Thursday, October 19, 2017

October 19 Update: Earn Triple Aurora Rewards Points on all Canadian North flights, Earn 10x More Rewards Points on all travel bookings & more!

Today is primarily a yellow themed bonus offer day with some great new offers from Canadian North and More Rewards

Canadian North has launched a Triple Aurora Rewards points on all their flights systemwide. Simply book by Nov 13 for travel right through to the end of April. Remember you can double dip with Canadian North on their flights by earning Aurora Rewards points and Aeroplan Miles at the same time! Find out more here


Meanwhile More Rewards are offering 10x More Rewards points on every eligible dollar spent on travel via More Rewards Travel. That equates to about a 4.2% return on each dollar spent. More Rewards Travel is a full fledged travel agency that books flights, hotels, vacation packages and more.  Now maybe the time to funnel some flight bookings via them. This offer runs until Nov 30. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
Air France is celebrating Diwali with some great seat sale fares for flight to India! Book by Oct 24 Find out more here
  • Montreal - Delhi from $ 819 Return flight
  • Montreal - Bangalore from $ 885 Return flight
  • Montreal - Madras from $ 955 Return flight
  • Montreal - Mumbai from $ 1 005 Return flight
  • Toronto - Bangalore from $ 945 Return flight
  • Toronto - Mumbai from $ 949 Return flight
  • Toronto - Delhi from $ 955 Return flight
  • Toronto - Madras from $ 1 085 Return flight
  • Vancouver - Delhi from $ 1 129 Return flight
  • Vancouver - Bangalore from $ 1 195 Return flight
  • Vancouver - Mumbai from $ 1 235 Return flight
  • Vancouver - Madras from $ 1 260 Return flight

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 250 bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays of 4 days or more at participating Park’N Fly locations. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Canadian North Aurora Rewards
- Triple Aurora Rewards points on all Canadian North flights systemwide. More... Book by Nov 13 for travel until Apr 30, 18

More Rewards
- 10x More Rewards Points when you book any travel via More Rewards Travel. More... Book by Nov 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- 3,000 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Dec 31, 17

GHA Discovery
- Earn Double Tier Night Credits on all qualified stays at GHA Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- 5,000 Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles when you complete 2 rentals with Avis in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, USA and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 17

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Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - October Edition

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 a 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 Double Rewards Points for stays at all Best Western branded hotels Worldwide. Full details, Online registration and booking (Registration is required)
Additional offer: BWR members can redeem 10,000 points for an exclusive offer for a Free Night valid for a stay at any Best Western branded hotel in North America.  The free night is valid for stays taking place between November 1, 2017 and January 31, 2018
Until Nov 30, 17
For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson 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 Rewards Canada's Carlson page
Choice Hotels Privileges Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points for 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 minimum of 5,000 and maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned from the two (2) separate qualifying stays. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)
Restrictions
For residents of the U.S. and Canada only 
Aug 31 - Nov 11, 17 
For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Choice page
Fairmont Presidents Club No Offers at this time
--
For a complete listing of all Fairmont bonus offers please visit Rewards Canada's Fairmont page
GHA Discovery Earn Double Tier Night Credits on all qualified stays at GHA Hotels Worldwide. Register online (Registration is required)
Until Dec 31, 17
For a complete listing of all GHA Discovery bonus offers please visit Rewards Canada's GHA page
Hilton Double Honors Points on all eligible stays at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. Diamond members will earn an extra bonus which varies by member. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)  Sep 1 - Dec 31, 17
For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hilton page
Hyatt No Offers at this time --
For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group IHG Rewards Club Accelerate: Earn 500 to 30,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Sep 1 - Dec 31, 17
For a complete listing of all IHG Priority Club bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada'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 Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Marriott Earn a free night when you complete two stays at any participating Marriott Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.  Additional bonus offers may be provided after completing the two stays.  Full details, online registration and booking(Registration is required)
Free stay is valid for 6 months after issuance and is good for Category 1-5 hotels.
Register by Nov 30 for stays Sep 12 - Jan 15, 18
For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Marriott page
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer No Offers at this time
--
For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's iPrefer page
Ritz-Carlton Rewards No Offers at this time
--
For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada'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 Rewards Canada's Golden Circle page
Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass Double Travel Pass Points for stays at all participating Sonesta Hotels in the U.S. Full details Book by Nov 17 for stays until Nov 30, 17
For a complete listing of all Sonesta Hotels bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Travel Pass page
Starwood Preferred Guest Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking(Registration is required)
Earn 1,000 bonus Starpoints per stay at St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Le Méridien, Westin, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio and Design Hotels. 500 bonus Starpoints per stay at Aloft, Element and Four Points. Plus earn . 10,000 bonus Starpoints when you stay 25 or more nights
Register by Nov 30 for stays Sep 12 - Jan 15, 18
For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's SPG page
Voila Hotel Rewards 30% Bonus VHR Points for stays at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required) Until Feb 28, 18
Double Elite Status Credit for stays of 3 or more nighst at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required) Until Jan 31, 18
Triple VHR Bonus Points and Double Elite Status Credit for stays at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required) Until Nov 30, 17
For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada'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 Rewards Canada's Peakpoints page
Wyndham Rewards 7,500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points for stays at participating Wyndham Hotels & Resorts that are paid for with MasterPass. Full details and online booking Until Oct 31, 17
For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Wyndham page

