Jan 14 Update: Amex Travel Membership Rewards Bonus, SPG Take a Spin contest, American & US Airways 50% Bonus Miles on each others flights

Wednesday proved to be a day filled with lots of news and bonuses! Be sure to read everything carefully so you don't miss out on any great offers.

News, Tips & Tricks
Holders of American Express Cards that earn Membership Rewards points (American Express Gold Rewards Card, The Platinum Card from American Express, Centurion, ChoicePlus and others) can earn a 2,014 point bonus on eligible hotel and car rental bookings of $400 or more (after taxes and fees) booked through the American Express Travel website until February 13th, 2014. Full details

To celebrate the launch of the Starwood and Caesars partership SPG has launched a contest called Take a Spin with SPG where you can win Starpoints, Free Night Awards or an all inclusive grand prize trip to Las Vegas. The contest is open to residents of Canada except those in Quebec and you must be 21 years of age to enter. Enter here.

Air Canada is reducing the number of flights between Toronto and London for the summer season to 4 from 5 per day. This is not good news for those looking to travel to the U.K. or beyond this summer on Air Canada revenue tickets or on Aeroplan reward tickets. Can we say Market Fare rewards only on those flights?!? (Source Airlineroute.net)

Travel Deals
Accor Hotels is running another 'up to 50%' off private sale for its Le Club accorhotels members (free to join of course). Stays must be booked by Jan 31. Full Details & Online Booking

Delta Hotels has partnered up with American Express with this special offer. You can get a $50 American Express Gift Card when you book and stay at participating Delta Hotels & Resorts in Western Canada for 2 consecutive nights. You will also earn an additional $25 American Express Gift Card for each additional night beyond the first two. Full details can be found here.
This promotion is a perfect example of why we here at Rewards Canada always stress that you should carry a Visa, a MasterCard and an American Express so that you can take advantage of credit card brand specific promotions!

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays of two nights and more that are booked at least 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14

American AAdvantage
- Earn 50% Bonus AAdvantage Miles for travel on US Airways, US Airways Express and US Airways Shuttle operated flights (includes codeshare flights marketed by American Airlines) systemwide. More... Until Mar 2, 14

Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Best Western Crescent Townhouse Hotel Belfast. More... Until ?

Caribbean Airlines Caribbean Miles
- 250 Bonus Caribbean Miles for tickets purchased via the Caribbean Airlines website. More... Ongoing
- Triple Caribbean Miles on Hertz rentals of 1 or more days in the U.S. or Canada. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- Double SkyMiles on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada or Mexico. More... Until Apr 30, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for individual stays at select IHG Hotels in Southeast Asia. More... Until Mar 31, 14

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S. More... Until Feb 6, 14
- 300 Bonus Returns Points for completing a Travel Advisor form. More... Until Feb 15, 14

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Courtyard Kansas City Southl. More... Until Feb 9, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Residence Inn Bozeman. More... Until Feb 9, 14
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the TownePlace Suites Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.More... Until Feb 13, 14
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for Sunday through Thursday stays at the SpringHill Suites Hershey. More... Until Feb 13, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points when your stay includes a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night at the Courtyard Boulder. More... Until Feb 13, 14
- Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at any one of 10 participating Marriott locations in Tennessee. More...   Until Feb 23, 14

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn 20,000 bonus Starpoints® after you charge $500 in purchases to your Card in your first three months with the Starwood Preferred Guest®* Credit Card from American Express. More... Residents of Canada only

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn 50% Bonus Dividend Miles for travel on American Airlines, American Eagle, and American Connection systemwide. More... Until Mar 2, 14

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 25% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you buy or gift Flying Club miles. More... Until Feb 10, 14
- 25% Bonus Flying Club Miles each time you use Miles Booster to purchase additional miles on your flight (Double or Triple Miles) More... Until Feb 10, 14

Aeroplan's first Distinction only reward flights revealed

When Aeroplan announced the Distinction program last June one of the benefits touted was the 'Distinction Only' reward flights. Similar in vain to the occasional CIBC Aerogold only flights these flights are for Aeroplan Distinction members only (100% of the plane is reserved for dSilver, dBlack or dDiamond members at Aeroplan ClassicFlight redemption levels).

