Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Now live - Latest IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Offers (Valid for stays until July 31)


Despite the recent change in the terms and conditions of PointsBreaks, it is still one of the best redemptions in the hotel loyalty program world.  The new rules state that a member can only book up to 2 reward reservations per hotel participating in the individual offer (ie 2 at Pointbreaks hotels and 2 at Last Minute Reward Night hotels). What this means is that if you want to book a Pointbreaks offer at a hotel you can only have two reservations. No longer will you be able to grab 3, 5 or more reservations (one reservation per night) as some people did to make sure they got the nights at the low award price, plan a trip for some of those nights and then cancel the rest. This change is both good and bad. Good in that more members should be able to grab award nights at the lower levels but bad if you truly want to plan 3 or more trips at one location and have no plans on 'working' the system by cancelling some of those nights. My tip to get around this would be to book 2 reservations with one IHG Rewards Club account and then have your spouse book 2 more etc. Of course this is dependent on both accounts having enough points to redeem for these awards.
The latest set for stays until July 31st, are now available for booking via the primary PointsBreaks page or via the individual hotel links below.

Why are IHG Rewards Club Point Breaks such a great deal? Because they offer reward nights at participating IHG hotels Worldwide for only 5,000 Rewards Club points. For those of you not to familiar with Priority Club, normal redemption rates for Rewards Club reward nights run from as low as 10,000 points for some Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations to 50,000 points for ultra-luxurious InterContinental locations and even these locations can participate in Point Breaks. So as you can see you can receive a discount of 50 to 88% off the regular redemption rates. You may be thinking that the high end hotels won't participate but they do depending on the time of year! Please note that like most loyalty promotions these offers are capacity controlled so I advise to book sooner than later to ensure you get the Point Breaks rate. These offers are now bookable via the primary PointsBreaks page or via the individual hotel links below.

Here is the list of hotels participating this time and as you can see there are only 7 Canadian locations versus the 9 we had during the last PointBreaks.

Canada

ALBERTA
NEW BRUNSWICK
ONTARIO
QUEBEC

United States

ALABAMA
ARKANSAS
ARIZONA
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
IOWA
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
KANSAS
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MASSACHUSETTS
MARYLAND
MAINE
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
MISSOURI
MISSISSIPPI
MONTANA
NORTH CAROLINA
NEBRASKA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW JERSEY
NEW MEXICO
NEVADA
NEW YORK
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODE ISLAND
SOUTH CAROLINA
SOUTH DAKOTA
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
UTAH
VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON
WISCONSIN
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING

Mexico

MEXICO

Central & South America

ARGENTINA
COSTA RICA
PANAMA

Europe

BELGIUM
FINLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
ITALY
LITHUANIA
ROMANIA
SPAIN
TURKEY
UNITED KINGDOM

Asia

INDIA
JAPAN
THAILAND

Middle East & Africa

EGYPT
OMAN
SOUTH AFRICA

Oceania

AUSTRALIA
FIJI
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Monday, May 26, 2014

May 26 Update: Alitalia MilleMiglia targets flyers aged 14-25, US Airways buy miles bonus extended, Aeroplan bonus for Starwood redemptions

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend

News, Tips & Tricks
In the bonus offers section we post new bonuses from Alitalia MilleMiglia that targets flyers aged 14-25. In many of my discussions with various levels of employees at loyalty programs I have often mentioned that there are two markets generally ignored or underserved by the programs and those are the youung person market and the old person/baby boomer market. Looks like Alitalia has taken noticed of the first at least with the MilleMiglia Young program which not only has the bonus offer listed below (2,000 of those miles are totally free) but thay also offer everyone in that age group 20% off award tickets. So you earn up to 4,000 miles for joining, you get a 50% bonus on all your flights and a 20% discount on award tickets? That's the way you should target a market! You have a group that cannot afford to fly as much (of course the ~14-18 year set probably have to rely on their parents) so what do you do? You award them more miles on their flights and a discount on redemption, this way that group of flyers who would normally take many years to earn enough miles for an award ticket (or perhaps even never!) may actually have a hope of a redemption and as anyone in the loyalty industry knows that once a member has actually redeemed for a reward, they are more likely to continue using that program and remain loyal as they actually feel the program provides them with value. So if you are in that age group or have kids that age get them to join now at least for the 2,000 miles that come totally free and then work on earning more miles if you are an Alitalia flyer!