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express drops to 20,000 points but 2x points for hotel stays extended

 Good and bad news today for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. First lets get rid of the bad news, which in all reality isn't that bad. It's just bad because the promotional sign up bonus of 25,000 Starpoints ended yesterday and as of today is back to the 20,000 Starpoints. So yes it's 5,000 points less but even with a 20,000 Starpoints bonus this is card is still one of the front runners in our market. Just a slight punch to the gut if you didn't apply for it by yesterday as it would have been 5,000 points more. Alas 20,000 Starpoints is worth at least $400 in our minds if not way more than that.

Related: Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express 

Onto the good news, a few months ago we learned the U.K. version of this card had extended the 2 Starpoints per dollar spent at Starwood and Marriott hotels the end of 2018. Since then we have been checking with Amex to see if an extension was coming on our Canadian version and we can officially tell you that yes it is! The Canadian card will continue to offer 2 Starpoints per dollar spent at Starwood and Marriott hotels around the globe until February 15, 2018. This is great news although I am still wondering why the U.K. version has extended their offer much longer than ours.

We've written extensively on why this card is so good and would recommend reading some of our other posts on the card as to why it provides what we would consider the highest return of all credit cards in Canada
 Anyways here are all the details on the current offer for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

October 18 Update: RBC & Petro-Canada team up for more points & savings, last day for SPG Amex, up to 3x miles on Qatar Airways flights

RBC and Petro-Canada came out with more partnership news yesterday. Thanks to RBC, Bruce and Kevin for sending along the details to us! As many of you may be aware we brought you details some time ago about automatically getting 2 cents off per litre of gas at Petro-Canada when you use a RBC credit card to pay for it. They offer ends on the 31st of this month and will be replaced by an even better partnership!
Starting on October 31, RBC clients will be able to link their Petro-Points card to any personal or business RBC debit or credit card to instantly receive 3¢ per litre fuel savings and earn 20 per cent more Petro-Points on qualifying purchases made at Petro-Canada. RBC Rewards credit card holders will also earn 20 per cent more RBC Rewards points on their Petro-Canada purchases. Unlike other loyalty programs where the benefits are limited to a specific card, Canadians will be able to use every RBC card in their wallet to save instantly on fuel and earn more rewards points. Clients simply need to link their Petro-Points card to their RBC profile online once by visiting the secure RBC website, rbc.com/petro-canada
As you can see the discount becomes greater with this partnership however you need to tie your cards together from RBC and Petro-Points. Not a big deal. Petro-Points already has this going on with tie-ins with HBC Rewards, More Rewards, CAA and more. The question that will need to be answered, is that currently with Petro-Points you can link multiple other loyalty accounts to your Petro-Points and get the 20% bonus points from each of them and will that be the case with RBC as well? That is if you link your RBC card and your HBC card will you a 20% bonus twice? And what about More Rewards? Finally for those of you who have Avion cards or other RBC Rewards Cards you'll score that other 20% in RBC Rewards on those Petro-Canada purchases!

Today is the last day to grab the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit from American Express with the 25,000 Starpoint sign up bonus! Read more about that here and apply for now if you have been hemming and hawing.


