October 9 Update: Double Aeroplan Miles at Costco.ca, Emirates YYZ-DXB bonus and 17 new airline & hotel bonuses!

A somewhat quiet end to the week of travel rewards news and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
Missed mentioning this yesterday, but we did our monthly update of Emirates' Miles Accelerator offers which has a 16,000 Skywards Miles bonus for Toronto-Dubai round trips in January in First Class. Find out more here.

Yet another Rexall AIR MILES bonus . This is for 50 Bonus Miles and does not require a coupon. Simply spend $50 or more between Oct 9 and 11.

Costco.ca is offering double Aeroplan Miles on all online purchases made by Oct 12 (Darn I just ordered stuff last week!) Find out more here.

Enter to win a $100 Gas Card! Did you see our post for your chance to win a $100 Gas Card? Simply talk to us about the new Scotia GM cards for a chance to win! Find out more here.

Have you voted yet for your favourite travel rewards credit card? Vote here!



Posts since our last update:

• Best Western Rewards: 5,000 Bonus Points on your next booking made via their mobile app
  Like many of their counterparts have already done over the past few years, Best Western is now offering a…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Double Fortune Wings Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for weekend stays (Fri-Sun) at Accor Hotels in Sweden. More... Until Dec 14, 15

Marriott Rewards
- Double Rewards Points & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double Rewards Points on qualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Saudia Alfursan
- Earn up to Triple Alfursan Miles for stays at the Movenpick Riyadh. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Earn up to Quadruple Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels and resorts Worldwide.More... Until Jan 31, 16
- 2,000 KrisFlyer miles when you book a qualifying stay at any participating Meliá hotel in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, France, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom or Italy More... . Until Nov 30, 15
- Earn up to Quadruple KrisFlyer Miles when you book and pick up a car at participating HERTZ locations in USA, Canada, Europe*, Australia, New Zealand or Asia. More... Until Nov 30,15
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles and AUD$50 dining credit when you stay for at least two consecutive nights in any room category, on the Best Available Rate at the Swissôtel Sydney. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Earn up to Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay on the Best Available or Bed&Breakfast rate at any participating Mandarin Oriental hotel Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Double KrisFlyer miles for stays at the at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore, Marina Mandarin Singapore, or Meritus Pelangi Beach Resorts & Spa, Langkawi. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Double KrisFlyer miles on qualifying stays at any participating Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko International Hotels and Hotel JAL City. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Earn up to Triple KrisFlyer miles on Sixt car rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 15
- up to 1,000 KrisFlyer miles and a complimentary traveller briefcase when you subscribe to TIME More... Until Nov 30, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays on the Grand Opening Offer at The Gwen, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Chicago More... Until ?

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Earn at least 5,000 Royal Orchid Plus miles on your first booking with Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31, 15 for stays until Dec 31, 16

Best Western Rewards: 5,000 Bonus Points on your next booking made via their mobile app

Like many of their counterparts have already done over the past few years, Best Western is now offering a limited time bonus for booking stays via their mobile app. The bonus for the first booking is great at 5,000 points. Any other bookings made after that will earn 1,000 bonus points.

Offer Details
Earn 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you download the new Best Western to Go Mobile® app and book your next stay at a Best Western hotel through the app or on a mobile device. Then earn 1,000 bonus points for any additional stays you book through a mobile device. Full details Until Nov 22, 15

October 8 Update: 8 new airline/hotel bonuses

More great credit card news for you today!

News, Tips & Tricks

Remember to enter our $100 Gas Card giveaway! See more in this post.

Have you voted yet for your favourite travel rewards credit card?  If you haven't voted yet be sure you make your voice heard! Vote here!