The US Airways Dividend Miles up to 100% bonus on buying Miles has been extended to May 31st (you can ignore our post on the weekend stating the 'last day' was the 25th) Read more about this offer here.


Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you redeem Aeroplan miles for a Starwood Hotel stay. More... Book between Jun 1 - Jul 31 for stays until Dec 31, 14

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 50% Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for every flight you take on Alitalia or Air One. More... Valid for MilleMiglia Yonung members aged 14-25
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you join the MilleMiglia program. More... Valid for MilleMiglia Yonung members aged 14-25

Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points on a qualifying rental of 5+ days on an intermediate (group C) through full-size four-door (group E) car at participating Budget locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Finnair Plus
- 2,000 Bonus Plus Points on your next Finnair flight systemwide. More... Register by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 14

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple HawaiianMiles and save up to 30% Off for Starwood Hotel stays in Hawaii. More... Until Dec 30, 14
- Earn up to 30% Bonus HawaiianMiles when you purchase HawaiianMiles online. More... Until Jun 3, 14

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays of 2 or more nights on the "Club and Suite Retreat" package at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Jun 1 - Sep 21, 14

Le Club accorhotels
- 575 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the UK and Ireland. More... Until Aug 31, 14

United MileagePlus
- Triple MileagePlus miles on all qualifying roundtrips on United. More... Until Jul 31, 14 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone
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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Last Day for the U.S. Airways up to 100% on buying Dividend Miles

Today is the last day to take advantage of this promotion and since we don't know when Dividend Miles will be integrated into AAdvantage this may be the last time we see this (doubt it but you never know!)

Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles when you buy or gift Dividend Miles. Full details Until May 25, 14


Buy/Gift Bonus
10,000 - 19,000 Miles 50%
20,000 - 29,000 Miles 75%
30,000 - 50,000 Miles 100%

The promo allows you to buy up to 50,000 miles (so 100,000 in total with the bonus) at 3.5 cents per mile (effective rate is 1.75 cents per mile) plus taxes of $131.25 for total of $1881.25 (1.88 cents per mile). Considering that can get you an International business class ticket with this many miles between that can cost a lot more than that, this is a good deal! We do advise to only purchase however if you know you are going to use to miles soon as it is never good to sit on the miles for a long time due to possible program devaluations that can come at any time. Since US Airways allows 3 day holds on award tickets you can always find the award flights you want before you buy the miles and therefore you don't have dole out a hefty chunk of change just in case you cannot find availability for your preferred award flights.
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Friday, May 23, 2014

May 23 Update: Utilizing British Airways for awards flights to the U.S., KLM Africa sale, Airmilesshops 10x bonus

Final update of the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
We got around to updating our popular post How to get select Canada to U.S. award flights faster by utilizing British Airways' Executive Club with the US Airways flights options now that they are a oneworld airline and of course a partner of British Airways. Be sure to read to article to see how you can fly in North America for as little as 9,000 Avios round trip.


In the bonus offers section check out the Virgin Atlantic offer of a 20% bonus on their Miles Booster feature. This is the option that allows you to 'buy' more miles when you fly on Virgin Atlantic. Miles Boosters allows you to essentially double or triple the miles you earn on flight, when you go for the triple miles route you are buying the miles a 1 pence a piece but with this offer you get 20% more which means you are buying the miles at 0.83 pence (about 1.4 US cents / 1.6 CDN cents). Considering the recently launched Flying Club buy miles bonus of also 20% will have miles costing 1.31 pence (2.2 US cents 2.5 CDN Cents) this is a great deal. Add to the fact that Virgin Atlantic is also running the 50% bonus + 2 Tier Points on economy class flights you should really be able to rack up lots of Flying Club miles on your upcoming VS flights! (this is mainly for those of you thinking of using VS's flights out of YVR)

