Wednesday, April 19, 2017

April 19 Update: Podcast Episode 22 is out, apply for and use the WestJet RBC card during booking & great BA fares out of YYC

News, Tips & Tricks
The 22nd episode of the Rewards Canada Weekly Round Up Podcast was released yesterday! We cover the IHG Rewards Club Spring Promo, discuss using WestJet Reward dollars on Delta Airlines flights and go into more detail on Give A Mile! You can listen to and download the podcast here!

WestJet took a very interesting and market leading step in terms of applying for and using their WestJet RBC credit card! Now for mobile bookings on the WestJet app you'll be able to apply for the credit card during the booking process and if you are instantly approved you can use the card right there and then to pay for that WestJet purchase! The same feature will be rolled out for desktop bookings later this Spring. (Source WestJet)

Posts since our last update:

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Travel Deals
British Airways is offering some amazing economy class fares between Calgary and London. Fares start as low as $623 all in round trip!. Find out more and book here.



Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A


Other Bonus Offers
ANA Mileage Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Mileage Club Miles on all stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 6x Asia Miles when you book with National car rental at participating locations in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain with minimum 3 days rental. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Miles & More
- Triple Miles & More Miles & a $20 voucher for stays at participating Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts in Asia. More... May 1 - Jul 15, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- 2,000 QMiles per night for stays at the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel in a superior room. More... Until May 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus QMiles, room upgrade and comp breakfast for stays of 2+ nights at Marriott Hotels in Dubai. More... Until May 31, 17
- Earn up to Quadruple QMiles for stays at all participating Minor Hotels (Anantara, AVANI and Tivoli) Worlwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- Triple QMiles for stays at participating Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East. More... May 20 - Aug 31, 17
- Triple QMiles for stays at the Oryx Rotana Doha. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn up to 100,000 Starpoints for SPG Pro members when you book events at any of more than 1,300 hotels and resorts participating in the SPG® program. More... Book by Oct 31 for events until Dec 31, 17


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Thursday, April 13, 2017

April 13 Update: Priority Pass gets access to Minute Suites, 1,000 Bonus HawaiianMiles at Coast Hotels, More Rewards Cruise Bonus

News, Tips & Tricks 
Priority Pass, the world's largest airport business class lounge access service is going beyond just your typical lounges now. Sometime ago they added credits for dining at an airport restaurant in the U.K. and now they have added four Minute Suites locations in the U.S.
We are pleased to announce that Priority Pass has now secured access for our Members to four new Minute Suites at the following airports:

• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Terminal B
• Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Terminal A and Terminal D
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Concourse B

Open 24 hours daily, Minute Suites offer Members 1 hour access per visit to one of these private airport suites per visit. This unique lounge alternative provides a retreat within the airport, enabling Members to relax, conduct business and even sleep in comfortable, private suites between flights or during long delays. 
This is really good news for members travelling through these airports who have a longer layover or just want something different than your standard airport lounge. To learn more about Priority Pass be sure to read our Guide to Business Class Lounge access

There is one bonus to let you know about that won't be listed on the main Rewards Canada site. The bonus is for Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles members and of course Hawaiian Airlines doesn't serve Canada but this bonus may be relevant to some of you. Until the end of May, HawaiianMiles members will earn 1,000 bonus miles per stay at Coast Hotels. There's the connection you see? Coast Hotels is a Western Canadian hotel chain with locations in Western Canada and the U.S. and I know some of you do frequent their hotels. Normal earn rate is 200 miles per night. If you complete 7 stays before the end of May you'd earn 1,700 base miles and 7,000 bonus miles. That's enough for an inter-island flight within Hawaii and we know many of you who vacation there do like to island jump. So this offer may work for you if your travel habits fit this profile! Find out more here.


Posts since our last update:


Canadian Bonus Offers
More Rewards
- 10,000 Bonus More Rewards Points when you book a 9-night Northern Lights Voyage from Hurtigruten Cruises. More... Book by May 31, 17



Other Bonus Offers
Air China Phoenix Miles
- Earn up to Triple Phoenix Miles on all stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when you book and stay at any Swissôtel property with a minimum 2-night stay. More... Book by May 15 for stays until Jun 30, 17
- 6x Asia Miles when you book with Alamo at participating locations of USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain with minimum 3 days rental. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank miles when you fly Cathay Pacific/Cathay Dragon between Hong Kong and select cities in China & Taiwan. More... May 1 - Jul 8, 17

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles for all stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

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Flying Canadian North? Remember that you can do a rare mileage earning double dip!

A tip for our readers who are planning to fly Canadian North, whether it's from Edmonton or Ottawa to the North, vice versa or from one Northern town to another, you can double dip your earnings on these flights.

We've mentioned it before on the site but wanted to remind you all that if your travels do take you on Canadian North, you can earn both Aurora Rewards Points and Aeroplan miles on these flights. This is very rare for any frequent flyer program globally as the normal rule of thumb is that you can only earn miles in one airline program per flight you take. For example you fly on Delta Airlines you can choose to earn Delta's SkyMiles or Korean SKYPASS Miles or any other SkyTeam airline program miles but you can't earn in more than one of them. You have to choose one and one only. Well count ourselves lucky but Canadian North is the only airline in the world that we know of that will actually let you earn in two programs for the same flight.


Normally double dips require some sort of bonus to be achieved but flights as you can see flying on Canadian North does not.  Of course throw in the fact that you should use a point/miles earning credit card for the actual flight booking and you're earning even more mile/points so every flight should be a triple dip (Aurora Rewards / Aeroplan / Credit Card) Then on top of that Canadian North do run the occasional flight bonus offer which then would make it a quadruple dip! Whew! That's a lot of ways you can earn miles/points for just one flight!

For your information here are the points/miles you'll earn for each Canadian North flight:

Aurora Rewards:

Aeroplan:



So next time you fly on Canadian North make sure you are earning both Aurora Rewards Points and Aeroplan miles!

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Hotel Review: Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa

Recently the Rewards Canada family enjoyed another vacation in Southern California! During this Spring Break trip we had two hotel stays, one was at the Loews Santa Monica (which I'm not doing a review of) and the other was in Newport Beach where we stayed at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa. The hotel is really nice and while on the outside it may seem old, the interiors appear to have been renovated recently. The hotel lobby, grounds, pools and the rooms in general were up to date and clean.

For our stay we had a two double direct ocean view room connected to a single king room. The size of the two rooms combined was great for our family of four.  The king room is bigger than the two double room which is surprising, you'd think it would be the other way around! Maybe this little tidbit of info can help you out if you are planning on booking this hotel! The rooms we received were on the 7th floor of the main tower that house the hotel lobby, restaurant, Starbucks and more. The double room had a tub in the bathroom and the king had a walk in shower. The pictures I have for this review are of the king room with the walk-in shower. 



 
The direct ocean view was facing towards the Pacific Ocean of course, although that is a few miles away. You do have a view right on the golf course and the main pool area.

Speaking of pools, the resort has three pools in total. Two that are open to all and a third for the spa. The thing is though everybody has to pay the resort fee for staying here and that resort fee includes access to the spa pool. The resort fee also covered internet, access to the spa steam room and two bike rentals for two hours per day.  What was great about our stay as well was that we were there during the midweek and the only people that seemed to be at the hotel were conference goers which meant the pools were dead and it was like we had the resort to ourselves.

Seeing that both my wife and I are Marriott Elites we had access to the club lounge. We only visited the lounge once during our three night stay because they provided free water in the hotel room anyways and it was quite a jaunt to go there for snacks and drinks as the lounge is in a separate building because there are two towers that make up the hotel.
 
The only negative part about our stay at this hotel was the service at the Hook and Spear Restaurant and Lounge. Since the resort was quiet there was no pool service for food and drinks which meant I had go to the restaurant for drinks. On one occasion all the doors were open and no one was in the restaurant. I walked into the lounge and there was a lady setting up the lounge as it was about to open. She told me I have to go to the restaurant to order drinks. I went back there and had to wait until somebody actually showed up. The waitress took my order and ended up going to the lady who was setting up the lounge to make the drinks. Suffice to say about 15 - 20 minutes of my time was wasted just waiting to get the drinks ordered.  We did eat at the restaurant once for lunch and once for breakfast and overall the food was pretty decent but I must say the service was spotty.

