Jun 2 Update: RBC Avion transfer bonus to BA returns, SCENE adds Milestones as a partner, 20% Bonus for Diners Club transfers to Flying Club

I always love the start of each month as there are tons of new bonuses, lots of news and more that keeps the travel rewards space hopping!

News, Tips & Tricks
The big news today is the return of the RBC Avion transfer bonus to British Airways! This twice yearly 50% bonus has been much anticipated as it starts a month later than usual. We posted about it last night and are just reminding you again of the bonus as it is one of the main reasons the RBC Avion Infinite Visa card ranks high in our yearly rankings! Think about it, for 12,000 RBC Rewards Points ($12,000 in spending) you'll get 18,000 Avios which are enough points for two short haul round trip tickets in North America. Using the Avion redemption chart you would need 30,000 RBC Rewards Points ($30,000 in spending) to get the same flights! Find out more about the bonus below and more about the short haul redemption possibilities here.

Scotiabank has increased the sign up bonus for the Cineplex SCENE Visa. The regular offer of 2,000 points has been doubled to 4,000 points. This means you can get four free movies instead of two or $40 of spend at Sport Chek! This offer runs until October 31st. Find out more or apply for the card here.

Meanwhile still on the topic of SCENE, we mentioned nearly a year ago to watch this program as they grow out of a student focused movie going loyatly program to a coalition program like AIR MILES and Aeroplan. The first step was the addition of Sport Chek as a partner and now they have added Milestones Restaurants. SCENE members will now earn 1 point for every $3 spent at Milestones restaurants. Find out more here!

Oh yes and finally, in about two hours stay tuned to the Rewards Canada blog for another exciting announcement that is exclusive to Rewards Canada!

Posts since our last update:

• Hyatt Gold Passport: Earn 3,000 to 65,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points this summer with Sweet Dreams Sweet Rewards
  Hyatt launched their summer systemwide promotion today which means we now have summer promotions from almost every major hotel…
• airberlin: 1,000 Free topbonus Miles for registering for the frequent renter offer from Sixt returns again
  Today we see the return of a free miles offer we saw in July and November of 2014. Sixt…
• 50% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back - June 1 to July 15
  Many of you have been asking via email or comments on blog posts for old versions of this offer and…
• BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard Review
  This post is a duplicate of the one found on our main Rewards Canada site)  Link: BMO CashBack World Elite…
  
  

Travel Deals
Marriott is offering 15% off their best available rates in the U.S. and Canada when you stay 2 nights or more. Simply book by June 12 for travel until August 15. Find out more here.

WestJet has launched a 2 day sale for travel in Canada, to the U.S. and Sun destinations. Book by June 3 for travel until August 31st. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
Aegean Miles&Bonus
- Double Miles&Bonus Miles on all domestic flights in Greece when you join the program in June and fly by August 31. More... Join by Jun 30 and fly by Aug 31, 15

airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles for Choice Hotels stays Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 15
- 1,000 Free topbonus Miles when you join the Sixt Frequent Renter program. More... Until Jun 30, 15
- Earn up to 2,000 topbonus Miles on Sixt rentals Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Binter Canarias BinterMas (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double BinterMas points for stays at Barcelo Hotels & Resorts in the Canary Islands. More... Until Jun 30, 15
- Double BinterMas points for stays at the Hotel Botánico & The Oriental Spa Garden. More... Until Jun 30, 15

British Airways Executive Club
- 50% Bonus Avios when you convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion Cardholders only) to British Airways Executive Club. More... Residents of Canada only Until Jul 15, 15

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles for stays at select Park Inn Hotels in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. More... Until Aug 31, 15
- Double Guest Miles for stays at select Radisson Blu Hotels in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. More... Until Aug 31, 15
- Triple Guest Miles for stays at all Rotana Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Hyatt Gold Passport
- Earn up to 65,000 Bonus Points for stays at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- 700 Bonus Gold Passport Points on qualifying rentals of 2 days or more at participating Avis locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and the Middle East More... Until Jun 30, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jul 20 for stays until Aug 31, 15
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating ibis, Novotel or Mercure Hotels in in Poland, Lithuania or Latvia. More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Aug 31, 15

Virgin America Elevate (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 500 Bonus Elevate on your first Gilt purchase. More... Until ?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Flying Club Miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Until Aug 31, 15
- 20% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you convert Diners Club Club Rewards Points to Flying Club miles. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Today's Bonus Offer Highlight is brought to you by:

Hyatt Gold Passport: Earn 3,000 to 65,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points this summer with Sweet Dreams Sweet Rewards

Hyatt launched their summer systemwide promotion today which means we now have summer promotions from almost every major hotel chain except Marriott! This offer looks to be virtually the same as Stay More Play More we saw earlier this year with different offer variations being offered to Hyatt Gold Passport members for stays over the summer. In fact the 20K, 50K and 65K offers were all seen in Stay More Play More. The only new one so far is the 3K for 1 stay offer.  So far we are aware of four variants. If you received a different offer via email or by registering via one of the offers below please let us know so that we can update the list!

Offer Details
Earn up to 65,000 Bonus Points for stays at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Jun 1 - Sep 30, 15

Known Offer Variations:
Up to 65,000 Point Offer
15 Nights + 30,000 Points = 30,000
20 Nights + 15,000 Points = 45,000
25 Nights + 20,000 Points = 65,000
Full Details, Online Registration and booking (Registration is required)

Up to 50,000 Point Offer
5 Nights + 5,000 Points = 5,000
10 Nights + 10,000 Points = 15,000
15 Nights + 15,000 Points = 30,000
20 Nights + 20,000 Points = 50,000
Full Details, Online Registration and booking (Registration is required)

3,000 Point Offer
1 night + 3,000 Points = 3,000
Full Details, Online Registration and booking (Registration is required)

20,000 Point Offer
10 nights + 20,000 Points = 20,000
Full Details, Online Registration and booking (Registration is required)

airberlin: 1,000 Free topbonus Miles for registering for the frequent renter offer from Sixt returns again

Today we see the return of a free miles offer we saw in July and November of 2014. Sixt is offering members of airberlin's topbonus program 1,000 free miles simply for registering on their site for a frequent renter offer from them.

When I signed up for the offer in July I did actually receive the miles, unlike the similar Miles&More offer which seems many people did not receive their miles.

To earn the 1,000 bonus topbonus miles simply register online by June 30th.


The registration also offer bonus miles on multiple Sixt rentals, if you complete 5+ rentals you'll earn 1,000 miles per rental, 10+ rentals earn 1,500 while 20+ earns 2,000. The latter two may be tough when the promotional period is only 30 days long.

50% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back - June 1 to July 15

Many of you have been asking via email or comments on blog posts for old versions of this offer and as we predicted its back as of today!

This offer is for all of you RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) and runs from today to July 15th, which is roughly two weeks shorter than we normally see.  Now is the time to ramp up your spending if you have been planning to take advantage of this great transfer bonus! As always BA Avios are a great option for flights to Asia (via Cathay Pacific), short to medium haul within North America (Alaska Airlines, TAM or American Airlines see this post here) and even though huge surcharges are added to their UK/Europe redemptions they can still be an alright value because of this bonus transfer based on your spend with the credit card (see my post about Earn & Burn for an explanation). As always though with any frequent flyer program you will have to be flexible in your options when redeeming due to seat availability issues (ie it may be hard to get tickets to Europe in Summer etc.) so take this into consideration before transferring.

Full details can be found here

BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard Review

This post is a duplicate of the one found on our main Rewards Canada site)

 

Link: BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard

The newest Cash Back rewards credit card in the Canadian market at time of posting this is the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard. Officially released on May 13th, the card looks to take on this ever growing market with a strong earn rate coupled with a decent insurance and benefits package for a cash back card.

Overview
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard is the top end premium cash back card from BMO that now consists of a portfolioe of three cards. The BMO CasBack MasterCard, the BMO CashBack World MasterCard and of course the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard. The last of which is the card we detail in this, only our second review of cash back card in the Canadian market.

Sign up Features 
Like most cards in the cashback category there is no actual sign up bonus.

Costs
TheBMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard has a $120 annual fee for the primary card and no fee for any secondary cards. As mentioned above however the first year's annual fee is waived for new applicants. The interest rate on the card is 19.9% which is in line with most of the cards at this level.

Earning
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard earns a nice simple 1.75% CashBack Reward on all eligible purchases made to the card.

Redeeming
The beauty of Cash Back credit cards is the simplicity in redemption. There are only two ways to redeem your cash back and both tend to be automatic. Either a cheque is issued to on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis or it is issued as a statement credit on a similar time basis. For the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard it is the latter as the cash back reward is issued as a annual statement credit on your January statemenr. This is where Cash Back tends to be a little less rewarding than Travel Rewards as most Travel Rewards cards, especially those that don't have set redemption charts, give you access to your rewards that you have earned on a monthly basis rather than a yearly basis. But then again you are limited to travel whereas with this cash back you can use it on anything you want.

Features and Benefits
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with a small insurance and benefits package. It offers 8 day out of province travel medical insurance for those up to age of 65 and like almost all cards in Canada now, the card also has Extended warranty protection and purchase protection. However these last two benefits are the Plus version which means the protection is even better than most of the other cards. For example the purchase protection is 180 days versus the usual 90 days and the Extended Warranty adds up to 2 years of extra warranty protection versus the usual 1 year.



