Score lots of Club Carlson Gold Points by combining two great promotions

Right now there are two Club Carlson promotions that can be stacked together to earn you lots of bonus points on stays at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. Just a reminder Carlson Rezidor is just the parent company of hotels like Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inns & Suites and so on.

The two promotions are their systemwide bonus of Triple Points + 5,000 more on Sunday/Monday as well as their mobile app booking incentive of 3,000 points. The Triple Points + 5,000 more can be earned multiple times up to a 100,000 point maximum while the mobile app bonus is a one time bonus.  The Triple Points offer requires registration while the app promotion does not.

Here is one example of how you can maximize this offer:
We looked at the Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Oakville for a 2 night stay over a Sunday and a Monday. The hotel runs on average C$98.10 (~$73 US) before taxes and fees.

That amount of points you'll earn for the two nights booked via the app is as follows:
Base Points (20/USD) =  2,920
Triple Points  (40/USD) =  5,850
Sun/Mon Bonus (5000/night) = 10,000
App Booking Bonus = 3,000

Giving you a total of 21,760 points for roughly C$200. You now have enough points for 2 nights at a Category 1 Hotel or 1 night at a Category 2 Hotel

Here's an example of how you can use those points
Traveling to Europe? You can get two nights at the Park Inn by Radisson Budapest for only 9,000 points per night where to going rate is C$127 per night.

Essentially that means you are coming out about $54 ahead with such a promotion since you paid $200 (and get a 2 night stay in Oakville) to get $254 hotel in Hungary.

Triple Points + 5,000K Offer details
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 Until Jun 30, 17
*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.

Moblie App Bonus Offer details
 3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. Full details Until Dec 31, 17

Find many more Club Carlson Bonus offers here.

April 11 Update: Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards, Save $400 + earn bonus miles on Air Canada Vacations Europe packages

News, Tips & Tricks 
Today we delve deeper into to Cash Back rewards space as we released our first ever Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings! It was a very close race between the top two cards and really boiled down to the sign up bonus and perks/benefits provided. Find out which cards came out on top in this newest annual feature on Rewards Canada!

Posts since our last update:

• American Express SimplyCash Preferred Credit Card now earns a straight 2% - making it the best Cash Back card in Canada
  As you may have seen earlier today we released our first ever Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings and taking…
• Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017
  For the past nine years we've ranked the top travel rewards credit cards here on Rewards Canada and many…
• 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…

Travel Deals
Air Canada Vacations is offering $400 off per couple and up to 10,000 bonus Aeroplan miles when you book a European vacation by April 30th for travel until the end of October. Find out more and book here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Asiana Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Club Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you book an air+hotel Marriott Vacations packages for 3 days or more in the Caribbean or Latin America. More... Book by May 1 for travel Apr 17 - Jul 15, 17

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Tower Wing Deluxe Room at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, More... May 16 - Jul 31, 17

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 25% VHR Points Discount when you redeem for an award night at a participating VOILÀ network hotel Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

American Express SimplyCash Preferred Credit Card now earns a straight 2% - making it the best Cash Back card in Canada

As you may have seen earlier today we released our first ever Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings and taking first place in the inaugural rankings is the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express. Had we released the rankings early in March like we had originally planned this would not have been the case, first place would have actually gone to the mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard. However we were advised by Amex that the SimplyCash Preferred was being enhanced, and that is word you have to be careful with in the loyalty industry since lots of times it is used to disguise a devaluation but that is not the case this time. The SimplyCash Preferred card is getting a true enhancement as American Express wanted it to be a market and that it has become. Gone is the 1.5% on the first $100,000 spending and 1.25% thereafter. In its place is an unlimited 2% back on all eligible purchases with no caps. Yes there are some slight negative changes but those are easily eclipsed by that 2% rate. What has become less on the card is the sign up bonus, the 5% introductory cash back rate on all purchases in the first 6 months is now capped at $300 instead of $400. Also the annual fee jumps from $79 per year to $99. To use those changes are tolerable since it can be easily made up with that additional 0.5% you earn on all spending. Good news as well for existing cardholders, you now get the 2% and you will be grandfathered at the $79 annual fee!

Hopefully you took heed from our cryptic tweet from mid-March to get the card then so that you will be grandfathered at the $79!

Even if you didn't grab the card before today it definitely should be on your radar now as it gives you a great introductory earn rate, a great everyday earn rate and it even includes a very good insurance and benefits package!

SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

• New SimplyCashTM Preferred Card from American Express Cardmembers can earn 5% cash back on all eligible purchases (up to $300 cash back) for the first 6 months of Cardmembership
• Earn 2.0% cash back when your Welcome Rate ends
• No limit to the amount of cash back you can earn
• No annual fee for Supplementary Cards
• Access to memorable experiences with American Express Invites®
• Extensive insurance coverage and 24/7 Customer Service
• Insurance coverage and 24/7 Customer Service
• Optional Balance Transfer Offer to new Cardmembers – Enjoy a special 1.99% introductory interest rate on transferred balances in the first 6 months if you choose to transfer your other credit card balances to this American Express card at time of online application. There is no balance transfer fee at time of application.
• You can use Apple Pay on your eligible device to pay for goods and services at participating American Express contactless merchants
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now link. Offer subject to change without notice.


Conditions apply

Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017

For the past nine years we've ranked the top travel rewards credit cards here on Rewards Canada and many years ago we started providing coverage on cash back cards as well. What we never did was rank them. Well that has all changed now as Canada's leading loyalty and rewards resource, we are proud to announce our first ever Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings!

We'll be honest with you, these rankings were supposed to come out at the start of March but we learned about changes to two cash back cards in our market and that screwed everything up. Now that we know what the changes are that happened to the Tangerine Money Back MasterCard and the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express we're glad we waited.

What are Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017? Click here to find out!

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.