October 29 Update: Fly Business Class from Vancouver to Europe for C$2,000 roundtrip, free IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite Status and more

Air France KLM Flying Blue has a new buy miles offer that can be really lucrative when you tie it in to their Promo Rewards promotion. Right now when you buy 4,000 or more miles you'll receive a 75% bonus. Tie this in with business class flights between places like Vancouver and places in Europe for only 53,000 miles (+taxes/fees) and it can really make sense to buy miles. For example to buy enough miles to get to a 53,000 mile redemption it will cost you EUR880 (~C$1300).

Add in roughly C$700 in taxes and fees and you have a round trip business class flight for C$2,000

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There is an offer floating around on many of the frequent flyer blogs (PointsNerd, DoC, etc.) for free IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite status for 90 days and then a fast track to keep it. The terms and conditions specifically state this is for employees of eligible companies although it appears everyone is able to register albeit so far without their status being updated. I tested it and it does show up in my offers. My one big concern is that IHG has been known in the past to lock and/or delete accounts of members who register for offers that are not targeted to them. So proceed with caution if you choose to sign up for this and do so by October 31. You can find out more and register for the offer here. 

Posts since our last update:

• N/A

Travel Deals
Check out the Porter Airlines two day sale - Fares start at $105 each way. Book online 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
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- 75% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy 4,000 or more miles online. More... Until Nov 12, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Italy and Greece. More... Book by Nov 21 for stays Jan 7, 19

Miles & More
- 2,500 Miles & More Miles for stays at participating Kempinski Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 18

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 6,000 QMiles when you fly Qatar Airways between Doha and Mombasa. More... Until Mar 10, 19

Singapore Airlines HighFlyer
- 50% Bonus HighFlyer Points on Singapore Airlines Premium Economy class to and from USA. More... Until Nov 30, 18

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 2,000 Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles for stays 2+ nights Sunday-Thursday at the Sharm El Sheikh Marriott Resort. More... Until Nov 24, 18 

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October 26 Update: World of Hyatt adding Category 8 redemption level, 50 bonus AIR MILES for Alamo rentals and more

More World of Hyatt news today. A new award night category is being added to the program at the top end. According to Gary Leff at View from the Wing the new Category 8 redemption level of 40,000 points per night will not apply to Hyatt Hotels themselves (for the time being) but rather for redemptions at select hotels with their alliance partner: Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Posts since our last update:

• IHG members only sale for stays in Canada - save at least 15% when you book by Nov 13
  IHG has launched their annual Canada sale for stays at their various brands across Canada. The discount is a…

Travel Deals
Air Canada has Asia on sale right now with special fares on flights to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul or Tokyo. Book by Nov 2. Book online 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 MILES
- 50 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for rentals at participating Alamo locations in Canada and U.S. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Dec 15, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Ethiopian ShebaMiles
- Double ShebaMiles when you fly Ethiopian between Addis Ababa and Amman. More... Dec 1 - Jan 31, 19
- Earn up to 500 Bonus ShebaMiles when you book Ethiopian Airlines flights via the Ethiopian app. More... Until Nov 30, 18

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you join the Fortune Wings program and fly on Hainan Airlines, Grand China Air, Tianjin Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Suparna Airlines or Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Philippine Airlines Mabuhay
- 2,000 Bonus Mabuhay Miles when you buy a new Accor Plus membership. More... Until Apr 15,19

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 14,000 QMiles when you fly Qatar Airways between Doha and Gothenburg. More... Until Feb 28, 19

Scandic Hotels Friends
- Up to a 60% points discount when you redeem Scandic Friend points for award night stays at select hotels in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Germany. More... Until Dec 31, 18



Follow Rewards Canada:

IHG members only sale for stays in Canada - save at least 15% when you book by Nov 13

IHG has launched their annual Canada sale for stays at their various brands across Canada. The discount is a minimum of 15% and varies based upon how far ahead you book (3-14 days depending on the location). To receive the discount you must be an IHG Rewards Club member. The program which is free to join and you can do that here. Also remember to register for the latest IHG Rewards Club bonus points offer to earn double points on all your stays!

Offer details
IHG Rewards Club member sale - Save a minimum of 15% for stays in Canada when you book by November 13. Find out more here

October 24 Update: CIBC Aventura discounted points offer for WestJet flights, Triangle adds Husky as a partner, 150 Bonus AIR MILES at Rexall

CIBC Aventura cardholders have another limited flight discount available to them. You can fly on select WestJet routes for 9,000 to 25,000 Aventura points. Amount of points and the discount depends on the route. Book by November 30 to take advantage of this offer Find out more here.
Here is an example of some of the redemption rates from Calgary:

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Back in June we let you know that the boutique hotel loyalty program, Stash Rewards came back to Canada with the addition of four hotels in B.C. and a fiftth to come soon. That 5th hotel, the Opus Hotel Vancouver is now officially part of Stash Rewards. Find out more here.

Earlier this month, Canadian Tire's coalition loyalty program, Triangle added another partner. Husky is now part of the program but it does look like it only participates if you use a Triangle Credit card:

Husky is a Partner location of the Triangle Rewards™ program. Members are able to collect 5¢ per litre in CT Money® on qualifying fuel purchases with a Triangle Mastercard. In addition, Triangle World and Triangle World Elite cardholders collect 7¢ per litre in CT Money on qualifying premium and diesel fuel purchases.

MyHusky Rewards continues as Husky's program and can be earned on top of the CT Money earned. Find out more here

Tomorrow only you can get 150 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles when you spend $50 or more at Rexall. That's one of the best bonuses we've seen in some time from Rexall! Get the coupon here.

Posts since our last update:

• 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…
• World of Hyatt: 40% bonus when you buy points until Nov 27, 18
  This offer of a 40% bonus on buying World of Hyatt points works out to 1.714 cents per point (US$).…

Travel Deals
Air Canada has Asia on sale right now with special fares on flights to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul or Tokyo. Book by Nov 2. Book online 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
Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for stays at the Best Western Plus Premium Inn Sunny Beach Bulgaria More... Until Jan 2, 19

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- 40% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you buy points. Note there is a minimum point purchase requirement that varies by member.  More... Until Nov 27, 18
- 2,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points for every stay of 4 or more consecutive qualifying nights at Hyatt House hotels worldwide. More... Register by Nov 30 for stays Nov 1 - Dec 31 , 18

JAL Mileage Bank
- Triple Mileage Bank Miles for stays on the Dusit Bed & Breakfast package at participating Dusit Hotels in Asia Pacific and Africa. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- 300 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Austria or Germany on the flexible rate. More... Book by Nov 8 for stays Dec 31, 18

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Double iPrefer Points when you stay at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels in the Middle East. More... Until Dec 31, 18
- Double iPrefer Points when you stay at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels in Peru.  More... Until ?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 50% Bonus Flying Club Miles for stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 18
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Flying Club Miles when you book hotels via PointsHound. More... Book by Oct 31, 18
- Earn 4,000 Flying Club Miles for Avis rentals of 4 or more days in US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. More... Book by Nov 14 for rentals until Apr 30, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

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 an Accor or 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 Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Until Nov 18, 18
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Choice Hotels Privileges	Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points (enough for a free nights) 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 bonus points and a maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned for 2 separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Restrictions For Residents of the U.S. and Canada only	Until Nov 9, 18
	For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Choice page
GHA Discovery	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all GHA Discovery bonus offers please visit Rewards Canada's GHA page
Hilton	Earn up to Triple Honors Points for stays at Hilton family of hotels Worldwide. Earn Triple points on all luxury and resort stays, double points on all other stays.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Registered Hilton Honors members will earn double points per stay on all non-luxury and non-resort properties and will earn triple points per stay at any luxury or resort property during the promotion period. Waldorf Astoria® Hotels and Resorts and Conrad® Hotels and Resorts are considered luxury properties. See here for a full list of luxury and resort properties that qualify for the Triple Points promotion Excludes Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China.	Until Jan 3, 19
	For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hilton page
Hyatt	Earn up to 60,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you stay 5 or more nights at all participating Hyatt Hotels worldwide. Registration is now closed for this offer but you can still book stays and earn bonuses Nights Bonus Points Earned Total Bonus Points Earned 5 + 2,500 = 2,500 10 + 5,000 = 7,500 20 + 10,000 = 17,500 30 + 17,500 = 35,000 40 + 25,000 = 60,000	Register by Oct 15 for travel until Nov 30, 18
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	Double IHG Rewards Club Points + more for stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide starting with your second stay. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required) The 'more' are bonuses that will vary by member that are similar to previous Accelerate promotions	Until Dec 16, 18
	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 Le Club AccorHotels bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Le Club AccorHotels page
Marriott	OFFER UPDATED Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Points for stays of 2+ nights at all participating hotels across the 29 brands of hotels worldwide. Earn 2,000 bonus points on all stays of two or more nights and 1,000 bonus points per brand, starting with your second brand. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus points for stays at 10 brands and 29,000 bonus points if you stay at all 29 brands Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Register by Jan 7 for stays until Jan 31, 19
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Marriott page
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer	Double iPrefer Points and up to 35% off for last minute stays at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels Worldwide.  Full details & online booking	Until Dec 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's iPrefer page
Radisson Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Radisson Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Radisson Rewards page
Shangri-La Golden Circle	Double GC Award Points + up to 888 Bonus GC Award points for stays, dining or spa services at any Shangri-La hotel, resort, Kerry hotel, Traders hotel and Hotel Jen Worldwide. Full details & online registration (Registration is required) Double points will be awarded on all eligible spending. Additional bonuses as follows: •    Earn 350 points when staying 2 different hotel brands •    Earn 500 points when staying 5 nights or above •    Earn 888 points when staying 3 different hotels worldwide	Book by Nov 18 for stays until Jan 18, 19
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Golden Circle page
Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Sonesta Hotels bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Travel Pass page
Voila Hotel Rewards	Triple VHR points & Double Elite Status Credit when you stay at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Nov 30, 18
	Double VHR Elite Status Credit when you stay 2 or more nights at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Jan 31, 19
	For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's VHR page
Wyndham Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Wyndham page

World of Hyatt: 40% bonus when you buy points until Nov 27, 18

This offer of a 40% bonus on buying World of Hyatt points works out to 1.714 cents per point (US$). Depending on how you redeem them it could be worthwhile to purchase them for rewards at high end hotels like Park Hyatt's around the globe or even buying less if you just need a few thousand points to top off for an award. It is interesting to note that the minimum purchase amount to buy points varies by member. We received the 5,000 points minimum but others are getting 10,000.

Offer details
40% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you buy points. Note there is a minimum point purchase requirement that varies by member.  Buy World of Hyatt Points here. Until Nov 27, 18

Find other World of Hyatt bonuses here!

October 23 Update: World of Hyatt changes coming on November 1, WOW Air to start Vancouver service, updates to HSBC review + more!

Hyatt officially confirmed today some changes to the World of Hyatt program that are taking effect on November 1st. The first change is the addition of a new free night redemption category. You will now be able to redeem World of Hyatt points for Premium Suites. Previously you could only redeem for Standard Suites. These premium suites run exactly double what it costs for a standard room:

They are also eliminating the minimum requirement of booking three nights in a suite when using points. You will now be able redeem for just one night. Adding redemption options like premium suites and removing the three night requirement are the good news. The bad news in today's changes come from the Points+Cash redemption option. The Points+Cash option are moving from a fixed points+fixed cash rate to a fixed points+dynamic cash rate. Here are the new Points+Cash award charts:

You can look at these charts two ways. First as a devaluation as 50% of a standard rate may be higher than the current flat rate. For example the current category 1 standard room Points+Cash option is 2,500 points plus US$50 and now the dollar portion is 50%, so if a hotel has standard room at US$130 you'll be looking at 2,500 points plus US$65 for a Points+Cash redemption. On the other hand there is the slight possibility it can save you money. Take our same example but have the hotel running at US$90 per night and you redeem 2,500 points plus US$45 instead of US$50. The latter seems less likely but the potential is there.

The last change in the program is the addition of using points to upgrade to a premium suite.

You can view all the updates to the World of Hyatt program here

Iceland's WOW Air has announced another new route to Canada! Starting in June 2019 the Ultra Low Cost carrier will fly from Vancouver to Reykjavik six times per week over summer then drop to 5x per week after that.  WOW Air does not have their own loyalty program but are a perfect example of a carrier where you can use proprietary credit card reward program points, find out more about that here. (Source Routesonline)

Thanks to the Rewards Canada community for helping clarify and correct items on our HSBC World Elite Mastercard reivew! HSBC doesn't make it easy for some of the items of the card to find out about. Now we know more and have updated the review. You can read the review here.  Some updates include a new table showing the Point Valuation. If you are like me and don't always want to read a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo a table like this will allow to skip it and see in detail what the card offers. We will be including such a chart in all future reviews and also be adding it to past reviews as time permits!

Continuing on with HSBC we have now created an individual bonus offers page for HSBC Canada. Right now it only has the World Elite Mastercard on it but we will add their other cards to the page shortly. You can check out the page here.

Posts since our last update:

• HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review
  The HSBC World Elite Mastercard is a relatively new card in the Canadian market. This is not their 'Premier…
• Receive a 20% to 40% bonus when you buy Choice Privileges points
  Another buy points bonus to let you know about. This one comes to us from Choice Privileges and offers a…

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
HSBC Rewards
- Earn up to 75,000 Bonus HSBC Rewards Points when you apply for and are approved for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on your next hotel booking made via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Jan 15 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Choice Privileges
- Up to 40% Bonus Privileges Points when you buy 5,000 or more points online. More... Until Nov 2, 18

Copa ConnectMiles
- Earn 40% Bonus ConnectMiles when you buy or gift 5,000 or more ConnectMiles. More... Until Nov 21, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Double Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Switzerland on the flexible rate. More... Book by Nov 10 for stays Jan 31, 19

Miles & More
- 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at participating Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery or Swissôtel hotels & resorts Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review

The HSBC World Elite Mastercard is a relatively new card in the Canadian market. This is not their 'Premier World Elite' which is meant for people who bank at HSBC but rather this card is for any Canadian and it is essentially the same as the Premier version. When HSBC launched this card earlier this year it became obvious they didn't want to only market their credit cards to those who bank with them, rather they now want to get into the entire lucrative Canadian credit card market. It is about time they did as Canadians, slow as they may have been to adapt, are learning they don't have to get credit cards from the bank they bank with, rather they can get whatever card they like and HSBC wants part of that pie.

The HSBC World Elite Mastercard is a pretty strong contender in the market with its base rewards offering, benefits and insurance package. Much like its direct competitors this card provides utmost flexibility as it is a hybrid credit card. That is, it has its own proprietary reward program but it also allows you to convert point from the HSBC Rewards program to several airline frequent flyer programs.

Continue reading the entire review on the main Rewards Canada website