January 10 Update: Plaza Premium loyalty program - earn free visits for free, 50% bonus Aeroplan Miles on 1st Rocketmiles booking & more

News, Tips & Tricks
Plaza Premium Lounges has launched their own loyalty program and this is significant for us Canadian's since the brand has a decent network of airport lounges in Canada! Called Arrture, the program awards 100 points per visit to a Plaza Premium lounge and here is where it gets good. Most types of visits count including free access visits provided by credit cards like The Platinum Card from American Express, Diners Club MasterCard and visits when you use you Priority Pass membership (Either paid for or via a credit card)! Once you have 20 lounge visits you'll have accumulated 2,000 points which can then be redeemed for a free lounge visit voucher. Of course, depending on how you get into the lounge you may not need the voucher that you just got for free but you could easily give it to family member or friend. Or if you only have the base level of Priority Pass you can save yourself the US$27 entry fee by using the voucher instead of your Priority Pass. There is no online registration as of yet so you have to join when you visit a Plaza Premium lounge. The membership also provides 15% off regular walk up lounge and spa rates. Click here for complete details on Arrture (Source View from the Wing)

Of course now we need to update our Guide to Business Class Lounge Access to include this program!

Posts since our last update:

• Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on award tickets between Alberta/B.C. & Europe
   The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards went live at the start of this month and for us…
• Canadian North Aurora Rewards: Save 30% on flight redemptions booked by January 13
  Canadian North has launched a one week reward ticket sale! All members can save 30% on the normal mileage…
• 10 great Starwood Hotels in Canada to use your 40K free night benefit at from the SPG Credit Card from Amex
  All photos in this post courtesy of Starwood Hotels As my wife approaches the $40,000 spend threshold on her Starwood…

Travel Deals
You can save up to 30% on IHG Hotel stays in Europe! Book by Feb 24 for stays until Feb 27. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Apr 15, 17
- 50% Bonus Aeroplan Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Mar 31, 17

Choice Privileges
- 5,000 Bonus Points for stays at various Choice hotels locations across Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Points for stays at various Choice hotels locations across Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- January Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Jan 31 for travel Mar 1 - Apr 30, 17

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 500 AAdvantage Miles PER NIGHT when you stay at participating Hilton hotels. More... Until Mar 27, 17
- 3,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Jan 31, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- 1,000 Bonus Avios for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- OFFER EXTENDED 30% Bonus Asia Miles when you convert points from any of 15 participating hotel loyalty programs to Asia Miles. More... Until Feb 28, 17
- 100% Bonus Asia Miles on all hotel stays booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Feb 28, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 150 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Novotel hotels in Hungary. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- Earn up to Quadruple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels hotels in North America and Central America.For Le Club accorhotels Elite members only More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until Dec 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 5,000 Rewards Points on rentals at participating Hertz locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until Mar 31, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Various Bonus Starpoints or Free Nights when you complete eligible stay(s) at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - may not work for everyone Until Mar 31, 17

United MileagePlus
- 3,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Mar 31, 17
- 1,500 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you book a mid-size or larger car with Hertz. More... Until Mar 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on award tickets between Alberta/B.C. & Europe

 The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards went live at the start of this month and for us Canadians this set has three of the cities they serve in our great country! With promo awards the discount ranges from 25 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class! However for us here in Canada we don't get any 50% offers once again but we do get 25% off which can definitely be utilized by some! So while 25% isn't as good as 50% of course, it still is something to look at if you were planning travel in the first two months of the year.

Offer Details:
January Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details Book by Jan 31 for travel Mar 1 - Apr 30 17

Here are the Canadian offers available for booking this month for travel in March and April of next year.

Don't have all the miles? You could always consider transferring Starpoints earned via the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to Flying Blue. The card has a 20,000 Starpoint bonus right now which translates to 25,000 Flying Blue miles! More than enough miles for a one way flight in Economy between Vancouver and Europe. You can add in even more miles with the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card, its 30,000 point sign up bonus translates to 10,000 Starpoints which means another 10,000 Flying Blue miles. 