Posts since our last update:

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Bonus Offers
airBaltic PINS (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double PINS when you fly airBaltic between Riga and Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt or between from Vilnius or Tallinn and Berlin. More... Until Nov 6, 15

Emirates Skywards
- Earn up to 16,000 Bonus Skywards Miles with Miles Accelerator which enables you to earn more Skywards Miles when you fly with Emirates, irrespective of the fare you pay or where you buy your ticket. More... Register and book by Oct 31 for travel Jan 1 - 31, 16

Icelandair Saga Club
- Double Saga Club Points on all Alaska Airlines flights. More... Until Dec 15, 15

Philippine Airlines Mabuhay
- Triple Mabuhay Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels and resortsWorldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay three or more nights at participating Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer miles and a host of other benefits when you stay for at least two consecutive nights on the Club Indulgence package at Concorde Hotel Singapore. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Earn up to Quadruple KrisFlyer miles when you rent with Avis for three or more days in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Wyndham Rewards
- 750 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points on qualifying rentals of 3 days or more at participating Budget locations worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15

October 7 Update:Enter to win a $100 Gas Card!

A pretty busy Wednesday!

News, Tips & Tricks
Enter to win a $100 Gas Card! Did you see our post earlier today for your chance to win a $100 Gas Card? Simply talk to us about the new Scotia GM cards for a chance to win! Find out more here.

Have you voted yet for your favourite travel rewards credit card? 2,500 others have already done so! If you haven't voted yet be sure you make your voice heard! Vote here!

Thanks to Rewards Canada reader David for letting us know about the new Tangerine Money Back credit card that will be coming out soon. It provides you with 2% cash back on two categories of your choice (not sure if it is generic like travel and groceries or merchant specific) and then 1% on all other purchases. The card will have no annual fee and if you have a Tangerine Savings account and choose to bank your credit card cash back into that account you'll get a third category for the 2% back. Reminds us of the not-so-succesful American Express Choice cards that were out a few years ago. Learn more about the card here.

Posts since our last update:

• Talk to us about the Scotiabank GM VISA Suite of Credit Cards for a chance to win a $100 Gas Card!
  Rewards Canada is happy to offer one of our lucky readers a chance to win a $100 Gas Card! All…
• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on award tickets to Europe from Montreal, Toronto & Vancouver
  Once again we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see…
• Did you know? WestJet Rewards Deposit & Fly Targetted Offers
  Taking a page from Melia Rewards' playbook, WestJet Rewards has, for quite sometime now, been sending out emails with…

Travel Deals
SWISS Airlines has a great sale for flights between Montreal and Zurich. Fares are as low as $798 all in if booked by Oct 27 for travel Oct 16 - Dec 10. Find out more here!

Bonus Offers
Air China Phoenix Miles
- Double Phoenix Miles Kilometers for stays at the Cordis Hotel Hong Kong. More... Until Dec 30, 15

Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Earn up to Triple Airpoints Dollars for stays at participating Hilton hotels and resorts Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- 10 Bonus Airpoints when you join Snap Fitness. More... Ongoing

AirAsia BIG (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 10,000 Bonus BIG Points on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Dec 31, 15

airBaltic PINS (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 1,000 Bonus PINS on your first hotel booking made with PointsHound. More... Book by Dec 31, 15 for stays until Dec 31, 16
- Triple PINS on Sixt rentals of 3 days or more in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. More... Book by Nov 6 for rentals until Dec 18, 15

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Earn up to 60% Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you buy miles. More... Until Oct 31, 15

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios 20% off the best available rate, a free upgrade upon availability for stays at Swissotel Hotels & Resorts in Europe. More... Dec 1 - Jan 31, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on Avis rentals of 3 or more daysof a Group C car or higher Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double TrueBlue Points & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double TrueBlue Points and a Free Upgrade on qualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.More... Until Dec 31, 15

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 30,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Los Angeles and Doha. More... Jan 1 - Mar 31, 16
- Save up to 14,000 QMiles when you redeem for an award ticket to or from Los Angeles. More... Jan 1 - Feb 29, 16
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Doha and Durban. More... Dec 17 - Mar 31, 16
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Doha and Ras Al Khaimah. More... Feb 1 - Apr 30, 16
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Doha and Abha. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Bonus Starpoints, Free Nights or Elite Status when you complete stays at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Dec 31, 15
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Starpoints when you stay at Starwood's Tribute brand of hotels. More... Oct 12 - Dec 20, 15

Talk to us about the Scotiabank GM VISA Suite of Credit Cards for a chance to win a $100 Gas Card!

