This Friday Only - 10x AIR MILES Reward Miles on all airmilesshops.ca purchases

The online shopping bonuses continue and we'll have more coverage of them tomorrow but when one of Canada's largest programs offers a one day bonus you need to know before hand! So hold off on your online shopping if you can, until Friday. That's when you'll be able to earn 10x Reward Miles on each qualifying purchase of $20 or more dollars.

For more details visit airmilesshops.ca

Here are the terms of the offer:
Friday November 10, 2017. Get 10x Miles sitewide
† LIMITED TIME OFFER: Get 10x AIR MILES® Reward Miles on qualifying purchases of $20 CDN or more, excluding shipping, duty and taxes, made in a single transaction from 00:00:01 AM to 23:59:59 PM ET on November 10, 2017. Offer applies to the total Base Miles collected on qualifying purchase amount excluding shipping, duty and taxes. Base offer may vary per store, click on store logo at airmilesshops.ca for details. Collectors must sign in at airmilesshops.ca before purchasing in order to collect Reward Miles. Offer can be combined with other Bonus Mile offers. Offer is valid on the purchase of gift cards only at online stores who regularly offer Miles on gift card purchases. See airmilesshops.ca for details. For travel online stores (including travel bookings, car rentals, and hotels), travel must be booked on November 10, 2017 and completed by February 28, 2018. Bonus Miles will be posted to your Collector Account within 75 days after the promotional period.

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BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard
Welcome Offer: Get up to 3,000 AIR MILES Bonus Miles* plus a Companion Flight Rebate*
Limited Time: $120 annual fee waived in the first year*
· Earn 1 reward mile for every $10 in credit card purchases, everywhere you spend*
· BMO AIR MILES World Elite Travel and Medical Protection*
· Exclusive 25% Flight Discount*
· VIP Airport Lounge Access*
· BMO Concierge Service*
· Use your card at Costco
· *Terms and conditions apply
· Interest Rate: Purchases 19.99% Cash Advances 22.99%

November 8 Update: Amex J.Crew Black Friday advance access offer, Canalta Rewards Cirque advance access offer, Air Canada seat sale

Big news today is of course the announcement of the merger of the PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum programs. Read all about that here!

One of my favourite American Express Invites offers is back! It's the private shopping offer at J. Crew stores. Last year it was for Christmas and was exclusive to Platinum cardmembers. This year it is for Black Friday and looks open to all Amex cardmembers as the offer came in for my Gold Rewards Card:

J.Crew invites American Express® Cardmembers to be among the first to shop their Black Friday Sale at select stores on Thursday, November 16, 2017. Cardmembers can shop J.Crew’s fall and winter collections for men and women including jewelry, shoes and outerwear and receive up to 40% off select regular priced items

For those of you in Southeastern Alberta, Canalta Rewards has an offer for you. Advance ticket access to Cirque du Soleil Crystal in Medicine Hat from May 23 to 27 at Canalta Centre. Find out more here! Presale ends on November 9 and general sale starts on November 10

We're going to keep this reminder going in each update until Christmas:
Check out the Give A Mile Flight Hero campaign! The charity can really use donations of miles to help provide flights to those who otherwise would be unable to travel to visit terminally ill or critically sick family and friends. Rewards Canada has pledged to raise 100,000 miles and we are half way there! We are putting the call out to all of our fans, readers and even new visitors, if you can give please do so. It can be as little as 1,000 miles! You can find out more and donate here.

Posts since our last update:

• PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum to merge - becomes PC Optimum on February 1, 2018 (details inside)
  Big news today, that really wasn't a big surprise because the question wasn't if  PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum…
• Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK and Europe (Exclusive Hilton Honors Early Access)
  Hilton's annual winter sale for stays in Europe, Middle East and Africa will launch for everyone next week however…

Travel Deals
Air Canada is matching WestJet's seat sale we brought to you yesterday! Book by Nov 9! 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

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Budget rentals of 2 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 18
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan miles for at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in the Caribbean and Latin America. More... Until Jan 15, 18


Other Bonus Offers

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you shop online via the AAdvantage Shopping portal. More... Until Nov 19, 17

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Points for stays on the “Complimentary breakfast and then some” Offer at participating Park Inn by Radisson hotels in the Americas. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Ibis hotels in Thailand. More... Until Dec 15, 17

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Swissotel Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jan 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum to merge - becomes PC Optimum on February 1, 2018 (details inside)

Big news today, that really wasn't a big surprise because the question wasn't if  PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum it was when. We all know Loblaw bought Shoppers a few years and then the RBC Shoppers Optimum Card was discontinued in the Summer of 2016 so  everything was pointing to an eventual merger.