Travel Deals
KLM is heavily promoting a sale to Africa from Canada! Flights can be had for as little $999 all in. simply book by May 26 for travel this fall The Canadian government has placed regional advisories for travel to Kenya (see here) so if you want to take advantage of the sale be sure to do some research before you book!  Full details and online booking


Bonus Offers
Air Miles
- 10X Air Miles when you shop online via airmilesshops.ca. More... Until May 28, 14

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles at participating Budget airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Caribbean. More... Until Aug 31, 14

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... Until Jul 1, 14

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 500 Bonus Asia Miles when you spend USD50 or more on online shopping via the Asia Miles iShop portal. More... Until ?

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 2,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays at the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills. More... Jun 11 - Aug 31, 14

The Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club
- Double Stay Credit for all stays at participating locations Worldwide that are booked during the Leaders Club Private Sale More... Book by Jun 3 for stays until Jul 30, 14

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Triple Rapid Rewards Points for stays at any participating Hyatt Hotel Worldwide starting with your second stay.More... Until Aug 31, 14

Starwood Preferred Guest
- OFFER EXTENDED Double Starpoints, Up to 35% Off and 5th night free for stays in Hawaii, Tahiti or Bora Bora. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Flying Club Reward Ticket Seat Sale - Mileage requirements have been discounted on select Virgin Atlantic routes. More... Book by Jun 4, 2014
- 20% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you buy or gift Flying Club miles. More... Until Jun 23, 14
- 20% Bonus Flying Club Miles each time you use Miles Booster to purchase additional miles on your flight More... Until Jun 23, 14
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New IHG PointBreaks to be released May 27

The new PointBreaks list will be posted on Tuesday, May 27 for bookings and stays from May 27 to July 31, 2014 (subject to availability). Each Reward Night at these participating hotels will be only 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points during the above mentioned dates. With only 6 hotels revealed at this time its hard to tell how many Canadian properties will be included but I can tell one thing for sure, the Holiday Inn Laval is included! ;-)

Here is a sampling of the more than 150 properties that will be featured:
  • Crowne Plaza Hotel Bangkok- Lumpini Park, Thailand 
  • Crowne Plaza Johannesburg-The Rosebank, South Africa
  • Hotel Indigo San Jose Forum, Costa Rica
  • Holiday Inn Hotel Laval- Montreal, Canada
  • Holiday Inn Hotel Frankfurt - Airport, Germany 
  • Staybridge Suites Guadalajara Expo, Mexico
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Thursday, May 22, 2014

May 22 Update: Delta to launch YYC-SEA, Leading Hotels of the World Private Sale, Aeroplan bonus for Wyndham stays

Delta brings Calgary into the mix for its fight in Seattle, nice Aeroplan bonus for Delta stays and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
If you follow our global site, FrequentFlyerBonuses.com you'll know about the fight going on between Alaska Airlines and Delta. Delta has been making a move in the Seattle market adding many more flights, bonusing up those flights and Alaska responded by ramping up flights at Delta's hub in Salt Lake City and also offering lots of bonus mile offers for flying. The good news for consumers for the time being at least, is more flights, cheaper prices and of course bonus miles. The latest news appears that Delta will launch Calgary-Seattle flights this fall as part of this Seattle expansion which means there will be three airlines serving this route, Alaska, Air Canada and Delta. There aren't many details of the flight yet but you could expect a SkyMiles bonus on it when it launches along with WestJet codesharing on the route.(Source: Skyscraper Pages)

Leading Hotels of the World is offering double stay credits during its private sale for members of its Leaders Club program. The program is one of a few loyalty program where there is a cost to join (US$150) but does include benefits that can make that fee worth it, mainly a free night after every 5 stays completed, which means with this promo you could actually get that free night after only 3 stays or 2 stays if you join Leaders Club Unlimited (US$1200 fee) The private sale must be booked by June 3 for stays until July 30. Find out more here.


