July 11 Update: Scotiabank More Rewards Visa does have some insurance benefits, no Miles & More discounted awards this month

News, Tips & Tricks
Scotiabank reached out to us to let us know that the new More Rewards Visa card does in fact come with purchase protection and extended warranty. This is good news as we know the card is super strong on the earn and redeem front but really has no other benefits. Interesting thing is that you will not find this information on Scotia's site. You can read all about the card here.

You may be asking where are the Miles & More discounted "meilenschnaeppchen" flight awards that we post about every month. Well turns out there are no offers from Canada this month! Hopefully we get some in August!

Don't forget to enter our Marriott Rewards contest!! You can enter to win up to 30,000 Marriott Rewards points! Find out all about here.


Posts since our last update:

• Earn Triple AIR MILES Reward Miles for Hilton stays in Canada, Caribbean & Latin America
  Just like the Aeroplan offer we brought you a little over a week ago, AIR MILES members can also earn…

Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios for stays on the Linger with Langham offer at Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 16
- Double Avios for stays at Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels in London including the Mayfair. More... U ntil Sep 1, 16
- Double Avios for stays at Shangri-La hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for stays until Dec 31, 16
- Triple Avios for stays at participating Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 16

Etihad Guest
- 2,500 Bonus Guest Miles when you use Moonlight Check In at Abu Dhabi airport. More... Until Jul 22, 16

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank miles when you fly on any eligible Alaska Airlines flight. More... Aug 1 - Oct 31, 16

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the at the Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel and the Courtyard by Marriott Zurich North. More... Until Sep 23, 16
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort & Spa at Grande Dunes. More... Jul 22 - Sep 9, 16
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the AC Hotel Boston Cambridge. More... Sep 15 - Dec 8, 16

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 8,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between the Seychelles and Doha. More... Dec 12- Mar 15, 17
- Save up to 14,000 QMiles when you redeem for an award ticket to or from the Seychelles. More... Book by Jan 15 for travel Dec 12 - Feb 15, 17
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Krabi and Doha. More... Dec 6 - Feb 28, 17
- Save up to 20,000 QMiles when you redeem for an award ticket to or from Krabi. More... Book by Jan 5 for travel Dec 6 - Feb 5, 17
- Quadruple QMiles for stays at the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas More... Until Sep 30, 16
- Double QMiles on all Sixt rentals Worldwide. More... Until Sep 15, 16


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

Earn Triple AIR MILES Reward Miles for Hilton stays in Canada, Caribbean & Latin America

Just like the Aeroplan offer we brought you a little over a week ago, AIR MILES members can also earn triple miles for stays at Hilton Hotels in Canada and the rest of the Americas except the U.S. Enjoy the extra miles!

Offer details:
Triple AIR MILES Reward Miles when you stay at at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Jul 18 - Nov 18, 16

July 8 Update: AIR MILES Expiry in the news again and great Aeroplan award ticket offers for Hong Kong

News, Tips & Tricks
The AIR MILES Expiry issue has made the news again! We were interviewed this week about the topic again. Here is our post about it from back in March and you can read this latest CBC News article on the topic right here.

Looking good Robb!

Yesterday we brought you details of how to get 5,000 free miles with Royal Air Maroc's Safar Flyer program. That offer potentially got even better as Gary from View from the Wing reminded me how RAM is thinking of moving to Avios (British Airways and Iberia's currency). If they do move and allow you to transfer to BA or Iberia, well you just got yourself some free Avios with this deal.

YYCdeals points out that Aeroplan's latest Great Deals offers actually has a really good offer out! Right now you can redeem far less miles for economy class flights between Canada and Hong Kong and the good news is these flights incur very little surcharges. Find out more here!

Don't forget to enter our Marriott Rewards contest!! You can enter to win up to 30,000 Marriott Rewards points! Find out all about here.