Rewards Canada is happy to offer one of our lucky readers a chance to win a $100 Gas Card! All you have to do to enter is to comment below on the new Scotiabank GM Visa cards with an answer to any one of these three questions:

- Which GM vehicle would you most likely redeem your GM Earnings for?
- What do you like best about either of the GM cards?

The contest closes on Wednesday October 14th, 2015 at 11:59pm MST! Limit 1 entry per person Winner will be determined by random draw from all eligible entries received. Void where prohibited.  No purchase necessary. 


The co-brand suite consists of two cards, the no fee Scotiabank® GM®* VISA* Card and the Scotiabank® GM®* VISA Infinite* Card.

Scotiabank® GM®* VISA* Card

- No Annual Fee
- Annual Fee – $0
- Co-Borrower Fee – $0
- Supplementary Card Fee – $0
- 19.99% annual interest rates for card purchases
- 22.99% annual interest rate on cash advances and balance transfers
- Minimum Credit Limit – $500

GM Earnings
- 5% in GM Earnings on the first $5,000 in Net Purchases annually
- 2% in GM Earnings on all Net Purchases* thereafter
- No limits on GM Earnings

Redemption
- $1 in GM Earnings = $1 towards the total purchase price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac.
- Customers can start redeeming points at $1 and can combine GM Earnings with any in-market offers.
- No caps on redemption

Insurance coverage:

Sample rewards earning:

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Scotiabank® GM®* VISA Infinite* Card

- Annual Fee – $79
- Co-Borrower Fee – $39
- Supplementary Card Fee – $39
- 19.99% annual interest rates for card purchases
- 22.99% annual interest rate on cash advances and balance transfers
- Minimum Credit Limit – $5,000
- Minimum Income – $60,000 or Household Income of $100,000

GM Earnings
- 5% in GM Earnings on the first $10,000 in Net Purchases annually
- 2% in GM Earnings on all Net Purchases* thereafter
- No limits on GM Earnings

Redemption
- $1 in GM Earnings = $1 towards the total purchase price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac
- Customers can start redeeming points at $1 and can combine GM Earnings with any in-market offers.
- No caps on redemption

Insurance coverage:

Sample rewards earning:

The Verdict
With the release of these cards and with most cards in Canada not changing their reward offering over the past 6 months, I can hopefully say that I was wrong when I predicted that Credit Card Rewards will suffer with the new interchange rate agreement that went into effect this past April. Both of these cards provide extremely strong earn potential! 5% on your first $5,000 or $10,000 in spending each year depending on which card you get and then 2% back on all other eligible spending. That 2% is even available on the no-fee card! There are very few and I mean very few cards that will cost you nothing and essentially earn you 2% cash back. Spend $30,000 a year on the no fee card and after three years you'll have $2,250 towards a GM vehicle or $2,700 towards that same car with the Infinite version. Unlike most cash back cards where you have to wait until your card anniversary to get the cash back, the GM Earnings are similar to many travel rewards credit cards whereby the points or in this case GM Earnings $ are essentially available for use as they post

Of course with that being said, you are limited as to where you can use your rewards. You have one option only and that is using the rewards towards a new car and that new car has to be a GM vehicle. So if you meet these two criteria for rewards, that is, you are eyeing a new car and you are likely to go GM then getting either one of these cards makes great sense. Don't travel much and hate annual fees, the no annual fee card makes great sense. On the other hand if you travel at least once per year (road trip, flying etc.) and don't have another card in your credit card portfolio that offers insurance benefits like out of province medical, trip interruption or flight delay then paying that $79 per year for the Infinite card is well worth it.

