Rewards Canada: Your premier points, miles & credit cards resource

Friday, July 28, 2017

July 28 Update: IHG PointBreaks coming on Monday, 50% bonus Infinity MileageLands miles for Kaligo bookings and few other bonuses

News, Tips & Tricks
Last day of the week doesn't bring us a lot of news or bonuses.

The one piece of big news are the latest IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks! These are always big news right around the time they are released as they are the single best hotel redemption offer out there. They are big news as you really need to get in and book any of the good hotels on the first day they are released if not even the first few hours. Typically they go live anywhere between 9am and 12pm EST. As soon as we know we'll put up another post on Monday. You can also use our post below from earlier today and keep trying to see when they go live on Monday. As we usually see the Canadian property list is quite weak but there are some really good hotels available around the globe so start planning and thinking this weekedn about possible trips you can take to make use of this offer by the end of October!

Posts since our last update:

Full list of 107 IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Hotels including 4 in Canada - available for booking on Monday July 31
IHG has released the full list of the newest PointsBreaks hotels and here they are. This set has 107…

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Double Airpoints Dollars for stays at at The Langham Auckland plus 100 bonus Airpoints Dollars on weekend stays. More... Until Oct 31, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles when you stay at participating Mandarin Oriental Hotels. More... Until Sep 11, 17

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- 50% Bonus Infinity MileageLands Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Aug 26, 17
- Double Infinity MileageLands Miles for stays at participating Langham hotels Worldwide on the Linger Longer offer. More... Until Sep 30, 17
- Earn up to 4x Infinity MileageLands Miles when you rent with Avis in Asia, The USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. More...Book by Aug 31 for rentals until Sep 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Full list of 107 IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Hotels including 4 in Canada - available for booking on Monday July 31

IHG has released the full list of the newest PointsBreaks hotels and here they are. This set has 107 hotels included with the actual booking of the hotels at these rates opening on Monday July 31st for stays between that day and October 31, 2017. For those who travel domestically we see the list of Canadian properties drop to only 4 hotels. This is pretty weak, but then again it almost always is as the past two offerings only saw 6 and 5 hotels respectively.

Each Reward Night at these participating hotels will be only 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points during the above mentioned dates. Remember the PointBreaks rules are that a member can only book up to 2 reward reservations per hotel participating in the individual offer (ie 2 at PointBreaks hotels and 2 at Last Minute Reward Night hotels). My tip to get around this would be to book 2 reservations with one IHG Rewards Club account and then have your spouse book 2 more etc. Of course this is dependent on both accounts having enough points to redeem for these awards. Also be sure to book these ASAP as soon as the list comes out as once the allotted nights are booked at certain locations those hotels will fall off the list.

Why are IHG Rewards Club Point Breaks such a great deal? Because they offer reward nights at participating IHG hotels Worldwide for only 5,000 Rewards Club points. For those of you not to familiar with IHG Rewards Club , normal redemption rates for Rewards Club reward nights run from as low as 10,000 points for some Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations to 50,000 points for ultra-luxurious InterContinental locations and even these locations can participate in PointBreaks. So as you can see you can receive a discount of 50 to 88% off the regular redemption rates. You may be thinking that the high end hotels won't participate but they do depending on the time of year! Please note that like most loyalty promotions these offers are capacity controlled so I advise to book sooner than later to ensure you get the PointBreaks rate. These offers will be bookable via the primary Pointsbreaks page as of July 31st

Here is the list of all 107 hotels participating:

Canada

ALBERTA
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS & SUITES BONNYVILLE

BRITISH COLUMBIA
HOLIDAY INN HOTEL & SUITES KAMLOOPS

NOVA SCOTIA
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS STELLARTON-NEW GLASGOW

ONTARIO
HOLIDAY INN KITCHENER - CAMBRIDGE CONF CTR

United States

Thursday, July 27, 2017

July 27 Update: Aeroplan adds E-Rewards as a partner, double dollars on select WestJet Vacations packages and more

News, Tips & Tricks

Aeroplan is now a redemption partner of E-Rewards. If you are unfamiliar with E-Rewards, it is one of the longest running 'get paid for completing surveys' websites out there. They have lots of airline and hotel partners that you can earn miles and points with for completing surveys. I can't even remember how long I have been using E-Rewards, but it is probably approaching 10 years. I have always redeemed for United MileagePlus miles or Hilton Honors points but now that Aeroplan is an option I may go that route but I'd have to change my account (see below). E-Rewards is always a good way to keep accounts current and the points and miles in them from expiring (personally done this to keep my MileagePlus and Honors accounts alive in the past) Now when I signed up I used a U.S. address to get more surveys as at the time there almost no surveys for Canadians but perhaps that has changed now. However I still run with a California address and get upwards of three surveys a day to complete. However it does appear that if you have a U.S. address in your account details you will not get Aeroplan as a redemption partner. When I log in I don't see Aeroplan as an option so if you want to go the Aeroplan route make sure you have a Canadian address in your account. (Source Pointshogger)

Looks like WestJet's first new Boeing 737MAX aircraft will enter service this November. According to Routesonline the plane will fly between Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto starting on November 9.

Posts since our last update:

Earn 50% Bonus Miles/Points on all hotel stays booked with Kaligo (Book by July 31!)
A great way to boost your balances for stays at non-chain hotels or even at chains that aren't your regular…

Canadian Bonus Offers
WestJet Rewards
- Double WestJet dollars when you book an eligible WestJet Vacations package to a hotel in their Exclusive Luxury collection. More... Book by Apr 30, 18 for travel Nov 1, 17- Oct 31, 18
- Double WestJet dollars when you book an eligible WestJet Vacations package to a hotel in their Exclusive Adults collection. More... Book by Apr 30, 18 for travel Nov 1, 17- Oct 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 2,500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Sep 30, 17

Korean Air SKYPASS
- Triple SKYPASS MIles for stays at any participating Accor Hotels worldwide. More... Until Oct 10, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
Earn up to Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in France. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Sep 3, 17

Saudia Alfursan
- Double Alfursan Miles for stays at HMH Hotels. More... Until Sep 30, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Alfursan Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo or the Renaissance Cairo Mirage City Hotel. More... Until Sep 15, 17

United MileagePlus
- Up to 100% Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you buy or gift miles. More... Until Sep 12, 17

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Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Earn 50% Bonus Miles/Points on all hotel stays booked with Kaligo (Book by July 31!)

A great way to boost your balances for stays at non-chain hotels or even at chains that aren't your regular cup of tea is booking via third party hotel sites like Kaligo. Right now you can get even more miles or points for Kaligo bookings with their Flash Sale that offers a 50% bonus!

Offer details
on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. Full details and online booking Book by Jul 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Here are all of Kaligo's partners:

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

July 25 Update: New TD Cash Back cards added to comparison chart, WestJet pulls purchase discount, AIR MILES hotel bonuses

News, Tips & Tricks

The new TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card (which we covered on the blog last week) and the new TD Cash Back Visa Card have both been added to our Cash Back Credit Card Comparison chart. See how they compare here.
When TD released these cards they pulled the following cards off the market:
· TD Cash Back Mastercard® Card
· TD Gold Elite Visa Card
· TD Classic Travel Visa Card
· TD Green Visa Card

We received an email from WestJet Rewards that they have pulled their offer of a 15% discount on buying WestJet dollars. There was no explanation as to why.

Onto better news from WestJet. Yesterday they revealed details on the winter flying schedule which includes new routes between Calgary & Belize, Edmonton & Huatulco and Vancouver & Huatiulco. On top of that there are increased frequencies on many routes within Canada, to the U.S. and sun destinations. Routes like Calgary-Toronto, Toronto-Montreal, Toronto-Ottawa and Calgary-Kelowna see significant increases. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

Amazing Race Canada payment card: The no fee BMO CashBack Mastercard - is it any good?
If you are The Amazing Race Canada fans like the Rewards Canada family are, you'll have seen on the newest…
AIR MILES: 40 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays
If the current Best Western Rewards bonuses of $10 to $20 travel cards per night don't make sense for you…
Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy & Business Class award tickets to Europe
As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards! This…
Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards Points (2.25 Aeroplan Miles or BA Avios) on dining this summer with The Platinum Card from American Express
Most of Canada's premium and high end cards have great benefits beyond earning points and providing extensive insurance packages.…

Canadian Bonus Offers
AIR MILES (Canada)
- 40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for each stay you complete at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the U.S. or Caribbean. More... Until Aug 31, 17
- Double AIR MILES Reward Miles for stays at all IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers
Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Earn up to Triple Airpoints Dollars for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 17

Choice Privileges
- Receive up to a 30% discount when you buy Choice Privileges points. More... Until Aug 17, 17

Etihad Guest
- Triple Guest Miles for all stays of 3 or more nights at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 17

Hilton Honors
- 500 Bonus Honors bonus points for every 1,000 ThankYou points you convert to Honors. More... US Residents Only Until Sep 20, 17

Hyatt World Of Hyatt
- Up to 40% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you buy points online. More... Until Aug 9, 17

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Earn up to Triple Mileage Bank Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Double JPMIles for stays at nearly 8,000 participating Wyndham Rewards hotels globally. More... Until Oct 13, 17
- Earn up to 30% Bonus JPMIles when you convert points from other loyalty programs (Hotel, credit card etc.) into Jet Privilege JPMiles. More... Until Aug 27, 17
- Triple JP Miles for all stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 5, 17

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 500 Flying Club Miles when you join IHG Rewards Club and complete 1 stay plus Fast track to Gold Elite status when you stay 3 nights at any of the 5,000+ IHG properties worldwide. More... Join by Jul 31, 17

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Amazing Race Canada payment card: The no fee BMO CashBack Mastercard - is it any good?

If you are The Amazing Race Canada fans like the Rewards Canada family are, you'll have seen on the newest season of the Amazing Race Canada the teams have new payment cards. As we have seen in past seasons when Interac, Scotiabank and BMO sponsored the race, this season we see BMO return as the payment card sponsor. This year they gave the teams the BMO no fee cash back credit card for all their purchases. For many Rewards Canada readers you probably know about the card but for many fans of the show who may not be rewards savvy they may not, so this post will provide you some details on the card and whether it is good or not.

First off lets look and see what the BMO CashBack Mastercard offers:

· Welcome Offer: Get 4% cash back on every purchase (up to $125 cash back) in your first 4 months*.
· Earn 1% CashBack on ALL card purchases* without restrictions!*!
· No Annual fee*
· Receive a discount on car rentals*
· Extended Warranty*
· Purchase Protection*

So is this card good? When you take into account the initial sign up bonus, yes it is. To get 4% back on a no annual fee card is a great deal. When you look at its competitors, the other no annual fee cash back cards, most of them save for one or two have no sign up offer at all. Even against a lot of the fee based cash back cards this sign up bonus is pretty good. Then when you look at the day to day earn rate of 1%, the card is towards the top of the pack as well for no fee cash back cards. A quite of few of them do offer 1% back as well but a whole bunch are below that at 0.5 to 0.75%. You can get a return higher than 1% by moving to a no fee travel rewards card like the the Scotiabank More Rewards Visa but then you are limited to travel rewards.

Back to our initial question then, is it good? Yes this a pretty decent no fee cash back card. If you aren't looking for a lot of bells and whistles, don't want to pay an annual fee and want a flat cash back return, then yes this card is good. If you need insurance benefits outside of Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection, want to have a higher return on your spending and such then the card isn't really for you. But then again if you want those perks you either have to move to a travel rewards card or a cash back card with an annual fee.

Click here to find out more and/or apply for the BMO CashBack MasterCard

Monday, July 24, 2017

AIR MILES: 40 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays

If the current Best Western Rewards bonuses of $10 to $20 travel cards per night don't make sense for you then perhaps this an offer that might work for you if you have any Best Western stays to complete by the end of August.

Offer details
40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for each stay you complete at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the U.S. or Caribbean. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Aug 31, 17

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy & Business Class award tickets to Europe

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards! This month we see another good offering of economy and business class award tickets! The economy class offers are for departures on Lufthansa from Montreal or Toronto while the business class offer is good for Lufthansa departures from Montreal.

These are good for travel between Nov 1 and Dec 15 and must be booked by July 31.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip economy class tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal or Toronto to Europe for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles. Granted the Lufthansa tickets will have fuel surcharges but this is still a pretty good deal when you look at it as a whole in terms of miles+cash outlay.

Some of the economy class offers:

For business class between Montreal and Europe, the discount is a bit below 50% as you need to redeem 55,000 miles for round trip flights that normally cost 105,000 miles.

Some of the business class options:

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! But that's not the case right now! Right now you only need to grab one card with the $120 fee as its sign up bonus been increased. 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 25,000 Starpoints sign up bonus. When you convert those 25,000 Starpoints to Miles & More SPG will award you an additional 5,000 miles. Which gives you 30,000 miles. That's enough miles to redeem for one of the economy class tickets in this offer. Bad news is you have only a week left to book these offers so you won't get the points from the credit cards in time. That being said, the 50% off business class tickets at 30,000 miles is offered frequently throughout the year so you can grab the card now and use the points for the next time the offer comes up.

