Economy Class but not a great move for those in Premium Economy or Business Class Cabins, Air France KLM is making changes to their Intercontinental award tickets that will come into effect sometime in June.

Economy

• For Economy Class redemptions they are reducing the Fuel Surcharge to a flat EUR50 each direction from the previous 147 EUR (Round trip fuel surcharge will now by 100 EUR, previous was 296)
• For Intercontinental Award tickets that include a connection Europe (ie Montreal-Paris-Milan) the connection no longer has a separately charge fuel surcharge as it is included in the above rate
• There will now be more award availability for Economy Class tickets however they will be at varying mileage amounts (think Aeroplan) 

Premium Economy

• For Premium Economy Class redemptions they are reducing the Fuel Surcharge to a flat 110 EUR each direction from the previous 188 EUR (Round trip fuel surcharge will now by 220 EUR, previous was 376)
• For Intercontinental Award tickets that include a connection Europe (ie Montreal-Paris-Milan) the connection no longer has a separately charge fuel surcharge as it is included in the above rate
• The mileage required for Premium Economy Class is increasing (this is the bad news)
• They have increased the amount of booking fare classes you can upgrade to Premium Economy from using miles

Business Class

• Fuel surcharges are not changing
• For Intercontinental Award tickets that include a connection Europe (ie Montreal-Paris-Milan) the connection no longer has a separately charge fuel surcharge as it is included in the above rate
• The mileage required for Business Class is increasing (this is the bad news)
• There will now be more award availability for Business Class tickets however they will be at varying mileage amounts (think Aeroplan) 
• They have increased the amount of booking fare classes you can upgrade to Business Class from using miles 

 Complete details on the changes can found here

Loyalty Lobby has put together a great post detailing how many miles will be required pre- and post- changes. For those of us in Canada here are the changes on flights from Canada to Europe (see LoyaltyLobby for other routes):

- Premium Economy goes from 37,500 Flying Blue one way to 50,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Business Class moves to 62,500 from 50,000.
- First Class (where available) jumps to 162,500 from 125,000

As you can see these are some significant increases for those flying in the premium cabins! A round trip flight in Business Class will now cost 125,000 Flying Blue Miles instead of the current 100,000. Which means when they run their Flying Blue Promo awards the discounted round-trip will now be 62,500 instead of 50,000 (still a pretty decent deal but sad to see the devaluation nonetheless!)

The true winner in these changes are Economy Class redemptions as the mileage amount required has not changed and in fact have become cheaper with the new 50EUR each way fuel surcharge.


What are your thoughts on the changes? Chime in below!

Apr 25 Update: US Airways increasing some change fees, Melia Hotels sale & Triple Voyager Miles for Taj stays

Two of biggest new pieces had their own posts today (SPG and US Airways) so the daily update is a little thinner:

News, Tips & Tricks
US Airways is following in the footsteps of United and increasing their domestic ticket change fees by $50 to $200. All other tickets remain the same except Brazil have gone up by $50 as well to $300. (HT One Mile at a Time)


Travel Deals
Melia  Hotels is offering up to 30% off for stays in the U.S. and Latin America. Stay 1 night to get 10% off, 2 nights to get 20% or 3+ nights to get 30% off. Book by May 19 for stays until Sep 8. More details can be found here.

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Flying Blue Miles for rentals at participating Hertz locations in Europe, North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia. More... Until May 31, 13

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you book the “Summer Triple Miles” offer at participating Jumeirah Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 13

Hilton HHonors
- 1,000 Bonus HHonors Points for stays at the DoubleTree by Hilton Alice Springs. More... Until Jul 31, 13
- Double HHonors Points for stays at the DoubleTree by Hilton Montgomery Downtown.More... Until Sep 30, 13

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles when you stay two or more consecutive nights at any Regent Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. (three consecutive nights at Regent Palms Turks & Caicos) on the Summer to Remember package. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 13

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Double JetPrivilege Miles when you stay at participating IHG hotels in Australasia, Southeast & Southwest Asia, Japan & Korea and the Middle East & Africa. More... Until Aug 31, 13
- 1,000 JetPrivilege Miles for stays at the Café Royal or the The Landmark London. More... Until May 31, 13
- Earn up to Triple JetPrivilege Miles when you stay on an eligible rate at any participating Mandarin Oriental Hotel Worldwide. More... Until May 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus JetPrivilege Miles for stays at the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel, Whitefield Courtyard by Marriott, or the Kochi Airport Courtyard by Marriott, Bhopal More... Until May 20, 13
- Double JetPrivilege Miles when you book Club rooms or Suites at participating Meritus Hotels & Resorts. More... Until May 31, 13
- OFFER EXTENDED Earn up to 40% JetPrivilege Miles when you purchase JPMiles online.. More... Until Jun 30, 13