The only thing we here at Rewards Canada that we see missing with these cards is a sign up bonus. I believe Scotiabank addressed this with the 5% earn each year on the first $5,000 or $10,000 in spending but by offering even a small sign up bonus incentive like $25 on the no fee card and $50 for the Infinite could easily push a few more people to the cards and since those are one time costs they could be recouped relatively quickly in terms of fees collected from merchants when those members swipe their cards.

Here are some terms and conditions of the GM Earnings:
- Earnings may be applied toward the Total Purchase Price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac. The “Total Purchase Price” consists of the vehicle price (up to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), freight and PDI, air tax, and applicable sales taxes.
- The “Total Purchase Price” excludes costs associated with licensing, registration, insurance, dealer fees (where allowed), accessories, additional options, extended warranties, maintenance or service plans and other services such as OnStar and SiriusXM. 2
- If you cancel your credit card, your credit privileges are revoked or your account is closed, your GM Earnings must be redeemed within 90 days or they will be forfeited. If your account is not in good standing, GM Earnings are not eligible for redemption. Please refer to the GM Card Earnings Program Terms and Conditions for details

Redemption Details:
- To redeem the Earnings accumulated with a GM Card, customers can visit www.gmcard.ca and select “My Earnings” or contact the GM Card Reward Centre at 1-888-446-6232 to verify their total Earnings available.
- Once verified, customers can visit any authorized GM dealer and choose their eligible new vehicle. After they have discussed the purchase price of the vehicle, but before signing the contract, they tell the sales representative that they want to redeem their Earnings.
- The customer and the sales representative will then call the GM Card Reward Centre to confirm the total amount of eligible Earnings. During the call, the GM Card Reward Centre will ask for the Primary or Secondary Cardholder’s information for authentication purposes and also obtain certain vehicle sale information from the sales representative and then provide the representative with an authorization number to complete the transaction.
- Once the authorization number is issued, the Earnings amount will be deducted from the total purchase price or lease down payment of their new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac.

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on award tickets to Europe from Montreal, Toronto & Vancouver

Once again we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see both Economy and Business Class options from Lufthansa and we see the return of the 50% discount on economy class travel on Austrian Airlines between Toronto and Austria. The Lufthansa offers are for travel between Feb 1 and Mar 15, 16 (must be booked by Oct 31) while the Austrian offers are good for booking and travel until the end of the year.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal to Europe for only 55,000 miles in Business Class.  This is nearly a 48% discount off the normal Business Class award ticket price of 105,000 miles. The economy class Lufthansa offer is good from Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver and is a straight 50% discount on the normal 60,000 mile requirement. The Austrian Airlines option out of Toronto is also a full 50% discount on economy class which means an award ticket price of only 30,000 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. 

The crazy thing is that you can actually get the round trip economy class tickets for only $5,000 in credit card spend (and a $120 annual fee). How so? As we usually mention in this post you can boost your Miles & More account with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. If you read our blog regularly you'll know that right now the card comes with a 20,000 Starpoint sign up bonus. When you convert those 20,000 Starpoints to Miles & More SPG will award you an additional 5,000 miles. Which gives you 25,000 miles but if you spend $5,000 on the card you'll have 25,000 Starpoints and the 5,000 Miles bonus giving you the 30,000 miles required for this flight. Of course fuel surcharges and taxes are extra.

Simply book the offers seen here by October 31st (Lufthansa) or December 31st (Austrian).  
Full details on this offer can be found here

Did you know? WestJet Rewards Deposit & Fly Targetted Offers

Taking a page from Melia Rewards' playbook, WestJet Rewards has, for quite sometime now, been sending out emails with a Deposit & Fly offer to select WestJet Rewards members. If you haven't got one yet don't worry, WestJet hopes to get one to each WestJet Rewards member eventually but of course there are those who are more likely to get them first and perhaps more than once due to past booking history! Even if you aren't a member yet you should join the WestJet Rewards program as you never know when this offer may come your way!