Posts since our last update:

• Create a Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer family account and receive enough bonus miles for a flight within Morocco, at no cost
  Royal Air Maroc released two new bonus offers this month which we covered in our regular update yesterday.  One…

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Quadruple Flying Blue Miles for stays at participating Hilton Hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting with your second stay. More... Until Sep 15, 16

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on Japan Airlines between Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vancouver and Japan. More... Until Sep 30, 16

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at IHG Hotel stays Worldwide. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 16
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you stay at participating Marriott Hotels in Europe More... Until Sep 11, 16
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at Starhotels in London. More... Until Aug 31, 16
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 17

Etihad Guest
- 25% Bonus Guest Miles when you convert points from select hotel and financial partners into Guest Miles. More... Until Jul 31, 16

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Double Fortune Wings Miles when you book the Raffles Kid’s Camp package for 2 or more nights at the Raffles Hainan. More... Until Aug 31, 16

Le Club Accorhotels
- Earn up to 1,200 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. More... Book by Jul 30 or stays until Sep 15, 16



Follow Rewards Canada:

Create a Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer family account and receive enough bonus miles for a flight within Morocco, at no cost

Royal Air Maroc released two new bonus offers this month which we covered in our regular update yesterday.  One of those offers deserves more attention as it is one of those free miles offers again. The thing is the amount of miles you get for free are actually enough for an award flight! If you create a Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer family account by September 30th you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles which is 250 more miles than what is required for an economy class one way ticket within Morocco!

If you aren't a member yet and none of your family members are not members you can all join then complete the form (see link below) to create the family account. Any new Safar Flyer members will earn 4,000 bonus miles as well when they take their first flight on RAM. Seeing that Air Canada now flies to Morocco (along with RAM who has done so from Canada for sometime now) you could use this little trick to get you to another city in Morocco during your trip!

Offer details
5,000 Bonus Safar Flyer Miles when you sign up for a Safar Family account. Full details Until Sep 30, 16

July 6 Update: Triple Miles for Hilton stays in Canada & Latin America, Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up Offers, 12 new bonuses

News, Tips & Tricks
Last week we let you know about the Aeroplan offer for Triple Miles with Hilton in Canada, the Caribbean, Central & South America. Well the offer is also available with 4 other airlines! Find out which ones here!

Don't forget to enter our Marriott Rewards contest!! You can enter to win up to 30,000 Marriott Rewards points! Find out all about here.


Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for July
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of July! This is not…

Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 16
- Triple Club Premier Points when you stay at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. More... Jul 18 - Nov 18, 16
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at Quinta Real. More... Until Aug 31, 16

American AAdvantage
- OFFER EXTENDED Earn up to 12,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you purchase and fly on a First or Business Class ticket on American Airline or eligible partner flights marketed by American. More...Until Jul 31, 16
- Triple AAdvantage Miles when you stay at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. More... Jul 18 - Nov 18, 16

Avianca LifeMiles
- Double LifeMiles for stays at IHG Hotel stays Worldwide. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 16

Delta SkyMiles
- Triple SkyMiles when you stay at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. More... Jul 18 - Nov 18, 16

Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
- 50% Bonus Safar Flyer Miles when you fly Royal Air Maroc between Casablanca and Rio De Janeiro, Nairobi or Washington DC. More... Sep 15 - Dec 15, 16
- 5,000 Bonus Safar Flyer Miles when you sign up for a Safar Family account. More... Until Sep 30, 16

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Triple Victoria Miles for stays at the Oasis Praiamar hotel. More... Book by Jul 30 for stays until Aug 31, 16

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 Sep 30, 16
- Triple MileagePlus Miles when you stay at participating Hilton hotels in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. More... Jul 18 - Nov 18, 16


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

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for July

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of July! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the sign up bonus, but when most or all of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when not taking into account insurance packages and other non-reward benefits. In fact all the cards on this list for July are first year free or have no annual so you can try many of them out at no cost, get well over $1,000 in rewards and decide later on if the card is right for you. All the while earning the sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels!  Just ensure you drop any cards you don't like before your 1st year anniversary.
   
No change from last month by the way!

So here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for July (in alphabetical order)

American Express Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A mainstay offer here on Rewards Canada, the American Express Gold Rewards card has its first year fee of $150 waived and will award you 25,000 Membership Rewards points when you complete $1,500 in spending in the first three months. That 25,000 points is worth a $250 travel credit via Amex's TripFlex feature or can be converted to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles (1 Round trip Economy Award ticket within North America) or 25,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios (as much a 3 one way Economy Award tickets in North America, see this post for details.)