Travel Deals
Hyatt Hotels has launched a sale called The Great May Escape Sale which offers up to 20% off stays in th U.S. Canada, Caribbean and Latin America. When looking at the list of hotels the only actual Canadian location participating is the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. To take advantage of the offer you must book by May 27 for stays Jun 10 - Sep 8 using promo code C48MAY. Full details and online booking



Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn up to 10x Aeroplan Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Delta Hotels in Canada. More... May 26 - Sep 1, 14
- 250 Bonus Aeroplan Miles per night for up to three nights at the Eaton Chelsea, Toronto. More...Until Sep 21, 14
- Double Aeroplan Miles when booking the "Club and Suite Retreat" package at Langham's portfolio of hotels Worldwide. More...Until Sep 21, 14
- Double Aeroplan Miles on all Wyndham Rewards Hotels stays Worldwide starting with your 2nd stay. Bonus also awarded on 3rd and 4th stays. More... Until Sep 5, 14

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Driving Blue Double Flying Blue Miles when you book private ground transportation in any country where Driving Blue operates. More... Until Jun 30, 14

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles on rentals of Compact or larger vehicles at participating Alamo locations in the United States and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Guest Rewards Points when you buy points online. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double FlyerBonus Points for stays at any participating Anantara Hotels in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 31, 14
- Triple FlyerBonus Points for staysof 2 nights or more at the Burasari Heritage, Luang Prabang. More... Until Jul 15, 14
- Triple FlyerBonus Points on Flexi Best Available rate at participating Centara Hotels in Thailand. More... Until Jul 15, 14
- Double FlyerBonus Points for stays at the dusitD2 Phuket Resort. More... Until Jul 31, 14
- Earn up to Triple FlyerBonus Points for staysof 2 nights or more at the Hansar Samui. More... s Until Jul 5 and Sep 11 - Dec 20, 14
- Double FlyerBonus Points for stays at SilverNeedle Collection Hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Luang Prabang. More... Until Jul 31, 14
- Quadruple FlyerBonus Points for stays of 2 or more nights at X2 Samui or X2 Kui Buri. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Jul 31, 14

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Earn up to Quadruple Eastern Miles Points for stays at any Shangri-La hotels, Kerry hotels or Traders hotels Worldwide. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 14

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles when you fly on Emirates from Stockholm to any Emirates destination Worldwide. More... Until Jun 20, 14
- Double Skywards Miles when you fly on Emirates between Ahmedabad, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai or Thiruvananthapuram and Copenhagen. More... Until Jun 20, 14
- Double Skywards Miles for stays on the Emirates Skywards Offer” at participating Jumeirah Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double GarudaMiles when flying Business or Economy Class on new routes served by a Garuda Indonesia CRJ-1000 Explore Jet. More... Until ?

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Triple GC Award Points for stays at the Shangri-La Hotel, Tianjin. More... Aug 8 - Dec 31, 14
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Earn up to 10x Aeroplan Miles on Delta Hotel stays this summer


There are only 4 days left in the current Delta Aeroplan offer and now we have the details of their summer promotion. It is of no use to those of you doing one night stays but if your business takes you on multiple night stays or you are planning some summer vacation with Delta in mind then this offer is ripe for you to max out your Aeroplan mile earning on. Delta Privilege Platinum Plus+ members will still receive their Platinum bonus on top of this bonus.

Here is the offer as it appears on our Aeroplan Bonus Miles page:

Earn up to 10x Aeroplan Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Delta Hotels in Canada. Full details. May 26 - Sep 1, 14
• Stay two nights and receive 1000 Aeroplan Miles.
• Stay three nights and receive 1500 Aeroplan Miles.
• Stay four nights and receive 2000 Aeroplan Miles.
• Stay five nights and receive 2500 Aeroplan Miles.

