March 21 Update: You can now redeem WestJet companion vouchers online, U.S./U.K. electronics travel ban & more!

News, Tips & Tricks
WestJet quietly launched the ability to redeem the companion vouchers online that come from the WestJet RBC MasterCard. Great news for those of you who didn't like calling in to book flights using the voucher!

It's been all over the news since last night, The U.S. travel ban on electronics in the cabin (save for cell phones and medical devices). This means items like tablets, laptops, etc. will have to be placed in your checked luggage. The ban is only for flights originating on select airlines from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa. Of course this will affect you if you are travelling on these flights via the U.S. but there is one Canadian flight affected. Royal Jordanian's flight to Montreal will be included since that fligth continues on to Detroit. There are reports now of ban to be put in place by the U.K. as well. No word yet if Canada will also put in a place a ban as many of the airlines affected do fly to Canada as well. Find our more from the DHS website


Our post about How to maximize value out of the RBC Avion Airline Award Chart has been a very popular page for us on the RC Blog so we have added to the main site for easier access and reading! You can find it here.

Posts since our last update:

• Marriott to add worldwide travel experiences for guests with PlacePass and surges past 100 million members
  Marriott announced two major milestones this morning. Firstly, the hotel chain has surpassed 100 million members in their Marriott…

Travel Deals
Hilton 72-Hour Sale! Save up to 20% off your April & May weekend stays. Stay at participating hotels April 14 - 17th and May 25 - 30th in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada.Hurry, sale ends Wednesday! Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 1,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for every Avis rental Worldwide. More... Until Apr 30, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 500 Bonus Asia Miles for stays at any Minyoun Hospitality Hotel. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa More... Oct 2 - Dec 18, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT when you stay 2 nights or more Thursday-Sunday at the TownePlace Suites Newark Silicon Valley. More... Booking Apr 7 - Jun 30, 17
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at the Chicago Marriott Suites Deerfield. More... Apr 8 - Jul 1, 17
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the AC Hotel Raleigh North Hills. Maximum of 10,000 bonus points per stay. More... Apr 5 - Jun 28, 17

Miles & More
- Earn up to Triple Miles & More Miles for all stays at any Best Western Hotel in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. More...Until May 31, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Up to 50% QMiles Discount on Qatar Airways Privilege Club Award ticket redemptions for various routes via their "Easy Deals" offer. More... Until Apr 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Marriott to add worldwide travel experiences for guests with PlacePass and surges past 100 million members

Marriott announced two major milestones this morning. Firstly, the hotel chain has surpassed 100 million members in their Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs. They join a league of programs that can be counted on one hand that have members in the nine figures. Secondly, they announced their investment into PlacePass, a online meta-search platform for in-destination experiences. Members will soon be able to choose from an additional 100,000 plus authentic local experiences in 800 destinations worldwide when they book direct on Marriott.com or SPG.com or their respective apps.

“The addition of PlacePass activities and tours beginning later this year reflects Marriott’s commitment to giving our guests a complete travel experience, whether they are in planning mode, staying in our hotels and even in-between stays when they’re thinking about travel,” said Stephanie Linnartz, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Marriott International. “We want our guests to count on Marriott to give them access to more of the destinations and things they love to do when they travel.”

One can assume that what will happen is after you complete your hotel booking with Marriott, Ritz or SPG you'll be offered a hand picked selection of activities and tours in your destination that you can add on to your trip. Marriott does not state whether this will be cash only options or if you will also be able to pay for them with points like you currently can with Marriott's Marketplace and SPG's Moments one of a kind experiences.