Canadian North Aurora Rewards: Save 30% on flight redemptions booked by January 13

Canadian North has launched a one week reward ticket sale! All members can save 30% on the normal mileage requirement for booking reward flights with their Aurora Rewards points:

To take advantage of this offer you have to book by this Friday, January 13th by calling Aurora Rewards at 1.8‌00.661.1505. Seats are limited and while the T&Cs don't state it we assume this is goof for flights throughout the current schedule.  Find out more here.

10 great Starwood Hotels in Canada to use your 40K free night benefit at from the SPG Credit Card from Amex

All photos in this post courtesy of Starwood Hotels

As my wife approaches the $40,000 spend threshold on her Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express she will soon receive her Category 1-4 free weekend night certificate for doing so. Well light bulb goes off since we did the post a few weeks ago about using your free night certificate from the Marriott Visa at 5 great hotels in Canada, why not do it for SPG as well for those of you who also reach that $40K milestone.  This is a great year to explore Canada as we celebrate the 150th birthday of the country and there are so many events and places to check out! Remember access to all National Parks and Monuments is free for 2017!

The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card comes with a great sign up bonus of 20,000 Starpoints when you spend $500 on the card but it also has a decent offers if you hit marked spend levels within 12 months. The first is SPG Gold Elite status when you hit $30,000 and then if you hit $40,000 you'll get a Category 1-4 Hotel Free Weekend Night Certificate. This certificate can be redeemed for a free weekend (Fri-Sun) night stay at any Starwood Hotels Worldwide that fall under the Category 1 to 4 levels. In Canada you have quite a few choices that you can use the certificate, namely 67 hotels. (21 Category 4, 28 Category 3,  and 18 Category 2,  there are no Category 1 hotels in Canada)

From those 67 hotels these are our top picks to use your certificate at for travels within Canada:

The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa, Victoria

 The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver

 The Westin Grand, Vancouver

Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

The Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto
 

The Westin Prince, Toronto

Sheraton on the Falls Hotel

The Westin Ottawa

Le Westin Resort & Spa, Tremblant, Quebec

Hotel St. Paul, Montreal, a Member of Design Hotels













Now you may be asking the question, what about the Marriott takeover of Starwood and the integration of the reward programs. We know from what Marriott and Starwood have told us that the programs won't be combined into a single program until sometime in 2018. That means you have at least 12 months but more than likely closer to 18 months to still utilize this card. So you do have some time still to get it, hit that $40k in spend for your free night and use it up.  Not to mention the card has its 20,000 point sign up bonus! That can be used for 2 more free nights at Category 4 hotels or converting to 60,000 Marriott Rewards points!

What hotels have you redeemed your Category 1-4 benefit at in Canada or for that matter anywhere Worldwide? What hotels would you recommend to our readers?

January 9 Update: We're back! Aeroplan dining partnership, newleaf drops U.S. flights & an Emirates seat sale

News, Tips & Tricks
Aeroplan has partnered with Tourism Vancouver's Dine Out™ Vancouver Festival, the City of Toronto’s Winterlicious and Summerlicious programs and Tourisme Montréal’s MTLàTABLE. (Source Aeroplan) With this partnership Aeroplan members will have exclusive opportunities including:

• Extraordinary experiences such as chef collaborations from around the world and unique dining experiences;
• Priority access to culinary events and reservations.

Air Transat will be adding twice weekly service between Montreal and Tel Aviv for the Summer 2017 season. Of course Air Transat does not have their own FFP but you can definitely utilize a proprietary credit card program to redeem for these flights. (Source Routesonline)

The battle between newleaf and WestJet appears to be over. newleaf has cancelled their planned flights from Alberta to Phoenix-Mesa and Hamilton to Melbourne Florida. No word yet if WestJet will keep their Mesa flights alive. (Source Routesonline 1, 2)

Posts since our last update:

• Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles on all IHG hotel stays until April 15
  We've already brought you the details of the new Accelerate promotions for those people who like to earn IHG…
• Club Carlson: Earn up to 100,000 Bonus Points on Carlson Rezidor Hotel stays Worldwide
  Carlson Rezidor Hotels has come out with their Q1 global promotion that kicks in today for all stays Worldwide.…
• British Airways Executive Club: Earn Triple Avios on all flights out of Canada (and globally!)
  British Airways is taking a page out of Hilton HHonor's play book. Rather than coming up with a new…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for January
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of January! This is not…
• IHG Rewards Club Reward Night Hotel Category Changes - 650+ Hotels affected including 31 in Canada
  The Holiday Inn Canmore sees a big increase in reward night points requirement come January 15Outside of Hilton Hotels who…
• Air Canada and Cathay Pacific to Introduce Codeshare Services and Reciprocal Frequent Flyer Benefits
  Many in the airline industry are stating major airline alliances are a dying breed and if the past few…

Travel Deals
Emirates has a sale for flights from Western Canada to Dubai where you can fly in economy class for only $975. Book by January 11 for travel Jan 11 - Nov 21. Find out more here.

Save up to 25% on Porter Airlines flights when you book by January 10th for travel until May 31. Find out more here.

You can fly between Toronto and Paris on Air France for as little as $739! Book by Jan 11 for travel Jan 15 - Apr 30. Find out more here.

  Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles and save up to 15% at participating Hertz locations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Brazil, Europe, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand and St. Thomas. More... Until Jun 30, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- Triple Avios when you fly British Airways anywhere in the World and on American Airlines, Finnair or Iberia between Europe and North America. More... Until Mar 31, 17
- Receive a Free First Class Seat Upgrade when you book an eligible published semi-flexible R, D or C class, or a fully flexible J class Club World return ticket departing the U.K.  More... Book by Mar 31 for travel until Apr 23, 17

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- Earn up to 100,000 Bonus Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  More... Until Mar 31, 17

Emirates Skywards
- 2,000 Bonus Skywards Miles when you stay 3+ nights at any one of 10 Marriott Hotels in London. More... Until Mar 31, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Feb 14 for stays until Mar 18, 17
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels hotels in Sweden. More... Book by Jan 22 for stays until Mar 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 6,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2 nights Thursday-Sunday with breakfast in a premium room at Marriott Hotels across the U.K.. For Marriott Elite members only. More... Until Feb 28, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 5x QMiles on all Qatar Airways flights. More... Book by Jan 16 for travel Jan 11 - Dec 15, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles on all IHG hotel stays until April 15

We've already brought you the details of the new Accelerate promotions for those people who like to earn IHG Rewards Club points.  But what happens though if you don't stay at IHG hotels very often and prefer to credit those stays to your favorite airline program? Well credit those stays to Aeroplan as members of this coalition program can once again earn Triple Miles on stays. Remember to earn the bonus you must be an IHG Rewards Club member and set your earning preference to Aeroplan miles.

Offer Details
Triple Aeroplan Miles when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. (InterContinental^® Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental^® Alliance Resorts, Crowne Plaza^® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo^®, EVEN^® Hotels, Holiday Inn^®, Holiday Inn Express^®, Holiday Inn Resort^®, Holiday Inn Club Vacations^® hotels, Staybridge Suites^® or Candlewood Suites^® hotels)  Maximum bonus award is 7,500 bonus miles during this campaign. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Apr 15, 17

Find many more Aeroplan Bonus Miles offers here!

Club Carlson: Earn up to 100,000 Bonus Points on Carlson Rezidor Hotel stays Worldwide

Carlson Rezidor Hotels has come out with their Q1 global promotion that kicks in today for all stays Worldwide. You could potentially earn a crap load of points if you have lots of stays planned with the hotel group. The kicker is that you can only select one of the five bonuses so pick wisely. Take a look at your potential and known stays for this quarter and then pick your bonus. You may want to pick the one below the level you think you may hit if you have any doubts about completing the nights required. For example if you know you'll have 16 nights you may only want to register for the 8 night bonus rather than the 20 night bonus if you are unsure if you can make those additional four nights. It is better to get some bonus points rather than none if you don't hit a target!

