June 7 Update: British Airways 2018 Peak/Off Peak award dates, earn bonus Aeroplan miles for Costco referrals and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
The 2018 Peak and Off Peak chart for British Airways Executive Club is out now. As many of us use British Airways more and more this is an invaluable tool to see when you can get reduced awards for traveling on British Airways. This also includes Aer Lingus and the ability to fly round trip between Toronto and Dublin for only 26,000 Avios - read about that great redemption option here. You'll see in the calendar below that close to 2/3 of the year are off peak! (Source Points to be Made)

We released our latest Ultimate Credit Card Portfolio today! This one looks at the best American Express, MasterCard and Visa options for a Small Business. You can read the feature here!

We added a half dozen new Aeroplan bonus offers today to our Aeroplan page, all are listed below but of note is the new Costco referral bonus. For this month you can earn up to 1,500 bonus Aeroplan Miles when you refer someone to Costco and they'll earn the same bonus.

Posts since our last update:

• The Ultimate Small Business Credit Card portfolio!
  In this feature of Rewards Canada's Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for those who want…
• Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays this summer
  We've already let you know about Best Western's own summer promo offering up to $20 in gift cards per…
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: Double Miles when flying between Vancouver and Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo
  Alaska Airlines has launched a nice flight bonus offer for travel this summer on their global partner airlines. These…
  

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 17
- 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Sep 30, 17
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you refer a friend to join Costco. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- Triple Aeroplan Miles for all purchases made on Costco.ca. More... Jun 12 - 25, 17
- 150 Bonus Aeroplan Miles by parking your car at Park’N Fly’s Indoor Valet facility in Winnipeg. More... Until Aug 31, 17
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you use Park & Jet at the Calgary Airport. More... Until Aug 31, 17

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly between Vancouver and Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo. More... Register by Sep 1 for travel until Sep 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 5,000 Free + Double Club Premier Points on all your Marriott stays when you join Marriott Rewards. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at NH Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- 30% Club Premier Points when you convert SPG Starpoints to Club Premier points. More... Jun 15 - 30, 17

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on select routes on Mileage Plan's global airlines partners. More... Register by Sep 1 for travel until Sep 30, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 4x Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating hotels in Europe (excluding France), Middle East and Africa. More... Book between Jun 12 and Jul 23 for stays Jun 12 - Sep 3, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

The Ultimate Small Business Credit Card portfolio!

In this feature of Rewards Canada's Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for those who want to reap the most their Small Business Credit Cards. While many of us use personal credit and charge cards for our small businesses some companies find it much easier to track expenses by using corporate or small business cards. Others like to keep work separate from home and while they would like to use personal cards, small business cards help keep that divide. We have always recommended you should carry a Visa, a MasterCard and an American Express card in your wallet so there is a MasterCard included in this portfolio. The reason why is that there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card. We won't go into detail here as you can read all about it in our feature on how to Maximize your Miles and Points but here we outline one card from each brand that will help you high end travellers get those perks, benefits and one of a kind experiences. Ultimately there are various options that could be utilized for such a portfolio but we look at one card from each issuing family that we feel are the best fit for a small business.

What is Rewards Canada's Ultimate Small Business Credit Card portfolio?
Continue reading this article on the main Rewards Canada website to find out!

Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays this summer

We've already let you know about Best Western's own summer promo offering up to $20 in gift cards per night but what if you don't frequent Best Western's or don't think you'll have a future stay to use up those gift cards at? Credit your stay to Aeroplan! Especially now that they have a summer promotion offering 1,000 bonus miles for stays until the end of August.

Offer details:
Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Aug 31, 17

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: Double Miles when flying between Vancouver and Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo

Alaska Airlines has launched a nice flight bonus offer for travel this summer on their global partner airlines. These are all long haul flights which means your doubling lots of miles to begin with as long as you buy a ticket in an eligible class of service. We list all the eligible routes below which include three routes out of Vancouver to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, Seoul on Korean Air and Tokyo on JAL.

Offer details
Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on select routes on Mileage Plan's global airlines partners. Register Online (Registration is required) Register by Sep 1 for travel until Sep 30, 17

Eligible routes:

June 6 Update: 5x Plum Points for online book purchases, fly Lufthansa to Dusseldorf for $713 and Top Credit Card Sign Up Offers for June

News, Tips & Tricks
For the first time in a long time there are no Miles and More  "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards for flights out of Canada. Hopefully they return in July!

Check your email for a new American Express contest. If you get the email be sure to register via the link they provide so that each time you use your card at participating merchants you are entered to win 2018 VW Atlas. I received the email for both my Gold Rewards and Platinum cards.

You can earn 5X Plum Points on Online Book purchases until June 8



Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for June
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of June! This is not…

Travel Deals
Lufthansa has some great fares for flying between Toronto and Dusseldorf this fall.You can fly for as little as $713. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- 10x topbonus Miles for stays at hotels booked via Agoda PointsMAX! This is a secret unadvertised offer that Agoda let us know about! More... Until ?