South African Airways Voyager
- Triple Voyager Miles for stays at any Taj Hotel Worldwide.More... Until Jul 31, 13

US Airways Double (100% bonus) Miles on buying Dividend Miles returns in May

So far in 2013 we have seen a targeted 100% buy miles bonus and a 50 to 100% buy miles bonus (seems like most people got 50%) from US Airways but we have yet to see the standard 100% or  Double Miles for buying Dividend Miles that seemed to be the norm from the Dividend Miles program for the past couple of years.

Well my sources tell me the Double Miles (as they call it) or 100% bonus will return in May. I don't have all the details yet but they say it will be the biggest one in 2013 which leads me to believe it will be open to everyone and will be the straight 100% Bonus. I'm going to see if I can get more details but May isn't too far away so if I can't get the details in the next 5 days I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. As has been posted here on RC in the past this buy miles bonus along with Avianca TACA buy miles bonus are the two best offers to take advantage of in the world of 'Buying Miles'.

SPG's Double Take now open for registration

I brought you the details of SPG's latest systemwide promotion a few weeks ago and am pleased to let you know that it is now officially open for registration. I am looking forward to this promo as I already have 13 nights planned at Starwood Hotels before July 31st and quite possibly will have a few more on top of that. Here is the offer once again as it has been on FFB's SPG page for the past few weeks:

SPG Double Take: Double Starpoints + 500 Bonus Points for stays at more than 1,000 participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide.
Bonuses as follows:
- Earn Double Starpoints® for every eligible stay
- Earn 500 bonus Starpoints for each eligible booking made through the spg.com mobile site, the SPG® App for iPhone® or the SPG App for Android (Valid for all Starwood hotels Worldwide)
Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required)
Register by Jun 30,13 for stays May 1 - Jul 31, 13

Apr 24 Update: 3x WestJet Dollars for WJ Vacations bookings, AA 2013 Elite Rewards & Raffles Hotels Suite Upgrade Offer

Wednesday proves to be a quiet day on RC and FFB!

News, Tips & Tricks
Earlier today I had a separate post detailing American AAdvantage's new 2013 Elite Rewards. In case you missed it you can read all about it here. I hope but am doubtful that other airlines will loosen the purse strings like AA did here.

And in the bonus offers section you will the 'mentioned earlier today' offer from WestJet Vacations for Triple WestJet dollars.

Travel Deals
Select Raffles Hotels in Asia are offering a complimentary Suite Upgrade, breakfast, return airport transfer , Internet access and more for stays on the Short & Suite package until May 31, 13. Find out more or book online here.

If you are a charter airline flyer (ie using your Travel Point or Hybrid Credit Card points from cards like the TD First Class Infinite Visa, Capital One Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard® or any number of others) looking to go to the UK this spring, Canadian Affair has released their latest sale offers with flights between Canada and the U.K. starting at C$786 including all taxes and fees. Fares and dates of departure vary depending on your departure city. You can check out the offers here.


Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles for stays at Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME by Meliá, INNSIDE by Meliá, TRYP by Wyndham, Sol and Paradisus resorts Worldwide. More... Book by May 31 for stays May 1 - Jul 31, 13

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 500 MilleMiglia Miles for stays at any one of 70 participating Accor Hotels in Italy. More... Until May 23, 13
- 2,000 MilleMiglia Miles for stays at the Petriolo SPA Resort. More... Until Jun 30, 13
- 1,000 MilleMiglia Miles for stays at the Principi di Piemonte Turin or the Atahotel Villa Pamphili, Rome. More... Until May 31, 13
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at any Best Western Hotel in Italy. More... Until May 30, 13
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays of two nights or more from Monday to Thursday at NH Hotels in Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. More... Until Jun 30, 13
- 50 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for stays at Starhotels Tourist in Milan, StarhotelsMajestic in Turin, Starhotels President in Genoa, Starhotels Du Parc in Parma. City More... Until Aug 31, 13
- Triple MilleMiglia Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Points per stay on Sunday-Thursday nights when you book and stay in a premium room at the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel. More... Until May 30, 13
- 1,000 Bonus Points per stay at The Inn at Opryland, A Gaylord Hotel Nashville. More... Until May 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay when you stay Friday or Saturday night at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel. More... Until May 31, 13