What is good about this card
The best thing about the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard is the simplicity of the cash back earn. No category bonuses, no spending tier requirements. Just a nice 1.75% cash back on all purchases. This is in fact the highest no-category or tier bonus earn rate of any cash back card in Canada. The 8 day travel medical insurance and Plus versions of extended warranty and purchase protection are also great features.


What is not so good about this card
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with some small drawbacks, not enough we believe to warrant knocking this card out of your selection process. The first not so good thing about the card is the annual fee. True there are quite a few higher end cash back cards with similar benefits that have the same annual fee but there are some that offer a good proportion of those benefits with no annual fee or a lower annual fee. The second gripe we have is the annual statement credit. We get it. BMO wants you to spend that money with their merchants as they'll make money off the merchant fees but perhaps they should at least look at increasing the amount of times it is awarded (not just once per year) when you have to compete with mbna who will issue you a cheque every month if your cash back rewards total $50 or more. Finally while we do like the insurance and benefits it comes with, other cash back cards that cost the same offer more benefits likes travel accident insurance, Auto rental CDW coverage and even things like baggage delay and flight delay insurance.

Conclusion
This is only our second full review of a Cash Back card here on Rewards Canada although with our comparison chart and blog coverage we do have quite a bit of insight to this category. The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard with its 1.75% return is nearing the returns of the best Travel Rewards credit cards but still falls short of many that are at 2% including this card's brother, the BMO World Elite MasterCard. That being said it is a great return when compared to other cash back cards. True those others may have higher returns in select categories but when you average out all your spending there is a good chance you'll get a better return with this card. The card itself can make an excellent primary or first card in your credit card portfolio if you aren't into travel rewards but for those who are travel savvy and can't get away from the almighty mile or point then this card could make a good secondary or tertiary card in your wallet.

Care to comment? Do you agree or disagree with us? Tell us what think about the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard below!

Related Links:
BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard on bmo.com
Rewards Canada's Cash Back Credit Card Comparison including the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard


Other cards to consider from the Cash Back card category:
Capital One® Aspire Cash™ Platinum MasterCard®
CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite
MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus MasterCard
Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite card
SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express®

Jun 1 Update: Air Canada Rouge introduces new Business Class seats on A319, SPG's newest systemwide promotion and more

Alright another month is upon us here at Rewards Canada! As is usually the case at the start of any month we get the details of major new bonus offers!

News, Tips & Tricks
The battle is heating up for premium economy passengers here in Canada. A few weeks ago WestJet announced the blocking of the center seat in their Plus Cabins this September and now Air Canada Rouge has revamped their premium cabin on their A319s with new Business Class seats. The economy class seats that only offered more leg room are now Rouge Plus. The new Rouge Premium cabins have wider business class style seats with in seat power and pop up cocktail trays. Find out more here.

Two major promotions were announced today, Starwood's Make it Count and Club Carlson's Country Inns & Suites offer. See links to the posts below for details!

Posts since our last update:

• Starwood Preferred Guest: 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2+ nights that includes a Weekend Night
  Starwood has now released their latest systemwide promotion called Make it Count. The offer which we were given a…
• Club Carlson: Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Gold Points for Country Inns & Suites stays of 2+ nights in the Americas
  Carlson Rezidor Hotels is making a big push for stays at their Country Inns & Suites brand this summer…
• Last day to apply for the BMO World Elite MasterCard with 30,000 Bonus Points and First Year Free
  Unless there is a last minute change, today is the last to apply for the BMO Rewards World Elite…
• Earning Stories: 7,200 Club Carlson Points on a 4 day National Car Rental
  Welcome to the next post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have provided…

  
  

Bonus Offers
Aeroflot Bonus
- 2,015 Bonus Miles for stays at the Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport. More... Until Aug 1, 15
- 50% Bonus Miles for reviews posted on Tripadvisor.ru. More... Until Jul 31, 15

Carlson Rezidor Hotels Club Carlson
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Gold Points for eligible stays of two or more nights at any Country Inns & Suites hotel in the Americas.  More... Until Sep 7, 15

Etihad Guest
- Triple Guest Miles for stays at all Movenpick Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Double JetPrivilege Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at 190 participating Worldhotels worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double JetPrivilege Miles when you Rent a car with Hertz at participating locations in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand. More... Until Jul 31, 15
- Up to Triple JetPrivilege Miles when you book weekend travel with Jetfleet. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to Quadruple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria or Romania. More... Jun 15 - Sep 6, 15

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 50% Sindbad Miles Discount for award travel from Frankfurt, Milan, Munich, Paris, Zurich to Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Bangalore, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Dubai, Goa, Jakarta, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives and Singapore. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Philippine Airlines Mabuhay
- Earn up to Quadruple Mabuhay Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La hotel or resort Worldwdie. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2 or more nights that includes a weekend night at all Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Register by Aug 15 for stays until Aug 31, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest: 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2+ nights that includes a Weekend Night

Starwood has now released their latest systemwide promotion called Make it Count. The offer which we were given a sneak peak of a few weeks ago offers 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2 or more nights that includes a weekend night (A weekend night is defined as a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, except in the Middle East, where a weekend night is defined as a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night)

Offer details:
Earn 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2 or more nights that includes a weekend night at all Starwood Hotels Worldwide.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Aug 15 for stays until Aug 31, 15
(A weekend night is defined as a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, except in the Middle East, where a weekend night is defined as a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night)

Club Carlson: Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Gold Points for Country Inns & Suites stays of 2+ nights in the Americas

Carlson Rezidor Hotels is making a big push for stays at their Country Inns & Suites brand this summer as we have already seen bonus miles promotions from American, Southwest and United and now we have one for Club Carlson members themselves! To ensure you maximize your bonus for this offer be sure to book your stay via a Carlson Rezidor website (ie countryinns.com) or their mobile app as it essentially doubles your bonus from 5,000 points to 10,000 points.

Offer Details:
Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Gold Points for eligible stays of two or more nights at any Country Inns & Suites hotel in the Americas.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Sep 7, 15

• Earn 5,000 bonus Gold Points for Eligible Stays of two or more nights, plus
• Earn another 5,000 bonus Gold Points for reservations made on a Carlson Rezidor website or mobile app 

Remember you should be able to combine this offer with this current Club Carlson bonus:
Triple Gold Points (+1,000 Bonus Points) on Eligible Stays at more than 1,000 Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide. Earn 1,000 bonus points on those eligible Stays if booked through the Club Carlson mobile app. Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn. Until Jun 28, 15

Last day to apply for the BMO World Elite MasterCard with 30,000 Bonus Points and First Year Free

Unless there is a last minute change, today is the last to apply for the BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard with the first year free. The card which is ranked as the #1 Travel Points Credit Card with an annual fee by Rewards Canada normally comes with a $150 annual fee. This fee will kick in on new applications as of June 1st so if you apply today you should still be able to try out this card without the $150 annual fee in the first year. Plus you'll get the 30,000 points worth $300 in travel and four lounge passes that come with this card every year.  You can apply for the card here.

Earning Stories: 7,200 Club Carlson Points on a 4 day National Car Rental

Welcome to the next post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have provided you with the details on earning points and miles (both regular earning and bonus opportunities) and these stories show the actual offers in action.

This story revolves around my recent family trip and looks at the earning story for our car rental by crediting the rental to Carlson Rezidor Hotels Club Carlson program.

The car rental was made through National as they had the best pricing on the vehicle type we wanted and included unlimited mileage.  I booked the offer using the National Car Rental promotion for Club Carlson members of 1,500 Bonus Points per day that I took off of our Club Carlson Bonus Points page:

Both Avis and Budget have amazing bonuses for Club Carlson members but they were more expensive and included kilometer restrictions so it made choosing National even easier. Not to mention I am still pestering Budget and Club Carlson for my 8,250 Bonus Points for an early April rental!  Budget says they submitted it and Club Carlson hasn't responded to my email yet. So next week I'll chase those points again.

At the outset of the rental we ended up earning the 1,200 base Club Carlson Points (300 per day) plus the 6,000 bonus points from the offer (1,500 per day) All told 7,200 points posted from the rental which is not too far off from a 9,000 point award night redemption! They also posted within a week of the completion of the rental! I think Budget could learn from this.

Here are screen shot of the points that posted:

There you go. Bonus Points offers in action!

Overall I think this was yet another great earning action for the rental and for what we paid. We like to rent SUVs but I could see people getting an even better return on a promotion like this by renting a smaller vehicle that does not cost as much! 


Tips for Car Rentals
- Watch the rates that include bonus miles - For us it is about 50/50 in terms of earning bonuses on rentals, many times rates are out there that are quite a bit cheaper and provide more value versus paying more and earning more miles. For a complete list of car rental bonus offers see this page on the main Rewards Canada site.
- Read the fine print - When a bonus offer is available be sure that your rental meets the criteria. Those are primarily minimum number of rental days and vehicle type. There are many promotions that don't get awarded on the smallest/cheapest vehicles.
- Join the Car Rental company's program - Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Emerald Club and others all provide great benefits such as dedicated check in counters, bypass check in counters and more.