Can't make use of this offer? Be sure to check out Rewards Canada's Aeroplan Bonus Milespage for dozens of other bonus offers!
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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Miles & More up to 50% off Award Ticket Sale: Europe for only 30,000 Miles in Economy Class or 55,000 Miles in Business Class


Miles & More has updated their discounted mileage awards "Meilenschnaeppchen" to now include flights out of Montreal or Vancouver on Lufthansa and Toronto on Austrian.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets between Canada and all major cities in  Austria or to Munich for only 30,000 miles in Economy or 55,000 in Business Class  That's half off the normal price for Economy while the business class offers are a little under half off the regular 105,000 miles.  Granted all these tickets will also have fuel surcharges but this is still a pretty good deal when you look at it as a whole in terms of miles+cash outlay. This time there are also discounted mileage upgrade offers included.



Simply book your tickets by Jun 30 for travel until June 30th (Munich is until May 31st only).  Full details can be found here

If you don't have enough miles you can convert points from the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express (C$1 = 1 Miles & More Mile) however with only 10 days left to book the points may not transfer time. If you do try, remember your best bet is to transfer in 20,000 Starpoints increments as you'll get a 5,000 mile bonus meaning you'll get 25,000 Miles & More miles.
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May 21 Update: Wyndham Rewards category changes on May 22, up to 20% off at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, 250 Bonus Starpoints for Four Points stays

Here are your news, travel deals and bonuses for Wednesday May 21st!

News, Tips & Tricks
Wyndham Rewards will be making award night category changes tomorrrow. The actual categories or amount of points required will remain the same however it appears that some Wyndham Rewards locations will either be moving up or down categories much like we have seen from Marriott, Starwood and other hotel chains. Source: Loyalty Lobby)

If you may be planning any Four Points by Sheraton stays in Canada (or any of the Americas) in June or early July check out the 250 Bonus Starpoints offer in the bonus offer section. The only caveat is that the offer is for pre-paid non refundable stays so only book it if you are 100% sure about your stays.



Travel Deals
Hyatt Hotels has launched a sale called The Great May Escape Sale which offers up to 20% off stays in th U.S. Canada, Caribbean and Latin America. When looking at the list of hotels the only actual Canadian location participating is the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. To take advantage of the offer you must book by May 27 for stays Jun 10 - Sep 8 using promo code C48MAY. Full details and online booking


Bonus Offers
Aegean Air Miles&Bonus
- Double Miles&Bonus Miles for hotel stays booked via Aegean Air's website (powered by booking.com). More... Book by May 31 for stays until Aug, 31, 14

Air Canada Aeroplan
- 5x Aeroplan Miles when you spend $100 or more on Air Canada luggage in store at Bentley. More... Until Jun 15, 14

airBaltic PINS (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double PINS for stays at the Grand Palace Hotel Riga. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double PINS for stays at the Hotel Tilto Vilnius. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 300 Bonus PINS for stays at the Neringa hotel Vilnius. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Triple PINS for stays at the Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallinn. More... Until Jun 30, 14

airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles on all Wyndham Rewards Hotels stays Worldwide starting with your 2nd stay. More... Until Sep 5, 14
- Double topbonus Miles on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days (incl a Saturday) in Germany. More... Book by May 31 for rentals until Jun 30, 14.Until Sep 5, 14

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Earn up to Quadruple Fortune Wings Kilometers for stays at any Shangri-La hotels, Kerry hotels or Traders hotels Worldwide. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 14

SAS EuroBonus
- Double EuroBonus points on all Sixt rentals in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. EuroBonus Diamond members will also receive a double upgrade. More... Sep 1 - Nov 30, 14

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 250 Bonus Starpoints and two 20oz Coca-Cola beverages for stays at participating Four Points by Sheraton locations in North and South America. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 15, 14
- 500 Bonus Starpoints when you use the free SPG App for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ to book your next stay or just to save your reservation details for stays at participating hotels and resorts in Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints and up to 50% off for stays at participating Starwood locations in Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. More... Book by May 30 for stays until Sep 30, 14
- Earn up to Triple Starpoints for stays at any one of 7 participating Starwood Hotels in Munich during Oktoberfest. More... Valid for stays Sep 20 - Oct 5, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at the Sheraton Macao Hotel. More... Book by Jul 15 for stays until Dec 31, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays that are booked at least 45 days in advance at The Westin San Diego More... Until Dec 31, 14