The location of the hotel is ideal for those wanting to explore the Southern California beach towns of Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach. All are within about a 1/2 hour to 3/4 hour drive. It is also located right next to Newport Beach's Fashion Island shopping center. Of course being with three girls, the mall was thoroughly enjoyed and also offers some great dining options including Rick Bayless' Red O Restaurant which we did dine at one night and would recommend to anyone wanting his take on Mexican cuisine.

Overall thoughts 
This hotel turned out to be better than we had expected and would recommend it for families, solo travelers and generally any one else who needs or wants to stay in the Newport Beach area especially if you are loyal to Marriott Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest. There are several buildings with what appear to be various room/bed options so I can't speak to the other accommodations on site but the direct ocean views in the main building are definitely a good choice if you want to stay here. With three pools, the golf course, shopping, bike rentals etc. the hotel offers up the best of both worlds, that is the amenities of a city center hotel and a beach resort all in one. You really can't ask for much more.


Hotel details
Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa (Book here)
Marriott Rewards Category: 8
Points required for a free night (Standard) 40,000 Points
Points required for a free night (PointSaver) 35,000 Points
Cash+Points Requirement: 24,500 Points + US$145 per night for standard rooms

Talk to us! Have you stayed at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa? What are your thoughts of the hotel? Or are you planning to and looking forward to it? Let us know below!

April 12 Update: Ottawa to include airline bumping in new legislation, 3,000 miles/points on 1st Rocketmiles booking, Air France seat sale

News, Tips & Tricks
The big news over the past few days has of course been the incident of the involuntary denied booking of a passenger on a United Airlines flight. The videos from on board the plane have gone viral, the doctor's past has been brought up although seemingly having nothing to do with the incident and more. Well hot on the heels of this news, Canada's Transport Minister has stated that new airline bumping rules will be part of the new air passenger bill of rights that will be tabled this spring. Bumping and denied boarding (voluntary/involuntary) have been big news the past few weeks. We were interviewed by Zoomer Radio just over a week ago discussing Air Canada bumping a lady off of a flight to Miami forcing her to miss a connecting flight and in turn a Galapagos cruise and then of course the news this week from United. Both the U.S. and Europe have rules and compensation amounts in place for people being bumped from flights. Canada does not and has allowed airlines to set their own rates in place but that looks like it will be set to change with the new legislation being proposed. (Source CBC)


This isn't the only news that our Transport Minister has been in the past day or so. He has also stated that new security measures are being taken for airline passengers from certain countries but wouldn't elaborate further. One can assume this affects flights similar to the recent electronics ban put in place by the U.S. and the U.K.. (Source CTV)


Rocketmiles has a short term first time booking bonus where you can earn 3,000 bonus miles or points in the program of your choice including Aeroplan. Simply book by April 14. Find out more here.


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals

Air France has launched a new flash sale for their flights out of Canada. Book by April 17 for travel between May 7th -June 9th and September 12 - October 15th, 2017 (Funny how their ad mentions summer yet most of summer is not part of this deal) Find out more and book here.
  • Montreal - Paris from $ 779
  • Montreal - Venice from $ 819
  • Montreal - Rome from $ 870
  • Montreal - Athens from $ 905
  • Toronto - Paris from $ 789
  • Toronto - Venice from $ 849
  • Toronto - Rome from $ 855
  • Toronto - Athens from $ 879
  • Vancouver - Paris from $ 1189
  • Vancouver - Venice from $ 1255
  • Vancouver - Rome from $ 1220
  • Vancouver - Athens from $ 1405
  • Vancouver - Dublin from $ 969

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
Copa ConnectMiles
- Double ConnectMiles on qualifying rentals of 1 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Iberia Plus
- 250 Bonus Avios for all stays at all NH Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 15, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- Double Travel Pass Points for stays at all participating Sonesta Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by May 22 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Triple Starpoints for SPG Pro members when you book three or more qualifying group or catering events at any of more than 1,300 hotels and resorts participating in the SPG® program. More... Book by Oct 31 for events until Dec 31, 17

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Double Miles & Smiles Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Dec 31, 17

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points + up to 20% off the Best Available rate when you book the Stay 2 & Save Rate offer at participating Wyndham Hotel locations Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 4 for stays until Sep 10, 17


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