American Express Air Miles Platinum Credit Card - 2,000 Reward Miles (Apply here)
A newcomer to our monthly Top 5 sign up offers, the American Express Air Miles Platinum card comes first year free and comes with a 2,000 Reward Miles sign up bonus when you complete $500 in spending in the first three months. That 2,000 Miles is worth anywhere from $220 to $300 in flight value when you get around to redeeming them.

Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa - 30,000 Points  (Apply here)
The best no foreign transaction fee card in Canada makes it to this list due to a very strong acquisition offer. I mean who can complain with 30,000 points awarded on approval and a certificate for a free night stay at a Category 1-4 hotel for a potential of 5 free nights, all at no cost as the card has the annual fee waived in the first year! They also give you a 15 night credit into the mix which automatically provides you with Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status.


mbna Best Western Rewards MasterCard (Apply here)
Right now there is an offer for up to 60,000 Bonus Western Rewards points with this card! With no annual fee to boot! We detail the offer in this post that shows just how much value you can pull out of the card with this 60K bonus!

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card - 15,000 Miles (Apply here)
Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles and a 100% rebate off your first year annual fee when you apply for and receive the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card.  15,000 Bonus miles awarded on first purchase. PLUS A REWARDS CANADA EXCLUSIVE - For every $1 spent on eligible gas, grocery, drugstore and aircanada.com Purchases with your Card5, earn double Aeroplan Miles for the first 90 days after Account approval – that’s 3 miles instead of 1.5 miles for every $1 spent on eligible Purchases. The 5,000 additional miles for the authorized user come with a $50 cost for that additional card.


If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with over  $1000 in travel credits and hotel free nights but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend

July 5 Update: Hyatt Gold Passport hotel category changes, Air Canada cuts Rio service, 4x points at new Accor Hotels

News, Tips & Tricks
Hyatt Gold Passport announced today their annual hotel category changes for award nights. More than 100 hotels are affected with a pretty even mix of hotels moving either up or down a category. None of Hyatt's Canadian properties changed in this latest list. Of course if you see a hotel on the list that is going up you'll want to try to book an award night before August 1st as that is when the change takes place however if a hotel is going down a category you'll want to wait until after August 1st to book that free night award!

Air Canada will be cutting their Toronto to Rio De Janeiro service as of this October. The last flights will operate Oct 7/8 (Source Airlineroute.net)

Don't forget to enter our Marriott Rewards contest!! You can enter to win up to 30,000 Marriott Rewards points! Find out all about here.


Posts since our last update:

• Earn 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays of 2+ nights
  This is the summer to earn bonus Aeroplan miles for hotel stays! Aeroplan members have so many choices and…
• American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum & Reserve Cards see increased sign up bonuses until Sep 30
  American Express has brought back the higher sign up bonuses on their premium AeroplanPlus cards for the summer! You have…

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at any Best Western in the United States (including its territories), Canada, the Bahamas, or Haiti that is booked via the Air Canada website. More... Until Nov 30, 16
- 550 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you reserve online a spot at HotelParc Montreal-Trudeau Airport on admtl.com. More... Until Oct 31, 16

Le Club Accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Aug 31, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Le Club accorhotels points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. More... Register & book by Jul 31 for stays until Aug 31, 16

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 500 Bonus Starpoints for stays on the Grand Opening offer at The Sheraton Georgetown Texas Hotel & Conference Center. More... Jul 28 - Sep 30, 16


Follow Rewards Canada:

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

Earn 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays of 2+ nights

This is the summer to earn bonus Aeroplan miles for hotel stays! Aeroplan members have so many choices and the latest is this multiple night offer for Best Western stays. Members will earn 2,000 bonus miles for stays of 2+ nights if they book via the Air Canada website. If you only need 1 night you can still book this offer for 1,750 bonus miles!

Offer details
2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at any Best Western in the United States (including its territories), Canada, the Bahamas, or Haiti that is booked via the Air Canada website.  Full details Until Nov 30, 16

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here!

American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum & Reserve Cards see increased sign up bonuses until Sep 30

American Express® AeroplanPlus®* Platinum Card / American Express® AeroplanPlus®*Gold Card is no longer available as of August 26th, 2020. For more information, please visithttps://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/credit-cards/aeroplan-cards/