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Triple Victoria Miles for stays of 4 or more nights at Porto Bay Hotels in Madeira (Eden Mar, Porto Mare) or the Algarve (Porto Bay Falésia) More... Book by Jun 15 for stays Jul 1 - Oct 31, 14
- 1,500 Victoria Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Porto Bay Hotels in Brazil and Portugal. More... Book by Jun 15 for stays Jul 1 - Mar 31, 15

US Airways Dividend Miles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 2,000 Bonus Dividend Miles when you join Dividend Miles Dining and complete a dine and a review within 30 days. More... Join by Jun 13, 14
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Hotel Review: Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

I have lived in Calgary my whole life and am a little embarrassed to say that neither I nor my family have ever stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel! That all changed however on Mother's Day weekend. Not only was this the first stay at this hotel for us but it was also my first booking made with American Express' Fine Hotels and Resorts program which comes as part of the benefits package from The Platinum Card from American Express. I booked the hotel via the Amex Platinum Travel Service and figured I might as well use the annual $200 travel credit that comes with the card towards the stay. The agent was very helpful and credited the $200 which showed up in my account the day after booking, well before we actually completed the stay!

Fine Hotels and Resorts offers select benefits on stays at their participating hotels including daily breakfast for 2, complimentary upgrade (if available), 12pm early check in (if available) and 4pm late check out (if available) and specifically for the Fairmont Banff Springs it includes dinner for 2.

As for the actual stay, I was kicking myself for not doing a little more research on the hotel prior to booking and arriving at the hotel. The agent booked us into a Stanley Thompson suite as there were four of us (Wife, 2 kids and myself) and that suite had two queens along with a room size that would be comfortable for all of us. This is where that lack of research came in, since it was our first stay at the hotel we wanted to be in the main building for nostalgia sake but for those of you who have stayed there you'll know that the Stanley Thompson rooms are in a separate building connected by a walkway (which during our stay was blocked off because of a wedding, meaning you had to go outside to get to the main building). Not only that but after we checked in* and got our room, 1102, it was on a ground floor and had no view, well the view was of a pathway and mainly the ventilation walls of another part of the building. Add to that all you could smell was cigarette smoke from the hotel workers smoking right outside the building next to our room and you would be able to tell we were not happy! Again research would have helped, the agent booked us a Stanley Thompson Suite not a Stanley Thompson Mountain View Suite as at least that would have got us onto the other side of the building. This was not how we had pictured our first stay at the Banff Springs nor how we wanted to celebrate Mother's Day! I called the front desk voicing our concern, nicely not all huff and puff mad, and asked if there were any other rooms available. We were told there was a Junior Suite with one king and a pull out sofa on the Fairmont Gold Floor available but she would need to talk to the Front of House manager to get us the room. She said he wouldn't be more than 5 minutes to get back to us. Almost 30 minutes later we had not heard back yet so a call to the front desk again yielded an answer that they are extremely busy but they would put me through to another front desk agent who said the Junior Suite was now gone! She said there was another Junior Suite available but only with 1 king but they could get us a cot to put in the room. We told her we'd take it despite there being 4 of us and that we'd come up front to get the keys. No longer than 3 or 4 minutes after that we got a call from Jason who is the Front of House manager. I explained everything to him and he profusely apologized, seeing that we booked via Fine Hotels and Resorts and wanted us to enjoy our experience and come back in the future he begun working on a plan for us. He said there was a Terrace Suite (also known as a Spa Suite) available.  Jason also explained that it is one of the largest rooms on the property and had the largest terrace of them all. We met him at the front desk to grab the keys so we could take a look as he didn't want us taking it if we didn't want the room. We got to the room and low and behold it had not been cleaned yet despite being told otherwise! Nonetheless we would take the room as it had a king and a cot just like the Junior Suite. He told us he would get it cleaned ASAP for us. In the mean time, Jason also found out that the Queen Room next to it was also open and offered that to us so that we actually had enough 'real' beds for our family of four rather than using the one king and cot. Jason also went above and beyond by allowing us to use the dinner for two benefit included with Fine Hotels and Resorts for in-room dining! (Normally it can only be used at some of their restaurants) From this point on (about 4:30pm) our stay was nothing but exceptional!

My wife had herself booked into the Willow Stream Spa at 4:45 so while she got ready for that, the kids and I decided to check out the pools and get some swimming in! The pool area is great with an indoor 32m long pool which the kids really enjoyed, a hot tub and an outdoor heated pool which I really enjoyed as its not like most hotel heated pools where the water is still just above freezing, it was almost as warm as the Banff Hot Springs! Great to enjoy when it snows and it did snow while we were in the outdoor pool!

Back to the room, the Spa or Terrace Suite as it is called was a really nice room, plus when you add in the extra queen room we couldn't have asked for much more! There was a separate entrance that accessed both rooms so we were able to use that and essentially have a 2 bedroom suite as we kept the door to the Suite and to the queen room open at all times. With the combination of rooms we had three bathrooms, one was a powder room for the suite,  the queen room bathroom which  is a little tight if you only had this room but it did have a large beautiful shower (no tub), the final one was the ensuite bath for the suite which had a separate shower, jetted tub, dual vanity and more all off of the bedroom which housed the king bed.


The living room featured a small sectional, another chair, a gas fireplace with a flat screen TV above it, it also had a small bar area with a fridge, coffee maker and some wine glasses for entertaining plus a desk for working at. Off of the living room and a few steps up was a small dining area with a table for four set in the 'name this thing' with a grand view of the mountains and the hotel.
Dining Area
Living Room


Finally the terrace for the room was amazing, it was huge, had a lounger and a couple of chairs. Unfortunately for us as you may have surmized from above, the weather wasn't very cooperative so we couldn't enjoy the terrace to its fullest.
View from the Terrace
View of our terrace and dining area from the Hotel grounds
View of the Hotel from the Terrace
View of the hotel from the Terrace

In the evening we explored the hotel (it is a great hotel for exploring!) to see its history and seeing that our oldest daughter is ghost hunting buff she wanted to see the supposed haunted/mysterious sections of the hotel such as the missing room 873!  As legend has it a man murdered his family in there and afterwards no matter what staff did they could not stop some sort of child's writing happening on the bathroom mirror so they blocked off the room. Here are some photos taken from our exploring adventure:

We dined in the room that night since Jason said he would honour the dining benefit and for breakfast we did not do the very famous Mother's Day Brunch at the Banff Springs as we didn't want to wrangle with 2,000 other people celebrating moms. We decided to eat at the Bow Valley Grill (this is the set restaurant for the daily breakfast benefit) and could not have made a better choice. The restaurant wasn't very busy and the breakfast buffet was excellent with more food choices than you can think of!
Our in-room dining experience!

Mother's Day saw further enjoyment of the pool area, more hotel exploring and we were out of there before our 4pm check out that we were granted. When the final bill came in I was surprised to see the entire in-room dining was taken off (the benefit is for two not four dining) and breakfast was also covered for all four of us.

Despite a rough start our stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs was really enjoyable! Jason the Front of House manager went above and beyond for us and he will be happy as we will return sometime soon! The Fine Hotels and Resorts benefits were great despite not getting the early check in but the fact all of our food (around $350) was credited more than makes up for that! I have to remind myself to practice what I preach, do your research first before you book! Had I done that the first couple of hours at the hotel would not have been wasted but then again we probably would not have ended up with the amazing Terrace Suite! This stay also provided me with the 1st of the 5 required nights to achieve Fairmont Platinum status that comes with the Platinum Card (normally Fairmont Platinum requires 10 stays or 30 nights)

Next up on the local scene will be using Amex's FHR for the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise!

(* - We called the night before and were told it would that our 12pm early check in benefit would be available however when we arrived at 1pm that wasn't the case and the room wasn't ready until sometime after 2pm)

Hotel Details:
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
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