November 10 Update: Today Only! 10x AIR MILES for online shopping, 10 Free AIR MILES & Fairmont Orchid Gold Experience

Just a friendly reminder that today only you can earn 10x AIR MILES Reward Miles for each purchase of $20 or more made via airmilesshops.ca - remember as well that Indigo is offering 10x Plum Points on purchases over $40 - so go via airmilessshops to score 10x AM and then 10x Plun Points! More details can be found here or check out our guide to Holiday Shopping

Grab yourself 10 free AIR MILES for completing a 6 question quiz detaling AIR MILES® Travel Insurance, underwritten by Manulife. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to complete! Find out more here Until Dec 31, 17

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:

• Membership Rewards - the loyalty currency every Canadian should be utilizing
  In the Rewards Canada household we have half a dozen American Express Cards feeding our spending into several Membership Rewards…

Travel Deals

The Fairmont Orchid on Hawaii's Big Island is offering Fairmont Gold Experience rates from $499 USD per night, based on double occupancy, excluding taxes for stays until Apr 30. Find out more here
Package Includes:

• Luxury Fairmont Gold accommodation at 20% savings
• Deluxe breakfast daily in lounge (6:30am - 10am) 
• Afternoon tea service (3pm - 4pm)
• Early evening canapés & honor bar (5pm - 7pm)
• Fairmont Gold evening turndown service
• Private check-in and check-out
• Complimentary valet parking

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
No Canadian specific bonus offers today other than those listed above


Other Bonus Offers
Aer Lingus Aer Club
- Double Avios for hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31, 17 for stays until Mar 31, 18

Etihad Guest
- 500 Bonus Guest Miles, up to 25% off, free cocktail & breakfast + $25 hotel credit for stays on the Suite Moments package at the Fairmont Hotels in the Americas and Europe. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 18
- Double Guest Miles for stays at any Millennium Hotels and Resorts Middle East and Africa. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Iberia Plus
- 2,000 Avios when you rent with Avis in Europe for 2 or more days. More... Until Dec 14, 17
- Double Avios when you rent with Budget in Europe. More... Until Dec 14, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 800 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Italy. More... Book by Nov 23 for stays until Dec 23, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay Thursday to Sunday at the Residence Inn or SpringHill Suites Milford. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for up to five nights Sunday - Thursday at the Coralville Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles when you fly on Lufthansa's A380 in Economy Class between Frankfurt and Miami, Singapore, New Delhi, San Francisco, Shanghai, Houston, Los Angeles and Bangkok. More... Register and book by Dec 31 for travel until Jan 31, 18
- Triple Miles & More Miles for stays at the Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport. More... Jan 4 - Apr 3, 18
- Double Miles & More Miles for early booking of stays at Melia Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 26 for stays Apr 1 - Oct 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Membership Rewards - the loyalty currency every Canadian should be utilizing

In the Rewards Canada household we have half a dozen American Express Cards feeding our spending into several Membership Rewards accounts and there is good reason why. Back in 2014 we released a feature called  Canada's Top Travel Rewards Currencies and the number one currency at the time was American Express Membership Rewards points. Fast forward to today and the program continues to be the number one travel rewards, no let's call it loyalty rewards currency, in Canada. Whether it is travel, cash back or merchandise, the Membership Rewards program provides it all and it provides it with incomparable value.

Value, convenience and flexibility are key to a reward program’s success and American Express Membership Rewards provides all of that, hence the fondness in our house to funnel a lot of spending into the program.

There's no hiding the fact that here at Rewards Canada we are huge fans of Hybrid or Flexible points programs. That is, programs that give you options to redeem via the credit card's proprietary program or the ability to convert into other programs’ loyalty points.

These hybrid programs are a points collector’s safest bet to earn points with since they can be utilized in so many ways and are the least susceptible to devaluations of reward programs. They should be front and center for any points collector’s portfolio for just that reason. Concerned about lack of flight availability with a traditional frequent flyer program? Concerned that a proprietary credit card program isn't giving you the best bang for your buck? Those concerns are alleviated with a hybrid program which of course, Membership Rewards is. And Membership Rewards does it well. It has some of the best earning and redemption rates for a proprietary credit card program and likewise provides some of the best earning and redemption rates for its points conversion partners!

Related: Not all Travel Points and Hybrid Credit Cards are created equal

Membership Rewards gives you the best of all worlds. First of all, you can easily convert your Membership Rewards points to a total of eight frequent flyer and frequent guest programs, like Aeroplan, Starwood Preferred Guest, or Hilton Honors, to name a few.

What if you don't want to deal with the quirks and intricacies of frequent flyer and frequent guest programs? You like to book the flights that are best for you, or your travel is all about cruises or all-inclusive resorts? Not to worry, Membership Rewards also covers this. Simply book that cheapest flight from an Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier or that once in a lifetime 180 day around the world cruise. Charge it to any Membership Rewards earning American Express Card and when the charge shows up redeem your points against it at a rate of 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit. You can choose to redeem as little as $10 towards the purchase or any amount above that right up to the total amount of the travel charge. This feature used to be called TripFlex but recently American Express changed it to Use Points for Purchases and there is good reason why. More on this in an upcoming post!

Use Points for Purchases allows American Express Cardmembers to redeem points for almost anything they charge to their cards. It took the old TripFlex feature and kept it at 1,000 points for a $10 credit when redeeming for any travel charges, but expanded to also become a cash back type program where you can use the points for virtually any eligible purchase on the card. The rate for non-travel purchases is 1,000 points for a $7 credit. Depending on which American Express Card you carry this means you are achieving a cash back rate of return from 0.7% all the way up to 3.5% with the eats & drinks accelerator category on the new American Express Cobalt Card. Not many cash back cards will afford you with an unlimited cash back amount of 3.5% on eats & drinks purchases.

Membership Rewards makes it very easy to redeem for these charges online by providing cardmembers with a handy slider to decide how many points they want to redeem against a charge. Here are examples of the travel and non-travel redemption slider option:

A Travel Purchase where you can redeem at the 1000 points to $10 rate

A Non-Travel Purchase where you can redeem at the 1000 points to $7 rate

You can also redeem points on-the-go by using the Amex app. All you have to do is open the app, tap on the transaction you want to redeem points against and click Use Points. It can’t get any easier than that!

You should already be seeing the value in this program and why we consider it the number one loyalty currency in Canada. Now the question you should be asking yourself is "Why am I not collecting Membership Rewards points yet?" And we haven't even touched upon other redemption options like redeeming for the Fixed Points Travel Program (I’ll also dive into more details on this program in a future post!), Merchandise, Gift Cards, Amazon.ca, Ticketmaster.ca rewards and more.

If you're not an American Express Cardmember yet, we recommend you check out the American Express card listing to find the card that is right for you.

As someone who has been collecting Membership Rewards points for the better part of 10 years, take it from me, you won't be disappointed with the program. I have used the conversion option to transfer to partners like Aeroplan and I have also used the Use Points for Purchases option as well. I stay reassured knowing that I will always be able to use Membership Rewards points for something that I actually want to use them for.

Learn more about American Express Membership Rewards here

How about you? Tell us about some of your fondest Membership Rewards experiences in the comments below! What is your favorite reward to redeem for? Tell us your thoughts and feel free to ask us your questions about the program if you aren't a Cardmember yet.


This is part one of a three-part Membership Rewards series sponsored by American Express.

This post was sponsored by Amex Bank of Canada.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.

November 9 Update: 10x Plum Points at Chapters Indigo (tie in with other offers), $75 Statement credit for SimplyCash Preferred via Amazon + more!

Chapters Indigo have launched a new 10x Points offer on all purchases over $40 in store or online. If you do the latter, wait until tomorrow as you can earn 10x Plum Points AND 10x AIR MILES for those purchases. Or make your first purchase via Marriott Rewards More and score 1,000 Marriott Rewards Points plus the 10x Plum Points. Those aren't your only options so we recommend checking out our Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping that we updated and re-released today for the upcoming holiday season!

Petro-Points and iTravel2000 have teamed up once again for another booking bonus. If you book a pre-packaged vacation by November 12th you can earn 50,000 bonus Petro-Points. Those points are worth $50 so you can look at this as being a $50 rebate on your booking. Find out more here.

Air Canada has introduced a Boeing 787 Dreamliner virtual reality experience that is aimed at Travel Agents:

Air Canada is the first Canadian airline to use virtual reality technology to simulate the experience of flying on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner for travel agents and potential customers. Through a fully immersive, interactive experience, users can explore all three cabins of service offered on board the aircraft, including enjoying a virtual International Business Class meal complete with wine in an Executive Pod.

It will be available at the following events:
Air Canada Pop-Up Poutinerie, Shoreditch, London (UK), until November 11, 2017.
True Patriot Love Gala, Toronto, November 9, 2017;
BAZAR ED, Santiago, Chile. November 22 to 26, 2017;
WX Top 100 Leadership Summit, Toronto, November 23, 2017;
EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Gala, The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, November 30, 2017.

If you have been eyeing Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Card, The Simply Cash Preferred Card from American Express, you may want to get it right now. Amex has partnered with Amazon to offer a $75 statement credit if you spend $75 at Amazon.ca with the card. This is on top of the standard sign bonus of 5% cash back for the first 6 months (up to $300 back) and 2% back on all purchases. Find out more here.

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.


Here is an update from Give A Mile on their Christmas campaign:

• 9 flights confirmed on our goal of 50 flights given
• 300,422 miles donated towards our goal of 3,000,000 miles raised

Looks like things are shaping up but there is still a long way to go! Be sure to donate today!

Posts since our last update:

• Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping
  Today we dusted off and updated our 2014 piece on the Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points…
• 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…

Travel Deals
No travel deals today
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
No Canadian specific offers today other than those listed above!


Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles on rentals of 3+ days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Mexico, Latin America, and Caribbean. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles on Budget rentals of 3 more days in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and Caribbean.. More... Until Dec 31, 17

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Up to a 10,000 Infinity MileageLands Miles Discount when you redeem for an upgrade from Economy Class to Premium Economy n EVA/UNI Air scheduled international flights. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at 14 hotels in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York or Rhode Island. More... Dec 1 - Feb 10, 18

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus QMiles when you join Qatar Airways Privilege Club and complete your first flight. More... Until Jan 31, 18
- Earn up to 14,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Cardiff and Doha. More... May 1 - Jul 31, 18
- Double QMiles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Dec 31, 17

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you book a stay at selected Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts properties in Asia. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping

Today we dusted off and updated our 2014 piece on the Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping. You can check out the feature here.

Here is an excerpt:

With a little over a month left to the big day for gift giving the push is on to start your Christmas shopping for friends, family and maybe even yourself! Whether it is shopping for gifts or for food and drink to entertain there are many ways to maximize the miles and points you earn holiday shopping. Ultimately you can make those reward dreams come closer by following one or more of our tips.

Here are the 6 tips without all the mumbo jumbo we put into the main article!

1. Use your mileage/point earning credit card & your loyalty cards to Double or Triple Dip

2. Giving gift cards? Buy gift cards at credit card multiplier locations

3. Buying gifts at retailers without credit card multipliers? Use the gift card trick to earn more miles!

4. Use bonus offers to your advantage when buying groceries for the holiday season

5. Always remember to swipe your Loyalty Card and/or use your miles/points earning credit card

6. Shop via online shopping malls and take advantage of their bonuses!

Continue reading the feature on the main Rewards Canada site

 

 

 

 

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.

---

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!