Simply book the offers seen here by July 31, 2017

Full details on this offer can be found here

Friday, July 21, 2017

Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards Points (2.25 Aeroplan Miles or BA Avios) on dining this summer with The Platinum Card from American Express

Most of Canada's premium and high end cards have great benefits beyond earning points and providing extensive insurance packages. One type of benefit that many of the cards touch upon is dining and a card that has put a lot of focus into dining recently is The Platinum Card from American Express.

They have partnered with a host of amazing restaurants across Canada that when you dine at participating locations you'll typically get a nice little bonus on top of your meal. It could be a glass of wine or champagne, an amuse-bouche or even a dessert. As long as you reserve via the Platinum Concierge you'll receive the benefit as outlined in the Amex Platinum Dining Program Guide.

What's even better is that until the end of September, not only will you get the dining amenity at any of the Platinum Dining Programs restaurants, you'll also get 1 additional Membership Rewards point per dollar spent at these restaurants. That's means you'll be earning 2.25 Membership Rewards points in total for every dollar spent. That equates to a 2.25% return if you redeem for travel via points for purchases or if you convert to Aeroplan or British Airways you're looking at a minimum of a 3.3% return but more than likely closer to a 4 to 4.5% return. AND you get your dining amenity. (Hopefully you can get my intonation there)

Remember to take advantage of the benefits of the Platinum Dining Program you must make reservations for the restaurant(s) of your choice via the Platinum Concierge.

A snippet of the terms from the email:

You can earn 1 Membership Rewards point (“point”), in addition to your standard earn rate of 1.25 points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases made between July 10, 2017 and September 30, 2017 at restaurants participating in the Taste from Platinum Dining Program. An eligible purchase is any purchase over $1 charged to the Platinum Card at participating restaurants between July 10, 2017 and September 30, 2017. Restaurants eligible for the offer are those listed in the enclosed 2017 Taste from Platinum Dining Guide, current as of June 6, 2017. Participating restaurants can change at any time.

Don't have The Platinum Card from American Express? You still have lots of time to grab it and start taking advantage of it at any of the restaurants in the guide to earn the extra points. Not to mention you'll get all of the other benefits that come along with the card! Lounge access, hotel elite status, Fine Hotels & Resorts and much more.

Have you gone out to eat at any of the restaurants in the Dining Program? Have you enjoyed the amenities and have you seen any of the bonus points post yet? Let us know in the comments below!

The Platinum Card from American Express

New Platinum Card® Cardmembers, earn 50,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points by spending $3,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
• Platinum members are automatically enrolled in the Membership Rewards First™ Tier and earn 1.25 points for every dollar in purchases charged to the Card
• Relax in more than 850 airport lounges worldwide. Enjoy access to the following partner lounges and benefits: Canadian Platinum Lounge Benefit, Delta Sky Club, The Centurion Lounge network, and Priority PassTM membership
• You will also have access to elevated status with many Hotel & Car Rental loyalty programs, $200 Annual Travel Credit for Travel Bookings through Platinum Card Travel Service, lodging benefits at a collection of over 900 Fine Hotels & Resorts around the world, access to special events and unique opportunities and a dedicated concierge team
• 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.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.
Conditions apply

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Friday, July 28, 2017

July 28 Update: IHG PointBreaks coming on Monday, 50% bonus Infinity MileageLands miles for Kaligo bookings and few other bonuses

Full list of 107 IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Hotels including 4 in Canada - available for booking on Monday July 31

Canada

United States

Europe

Asia

Middle East & Africa

Central & South America

Mexico

Thursday, July 27, 2017

July 27 Update: Aeroplan adds E-Rewards as a partner, double dollars on select WestJet Vacations packages and more

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Earn 50% Bonus Miles/Points on all hotel stays booked with Kaligo (Book by July 31!)

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

July 25 Update: New TD Cash Back cards added to comparison chart, WestJet pulls purchase discount, AIR MILES hotel bonuses

Amazing Race Canada payment card: The no fee BMO CashBack Mastercard - is it any good?

Monday, July 24, 2017

AIR MILES: 40 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy & Business Class award tickets to Europe

Friday, July 21, 2017

Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards Points (2.25 Aeroplan Miles or BA Avios) on dining this summer with The Platinum Card from American Express

The Platinum Card from American Express

Top 5 Travel Cards in Canada

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Friday, July 28, 2017

Canada

United States

Europe

Asia

Middle East & Africa

Central & South America

Mexico

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Monday, July 24, 2017

Friday, July 21, 2017

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