Le Club accorhotels
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines. More... Jun 10 - Sep 10, 17

Miles & More
- Triple Miles & More Miles on all Hertz rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 30 for rentals until Sep 30, 17

Scandic Friends
- 2,000 Bonus Scandic Friends Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Scandic Prince Philip Stockholm. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Double Stash Rewards Points when you book any of 400,000+ hotels Worldwide via Stash Rewards. More... Book by Jun 30, 17

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 2,500 VHR Bonus Points for stays at the Hotel Luzeiros Recife. More... Until Jul 31, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for June

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of June! 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 (sign up) 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 you grab them strictly for sign up rewards. In fact all of the cards on this list for June 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!
   
There is no change in the list this month from May. 

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for June (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.

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite (Apply Here)
This card has never made the list before but now that it has a first year free offer it breaks into the ranks of some of the better sign up offers.  The card offers a 15,000 Aventura Points sign up bonus worth anywhere from $150 to $300 depending on what type of flight you redeem for and since the annual fee of $120 (and supplementary cards are waived as well) those 15,000 points come at no cost to you.



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 - 30,000 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 30,000 points when you reach $750 in spending in the first three months. That 30,000 points is equal to a $300 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!


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

June 5 Update: Listen to podcast episode 30, double Club Premier points between Calgary & Mexico City + more!

News, Tips & Tricks
Podcast Episode 30 is out today! In this episode we discuss the Aeroplan bonus for flying on Air Canada's new U.S. routes and an excellent WestJet bonus for flying to Las Vegas. In the movers and shakers we look at the newest rewards card in the market the mbna Nordstrom Rewards Visa and then delve deep into Bond Brand Loyalty's 2017 survey results that says Canadians are sitting on $16 Billion dollars worth of unredeemed points and miles. Finally we look at how we racked up around $1,500 worth of points (Speaking of hoarding!) on one Starwood stay by utilizing multiple bonus point promotions. Download or listen to the episode here.


Posts since our last update:

• 1,000 Free Aeroplan Miles or British Airways Avios when you join Marriott Rewards + earn Double Miles for stays
  We first broke this offer last week on our global FFB site and over the weekend it spread like…

Canadian Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Points when you fly AeroMexico between Calgary and Mexico City. More... Until ?

Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Points when you fly AeroMexico between Mexico City and Aguascalientes, Tijuana, Boston, Dallas, or Denver; Monterrey and Puerto Vallarta or Detroit. More... Until ?

Hilton Honors
- 5,000 Bonus Honors Points for stays at the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Dec 22, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Honors Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Hilton Rio de Janeiro Copacabana.More... Until Oct 31, 17
- 500 Bonus Honors Points if you spend £50 or more at Amy's Restaurant in the Hilton London Gatwick Airport. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 5,000 Bonus Honors Points for stays that include a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night at the DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Perimeter Dunwoody. More... Until Nov 24, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Greece & Israel. More... Book by Jun 11 for stays until Aug 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Free + Double Airline Miles on all your Marriott stays when you join Marriott Rewards. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Miles & More
- Triple Miles & More Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. More... Until Sug 31, 17
- 1,000 Free Miles & More Miles + Double Miles on all your Marriott stays when you join Marriott Rewards. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

(OFFER PULLED) 1,000 Free Aeroplan Miles or British Airways Avios when you join Marriott Rewards + earn Double Miles for stays

We first broke this offer last week on our global FFB site and over the weekend it spread like wildfire to other blogs and frequent flyer sites and of course we forgot to post it on our Canadian site until now!

THIS OFFER HAS BEEN PULLED OFF THE MARKET BY MARRIOTT

We see the return of Marriott's great new member bonus for those who want to credit Marriott stays to airline programs! Right now when you join Marriott Rewards via the special link below you'll earn Double Miles on all your stays in any one of 7 airline programs over the summer. The difference with the 2017 version of this promotion is that when you join Marriott will throw in 1,000 miles for doing so! For most of us here in Canada Aeroplan or BA Executive Club make the most sense but there are five other airlines to choose from as well.

Offer details:
1,000 Free + Double Airline Miles on all your Marriott stays when you join Marriott Rewards. Maximum of 35,000 bonus miles awarded. Receive 1,000 miles just for joining. Full details and Online Registration (Registration is required) Until Dec 31, 17
(1,000 bonus miles will be awarded at the end of the month in which enrollment occurred)

Participating Airlines:
Etihad Guest
Qatar Privilege Club
Avianca-TACA LifeMiles
Aeromexico ClubPremier
British Airways Executive Club
Lufthansa Miles & More
Aeroplan

If miles aren't your preference remember there is always the Marriott New Member Bonus where you can earn a free night at a category 1 – 5 hotel after your 2nd paid stay at any Marriott Hotels Worldwide.