A bonus offer to be aware of is this flight bonus offer from Qatar Airways and Le Club AccorHotels. Le Club AccorHotels is a program that has set up lots of promotions with their partners like Finnair and now Qatar Airways whereby being a member gets you benefits in that partner's loyalty programs and now members can earn up to 3x QMiles on all Qatar Airways flights until the end of the year. This means that if you are flying on Qatar between Montreal and Doha you can earn this bonus! Of course Le Club is free to join so why wouldn't you take advantage of this if you are planning on flying Qatar Airways before the end of the year! Find out more here!


 Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
No travel deals today but remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Aegean Miles&Bonus
- 30% Miles&Bonus Discount on select award tickets within Greece and between Greece and Europe, the Middle East or Africa. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Aeroflot Bonus
- Triple Bonus Miles for stays at Jumeirah Hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. More... Until Jan 30, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 4,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at the Miami Airport Marriott. More... Until Nov 20, 17
- Earn up to 7,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Residence Inn Jersey City. More... Dec 17 - Feb 28, 18
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights Thursday-Sunday at the London Marriott Hotel Maida Vale Hotel. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at over 40 Marriott locations in Southern California. More... Until Dec 14, 17
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at 4 Marriott locations in Baltimore. More... Until Dec 7, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to Triple QMiles on all Qatar Airways flights Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17

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Why my wife and I each grabbed our own WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercards

Recently my wife and I grabbed ourselves the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and there really were three reasons behind this. Now this wasn't an apply for primary and secondary cards for one account. These were two separate applications for both of us to each have our own cards. I've mentioned the reason why before in our Ultimate Credit Card Portfolio for Families and now we've jumped on it ourselves.

Here are the main reasons why we grabbed the cards:
  1. We are a family of four that flies WestJet 3-6 times per year and having access to two companion passes will bring us huge savings every year
  2. We each got the 250 WestJet dollar sign up bonus on the cards this first year, so that's $500 more towards our next flights - for only $198 - which is almost enough for flights to Europe with WestJet’s partner Delta (see here for details on that!)
  3. First Checked Bag Free for up to 8 people - right now with Gold status that isn't a huge selling point but my status expires at the end of the year so without re-qualification it will come in handy!
Now let's get back to point 1 as that was the main reason we grabbed 2 separate WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard accounts. The annual companion voucher that comes with each card can easily bring much bigger value to you than your annual fee on the card alone:
Here is an example of where these companion passes can provide some huge value. Since you can use them on any fare class, I searched for four tickets from Calgary to London for Easter Break 2018. When we fly long haul we try to do so where we can relax and rest so with WestJet the option would be in Plus:


Four tickets outright in Plus run $8744.44 however if I booked two tickets and used a companion voucher for one of them and my wife did the same we could drop that price down to $5848.45 (two base fares, two companion voucher fares and all taxes/fees). That's nearly a $3,000 saving attributed to the having the companion vouchers from the cards! Would I book this right now? Probably not since I would most likely use miles in another program to go in a true business class but with WestJet adding Boeing 787's with a true business class in a little over a year I hope, really hope, that WestJet will add a business class companion voucher to the card!

In all likelihood the first year of having this card we'll use our companion vouchers for flights to Hawaii especially since Air Canada has Rouged the Maui route so there isn't a true business class product out of Calgary to Hawaii and looking at the pricing on WestJet for those routes we should expect a decent amount of savings as well by using the vouchers.

Those are the reasons why we each grabbed our own  WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. I would love to hear from our readers if you have done the same and/or would like to pass along some great stories of saving some $$$ utilizing the vouchers.

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card sign up bonus increased to 50,000 Avios

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RBC has launched a new acquisition offer the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card. This time the offer differs slightly from past 50K offers in that there is a lower spend requirement ($5,000 instead of $9,000) however in lieu of having to spend as much you have to hold onto the card longer as the final part of the 50K bonus is awarded on your card anniversary.

The sign up bonus remains the same at 15,000 Avios however 35,000 additional Avios will be awarded to any new cardholder who applies by Oct 31, 16 and spends $9,000 within the first 3 months of card membership. That's right $9,000! Remember back in 2012 when it used to be $5,000 for that extra 35,000?

What can you get for 50,000 Avios? Just one example is 6 one way or 3 round trip short haul trips between Canada & North America in Economy Class(+taxes/fees).  See how to do so here.