Now we know that it is going to happen, news came out today that Loblaw will merge the programs to become PC Optimum on February 1, 2018. In Quebec, the Pharmaprix Optimum program will come to an end on January 31, 2018 and members will have until May 2 to redeem their points.

In general the changes of the merged program aren't that huge outside of now being able to earn at more locations for members of either program.

Here are the highlights of the new program

• At Loblaw stores (Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills etc.) you will continue to earn via your personalized offers that are sent out each week if you buy those items
• At Shoppers Drug Mart you will earn 15 PC Optimum Points per dollar spent  
• Redemption is simplified and follows the PC Plus model of 10,000 points equals $10. Gone is the tiered reward chart of Shoppers Optimum

So how does the new program fair when compared to the two separately?

• For PC Plus there is no real change other than now being able to earn and redeem at Shoppers Drug Mart and BeautyBoutique.ca. 
• For Shoppers Optimum members not only can you now earn and redeem at Loblaw stores you will now earn more for each dollar spent at Shoppers stores but you are losing the tiered reward chart. So let's compare the old earn and burn on Optimum to the new program
  

  Old Points	Spend Required	New	Minimum Spend Required
  8,000 = $10	$800	10,000	$666.67
  22,000 = $30	$2200	22,000	$1466,67
  38,000 = $60	$3800	38,000	$2533.33
  50,000 = $85	$5000	50,000	$3333.33
  95,000 = $170	$9500	95,000	$6333.33

• This is a direct comparison however, as the new program will only let you redeem in 10,000 point increments so technically to get to a level like 38,000 you would have to wait to get to 40,000 points for $40 or $2666.67 in spend - which is still better than the $3800 in the old program. 
• As you can see you will have to spend less with Shoppers in the new program to reach reward levels. But we need to compare point per point value - right now at the 8,000 point level your points are worth about 1.25 cents whereas in the new program at 10,000 points they worth 1.5 cents. In fact in the new program it is 1.5 cents across the board. In the old program the value is higher at the 38,000 and higher levels (1.57, 1.7, 1.79 respectively)
• As you can see Shoppers Optimum members are getting a better program if you are a low redeemer or low points earner. Those who earn lots of points at Shoppers will be losing value  in the new program but you get more places to earn so we can see the thinking behind this change that Loblaw did  (Thanks to Ben for prompting this and having us look at it again and correcting it)
• Good news is that your current points will hold their value in the new program:

Overall this is still good news for members of both programs and good news for our industry as you actually have a program that is getting stronger - and it needs to. The loyalty space in Canada will get even more competitive in the coming years as we can expect Aeroplan to make a huge push for keeping members and expanding due to them losing their Air Canada partnership in 2020. And other programs won't sit on their laurels - you can expect AIR MILES to ramp up offers and the program in response to Aeroplan and programs like PC Optimum will be keeping an eye on them and responding accordingly.

Tells us what you think about today's news in the comments section below!

Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK and Europe (Exclusive Hilton Honors Early Access)

Hilton's annual winter sale for stays in Europe, Middle East and Africa will launch for everyone next week however if you are a Hilton Honors member, you get early access to book stays in the U.K. and Europe as the sale launched today for members of the program! If you are not a member you can join here for free.  Stays must be booked between by November 14, 2017 and completed on weekends between November 2017 and December 31, 2018. Remember that you should also be earning Double Points on these stays with the current winter Hilton Honors promotion. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton Honors preview sale 

November 7 Update: 2x WestJet dollars for flights booked today, Give A Miles Flight Hero reminder + 25 new bonuses!

No news today as I strove to play catch up on a boat load of bonus offers that need posting to the Rewards Canada and FFB sites. 25 of those offers can found below in the bonus offers section. Some of the bonuses to highlight are the return of Delta's MQM stay bonus at Hilton, United's Club Carlson stay bonus and Miles & More's 4x Miles for Fairmont stays.

A reminder to check out the Give A Mile Flight Hero campaign! The charity can really use donations of miles to help provide flights to those who otherwise would be unable to travel to visit terminally ill or critically sick family and friends. Rewards Canada has pledged to raise 100,000 miles and we are half way there! We are putting the call out to all of our fans, readers and even new visitors, if you can give please do so. It can be as little as 1,000 miles! You can find out more and donate here.


Posts since our last update:

• IHG Buy Points Bonus extended to November 9 and updated list of PointBreaks hotels (only 60 left)
  Last week was a big week for IHG with their 100% bonus on buying points being released just before…

Travel Deals
WestJet has launched a three day seat sale for travel across Canada but if you book today you'll earn double WestJet dollars on those flights! Valid for travel Nov 21 - Dec 15. 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

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Triple Mileage Plan Miles on qualifying rentals of 3 days or more at participating Budget airport locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. More... Until Feb 28, 18

Best Western Rewards
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points n a qualifying rental of 4+ days at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until Feb 28, 18

Delta SkyMiles
- Double SkyMiles plus 250 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) up to a maximum of 10,000 MQMs for qualifying stays of 2+nights at any hotel or resort in the Hilton Portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn up to 4x JPMiles when you fly Jet Airways between Chennai and Paris. More... Book by Nov 30 for travel until Sep 27, 18
- Earn up to 4x JPMiles when you fly Jet Airways between Bengaluru and Amsterdam. More... Book by Nov 30 for travel until Sep 27, 18
- Up to a 50% JPMiles Discount when you redeem for an Award Flight on 500+ Jet Airways Flights across domestic and international sectors. More... Book by Nov 18 for travel until Sep 27, 18
- Double JP Miles on all your Marriott stays when you join Marriott Rewards. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 3,000 Bonus JPMiles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles More... Book by Dec 31, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels points when you book an Accor stay in the U.S., Canada or Mexico via the Accor app. More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Jan 15, 18
- Earn up to Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating hotels in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. . More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Dec 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at all 5* Marriott Hotels in Paris. More... Dec 1 - Feb 23, 18
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays Thursday to Sunday (Friday or Saturday required) at the Lake Biwa Marriott Hotel. More... Until Dec 26, 17
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights Thursday-Sunday at the London Marriott Hotel Regents Park More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2+ nights Thursday-Sunday at the Residence Inn Pleasant Hill Concord. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa or Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for up to four nights at participating Marriott Hotels in New Orleans. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Miles & More
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- Quadruple Miles & More Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Fairmont Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jan 31, 18
- 3,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for your first Audi on demand booking. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 2 Bonus Miles & More Miles per EUR spent plus 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for Avis rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Jun 30, 18
- 5,000 Miles & More Miles for Budget rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Jun 30, 18

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Double ROP Miles for stays at participating IHG Hotels in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Maldives. More... Until Dec 31, 17

United MileagePlus
- Earn 2,500 Bonus MileagePlus Miles per stay at Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM, and Park Inn® by Radisson hotels. More...  Until Dec 31, 17
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you shop online via the MileagePlus Shopping portal. More... Until Nov 19, 17

World of Hyatt
- 2,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points for stays at the Hyatt Regency Lucknow. More... Until Nov 30, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

IHG Buy Points Bonus extended to November 9 and updated list of PointBreaks hotels (only 60 left)

Last week was a big week for IHG with their 100% bonus on buying points being released just before the new PointBreaks list was released. The 100% bonus was to end on November 3rd but has now been extended to November 9th! That means you can still go in and buy points for as little as 0.5 cents each when you buy 26,000 to 60,000 points which translates to only paying US$25 per night for the hotels listed below when utilizing the PointBreaks rate of 5,000 points per night. The list originally had 100 hotels but as of posting that is done to 60 hotels. The list in Canada dropped from 5 hotels to 4 with the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ottawa East – Orleans already selling out.

You can buy points with the 100% bonus here until November 9, 2017.

Here is the list of remaining hotels that are available through PointBreaks (current as of Nov 7):

IHG hotels in Canada

ALBERTA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Cold Lake
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Drayton Valley

BRITISH COLUMBIA

• Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Osoyoos

SASKATCHEWAN

• Holiday Inn Express Yorkton East

IHG hotels in Asia

INDIA

• Holiday Inn Express Ahmedabad Ashram Road
• Holiday Inn Cochin
• Holiday Inn Chandigarh Pancholihkula

IHG hotels in Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

• Holiday Inn Express Sandton – Woodmead

IHG hotels in South America

ARGENTINA

• Holiday Inn Cordoba

BRAZIL

• Holiday Inn Express Rio Branco

IHG hotels in North America

NICARAGUA

• Holiday Inn Managua – Convention Center

IHG hotels in Mexico

CHIHUAHUA

• Holiday Inn Express Piedras Negras

MEXICO STATE

• Crowne Plaza Toluca-Lancaster

GUANAJUATO

• Candlewood Suites Celaya

SONORA

• Holiday Inn Hermosillo

VERACRUZ

• Holiday Inn Express Tuxpan

IHG hotels in the United States

ALABAMA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Decatur
• Holiday Inn Mobile – Airport

ARKANSAS

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Clarksville
• Candlewood Suites West Little Rock
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Malvern

ARIZONA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Wilcox

IDAHO

• Holiday Inn Nampa

ILLINOIS

• Crowne Plaza Chicago – Burr Ridge
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Mount Vernon
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Rantoul

INDIANA

• Candlewood Suites Bloomington

KANSAS

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Pratt
• Candlewood Suites Topeka West
• Candlewood Suites Wichita-Northeast

LOUISIANA

• Holiday Inn Express Donaldsonville
• Candlewood Suites Houma
• Candlewood Suites Lake Charles South

MASSACHUSETTS

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Westfield

MARYLAND

• Holiday Inn Express Hunt Valley
• Holiday Inn Express Prince Frederick

MISSISSIPPI

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Grenada
• Holiday Inn Express New Albany

NORTH CAROLINA

• Holiday Inn Express Hillsborough (Durham Area)

NEBRASKA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Chadron
• Candlewood Suites Omaha Airport

NEW YORK

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Jamestown

OKLAHOMA

• Candlewood Suites Ardmore
• Candlewood Suites McAlester
• Candlewood Suites Owasso

OREGON

• Candlewood Suites Medford

PENNSYLVANIA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites St. Marys
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Uniontown

TENNESSEE

• Candlewood Suites Nashville – Metro Center

TEXAS

• Candlewood Suites Bay City
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Carrizo Springs
• Candlewood Suites Longview
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Snyder
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sulphur Springs

VIRGINIA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suits Claypool Hill (Richlands Area)

WISCONSIN

• Candlewood Suites Milwaukee Brown Deer

WEST VIRGINIA

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Parkersburg East

WYOMING

• Candlewood Suites Cheyenne

IHG hotels in Europe

BULGARIA

• Holiday Inn Plovdiv

TURKEY

• Holiday Inn Antalya – Lara

November 6 Update: Air France KLM Flying Blue going revenue based, beVancouver Amex Gift Card offer returns & more

Air France KLM have announced changes to their Flying Blue program that will take place on April 1, 2018. The big news, is that they are following suit of many other airline programs and moving to a strict revenue based earning system rather than distance based. Earning for flights will be as follows:

Ivory members (Base level): 4 miles per EUR
Silver members: 6 miles per EUR
Gold members: 7 miles per EUR
Platinum members: 8 miles per EUR

Earning elite status will change to earning Experience Points (XP) rather than status miles/qualifying flights. Hit 100 XP in a rolling 12 month period and you'll get Silver status, 180 for Gold or 300 for Platinum. The key term now is rolling 12 month period, rather than calendar year. This will kick in on April 1.

Mileage expiry is also changing, the 24 month rule stays in place but all miles earned remain valid if you fly with Air France KLM or other SkyTeam airlines or use a Flying Blue credit card once every 2 years however miles earned on their own from flying non-SkyTeam partners, car rentals, hotels etc. will continue to be valid as long as you earn from those partners once every two years if you don't have an AF KLM SkyTeam flight or credit card purhcase. Make sense?

They don't reveal too much on the redemption side other than all seats will be available, which we can assume will be on a sliding scale much like Aeroplan's Market Fare awards and they will also give you the option to use Miles+Cash for awards (up to 25% of an award can be paid for with cash if you don't have enough miles) Promo Awards will continue however under the new moniker of Promo Reward Tickets. The redemption options are slated to go live in June 2018.

I'm sure we'll write about this even more as April and June of 2018 approach!

Find out more about the Flying Blue changes here.

Posts since our last update:

• 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points to Aeroplan until December 11
  We see the return of another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen this past summer, the hotel only transfer bonus is…
• Starwood Preferred Guest: Receive a 35% discount when you buy or gift Starpoints (until Dec 29, 17)
  Last seen in the summer the great buy Starpoints offer of a 35% discount on the cost of the points…

Travel Deals
BeVancouver's offer of earning American Express Gift Cards for stays in the Vancouver area has returned. You can get up to a $125 American Express Gift Card when you book select Vancouver hotels via beVancouver. Each additional night can bring you up to $50 more in Gift Cards. Book and stay by December 31! Find out more here!
The beVancouver offers aren't the only ones out there! If you are travelling to Calgary or Edmonton the 'be' stay offers for those cities can earn a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Click here for Calgary or Click here for Edmonton

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
- 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles. More... Until Dec 11, 17


Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 3,000 Bonus Club Premier Points for stays at Best Western hotels in Mexico. More... Until Nov 30, 17
- Quadruple Club Premier Points per stay at La Quinta properties in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 3,200 Club Premier Points on stays of 2+ nights at Marriott Hotels in Mexico. More... Until Nov 30 , 17

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you shop online via the Mileage Plan Shopping portal. More... Until Nov 19, 17

Delta SkyMiles
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus SkyMiles when you shop online via the SkyMiles Shopping portal. More... Until Nov 19, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 7, 17
- 350 Bonus Returns Points on qualifying rentals of 3 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 18

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Save 35% when you buy or gift 5,000 or more Starpoints online. More... Until Dec 29, 17
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Sheraton Petaling Jaya Hotel More... Until Apr 16, 18

World of Hyatt
- 1,250 Bonus World of Hyatt Points on rentals of 3 days or more at participating Avis locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada: