[OFFER EXPIRED] Simply unprecedented - SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express offers up to 10% cash back

THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Continuing on with our tweet from Monday:

This is the definite good news for Wednesday on top of all the other good news we already posted!

A Canadian first, perhaps a worldwide first, but as of today you can get a 10% return on credit card spending. Yes it is limited to specific category spending but all we can say is wow! We have never seen a published 10% offer before. Has it been possible to pull value of 10% or more out of credit cards? Yes with frequent flyer and frequent guest cards like The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express but those are not published returns. Here we have a card that is marketing and publishing a 10% return!

As of today if you apply for and are approved for the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express you will earn 10% cash back on eligible gas, grocery and restaurant purchases in Canada for the first 6 months of Cardmembership (up to $300 cash back). The previous offer was 5% up to to $300. So your total value doesn't change but you can now reach that limit twice as fast with only $3,000 in category spending versus $6,000 of overall spending!


SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

Card Name: SimplyCashTM Preferred Card from American Express
Card Type: Credit   
Annual Fee: $99
Product Details:
New SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express Cardmembers can earn 10% cash back on eligible gas, grocery and restaurant purchases in Canada for the first 6 months of Cardmembership (up to $300 cash back)
Earn 2% cash back on all other purchases and when your welcome rate ends.
No limit to the amount of cash back you can earn
Access to memorable experiences with American Express Invites®
Extensive insurance coverage and 24/7 Customer Service
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. Offer subject to change without notice.

Conditions apply

November 15 Update: WestJet Rewards becoming a real contender, YYC to YYZ via AMS on Air France KLM & 2 new Canadian Marriott stay bonuses

This is just me thinking out loud here..... WestJet Rewards and Air France KLM Flying Blue finally announced reciprocal redemption from their respective reward programs today. We covered using WestJet dollars on AF KLM earlier today and this is great news that I wanted to talk about more. The ever expanding capacity of WestJet Rewards is making the program that much stronger and a contender. It is one to watch out for and to consider joining. With redemption possibilities on WestJet, Delta, Air France, KLM and soon Qantas, there isn't much of the world left that you won't be able to get to. Yes it is only in economy class (for the time being ) but the reality is that is what most Canadians redeem for. Even Aeroplan let us know that redeeming for business class isn't a major award goal. When they raised the amount of miles required for business class flights to Europe and several other award categories a few years ago, they themselves stated that this affected only about 2% of their members. As someone living in Calgary it really has me starting to reconsider my strategies for some of my family's travel patterns. Yes we have the WestJet cards for the companion fares but now I need to crunch the numbers on regular spending as well for all these member exclusive fare options. I would love to hear what others are contemplating!

On the flip side, Air France KLM Flying Blue lists that you can spend miles on WestJet now however the flights don't show up online so chances are you will have to redeem via the phone if you wanted to redeem today! We tried a booking between Calgary and Toronto and this is what we got - not that we would mind going through Amsterdam on a 787 and 747 to get to Toronto but not really practical!

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:

• 30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back
  Some of you asked when this bonus would return and we guessed it would be today and it was!…
• You can now redeem WestJet Rewards dollars for flights on Air France and KLM!
  Always hinting and putting out teasers where we can, today's news is that where we implied potential good news from…

Travel Deals


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
Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 7,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the TownePlace Suites London. More... Until Jan 31, 18
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Courtyard Waterloo St. Jacobs. More... Until Jan 31, 18

RBC Rewards
2 Bonus RBC Rewards Points per dollar spent when you rent with Thrifty Car Rental in Canada. Must use an RBC Rewards earning credit card for payment. More... Ongoing


Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- 5,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you spend $200 or more on your first booking with Rocketmiles More... Until Dec 31, 17

Avianca LifeMiles
- Quadruple LifeMiles on your first rental with Sixt that is 3 or more days. More... Until Jan 31, 19

SAS EuroBonus
- 6,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points on Avis rentals of 2 or more days in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, USA and Canada. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 17
- 4,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points when you rent with Sixt Worldwide for 2 or more days. More... Book by Dec 22 for rentals until Jan 15, 18

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
-Triple Flying Club Miles on Sixt rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 15 for rentals until Dec 31, 17

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 30% VHR Points Discount when you redeem for award nights participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back

Some of you asked when this bonus would return and we guessed it would be today and it was! We are happy to let you know the much loved transfer bonus from RBC Rewards to British Airways Executive Club is back.  Once again the bad news is the bonus is lower just like we saw last May, only 30% versus the 50% we were accustomed to. The bonus is harder to find after RBC changed their website and the only  indication of it is the BA banner stating '30% More'. We would greatly appreciate if any of readers who are Avion cardholders could let us know what the end date of the offer is! Thanks to Jovi for the end date details!

The offer is for all of you RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) and runs until December 31. Despite the BA devaluations and only being 30%, this promotion is still a decent deal as BA Avios are a great option for flights to Asia (via Cathay Pacific), short to medium haul within North America  (short haul offer is great on Alaska Airlines or American Airlines see this post here) and even though huge surcharges are added to their UK/Europe redemptions they can still be an alright value because of this bonus based on your spend with the credit card (see my post about Earn & Burn for an explanation). As always though with any frequent flyer program you will have to be flexible in your options when redeeming due to seat availability issues (ie it may be hard to get tickets to Europe in Summer etc.) so take this into consideration before transferring. Another to take into consideration is Executive Club will be introducing dynamic award pricing next year (think Aeroplan Market fare awards) we just don't know all the details yet.

Also consider reading our post on  How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees as this transfer bonus will work well with it. With the 30% you only have to transfer 20,000 RBC Rewards points to get to the 26,000 Avios level to redeem for these Dublin flights. Compare this to the 65,000 RBC Rewards points it would take to get the same flight and you can quickly see why there is value in the BA program. Heck if you have 65,000 RBC Rewards Points that's three flights to Dublin and back!

Full details on the transfer bonus can be found here

You can now redeem WestJet Rewards dollars for flights on Air France and KLM!

Always hinting and putting out teasers where we can, today's news is that where we implied potential good news from our Monday tweet:

You will now be able to redeem WestJet Rewards dollars for flights on Air France and KLM! These European airlines serve many major Canadian cities with direct flights to Amsterdam and Paris with worldwide connections beyond that. We all know that at the end of August the partnership expanded with WestJet Rewards members being able to earn on Air France and KLM flights and vice versa for Flying Blue members. It was stated at the time the redemption would come later in 2017 and  that time is now! On the flip side you can now also redeem Delta SkyMiles and Flying Blue Miles for flights on WestJet (info on that will come in a separate post)

Unlike your standard redemption on Econo, Flex or Plus fares, where WestJet dollars act like cash towards the base fare;  WestJet dollar redemption for travel on Air France and KLM are a flat rate known as Member Exclusive fares, which require you to redeem the full amount (100%) in WestJet dollars. And, similar to Delta you will only be able to redeem WestJet dollars for economy class at this time.

Air France and KLM cover key cities Canada in Canada, each with strong WestJet presence:

• Vancouver (Air France & KLM)
• Calgary (KLM)
• Edmonton (KLM)
• Toronto (Air France & KLM)
• Ottawa (Air France via bus service to YUL or WestJet connections)
• Montreal (Air France & KLM)

Here are the WestJet dollar requirements for flights on Air France or KLM to areas they fly to:

• Canada to Europe: from 349 WestJet dollars each way (698 round trip)
• Canada to Asia: from 599 each way (1198 round trip)
• Canada to Africa: from 499 each way (998 round trip)
• Canada to Papeete: from 729 each way (1458 round trip)
  
  All the above do not include taxes or fees
  Above rates are subject to change when this new redemption feature is fully rolled out

The above rates are valid from any Canadian city that WestJet serves which can make this very valuable in those cities where fares tend to be high like Whitehorse or Deer Lake!

The rates are slightly higher than those we see on Delta (Europe is 299WSD vs the 349 here) but you have the trade off - Delta you have to connect via the U.S. whereas the flights on Air France or KLM are direct from their Canadian departure points. For example flying from Calgary to Amsterdam on Delta will put you through New York City or other connection points where as the KLM flight is direct. That's where you'll have to make the decision, save 50WSD and go through the U.S. (more flying time, connections, U.S. Customs etc.) or spend the extra 50WSD and fly direct with a lot less hassle. Really it is up to you and your travel style and habits.

Here is are some examples of Air France and KLM redemption options we found on WestJet's site:

Overall this is great news for WestJet Rewards members. Now you have more options to use your WestJet dollars with. Earlier in the year it was limited Delta flights but that got expanded this fall to all Delta flights, now Air France and KLM and soon Qantas! WestJet Rewards continues to become that all around Frequent Flyer Program that members have been asking for. All that remains is redemption for Business or First Class (which we hope will  come when WestJet adds their own Business Class), more non-airline partners likes hotels and car rental companies and we'll have a full fledged program on our hands!

Let us know what you think about this latest addition to the WestJet Rewards program! Will you make use of it? Does it make you want to consider the program more so now then ever? Simply comment below!

November 14 Update: Podcast Episode 35 is here with Give A Mile, first Air Canada 737 MAX routes, 8 new bonus offers

Podcast Episode 35 is here! You can listen to or download it on Apple iTunes, Google Play, our website and Soundcloud. In this episode we welcome back Kevin Crowe of giveamile.org. Give A Mile should be well known to many of our readers now and it's great to have him back on the show. Kevin discusses what Give A Mile is all about and tells us about their Christmas Campaign where they want to raise enough miles or cash to donate 50 flights of support!

About a month ago we brought you details of WestJet's first Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight but they aren't the only airline in Canada to order the plane. Air Canada is also bringing them in and their first revenue flight with their new 737 MAX 8 will be from Montreal to Calgary on December 11. It is kind of interesting that Air Canada is putting the plane onto the Calgary route first - almost seems like a jab at WestJet and saying "Hey we've got the plane too and we're going to fly it into your territory" The planes will also fly between Montreal and Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto as well as Toronto to Ottawa. (Source Routes Online)

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:

• Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa
  Last week we previewed this sale as it was only available to Honors members and now as of today Hilton's…
• 5 Days Only! 30% Discount on buying Choice Privileges points and how it gets you MileagePlus miles for US 1.18 cents each
  Choice Privileges last buy points offer just ended yesterday and now they launch this 5 day sale offering a…
• Negative changes coming to the BMO Rewards and AIR MILES World Elite Mastercards?
  Rumours have been swirling around for a few weeks that there are changes coming to the BMO Rewards World Elite…
• IHG Rewards Club Your World Sale - Save 15-30% off destinations across the globe for a limited time
  IHG has launched their Black Friday sale today! Entitled the Your World Sale, it provides up to 30% off…

Travel Deals


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
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Quadruple Flying Blue Miles for stays at any participating Accorhotels worldwide. More... Booking Book by Nov 30 for stays until Dec 31, 17

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 8x AAdvantage Miles when you rent at participating Hertz locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom. More... Until Mar 31, 18
- Earn up to 50,000 AAdvantage Miles when you earn miles from 10 select AAdvantage partners. More... Until Dec 31, 17
- Earn up to 100,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you buy or gift 10,000 or more miles. More... Until Nov 27, 17

Copa ConnectMiles
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus ConnectMiles for stays at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in the Caribbean and Latin America. More... Until Jan 15, 18

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Dec 8, 17

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 800 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. More... Book by Jan 10 for stays until Jan 31, 18

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a suite at Shangri-La Hotel, at The Shard, London. More... Until Dec 25, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Last week we previewed this sale as it was only available to Honors members and now as of today Hilton's annual winter sale for stays in Europe, Middle East and Africa is open to everyone!  Stays must be booked by January 30, 2018 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 Winter sale 

For purposes of this offer, "weekend" is defined as Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday nights and in Middle East (excluding Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Africa) as Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday nights. Must book a minimum 3 days before arrival.

5 Days Only! 30% Discount on buying Choice Privileges points and how it gets you MileagePlus miles for US 1.18 cents each

Choice Privileges last buy points offer just ended yesterday and now they launch this 5 day sale offering a straight 30% discount when you buy 5,000 or more points. As the price is flat rate across the board from 5,000 to 50,000 points the price you pay per point is 0.77 cents (US). This is a good value in its own right for stays at Choice Hotels globally but it also provides one of the cheapest options to obtain United MileagePlus miles due to United's special hotel conversion bonus that runs until the end of the month. In this promotion United will give you 2,500 miles per 5,000 Privileges Points (instead of 1,000) and also give you a 30% bonus on top of that. This means for every 5,000 Privileges points you'll obtain 3,250 MileagePlus miles. Do the math and you are buying the MileagePlus miles for 1.18 cents each (US). Now that's a great deal.

Offer details:
30% Discount when you buy 5,000 or more Choice Privileges points online.  Buy Points Here Until Nov 17, 17

United Offer:
30% Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points to MileagePlus. Full details   Until Nov 30, 17
Maximum of 25,000 Bonus Miles awarded. Club Carlson transfers will receive a 100% bonus, Choice Privileges will convert at 5,000 points to 2,500 miles instead of 1,000 and still be eligible for the 30% bonus.

HT One Mile at a Time

Negative changes coming to the BMO Rewards and AIR MILES World Elite Mastercards?

Rumours have been swirling around for a few weeks that there are changes coming to the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard and the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard. If you follow our twitter account it's this news that is considered the possible bad news we tweeted about for today:

While we don't have concrete details we did receive an update from BMO to make the following changes to the wording for the cards on our site. Based on this update today and the rumours we have heard we can only speculate that those rumours will come true and this is bad news for current and/or future cardholders.

The changes made today:

 
BMO® World Elite™* MasterCard®* 
Previous: Get 20,000 welcome bonus points* worth $200 in travel rewards
Now: Get 20,000 welcome bonus points*

Previous: Earn 2 BMO Reward points for every $1 you spend on the card - that's 2% back on travel!*
Now: Earn 2 BMO Reward points for every $1 you spend on the card*


As you can see the terminology around what the points worth both on the sign up bonus and your everyday return are being removed - this could mean one of two things - the points are increasing in value or decreasing in value. Typically it's the latter and based upon the rumours circulating around it is the latter.





BMO® AIR MILES®† World Elite®* MasterCard®*
Previous Welcome Offer: Get up to 3,000 AIR MILES Bonus Miles* plus a Companion Flight  + Exclusive 25% Flight Discount*Rebate*
Now: Welcome Offer: Get up to 3,000 AIR MILES Bonus Miles*


As you can see it looks like the companion flight offer is going to be pulled soon (it's still up as of this morning) but even bigger is the 25% flight discount rebate that is so popular with this card. The terminology is pulled - now based upon the rumours we have heard it's not going away completely but it is being lowered sometime in the near future. We don't have confirmation from BMO yet but everything is pointing that way.




 

IHG Rewards Club Your World Sale - Save 15-30% off destinations across the globe for a limited time

IHG has launched their Black Friday sale today! Entitled the Your World Sale, it provides up to 30% off stays around the globe for IHG Rewards Club members, discounted Points+Cash offers and more. If you are not a member yet it's free to join.

The World. Now on Sale. Shop Your World Sale from IHG® Rewards Club to save 15-30% off destinations across the globe for a limited time. Book by November 29 for stays until March 31, 2018

Book the IHG Rewards Club Your World Sale here!

Not only is the Your World Sale offering discounted rates around the globe there are also IHG Rewards Club Bonus Points opportunities available as well (can be found in the link above)

Terms & Conditions

Booking in the US, Canada and Latin America
The “Your World Sale” promotional rate is valid only for bookings made from November 11 2017 through November 29 2017 and consumed through March 31 2018 at participating IHG hotels in the United States, Canada, Caribbean, Central America and South America. You must be a member of IHG Rewards Club to qualify for the discount, which ranges from 15%-30% off the Best Flexible Rate. This is a qualifying rate and the discount varies by hotel, blackout dates apply, rooms subject to availability.  This rate is fully pre-paid and non-refundable. Hotel policy varies in regards to the number of guests allowed per room. Not applicable with other discounted rate promotions. Not applicable to group bookings. Hotel-specific early departure fee applies.

Booking into Europe
The “Your World Sale” promotional rate is valid only for bookings made from November 11 2017 through November 29 2017 and consumed through March 31 2018 at participating IHG hotels in Europe. You must be a member of IHG Rewards Club to qualify for the discount, which ranges from 15%-30% off the Best Flexible Rate. This is a qualifying rate and discount varies by hotel, blackout dates apply, rooms subject to availability. This rate is fully pre-paid and non-refundable. Hotel policy varies in regards to the number of guests allowed per room. Not applicable with other discounted rate promotions. Not applicable to group bookings. Hotel-specific early departure fee applies.

Booking into Greater China
The “Your World Sale” promotional rate is valid only for bookings made from 11 November 2017 through 29 November 2017 and consumed through 31 March 2018 at participating IHG hotels in Greater China. You must be a member of IHG Rewards Club to qualify for the discount, which ranges from 15%-20% off the Best Flexible Rate between November 11 2017 and November 17 2017. A discount of up to 14.5% will apply November 17 2017 through November 29 2017 based on normal Your Rate APR. This is a qualifying rate and discount varies by hotel, blackout dates apply, rooms subject to availability. This rate is fully pre-paid and non-refundable. Hotel policy varies in regards to the number of guests allowed per room. Not applicable with other discounted rate promotions. Not applicable to group bookings. Hotel-specific early departure fee applies.

Booking into Asia Pacific the Middle East and Africa
The “Your World Sale” promotional rate is valid only for bookings made from November 11 2017 through November 29 2017 and consumed November 18 2017 through April 15 2018 at participating IHG hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. You must be a member of IHG Rewards Club to qualify for the discount, which ranges from 11%-30% off the Best Flexible Rate. This is a qualifying rate and discount varies by hotel, blackout dates apply, rooms subject to availability. This rate is fully pre-paid and non-refundable. Hotel policy varies in regards to the number of guests allowed per room. Not applicable with other discounted rate promotions. Not applicable to group bookings. Hotel-specific early departure fee applies.

Join InterContinental Ambassador
A one-time bonus of 10,000 Bonus Points will be awarded to you approximately 6-8 weeks after you successfully join the InterContinental Ambassador program. Offer is valid from November 11 through November 29.