Here are just some of the examples of travel experiences provided by PlacePass:

• Explore the filming locations for the hit series “Downton Abbey” on a VIP guided tour from London, including Highclere Castle and Bampton, the setting for Downton village.
• Wrestle with a retired sumo wrestler in Tokyo, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the history of Japan’s national sport.
• Get a taste of desert life in the dunes outside Dubai. Explore the dunes by camel or 4x4, then enjoy a sunset view of the desert and traditional Bedouin-style dinner. 
• Explore Cambodia’s iconic temples on a sunrise mountain biking tour through the Angkor Archaeological Park.
• Enjoy a private viewing of the crown jewels in the Tower of London, hosted by the museum’s Chief Exhibitor.
• Perfect your pasta-making skills alongside a local Italian chef at a Tuscan farmhouse, a chateau in the Dolomites, or a Florentine cooking school.

While this is not a new innovation, you can go to PlacePass right now and book these tours and activities directly, the integration of it into Marriott's booking process give PlacePass a huge new market to tap into to! I'll be honest I never heard of PlacePass until Marriott sent us this press release and there are probably millions more who have not heard of them. For some of you I know you'll skip over the tour booking process when you reserve your room but for others the right experience may just pop up and you'll be able to book it easily with your hotel room rather than having to go to another website and complete another booking.

Click here to learn more about this new option coming to Marriott and SPG

March 20 Update: Increased spend requirement for The Platinum Card from Amex, Alaska adds Condor as a partner & more!

News, Tips & Tricks
If you follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter you'll have seen our message alerting you to an upcoming change to The Platinum Card from American Express. Come this Thursday the card will require $3,000 in spending to receive the sign up bonus instead of the current $1,000. So if you have been considering the card we recommend applying for it by Wednesday so you only have to spend $1,000 over three months to get the sign up bonus. You can apply for the card here.

Also another card we recommend getting now if you have been eyeing it is the American Express Simply Cash Preferred Credit Card. It has changes coming to it in April that are for the most part good but if you get it now part of the card that will change for the worse will be grandfathered at the current rate.

Alaska Airlines announced a new frequent flyer partnership with Germany's Condor. Mileage Plan members will now be able to earn miles on Condor flights and soon enough will be able to redeem miles for their flights as well. This is really good news for Canadians as Condor has a decent presence here with seasonal flights out of Vancouver, Calgary, Whitehorse, Toronto and Halifax. You also continue to have the option to collect Miles & More miles with Condor but Mileage Plan definitely has a bigger presence here so if you are planning on flying this low cost German airline be sure to include your Mileage Plan number on the reservation. Of course we'll let you know once you'll be able to redeem miles for these flights as well. Find out more here.

Good news for Air France KLM Flying Blue members who fly semi-frequently with the airline. They have extended their expiry of their miles from 20 months to 24 months. Flying Blue is different than many of the other programs out there in that not all activity counts to keeping your account active. To keep the account active you have to have one qualifying flight on Air France, KLM and their airline affiliates or a SkyTeam airlines once in that 24 month period. This rule would not fall under the new Ontario legislation for expiring miles as it more so an inactivity rule than an expiry rule. Find out more here.

If you are Nexus member here in Canada you should have seen an email about custom forms being elimanted here in Canada! The email came out Friday as Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be phasing out the paper CBSA Declaration Card (Form E311) for travellers arriving in Canada by air. Here is an excerpt from the email:

• What does this mean for NEXUS members?
  NEXUS kiosk display screens at all designated NEXUS airport locations in Canada are being updated to simplify the declaration process. Members will be prompted to respond to questions on the NEXUS kiosk screens that mirror the questions that were previously found on the paper CBSA Declaration Card.
• Why is this change being made?
  This change is being made to coincide with the upcoming launch of new Primary Inspection Kiosks that will expand self-service options to all international air travellers arriving in Canada. NEXUS members should continue to use their dedicated NEXUS kiosks, which are exclusively for their use and are designed to expedite their arrival to Canada.
• When and where will this change be made?
  Beginning late-March 2017, all travellers flying into the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport will no longer be required to fill out a paper CBSA Declaration Card. The elimination of the paper CBSA Declaration Card will continue to be rolled out at other major Canadian airports across Canada, over the course of 2017-2018. Visit the CBSA NEXUS website for the most up-to-date information regarding where this automated service will be available for NEXUS members. Airline staff will distribute the paper CBSA Declaration Cards to travellers only if the airport is not equipped with the Primary Inspection Kiosks. If you are given a CBSA Declaration Card en route, please continue to fill it out.

Ottawa gets it first and we wouldn't be surprised if that is quickly followed by Calgary (the new terminal has everything in place to do so) Vancouver and Toronto seeing that the last two see the most incoming passengers of any Canadian airports.

Posts since our last update:

• Hilton Honors: 100% Bonus Points when you buy 5,000 or more points
  The last time Hilton had a 100% bonus on buying their points it was part of a tiered bonus…

Travel Deals
TAP Portugal will be starting Toronto flights this June and have some decent fares for travel between Toronto and Lisbon. Fares start as low as $934 all in for Economy and under $3,000 for business class. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 3,000 Bonus Club Premier Points on your 1st and 2nd qualified stay at any Wyndham Rewards hotel. More... Until Apr 30, 17

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles for stays at over 5,500 Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Apr 15, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles on all stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Choice Privileges
- Earn up to 40% Bonus Privileges Points when you buy points. More... Until Apr 20, 17

Hilton Honors
- 100% Bonus Honors Points when you buy 5,000 or more points online. More... Until May 3, 17

JAL Mileage Bank
- 50% Bonus Fly On Points when you fly JAL between Nagoya (Chubu) and Bangkok. More... Until Apr 27, 17

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Earn up to Quadruple KrisFlyer Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels in Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Hilton Honors: 100% Bonus Points when you buy 5,000 or more points

The last time Hilton had a 100% bonus on buying their points it was part of a tiered bonus where you only got 100% if you purchased 20,000 or more points at once. However this time the 100% is a flat bonus that starts out at only the 5,000 point level!  With the 100% bonus you are buying at 1000 points for US$5 or 0.5 cents per point. When you can easily pull out 0.8 cents per point for redeeming for an award night this is a good deal. Remember reward nights start out at only 5,000 points so you could essentially get 2 nights at the lowest level by only buying 5,000 points (+5,000 bonus) for only US$50

Offer details: 
100% Bonus when you buy 5,000 or more Hilton Honors points online. Full details Until May 3, 17


Click here to find many more Honors Points bonuses!

March 15 Update: The Ultimate "I have no idea what travel rewards I want" Credit Card portfolio and lots more!

News, Tips & Tricks
We released our ninth Ultimate Credit Card Portfolio today! This one looks at cards that you should grab if you have great credit and the means to spend lots on your cards but have no idea where or when or how you want to travel. You just know that you want to travel eventually. Find out what the "The Ultimate "I have no idea what travel rewards I want" Credit Card portfolio!" is. You can read about the other eight portfolios here

We finally got around to updating our Credit Card Comparison chart for Business cards. Not too much has changed although there are higher sign up bonuses for the following cards:

• American Express® AIR MILES® for Business Charge Card
• Business Platinum Card from American Express
• BMO Gold AIR Miles MasterCard for Business
• ScotiaGold Passport® for business VISA* travel card
  
  You can check out the updated chart here.

There is a Best Western Rewards Elite Status upgrade that can come with one stay in Central Europe. We are not sure if it is limited to residents of that area so we didn't add the offer to our BW Rewards page but thought we'd still give it a mention just in case you have a stay in the region coming up and wanted to give it a try. We did post it on our global site of course where you can find the details of this offer.