Or nearly 2 Economy Class tickets between Toronto and Dublin. See how you can achieve that here

Offer details:
Earn up to 50,000 Bonus Avios when you apply for and receive the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card. Full details
  • Receive up to 50,000 Avios, here’s how:
    Step 1: Receive 15,000 Avios as welcome bonus upon approval
    Step 2: 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend $5,000 CAD in the first two months
    Step 3: Another 10,000 bonus Avios when you renew your card after your first year
  • Collect 1 Avios for every $1 CAD spent on qualifying net purchases
  • Collect double Avios when you shop with British Airways and BA Holidays
  • Earn a companion voucher when you spend $30,000 CAD annually
  • 10% off British Airways flights when you book and pay with your card
  • 250 bonus Avios when you rent a car with Avis and pay with your card
  • Redeem for travel on British Airways and oneworld partner airlines

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

October 17 Update: Amex Platinum Card access to Lufthansa lounges in Munich, Scotia card updates for November + more!


If you read some of the U.S. frequent flyer and rewards blogs you may have seen articles about American Express Platinum Cardmembers having access to Lufthansa lounges in Munich. When those articles came out it wasn't sure if Canadian cards also qualified, well the good news is they do! As long as you are flying with the Lufthansa Group you can have access to four lounges in Munich. The Business lounges are if you are flying in Economy or Business Class and you have access to the Senator lounges if you are flying in Business Class. This is a limited extension of lounge benefits for Platinum Cardmembers that runs until May 31, 18.

Here is a screen shot from The Platinum Card from American Express lounge finder on American Express' Canadian site:
Excerpt from the T&C's
Platinum Card Members have complimentary access to Lufthansa Business Lounges (regardless of ticket class) and Lufthansa Senator Lounges (when flying business class) in the Satellite area of T2 in Munich Airport from 9/15/2017 until 5/31/2018. To access the Lufthansa lounges, Platinum Card Member must present a government issued I.D., a same-day boarding pass showing confirmed reservation on a Lufthansa Group flight (Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian airlines) and a valid Platinum Card.

Many of Scotiabank's offers for their cards are to come to a wrap on the 31st and what we can say is that you'll want to grab the Scotiabank Gold American Express card now as the new offer, while still quite good won't be as lucrative as it is now and if you were considering the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite card we'd hold off on getting it until November 1 as it will have a much stronger sign up offer. Finally grab yourself the SCENE Visa card if that has been under consideration as it will have not as good of sign up bonus come November.

WestJet announced today that they will offer winter seasonal service between Hamilton and Las Vegas. The twice weekly service will launch on December 29. (Source WestJet)


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
Lufthansa has placed thier Premium Economy on sale for their flights out of Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver. Fares start as low as $1,589. Book by October 24. Find out more here.


Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Aer Lingus Aer Club
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on your next hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Until Dec 31, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn Triple Avios on all Hilton Hotel stays Worldwide. More... Until Jan 30, 18

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when you book with National car retnal at participating locations in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain with minimum 3 days rental. More... For residents of Asia only Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Jan 31, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Residence Inn Dallas Market Center. More... Oct 29 - Dec 31, 17

SAS EuroBonus
- Triple EuroBonus Points on Hertz rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Jan 7, 18

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- Double Travel Pass Points for stays at all participating Sonesta Hotels in the U.S. More... Book by Nov 17 for stays until Nov 30, 17

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 30% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you purchase Miles Booster for your Virgin Atlantic Flights. More... Until Oct 31, 17
- 30% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Oct 31, 17

Voila Hotel Rewards

- 30% Bonus VHR Points for stays at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 18

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Monday, October 16, 2017

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy class award tickets from Toronto 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  award tickets! The offers are for departures on Lufthansa from Toronto to 85 destinations in Europe.

These are good for travel between Feb 1 and Mar 15 and must be booked by Nov 1.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip economy class tickets on Lufthansa from  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:


As we mention every time they have the 50% off economy offer is that you could in theory get the  tickets with grabbing a single credit that has a $120 annual fee! 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 but that ends at the end of the day on Wednesday so you'll want to grab it right now! 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 have two weeks left to book these offers so you won't get the points from the credit cards in time.  That being said, the 50% off economy 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. Need to grab two tickets? You could choose to get one SPG card for yourself and you for your partner or spouse. If that's not your situation and want two tickets for yourself you could also grab The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express as it also has 25,000 point sign up bonus until Wednesday and then you would ultimately be able to have 60,000 Miles & More miles.

Simply book the offers seen here by November 1 2017 

Full details on this offer can be found here