What is Deposit & Fly?
Simply put its free money given to a WestJet Rewards member from WestJet. But wait, free money? There must be a catch. Yes but its not a sneaky catch rather its a hurry up and book so you can use the free money. What WestJet does is place a set amount of WestJet dollars in your account for a period of 3 days which you can use towards any eligible booking with WestJet. If you don't book within those three days you lose the money. For example, everyone in my family received $50 each a little over two weeks ago to use but alas it came at a time when we weren't planning any bookings. That is with WestJet, as we just finished an Aeroplan redemption for travel during the Family Day vacation period in February. Here is a screen shot showing the $50 coming in and going out of my account without being used

This is a great promotion for WestJet to get people to book sooner than later and try out the redemption process if they haven’t done so before.

So here is our tip:  Make sure you are a WestJet Rewards member, do not delete any emails from WestJet without reading them as you may miss out and don’t unsubscribe from receiving Rewards offers as you will never be targeted for offers like this or the current fast track to Elite Status offer!

October 6 Update: Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up Offers, Accor Hotels Super Sale, Bonus AIR MILES for Rexall purchases

News, Tips & Tricks
Have you voted yet for your favourite travel rewards credit card? Nearly 2,500 others have already done so! If you haven't voted yet be sure you make your voice heard! Vote here!

Earn 80 bonus AIR MILES when you spend $50 or more at Rexall from now until October 8. Find the coupon here.

Posts since our last update:

• WestJet Rewards: 20% Bonus dollars when you convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion Cardholders only)
  Yesterday we saw the return of the RBC Rewards transfer to WestJet Rewards! Those RBC Rewards points collectors who…
• Air Canada: Up to 10,000 Bonus Miles on new flights to Dubai and Delhi
  Air Canada has released new route launch bonuses for the upcoming new non-flights to Delhi and Dubai. The offer is…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for October
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October! This is not…
  
  

Travel Deals
Accor Hotels has launched another super sale! You can save up to 40% on stays in Canada, the U.S. and virtually everywhere else in the World! Plus they are throwing in free breakfast. The sale is only open to Le Club accorhotels members right now (free to join!). Simply book by Oct 16 for stays Nov 1 - Apr 30. Find out more and book online here

Bonus Offers

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly on Air Canada between Toronto (YYZ) and Dubai. More... Register and book by Nov 26 for travel Nov 3, 15 - Feb 24, 16
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly on Air Canada between Toronto (YYZ) and Delhi. More... Register and book by Nov 26 for travel Nov 1, 15 - Feb 24, 16
- Triple Aeroplan Miles for Avis rentals of 3 or more days in Canada and the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book select cruises with Expedia CruiseShipCenters. More... Book by Oct 24, 15

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double HawaiianMiles & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S..More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double HawaiianMiles and a Free Upgrade on qualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Orbucks on all flights booked via Orbitz. More... Book by Oct 25, 15
- Earn up to 4x Orbucks when you fly Qatar Airways to select cities like Istanbul, Bali, Delhi, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. You'll earn 4x on select flights from LAX, and 3x from elsewhere in the U.S.. More... Book by Oct 25, 15
- 3x Orbucks when you book select Virgin America flights. More... Book by Oct 25, 15
- 2x Orbucks when you book select flight + hotel packages to Puerto Vallarta or Riviera Nayarit. More... Book by Nov 1, 15

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a suite at the Traders Hotel, Beijing. More... Oct 12 - Dec 31, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Dec 31, 15

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- 25% Bonus Miles&Smiles Status Miles when you fly Turkish Airlines between Turkey and Entebbe. More... Until Dec 31, 15

United MileagePlus
- OFFER EXTENDED Elite Status Match that offers top-tier flyers of most other airlines a comparable status in the MileagePlus® program. More... Until Dec 31, 15

WestJet Rewards
- 20% Bonus WestJet Dollars when your convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion cardholders only) to WestJet Rewards. More... Until Nov 15, 15

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