Posts since our last update:

• 2,500 Bonus Gold Points for Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn by Radisson or Quorvus Hotels stays Worldwide
  Carlson Rezidor has brought back their Dream Deals offer! Each stay at Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn by Radisson…
• Last day to register for Starwood Preferred Guest Double Take - Double Points + more for stays Worldwide until April 15
    Today is the last day to register for the current Starwood Preferred Guest Double Take promotion where you can…
• Last day to register for Marriott Rewards MegaBonus - Double Points Worldwide until April 15
  Today is the last day to register for the current Marriott Rewards MegaBonus where you can earn double points on…
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 5x Miles + 15% off Fairmont Hotel stays of 2+ nights
  Offer details Earn 5X Asia Miles and receive 15% off the best available rate for stays of 2 or…

Travel Deals
Qatar Airways has a new business class seat sale for their flights out of Montreal. Book by Mar 19 for travel until Jun 30. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A




Other Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 2,500 Bonus Gold Points and up to 30% off stays at Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn and Quorvus Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 26 for stays Apr 1 - Jun 18, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn 5X Asia Miles and receive 15% off the best available rate for stays of 2 or more nights at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 17
- Triple Asia Miles for stays at any one of 19 participating Millennium Hotels & Resorts in Asia. More... Until May 31, 17
- Double Asia Miles on all hotel stays booked via Rocketmiles. Full details and online booking.  More... Book by Jun 15, 17
- Double Asia Miles when you rent a car with Rentalscars.com. More... Book by Jun 15, 17

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- 50% Fortune Wings Discount for award flight redemptions on Hainan Airlines between Europe and China. More... Until Apr 30, 17
- Fortune Wings Status Match Challenge - If you currently hold elite status on any other airline or airline alliance, with a platinum or higher elite credit card status on bank, you can participate in the Fortune Wings Club Elite Challenge to earn Fortune Wings Club elite (VIP) status. More... Until Dec 31, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Up to a 25% Discount when you buy or gift La Quinta Returns points. More... Until Apr 21, 17

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Double FlySmiles when you rent a car at participating Hertz locations for 3 or more days in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand More... Book by Jun 30 for rentals until Jul 31, 17

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles for Sixt car rentals in Portugal. More... Until Apr 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

2,500 Bonus Gold Points for Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn by Radisson or Quorvus Hotels stays Worldwide

Carlson Rezidor has brought back their Dream Deals offer! Each stay at Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn by Radisson or Quorvus Hotels booked via the offer page will net you 2,500 bonus points and up to 30% off the best available rate.
 
Offer details:

2,500 Bonus Gold Points and up to 30% off stays at Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Park Inn and Quorvus Hotels Worldwide. Full details and online booking  Book by Mar 26 for stays Apr 1 - Jun 18, 17

Find many more Club Carlson bonus point offers on our main site! 

Participating Canadian locations:

Last day to register for Starwood Preferred Guest Double Take - Double Points + more for stays Worldwide until April 15

 

Today is the last day to register for the current Starwood Preferred Guest Double Take promotion where you can earn double points on your first three stays with the program and then additional points for stays afterwards. Even if you don't have any stays planned yet make sure you register and then you can book and stay right up until April 15th!

Offer details:
Double Starpoints + Additional Starpoints when you stay at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required)  Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
Additional bonus varies by member but here is an example:
Starting on your fourth stay, you can earn up to 10,000 bonus Starpoints®:

• Achieve 10 nights and you'll earn 5,000 Starpoints.
• After 10 nights earn 500 Starpoints for each additional night, up to 5,000 Starpoints

Find many more SPG bonus offers here!

Last day to register for Marriott Rewards MegaBonus - Double Points Worldwide until April 15

Today is the last day to register for the current Marriott Rewards MegaBonus where you can earn double points on your first three stays with the program. Even if you don't have any stays planned yet make sure you register and then you can book and stay right up until April 15th!

Offer details:
Double Rewards Points when you stay at Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required) Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17

Find many more Marriott Rewards bonus offers here!

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 5x Miles + 15% off Fairmont Hotel stays of 2+ nights

Offer details

Earn 5X Asia Miles and receive 15% off the best available rate for stays of 2 or more nights at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Full details and online booking. Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 17

• Earn an additional 300 Asia Miles if you are not an Asia Miles member yet and join the program to take advantage of the stay bonus

Find many more Asia Miles bonus mile offers here.

Participating Hotels: