Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - earn lots of points while you sleep!

One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide bonuses that come from many of the big chain programs and also from the lesser known programs. In fact, right now it should be rare for you NOT to earn a bonus. Unless you are staying at a boutique hotel or perhaps an Accor or Fairmont Hotel most other hotels out there have a bonus. So take advantage of it! These systemwide bonuses simply require you to register beforehand and they do not affect hotel pricing as long as you book a point eligible rate which are most rates out there. Of course booking through a third party site like Expedia or Rocketmiles does not count as most chains only award points on bookings that are made directly with them.  Without further ado here are all the current promotions that are available to everyone: 

Provider	Offer	Validity Date
Best Western Rewards	Receive a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Valid for North American residents only	Until Apr 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Best Western page
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson	Earn Triple Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  Plus, you can earn an additional 5,000 bonus points Gold Points for each Sunday and Monday night* during an Eligible Stay during the Promotional Period for up to 10,000 additional bonus Gold Points. Register Online(Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu, Radisson Red or Park Inn  *Eligible Stays completed at hotels in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will earn the 5,000 bonus points for stays on Saturday and Sunday nights.	Until Jun 30, 17
	3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. Full details	Until Dec 31, 17
	For a complete listing of all Carlson Hotels Club Carlson bonus point offers please visit FFB's Carlson page
Choice Hotels Privileges	Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points (enough for a free night) for every 2 separate stays you complete at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. Stay must be booked via ChoiceHotels.com, the Choice Hotels mobile app, or 800.4CHOICE at qualifying rates. Members will be awarded a maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned for every (2) separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Restrictions For residents of the U.S. and Canada only	Mar 2 - Apr 27, 17
	For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit FFB's Choice page
Fairmont Presidents Club	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Fairmont bonus offers please visit FFB's Fairmont page
Hilton	2,000 Bonus Honors Points per night on all eligible stays at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Until Apr 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit FFB's Hilton page
Hyatt World of Hyatt	Earn Double World of Hyatt Points on all Hyatt stays Worldwide and participating M life Rewards destinations starting with your second stay. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Jun 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit FFB's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	Earn up to 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. You should be targeted for one of the offers below and you can only register for one. Be sure to check your travels and try to register for the one that works best for you. If that doesn't work pick the next best one! (Registration is required via the links below) Valid for residents in North, South and Central America Stay 2 nights & earn 3,000 Bonus points Stay 4 nights & earn 6,000 bonus points Stay 7 nights & earn 12,000 bonus points Stay 10 nights & earn 18,000 bonus points Stay 15 nights & earn 30,000 bonus points	Apr 16 - May 15, 17
	Earn at least 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Jan 1 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all IHG Priority Club bonus point offers please visit FFB's IHG page
Le Club accorhotels	No offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Best Western page
Marriott	Double Rewards Points when you stay at Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period.Registration is now closed Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required)	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Marriott page
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer	25,000 Bonus iPefer points when you download the iPrefer mobile app and make one booking via the app by April 21. Full details.	Book by Apr 21, 17
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's iPrefer page
Ritz-Carlton Rewards	Double Rewards Points when you stay at any Ritz-Carlton or Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Registration is now closed	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit FFB's Ritz-Carlton Rewards page
Shangri-La Golden Circle	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit FFB's Golden Circle page
Starwood Preferred Guest	Double Starpoints + Additional Starpoints when you stay at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Registration is now closed Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required) 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.	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit FFB's SPG page
Voila Hotel Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's VHR page
World Hotels Peakpoints	Triple Peakpoints or Triple Airline Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide. Full details	Until Mar 31, 18
	Double Peakpoints or Double Airline Miles for stays at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide that are booked at least 20 days in advance. Full details	Until Mar 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit FFB's Peakpoints page
Wyndham Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Wyndham page

April 10 Update: American Airlines enhancing some Canadian flights, Fairmont Hotels Canada 150 deal, 60 Bonus AIR MILES at Rexall

News, Tips & Tricks
Welcome back to another week of Canadian loyalty rewards news, features and more on Rewards Canada. We do have a great new feature coming out tomorrow but you'll just have to wait for it! For those of you itching for the next podcast, it should be out in the next day or two. Jeff was enjoying a nice break in Mexico last week so we just recorded it today. Now onto the news!

American Airlines is enhancing some of their Canadian services, as their flights to Dallas Ft. Worth and Miami from Montreal are both moving from once a day service to twice daily while their Vancouver-Los Angeles service moves to mainline A319 service for one of the two daily flights. (Source Routesonline 1, 2)This is great news for AAdvantage, British Airways Avios and oneworld airline collectors in those cities. Remember that with British Airways Executive Club the Vancouver-LAX flights is only 15,000 Avios round trip and the two Montreal flights are only 20,000 Avios each. Compare this to 25,000 miles/points with most other programs and you can see why BAEC is a lucrative program for us Canadians. You can learn more about utilizing British Airways Executive Club for flights between Canada and the U.S. here.

15,000 Avios Round Trip Award Flights (30,000 in Business Class)

Montreal - Charlotte (on American Airlines)
Montreal - Chicago (on American Airlines)
Vancouver - Los Angeles (on American Airlines) 

Here's a coupon for 60 Bonus AIR MILES when you spend $40 or more at Rexall until the 12th.

Posts since our last update:

• 25,000 Bonus iPrefer points when you book via the new iPrefer app (equivalent to a US$50 reward)
  Preferred Hotel Group has launched a new mobile app for their iPrefer frequent guest program and to celebrate they…
• Flight Review: Air Canada AC901 Calgary - Kahului, Maui (YYC-OGG)
  We like to enjoy our time with family when travelling so I only review our odd hotel stay or even…
• Give A Mile - Crowdfunding miles to help families fly to see loved ones who are critically or terminally ill
  This is one of those posts that we love to write and it really puts meaning behind all the…

Travel Deals   
Fairmont Hotels is the latest company to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday! Simply book a 3+ night stay at any participating Fairmont Hotel in Canada and you'll receive a $150 credit valid at food and beverage, spa and golf outlets. Book by May 8 for stays until Dec 31st. Find out more and book here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 30,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you fly between the U.S. and Asia. More... Until May 31, 17

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Quadruple Asia Miles when you rent an Avis car for 2 or more days worldwide. More... Book by May 22 for rentals until Jun 30, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn up to Triple JPMiles on all stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until May 4, 17

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- 25,000 Bonus iPefer points when you download the iPrefer mobile app and make one booking via the app. More... Book by Apr 21, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

25,000 Bonus iPrefer points when you book via the new iPrefer app (equivalent to a US$50 reward)

Preferred Hotel Group has launched a new mobile app for their iPrefer frequent guest program and to celebrate they have this awesome new bonus! Simply make one booking via the app after downloading it and you'll be awarded with 25,000 iPrefer bonus points. In the iPrefer program that 25,000 points is the equivalent of a US$50 certificate that can be used towards a stay at any of their participating hotels. This is a pretty good deal seeing that many Preferred Hotels are available for under $100 per night, in fact some like these two in India are in the $50 range! Getting $50 back on a $53 stay is an amazing return!

or if you really like, you can make more than you spend:

Offer details
25,000 Bonus iPrefer points when you download the iPrefer mobile app and make one booking via the app by April 21. Full details. Book by Apr 21, 17

Here are all the hotels they have in Canada that are iPrefer participating. As you can see rates tend to be quite high compared to India at least but to get a $50 return on these isn't too shabby!

Flight Review: Air Canada AC901 Calgary - Kahului, Maui (YYC-OGG)

We like to enjoy our time with family when travelling so I only review our odd hotel stay or even less frequently review a flight. One such flight where I did take just a couple of pics and felt was worth reviewing was from our Family Day vacation trip to Maui. I think a review is worthy since it is the only flight between Canada and Hawaii that has a true international business class. Air Canada's other flights from Vancouver and Toronto are on Rouge aircraft and WestJet's are 737's out of Vancouver with their regular Plus seats while some of their Alberta-Hawaii flights are 767's which have the larger Plus seats but aren't considered a true business class. The reason why Air Canada's Maui flights are utilizing an internationally configured Air Canada 767 is that it is the same plane being used for the Calgary-Tokyo flights, which of course would not be utilizing a Rouge aircraft. So as we mentioned in our podcast a few weeks ago, if you are flying to Maui and want to travel in style without connecting via the U.S. you'll want to connect via Calgary.

The flight was schedule to depart at 5:30pm but ended up being delayed by a mechanical issue. Just as most people had boarded the plane the power went out from the APU. Within a minute or so power came back on but of course they wanted and needed to check it out.  You don't want to be stuck in Kahului with a malfunctioning APU but rather make sure whatever the issue was that it was corrected in Calgary. The resulting delay was about an hour as we waited for AC maintenance to diagnose and fix the issue. The flight ended up departing around 6:40pm and thanks to a bit of shorter flight time then scheduled we arrived about 45 minutes late into OGG.

We did a one way Aeroplan mile redemption for our entire family for the business class flights to Maui. On the way back availability was scarce for the number of seats we needed as it was during the Alberta Family Day break so the return flight was in Economy. Still I'll take Air Canada International Economy over Rouge. Not to mention the flight back is overnight and typically under six hours so you don't get to enjoy the business class as much except (and this is a big exception) the lie flat seat for sleeping.  

For the flight to Kahului I had seat 6F which is in the middle on the right hand side of the aircraft:

The menu for this flight:

I went for the BBQ Chicken with Grits and it was pretty good.... good enough that I also got it on my LAX-YYC flight a week ago!

and finally Rewards Canada being featured in the American Express ad on Air Canada's in flight entertainment

That's it in a nutshell! We can rarely say there is an advantage of flying out of Calgary but this is definitely one of them!

Give A Mile - Crowdfunding miles to help families fly to see loved ones who are critically or terminally ill

This is one of those posts that we love to write and it really puts meaning behind all the miles and points we collect. We are excited to share with you details of a loyalty rewards charity that is also based in our home town of Calgary. We're sure some of you have heard of them but for those of you who have not we'd like to introduce you to Give A Mile.

Established in Calgary, Canada in February 2013, Give A Mile is dedicated to bringing together the terminally ill, or critically sick, with family members or close friends by crowdfunding airline flights through micro-donations of travel loyalty points. We work across Canada. We are 100% donation model so all miles donated go to flights.  We are 100% volunteer team with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal of giving 1 billion miles to families that need these flights.  A federally registered not-for-profit agency in Canada, Give A Mile is recognized as a charity by Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program, and offers tax receipts for money donations to donors through an agreement with the Place2Give Foundation.

Our website is www.giveamile.org

Check this out, in the four years that Give A Mile has been in operation they have now provided 330 flights courtesy of over 11 million miles that have been donated by people like you!

The stats are simply amazing and summed up beautifully in this infographic:

Give A Mile primarily works with Aeroplan but also has partnerships with American Express, Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. That looks familiar! All amazing programs that come highly recommended right here on Rewards Canada. You can also choose to donate cash which helps cover taxes and fees on the award tickets provided to those in need.

You can find out what miles programs are accepted and how to donate at the following link:
http://giveamile.org/donate/

An example of a current flight being worked on:

Husband To Fly To Canada To See Dying Wife – 100,000 miles
My name is Edith and I am a palliative home care client. I was diagnosed with advanced Stage 4 Pancreatic and Breast Cancer. I have “very little time left.” I am a mother of 7 children (ages 14-24) and I have been in Canada for many years. My children and I are Canadian citizens but my husband lives in Nigeria. My husband would love to come to Canada right now but due to finances we are unable to have him come. There is so much we need to take care of as a couple before my time is up. I really want to see us altogether to be able to say the things I need to. Please consider my application for my husband, he already has his travel visa and can come anytime.

Pedro’s flight story

Deborah's Flight Story

The Story behind Give A Mile

Whether you already knew about Give A Mile or you didn't before this post, we thank you for reading all about them and encourage you to check out their site to see everything they do. We also encourage you to think about donating as the minimum donation is only 1,000 miles. For a lot of us in the points and miles world that isn't much, in fact there are times you can earn that amount by taking advantage of free miles and points offers.  For example you can get 750 Aeroplan miles just by test driving Toyota vehicles (250 per test drive with a limit of 1 per month, up to 3 times in a year) and then 100 Aeroplan miles for signing up for Home Hardware emails. You would just have to earn 150 more miles to be able to make a donation (one grocery shopping trip put on an Aeroplan credit card would do!)

Be sure to check out giveamile.org today.

April 6 Update: Scotia Amex Platinum Tip as well as 20% off Hilton stays for Easter & Memorial day

News, Tips & Tricks  
Here is a tip for you! Now that the Amazon Visa is no longer available there aren't many ways to get ahead of a foreign transaction fee (other than the Chase Marriott Rewards visa) but reader Brian K. pointed out the following:

...as a Scotia Platinum AMEX holder, I have noticed that I still get 4% return in category spending when traveling in the US. In light of the Amazon Visa news, this is actually comparable to the Rogers MasterCard. The only difference I see is that with Rogers, the return is on all foreign spending, not just certain categories. Just thought I'd mention it.

Good to know! Thanks Brian! So essentially for Gas, Grocery and Dining Entertainment spend on the Scotia Platinum Amex (and assuming the Scotia Gold Amex) you'll get the 4% back meaning you come out 1.5% ahead on those foreign currency purchases. We find this significant as there are cards out there like the American Express Gold Rewards card whose category bonuses (save for travel) only count for purchases in Canada.

Posts since our last update:

• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy Class award tickets between Toronto & Austria!
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This…
• IHG Rewards Club Spring Bonus Offer - From 3,000 to 30,000 bonus points for stays Worldwide
  If you are an IHG Rewards Club member and do frequent the chain's various hotel brands you'll be happy…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for April
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of April! This is not…

Travel Deals
Save big on Easter and Memorial weekends at Hilton Hotels in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. Book by April 7 for stays April 10, 2017 to April 17, 2017 and May 25, 2017 to May 30, 2017. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- April 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 Apr 30 for travel Jun 1 - Ju1 31, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios, 15% off the rate of the day and $25 hotel credit per stay for stays at participating Fairmont Hotels Worldwide. More... May 1 - Aug 27, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Avios + 20% off for Friday-Sunday nights stays at any participating Protea Hotel by Marriott, African Pride or the Cape Town Marriott Hotel Crystal Tower. More... May 1 - Aug 27, 17
- Double Avios for stays of 2+ nights at over 150 participating Preferred Hotel Group Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Earn up to Triple Infinity MileageLands Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels in Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- 50% Bonus KrisFlyer Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Until May 31, 17
- Double KrisFlyer Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. For PPS Club members only. More... Until May 31, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy Class award tickets between Toronto & Austria!

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month the 50% off economy class tickets between Toronto and Austria on Austrian Airlines returns! This is a great offer and below we'll even show you how to get these for just an annual credit card fee (outside of the award ticket taxes/fees)

These offers are good for travel until May 31, 17

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets on Austrian from Toronto to Austria for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles.

Here are the offers:

 

As we mention every time they have the 50% off economy offer is that you could in theory get the  tickets with grabbing a couple of credit cards and a $120 annual fee! - there aren't many cards that will get you a round trip flight to Europe for that amount of spend! 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. Currently the card comes with a 20,000 Starpoints 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. Yes but I need 30,000 points for the ticket right? Right then you get yourself the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card with the 30,000 or 50,000 point sign up bonus and no annual fee in the first year. You can then convert those to SPG at a rate of 3:1 so you have now added 10,000 to 16,000+ more Starpoints to you account.  Then you would convert 25,000 Starpoints to Miles & More as SPG will give you 5,000 extra miles for converting 20,000+  points. That gives you the 30,000 miles and you'll still have 5,000 to 11,000 Starpoints left over. Now you have about a month and 3/4 to book these offers so if you don't have these cards get them right now so you could potentially travel in May but chances are you won't get all the points from these credit cards in time. You can still grab them now to see what offers will come out next month or beyond

Simply book the offers seen here by May 31st.
Full details on this offer can be found here

IHG Rewards Club Spring Bonus Offer - From 3,000 to 30,000 bonus points for stays Worldwide

If you are an IHG Rewards Club member and do frequent the chain's various hotel brands you'll be happy to know that once the current Accelerate offer ends on April 15th you can jump right onto their Spring bonus offer. This one however is not a lucrative as Accelerate and is only available to residents of the Americas (waiting to see if Europe/Asia/Africa/Australia New Zealand get anything) The bonus varies just like it does with accelerate although you have to pick just one and then register instead of registering and finding out what your bonus is.  It almost seems like this is a stop-gap bonus measure to fill the needs of having a bonus points promotion before their next 'big' offer comes out. Personally I registered for the easiest one of 2 nights for 3K points as I will only have one three night IHG stay during the time period.

Offer details:
Earn up to 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. You should be targeted for one of the offers below and you can only register for one. Be sure to check your travels and try to register for the one that works best for you. If that doesn't work pick the next best one! (Registration is required via the links below) Apr 16 - May 15, 17
Valid for residents in North, South and Central America
Stay 2 nights & earn 3,000 Bonus points
Stay 4 nights & earn 6,000 bonus points
Stay 7 nights & earn 12,000 bonus points
Stay 10 nights & earn 18,000 bonus points
Stay 15 nights & earn 30,000 bonus points

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for April

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of April! 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 4 of 5 cards on this list for March are first year free so you can try them out at no cost 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! The only card that isn't first year free is the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. It has an annual fee of $120 but the sign up bonus of 20,000 Starpoints is worth no less than $400 depending on what you value Starpoints at.
   
No changes this month from last!

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

American Express Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A mainstay offer here on Rewards Canada and a card that really should be in everyone's wallets. 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 Use Points for Purchases 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.) Also see our post on how this sign up bonus can get you a free flight between Toronto and Dublin!!

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 - 25,000 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 25,000 points when you reach $750 in spending in the first three months. That 25,000 points is equal to a $250 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 July 31, 2017!


Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express - 20,000 Starpoints (Apply here)
The sign up bonus for this card has now been 20,000 Starpoints for some time and this is the only card in this list that doesn't have the first year fee waived. That doesn't matter. This is by far the best hotel points card in Canada and Starpoints have huge value. The 20,000 Starpoint bonus is received when you spend $1,500 on the card and is worth at least $400 when redeeming them for Starwood Hotel stays or you can convert them to airline miles in over 30+ programs and Starwood will kick in an additional 5,000 miles when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints at a time. Also see our post here about Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

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