We are pleased to pass along the news that Aeroplan has released the first batch of Distinction only flights and much to our surprise they are not Toronto-centric like the CIBC Aerogold flights of past! The flights cannot be booked online, you have to call 1-877-341-9730 to book and the good news is there are not phone in fees on the flights. To learn more about these flights click here.

The first flights have departures from Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver and are as follows:

Calgary-Los Angeles: March 24-28, 2014

Montreal-Orlando: March 5-12, 2014

Montreal-Cancun: March 4-11, 2014

Ottawa-Orlando: March 12-19, 2014

Toronto-Orlando: March 12-19, 2014

Toronto-Cancun: March 11-18, 2014

Vancouver-Los Angeles: March 24-28, 2014

Overall these are decent offers considering you can redeem at the lowest possible mileage level for either Economy or Business Class on all the flights for every seat. Are you going to jump on board for any of these flights?

Limited Time: Increased sign up bonus of 20,000 Starpoints for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

The best hotel credit card in Canada (and one of the best travel cards overall) will feature a higher sign up bonus for the next little while. Normally, the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express comes with a 10,000 Starpoint sign up bonus but with this limited time offer the sign up bonus will be 20,000 Starpoints after you charge only $500 in purchases to the Card in the first three months of Cardmembership (used to be $1,000!). This offer will go live later today. The refer a friend bonus for the SPG card still trumps this offer at 21,000 Starpoints but that requires a $1,000 spend.

Some features of the card include
• Earn 20,000 bonus Starpoints® after you charge $500 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership. That's enough for up to 5 free nights!
• Earn 1 Starpoint for every $1 in purchases charged to the Card
• Enjoy a Free Weekend Night Award when you reach $40,000 in purchases each year
• Experience Starwood Gold Preferred Guest status when you reach $30,000 in purchases each year
• Redeem Starpoints for Free Nights with no blackout dates at over 1,100 of the world’s most desired hotels in nearly 100 countries
• Use Starpoints for flights on over 350 airlines with no blackout dates with SPG Flights
• Experience once-in-a-lifetime events with SPG Moments
• Get Front Of The Line®* access to tickets for some of the most popular concerts, theatre and special events
• Enjoy the flexibility to pay balances in full or over time
• Annual interest rate 19.99% on purchases and 21.99% on funds advances
•  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.


Apply Online

Conditions apply

Jan 10 Update: Delta SkyClubs changes (affects The Platinum Card from Amex), Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Esso Speedpass, Coast Hotels Victoria bonus

Final day of the first full week of 2014 brings us the following:

News, Tips & Tricks
The TD Canada Trust Aeroplan Visa cards have been added to Rewards Canada's Credit Card Comparison charts. See how they compare on the following:
Most Popular
Airline
All Credit Cards
Also visit our post from last week which provides some more commentary on these cards.

Delta Airlines is revising the access to their SkyClub Business Class lounges. The primary changes are for those who buy the memberships or for those who get access via a credit card.Here in Canada the only people affected on the credit card front are The Platinum Card from American Express cardholders who will lose the 'free guest' benefit. The primary cardholder will still get free access but guests will have to pay:

Beginning May 1, 2014, all customers who receive complimentary Delta Sky Club access as a benefit of their eligible credit or charge card will no longer receive complimentary guest access. A $29 fee per guest will apply.

Full details can be found here.

Travel Deals
Austrian Airlines is offering some great fares on flight to Europe from Toronto. Fares start as low as $839 including all taxes and fees and are good for travel until May, 2014. Visit Austrian.com for more details.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 400 Bonus Aeroplan Miles upon first use when you sign-up for Esso's Speedpass and link it to your Aeroplan Account. More... Until Apr 7, 14

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 15,000 AAdvantage Miles when you buy or gift AAdvantage Miles .More... . Until Mar 31, 14

Coast Hotels Coast Rewards
- Triple Coast Rewards Points for stays at the Coast Victoria Harbourside Hotel & Marina. More... Until Mar 31, 14

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Double Infinity MileageLands Miles and save up to 33% when you rent from Hertz during their Global Sale for three days or longer in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain Mainland, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More... Book by Jan 26 for rentals until Jun 30, 14

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 2,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays at the Hyatt Times Square New York. More... Feb 3 - Mar 31, 14

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Points per night at any one of 14 participating Marriott hotels in Canada. More... Jan 25 - Apr 19, 14
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay at the Courtyard New York Manhattan/Chelsea. More... Until Mar 3, 14

SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus
- Double EuroBonus Points for Sixt rentals in Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 50% Bonus Rapid Rewards Points for every qualifying stay at any participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 20, 14

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus miles when you fly nonstop on United or United Express® between Topeka, Kansas, and Chicago, Illinois. More... Until May 31, 14
- Earn up to 15,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles for stays at any one of five Marriott locations in Hawaii. More... Until Apr 30, 14

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points for Alamo rentals of 3 or more days in the United States and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on Avis rentals of 2 or more days at participating airports in the U.S. or Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on Budget rentals at participating locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points for National rentals of 3 or more days in the United States and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Jan 9 Update: Gogo inflight Wifi goes live in Canada, Auto Europe 7 days for 5 sale, 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points on Best Western stays

Here is what Thursday January 9th offers us:

News, Tips & Tricks
Here is one piece of news that got lost over the holiday break that we had not passed on yet. American Airlines is reintroducing service between Edmonton and Dallas. The flights will be once daily on their A319 aircraft and will launch on April 1st. If it hasn't already happened we are sure WestJet will place there codeshare on this route as they do on other AA flights between Canada and the U.S.. This is great news for AAdvantage members and oneworld members in the capital region as they now have easy access to American's large worldwide flight network. Source: airlineroute.net.
Here are the flight times.
AA1428 DFW1620 – 1925YEG 319 D
AA1493 YEG0810 – 1305DFW 319 D


Gogo, the inflight WiFi provider on 10 airlines has gone live here in Canada. While Air Canada does provide Gogo service on 2 of thier A319s between Toronto/Montreal and Los Angeles that service was limited to US airspace. Now with this announcement, not only will those AC flights but any flights on American or other carriers within Canadian airspace (ie Canada to U.S. or the U.S. overflying Canada to Europe) have WiFi access while in Canada. Back in December we passed along the news that WestJet is planning to introduce Wifi service in 2014 and with this Gogo announcement it wouldn't be a surprise if that is who WestJet choose to provide it. Source Gogo

Travel Deals
Auto Europe is offering 7 day car rentals in Europe for the price of 5. Rentals must be booked by Jan 31 but are good for travel until the end of the year. Book online here

Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for each qualified "Internet Only" stay at Best Western branded hotels Worldwide. Elite members get 500 more bonus points per stay. More... Until Feb 2, 14
- 1,500 Bonus Rewards Points for each qualified "Internet Only" stay made by Best Western Ride Rewards members at Best Western branded hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 2, 14

Emirates Skywards
- Quadruple Skywards Miles for Avis rentals of 3 or more days in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Hyatt Gold Passport
- Endless Possibilities: Earn up to 4 free nights or 50,000 Bonus Gold Passport points for your stays at Hyatt Hotels Worldwide. More... Valid for stays January 15, 2014 through April 30, 2014.

Le Club accorhotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points “Enjoy The Lunar New Year with 500 Bonus Points” offer at participating Accor Hotels in China More... Booking Jan 15 - Feb 28, 14
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays on "Mercure winter special" at all participating Mercure hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. More... Until Mar 2, 14
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points when you complete stays at 2 separate Accor Hotels in Spain or Portugal. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Double Frequent Flyer Points for stays at various hotels in Australia that are booked via Qantas. More... Ongoing

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Double Dividend Miles and save up to 25% when you rent a compact size car or larger at any participating location in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- Triple Dividend Miles on rentals of a compact car or larger for two days or longer at any Thrifty location Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 4x Dividend Miles on all vehicles and any length rental at participating Hertz airport and off airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Triple Dividend Miles on rentals of a compact car or larger for two days or longer at any Thrifty location Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Registration now open for Hyatt's Endless Possibilities - Earn Bonus Gold Passport Points or Free Nights

Registration is now open for Hyatt's latest systemwide promotion that we mentioned back in December. This is one of the stronger hotel promotions for the first quarter of 2014.

Here is the offer as it appears on FFB's Gold Passport Bonus Point Offer page:

Hyatt Gold Passport® Endless Possibilities: Earn up to 4 free nights or 50,000 Bonus Gold Passport points for your stays at Hyatt Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking. Valid for stays January 15, 2014 through April 30, 2014.

Bonuses as follows:
Choose Free Nights
Earn a free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel worldwide after every five nights. Enjoy 4 free nights after you stay a maximum of 20 nights. Redeem your free nights with no blackout dates through July 31, 2014.

Or, Choose Bonus Points
Earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after your first five nights and thousands more for every additional five nights. After 20 nights, you’ll earn 50,000 bonus points. Here’s how the points add up:

Stay 5 Nights, Earn +5,000 Points = 5,000 Total Points Earned
Stay 10 Nights, Earn +10,000 Points = 15,000 Total Points Earned
Stay 15 Nights, Earn +15,000 Points = 30,000 Total Points Earned
Stay 20 Nights, Earn +20,000 Points = 50,000 Total Points Earned

So which will you choose — free nights or bonus points?


Can't make use of this promotion? Be sure to visit our Gold Passport Bonus Point Offer page for dozens of other stay bonuses!

Jan 8 Update: EVA Air adds more Canada flights (great option for Aeroplan members), Hyatt Points+Cash a great new option, tons of new bonuses

We are half way through the week and while the news portion in the loyalty world has slowed down, the bonus offers have not!

Thank you to those who responded to our interview request on a fuel surcharges, we have passed along your details to the journalist who asked to reach out to our readership on their behalf.

News, Tips & Tricks
EVA Air is increasing their service between Canada and Taiwan as of June 10. Both Vancouver and Toronto to Taipei service will move to 4x weekly service respectively from 3x weekly.This is great news for Aeroplan members looking for access to Taiwan (or beyond) as more flights means more potential award ticket space and (and this is a big and!) the fuel surcharges on EVA Air are a lot less than on Aeroplan. EVA Air also offers a great business class product that is a good alternative to Air Canada's. (Source: Airlineroute.net)

Which flight(s) to Taipei would you pick? 

Aeroplan Economy Class redemption on EVA Air - only $57.91 in fees

Aeroplan redemption that includes Air Canada flights - Fees are over $300 more than EVA Air

Hyatt's Gold Passport changes kicked in yesterday with the higher redemption rates for reward nights which of course isn't good news but the one change that is actually really good is the introduction of Hyatt's Points+Cash option. The option provides great redemption value, especially for stays at Category 2-6 hotels. The 'value' or cost/per point for Cat 2-6 range from 1.2 - 1.38 cents per night, which of course is well below the cost of points if your were to buy them directly from Hyatt. Cat 1 and 7 come in at 2 cents which is still decent. This is the current Points+Cash chart:

Now there are some caveats to the Points+Cash option: They are capacity controlled, they are only for standard rooms and they can only be booked via phone (no online option yet). They are however cancellable, they will earn Gold Passport points on the cash portion (essentially a further discount on the points used), count towards elite status, can be upgraded for Diamond members and are eligible for bonus promotions.


Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Earn 3,000 AAdvantage Miles per stay of two consecutive nights or more Hotel New Otani Tokyo Hotel New Otani Makuhari Hotel New Otani Osaka The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel, Honolulu Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong, Beijing. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Czech Airlines OK Plus
- Double OK Plus Miles for flights between Prague and Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, or Hamburg. More... Register and book by Jul 31 for travel Apr 1 - Aug 31, 14
- Double OK Plus Miles for flights between Prague and Tel Aviv. More... Register and book by Feb 28 for travel Feb 1 - Apr 30, 14
- Double OK Plus Miles for flights between Prague and Brussels, Bucharest or Warsaw. More... Register and book by Jul 31 for travel Feb 1 - Aug 31, 14
- Double OK Plus Miles when booking the Double Miles for Early Birds rate for stays of 2 nights or more at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus OK Plus Miles on Avis rentals Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- Earn 3,000 SkyMiles per stay of two consecutive nights or more at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo, Hotel New Otani Makuhar,i Hotel New Otani Osaka, The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel Honolulu or Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong Beijing. More... Until Mar 31, 14
- 15,000 SkyMiles for stays of 2 or more nights at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo if you are a SkyMiles® Medallion Program member. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios when you fly Iberia in any class bewteen Madrid and Quito or Santiago; in business class between Madrid and Guatemala, San Jose or San Salvador. More... Register by Jan 15 for travel until Feb 28, 14
- Double Avios when you fly on Iberia Regional Air Nostrum on the following route Madrid to Murcia, Madrid to Bordeaux, Strasburg, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice and Toulouse;  Seville to Toulouse. More... Register by Jan 15 for travel until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Avios on Derby Hotel stays in Barcelona or Madrid. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Double Avios on Derby Hotel stays in Paris. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Double Avios for stays at select Hace Hotels in Spain More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Earn Double/Triple or 3,000 bonus Avios on qualifying rates at participating Starwood Hotels & Resorts across Europe, Africa & the Middle East. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- Double Avios on all online prepaid rentals in Spain Mainland and Balearics. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Double Avios when you rent a commercial van in Spain Mainland and Balearics. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Double Avios on all Avis rentals Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Avios on all Europcar rentals Worldwide More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Avios on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14,

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Earn up to Triple FlySmiles Miles when you rent a car with Hertz at participating locations in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.More.. Until Mar 31, 14

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Double Dividend Miles per stay at La Quinta properties in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Jan 7 Update: Interview request on award ticket fuel surcharges, American & US Airways reciprocity starts today, Club Carlson car rental bonuses

Here is what Tuesday brings forth in the travel rewards world:

News, Tips & Tricks
We have been contacted to see if any of our readers are willing to share a story(ies) about wanting to redeem miles for International flights where the redemption was awash with just buying the ticket outright because of the fuel surcharges/fees tacked onto the award ticket. If you are interested in being interviewed please send me an email at info@rewardscanada.ca

American and US Airways officially started their frequent flyer reciprocity today. This means AAdvantage members can now earn and redeem AAdvantage miles for US Airways flights and Dividend Miles can do the same for American Airlines flights. More details can be found here.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada rouge flights between Toronto and Las Vegas. More... Register and book by Jan 31 for travel Feb 1- 28, 14

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 25,000 Bonus Avios when you fly on American Airlines between New York and Milan.More... Until Jan 31, 14
- Double Avios when you book and stay in a Club room or suite at any participating Langham property Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 1,500 Gold Points PER DAY and save up to 25% on participating Alamo car rentals in the US and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 8,250 Bonus Gold Points on a qualifying rental of three or more consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 6,750 Bonus Gold Points on a qualifying rental of three or more consecutive days at participating Avis locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 6,750 Bonus Gold Points and save up to 20% when you rent a Budget vehicle for 3 or more consecutive days at participating locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 1 ,500 Gold Points PER DAY and save up to 25% on participating National car rentals in the US and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Emirates Skywards
- 1,000 Bonus Skywards Miles and an AED300 Dining Voucher for stays at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, JWMarriott Dubai and Dubai Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf. More... Until Mar 22, 14
- Triple Skywards Miles when staying at least three consecutive nights or Double Miles for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available Rate. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Double Skywards Miles for Budget rentals of 3 or more days in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Garuda Frequent Flyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple GFF Miles and Double Elite Status Credit when you fly in First Class between Jakarta and Shanghai. More... Until Feb 6, 14

Hilton HHonors
- Double HHonors Points for stays on the Sparkling London Break for Two package at the Hilton London Dockside Riverside.  More... Until Mar 22, 14

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays on the "Re-opening Package" at the Sheraton Bandung Hotel & Towers. More... Until Mar 31, 14

United MileagePlus
- Earn 15,000 MileagePlus Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo. More... Until Mar 31, 14 Valid for United MileagePlus Premier members only
- Earn 3,000 Mileage Plus Miles per stay of two consecutive nights or more Hotel New Otani Tokyo Hotel New Otani Makuhari Hotel New Otani Osaka The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel, Honolulu Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong, Beijing More... Until Mar 31, 14

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 3,000 Bonus VHR Points per stay at any participating Voila Hotel Rewards location Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Delta Hotels Privilege interim changes announced prior to an entirely new program coming this fall

We just received the following email from Delta Hotels. They are making some interim changes to their program prior to completely relaunching it in the fall of 2014:

To ensure Delta Privilege remains competitive, and to pave the way for a rewarding new program set to launch in Autumn 2014, changes to the current program needed to be made. These changes to benefits will be effective for reservations made after February 28, 2014 for stays starting on or after March 1, 2014.

♦ Upgrade to Gold – Now in as little as five stays* or 10 room nights, you can be upgraded to Gold and earn all the rewards of a Delta Privilege member, plus:

     ♦ $200 hotel credit to be used towards dining, guest rooms, meetings and events
     ♦ Two upgrades at time of check-in, based on availability
     ♦ Nightly turndown service (upon request)**
     ♦ Enhanced partnership savings and rewards with Avis

♦ Extended Check-out –This benefit is no longer available for Base members.

♦ Qualifying stays/rates – Effective January 15, 2014, there will be changes to the rate types that qualify for Delta Privilege status stays and Aeroplan miles. Please see chart below:

These qualifying rate changes put a damper in a strategy I was developing and was going to post here on the Rewards Canada blog this week! I'll reveal it now as it only has 8 days left to work. That strategy was to book Delta Hotel stays via Rocketmiles, the third party site that offers miles for booking through them. Since they offer Delta Hotels and the rates provided seem to be eligible rates it could have worked to be a quadruple dip strategy. How? Dip 1 was to book via Rocketmiles.com (if you haven't joined yet you can join via my link and get an additional 1,000 miles on your first stay, I will also receive a referral credit), Dip 2 was putting on reward credit card to earn miles or points on the actual charge, Dip 3 is the base Aeroplan miles earned on the stay and Dip 4 is the current Aeroplan bonus offer of up to Triple Bonus Miles on Delta stays until Apr 30. Have fun earning evenmore miles if you plan any Delta stays in the next week or so as after the 15th this strategy is dead.



Anyways, on to the actual interim changes of the program!
Nice to see the Gold benefit being achievable faster on the nights side. Currently the requirement is 5 stays or 20 nights but with the interim program it will only be 10 nights.

Sad to see the extended check out being taken away for base members, I have actually  utilized this benefit before and was planning on making use of it in the future.

Other than these three changes the program will remain the same until the new one is revealed sometime this fall!

Air Canada rouge: Earn 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles between Toronto and Las Vegas

The first Aeroplan flight bonus offer of 2014 is out and it is for a single Air Canada rouge route.

Here is the offer as it will appear on RC's Aeroplan Bonus Miles page tomorrow:

Earn 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada rouge flights between Toronto and Las Vegas. Valid on Air Canada rouge evening flights AC1853 or AC1854. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Jan 31 for travel Feb 1- 28, 14

Can't make use of this promotion? Be sure to visit our Aeroplan Bonus Miles  page for dozens of other Aeroplan bonuses!