Stash Hotel Rewards
- 500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club Redondo Beach, CA. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays Jun 1 - Aug 31, 13
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Gateway Canyons Resort Gateway. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Dec 31, 13
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays of Stay 3+ nights Sunday - Thursday at the Hidden Pond Kennebunkport. More... Until May 31, 13

United Mileage Plus
- Double Mileage Plus Miles when you fly nonstop between Chicago and Shannon. More... Jun 1 - Aug 27, 13

WestJet Rewards
- Earn Triple WestJet Rewards Dollars on new WestJet Vacations bookings More.. Book by Apr 30 for travel until Oct 31, 13

American AAdvantage announces 2013 Elite Rewards

This year's American AAdvantage Elite Rewards are way better than they have been in the past. The news started breaking yesterday about how much more generous they are this year and how they can be potentially easier to achieve. In the past the Elite Rewards were strictly based on Elite Qualifying Points which basically meant those Elites flying on higher fare classes were awarded and gone are the Elite Level requirements for earning these rewards (Gold at 40K points, Platinum at 75K and Executive Platinum at 125K points) Now all Elite members will be able to choose 1 Elite Rewards at each qualifying level (see the graphic below, there is no better way of explaining it or rehashing it here).

You must register online by Dec 31, 13 and choose your reward(s) by Feb 28, 14. If you've already qualified for a milestone, look for your first notification email by the end of May.  Full details and online registration can be found here.

Triple WestJet Dollars for WestJet Vacations bookings

I received this offer in my email this morning and I know that we have such a broad mix of readers here on Rewards Canada that someone will probably use this offer (I know you are all not hard core Star Alliance/Aeroplan flyers ;-) ) and if you are planning a packaged vacation why wouldn't you take advantage of this? Had this offer been for next winter I probably would have looked into it as Turks & Caicos are on the radar for my family (Beaches Resort of course for the kids!). But alas the offer is not for next winter so I'm not taking advantage of it.  The offer had a start date of April 4 so I assume some of you may have already received this offer prior to this. Here is the offer as it will appear on Rewards Canada's WestJet Rewards page later today:

Earn Triple WestJet Rewards Dollars on new WestJet Vacations bookings made by April 30 for travel until October 31. Members with eligible earn rate of 0.5% on WestJet Vacations packages will earn 1.5% back in WestJet dollars; members with eligible earn rate of 1% will earn 3% back in WestJet dollars. Full details and online booking

 

Apr 23 Update: Changes to the AC Earn Your Wings promo, and not much else!

Super quiet day on Rewards Canada as I test out and learn some new software, work on some consulting stuff and other boring items!

News, Tips & Tricks
In case you saw my post this morning on the additional Avianca TACA buy LifeMiles bonus, it appears that the methodology doesn't work per comments on my FFB Blog and the LoyaltyLobby blog. Sorry to say but this offer is truly targeted! I have updated the post to announce this.

It appears that Air Canada has changed the Terms & Conditions of their Earn your Wings promo after the launch by stating the Olympic, TCA and Commonwealth badges can only be earned once. (HT: yerffej201 on FlyerTalk)

Bonus Offers
Air Baltic BalticMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 1,000 BalticMiles for stays of 2+ nights at the Baltic Beach Hotel. More... Until Jun 20, 13

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Triple JetPrivilege Miles for stays at the Hyatt Bangalore MG Road, Hyatt Pune, Hyatt Hyderabad Gachibowli, Hyatt Ahmedabad, and Hyatt Amritsar. More... Until Jun 30, 13
- Double JetPrivilege Miles for stays at the Leela Palace Chennai More... Until Sep 30, 13
- Triple JetPrivilege Miles when you book the ‘Unforgettable Holidays' offer at participating Oberoi Hotel India. More... Until Jul 31, 13
- Double JetPrivilege Miles for stays at all Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts worldwide (Except Swissôtel Le Concorde, Bangkok) More... Until May 31, 13
- Double JetPrivilege Miles for Hertz rentals of 3+ days at participating locations in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand. More...Until May 31, 13

Marriott Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Points when you stay any nights at any Gaylord Hotel in Florida, Maryland,  Tennessee or Texas. More... Until May 31, 13

Ukraine International Panorama Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Panorama Club Miles for stays at the Radisson Blu Resort, Bukovel. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 13

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles when you shop online with any of US Airways Dividend Miles StoreFront participating partners. More.. Until Jun 23, 13