Offer Details:
Earn up to 100,000 Bonus Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu, or Park Inn  Until Mar 31, 17

• Stay 1 night, earn 5,000 bonus Gold Points
• Stay 2 nights, earn 10,000 bonus Gold Points
• Stay 4 nights, earn 20,000 bonus Gold Points
• Stay 8 nights, earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points
• Stay 20 or more nights, earn 100,000 bonus Gold Points

Find many more Club Carlson bonuses here!

British Airways Executive Club: Earn Triple Avios on all flights out of Canada (and globally!)

British Airways is taking a page out of Hilton HHonor's play book. Rather than coming up with a new bonus offer they are rehashing the offer we see for the fall and that's not a bad thing! The offer is Triple Avios on all British Airways flights Worldwide including their flights out of Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. You'll also earn triple Avios on BA's codeshares on American, Finnair and Iberia for transatlantic flights. Even if you registered for the fall offer you'll have to register for this one as it is considered a separate promotion.

Offer details:
Triple Avios when you fly British Airways anywhere in the World or on American Airlines, Finnair or Iberia between Europe and North America. Bonus awarded on a maximum of 8 sectors (4 round trips). Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Mar 31, 17

Find a complete listing of BA Executive Club bonus offers here to earn even more Avios on your hotel stays, car rentals and more!

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for January

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of January! 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 of the cards on this list for January are first year free so you can try them all at no cost, get 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 so you don't pay the annual fee for the second year
   
December and the first couple of weeks of January are typically a slow for credit cards so the banks don't usually change their offers which means January's Top 5 Sign Up Offers are the same as December's. So no changes this month!

So here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for January (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 article for details.)

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 to 50,000 points awarded on approval 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. Please note there is a 50,000 point offer floating around that is specific for Marriott Elite members and some people are reporting that they getting the points while some others are not. YMMV but no matter what you should get at least 30K.


mbna Best Western Rewards MasterCard (Apply here)
Right now there is an offer for 40,000 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 40K bonus!

Scotiabank Gold American Express Card - 20,000 Points  (Apply here)
A very strong card in the earn category for Gas, Grocery and Dining/Entertainment purchases, the current sign up bonus for the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is 20,000 points when you reach $750 in spending in the first three months. That 20,000 points is equal to a $200 travel credit and since this card is a book anywhere card you can book the travel how you want when you want and when the charge shows up on your account you can redeem the points against the charge. The card normally has a $99 annual fee but of course that is waived in the first year if you apply by January 31, 2017!

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card - 15,000 Miles (Apply here)
Earn 15,000 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. You can earn an additional 5,000 miles if you hold onto the card for a year however you'll then have to pay the annual fee unless you have a TD All Inclusive Banking Plan which means you would get all 20,000 miles at no cost to you!


If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with over $1,000 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

IHG Rewards Club Reward Night Hotel Category Changes - 650+ Hotels affected including 31 in Canada

The Holiday Inn Canmore sees a big increase in reward night points requirement come January 15

Outside of Hilton Hotels who have rolling changes throughout the year, most major hotel chains release reward night changes in the first few months of each year. IHG is the first major hotel chain to release their hotel reward night updates for 2017. This list of over 650 hotels came out last week and it includes 31 of their Canadian properties. One must know that there aren't actually changes to the point redemption levels for each category rather this list contains hotels that are moving up or down in those said reward categories. Roughly 75% of the 650+ hotels worldwide are moving to more expensive award night categories. Here in Canada 20 of the 31 or about 65% are becoming more expensive to redeem for. These changes take place on January 15th so as we always advise with hotel category changes, if you have had your eye on a redemption at a hotel that will be going up in price try to redeem before January 15th and likewise if the price is going try to hold off to redeem until after that date so that you can save some points. Now we just have to wait for the annual Marriott, Hyatt, and Starwood category changes!

Here are the 31 hotels in Canada that are changing on January 15th and you can find the complete list of hotels that are changing worldwide here.