Friday, April 5, 2019

Podcast Episode 53 is here! Interview with Suzanne Tyson founder of HigherEdPoints on how you can use loyalty points to pay for tuition and student loans

Episode 53 - April 4, 2019
Interview with Suzanne Tyson, founder of HigherEdPoints

This week we catch up with Suzanne Tyson, the founder of HigherEdPoints.Launched 5 years ago HigherEdPoints allows students and their families for using miles and points for tuition. You can convert Aeroplan Miles, TD Rewards Points or CIBC Aventura Points to help pay tuition and/or student loans! Jeff and Suzanne delve into the details on how HigherEdPoints works, some examples of how Canadians have used the service and how they have become the largest source of private sector education funding in the country!

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Wednesday, April 3, 2019

HSBC World Elite Mastercard - Up to 60,000 bonus points + first year annual fee waived (90,000 points + annual fee for Quebec)


HSBC launched a new acquisition offer for their World Elite Mastercard this month. This offer stands out over the previous bonus we saw for the first quarter of this year but still falls short of the introductory offer we saw last fall. Still, seeing that this offer is first year free the card is good bet to grab if you have had your eye on it!

A little background on this card - 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 last year it became obvious they didn't want to only market their credit cards to those who bank with them, rather they wanted to get into the entire lucrative Canadian credit card market.  To learn more about this card outside of this bonus offer I would recommend reading our review of the card. 

Now enough background info and on to the details of this great offer!

From now until June 30th you can apply for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and get up to 60,000 bonus HSBC Rewards Points along with having the first year $149 annual fee waived.  The bonus is awarded as follows:

  • 20,000 Welcome Bonus
  • Earn 2X on all purchases for the first 3 months up to a maximum earn 40,000 Points
The 60,000 points once achieved are worth $300 in travel rewards but this card isn't just a travel points card, it is actually a Hybrid Card. This means points can also be converted to partners outside of HSBC Rewards. In this card's case, they can be transferred to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. The points convert as follows:
  • 2.5 points to 1 Avios
  • 3 points to 1.35 KrisFlyer Miles 
  • 3 points to 1.2 Asia Miles 
This means the sign up bonus is worth 24,000 Avios in British Airways' Executive Club which if you have followed us for sometime now know that is a good amount for a lot of various redemptions.
Here are some options to check out
The sign up bonus isn't the only good feature about this card however. It is one of only eight cards in Canada that has No Foreign Transaction fees, it also comes with a $100 annual travel enhancement credit (to use on bag fees, seat selection etc) and like most World Elite Mastercards in Canada it has airport lounge access membership via LoungeKey.

Overall it is great to see a better sign up offer for this card right now!

Also note the first year free waiver option is not available for Quebec residents so instead they offer up to 90,000 bonus points for getting the card and simple holding on to it:

April 3 Update: RBC introduces Pay Bills with Points redemption option, save 15% on Etihad's flights out of Canada and more!


RBC has introduced a new redemption option for those holding RBC credit cards that earn RBC Rewards Points. You can now redeem your points via the "Pay Bills with Points' options to pay bills
like phone, internet, utility bills and more. This may be helpful to some where the vendor is one that normally doesn't accept credit cards for payment. Think Plastiq, payTM, and a host of other providers who offer a similar service - however RBC's is different in that you are not using your credit card to pay the bill but rather you points. This is the first of its kind in Canada where you can directly pay for bills with points. There are of course indirect options to do the same, you can use a service like Plastiq or payTM where the charge goes on your credit card and then use a Points for Purchases redemption option that almost all providers have now to pay for that charge. RBC doesn't tell us in the press release what the redemption rate is for Pay Bills with Points is so we call on the Rewards Canada community to see if they can let us know (we only have the RBC WestJet cards in our wallets and of course it doesn't work for this redemption option). I also assume there will be some merchants who do accept credit cards in the list that you can pay with points - in all likelihood you are better off paying those retailers directly so that you earn the points first and then redeem against the charge (assuming the Use Points for Purchases redemption rate is the same as the Use Points for Bills) 


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
 

Save up to 15% with Etihad Airways this summer! Use Voucher Code EYAECO15 for economy or EYABUS15 for business class! This fantastic offer is valid on Etihad Airways operated flights from selected US & Canada locations to over 40 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Indian Ocean and Australia. 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
American AAdvantage
- 20% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion cardholders only) to American AAdvantage. More... Until Apr 30, 19

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings

- 20% Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you fly on select Hainan Airlines international routes including Calgary to Beijing. More... Until Jul 31, 19

HSBC Rewards
- Earn up to 60,000 Bonus HSBC Rewards Points and first year annual fee rebate when you apply for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and are approved for the card More... Until Jun 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Aeroflot Bonus
- Triple Bonus Miles for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 7, 19
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Miles for Avis rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Apr 30 for rentals until Jun 30, 19
- Earn up to 4,500 Bonus Miles for Europcar rentals of 1 or more days Worldwide except in the U.S. and Canada. More... Book by Apr 30 for rentals until Jun 30, 19

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- 20% Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you fly on select Hainan Airlines international routes. More... Until Jul 31, 19

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays on the Dusit Bed & Breakfast rate at participating Dusit Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 31, 19

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Earn 25,000 Bonus iPrefer Points for eligible stays of 2 or more nights at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels Worldwide.  More... Book by May 14, 19

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Miles & More Mileage Bargains - Save up to 50% on award tickets between Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Europe


As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" or Mileage Bargain discounted mileage awards. This month the offers are for flying out of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Please note that this should be the last month of business class pricing out at 55,000 miles as Miles & More is boosting the standard 105,000 miles requirement to 112,000 come May 9th.  We aren't sure if they will still discount by 50,000 miles or some amount at that time. Economy class will remain at a 60,000 miles base amount.

This month's offers:

Montreal
Austrian Airlines Economy Class
Book by April 30 for travel between April 29 - June 30, 2019


Toronto
Lufthansa Business Class
Book by April 30 for travel between July 15 - August 31, 2019


Vancouver
Lufthansa Business Class
Book by April 30 for travel between July 15 - August 31, 2019

With this month's offer you can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip business class tickets on Lufthansa for only 55,000 miles. This is nearly a 50% discount off the normal award ticket price of 105,000 miles. Remember however Miles & More charges some major fees for redeeming miles on these flights so be sure you also check what a revenue ticket costs however remember this is for business class so even several hundreds of dollars in fees along with 55,000 miles could be the savings you are looking for.

Here are some of the Business Class offers this month:


You can also choose to redeem 30,000 miles for round-trip Economy Class Austrian Airlines flights from Montreal to Austria. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles.

Here is an example of some of them:
Short on Miles & More miles? Your best bet is to convert Marriott Bonvoy points to Miles & More on a 3:1 basis plus you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time. That means 75,000 points is all it would take to get one of the economy class tickets if you don't have any Miles & More miles to your name.

If you don't have any Marriott Rewards Points you can get close to amount required to redeem for the tickets by grabbing some credit cards! How so? As we always mention in this post you can boost your Miles & More account with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card to top off your account. Currently the card comes with a 60,000 point sign up bonus when you spend $1,500 on the card and then you could also grab the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card as it also has a 60,000 point sign up bonus and then you would ultimately be able to have 120,000 points not including what is earned on spending. Of course timing of getting the card(s) now, spending and getting the points will likely not happen for this month but it sets you up for future offers.  Need to grab two tickets for an itinerary? You could choose to get one Marriott card for yourself and one for your partner or spouse.

Click here for full details on this Miles & More offer  

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

April 2 Update: Receive up to 10,000 bonus points for using Amex's Fixed Points Travel program, AIR MILES bonuses for Freshii at Shell in GTA & more!


American Express has released a pretty good redemption bonus if you are looking to redeem points for flights booked via their Fixed Points Travel Program. You can get up to 10,000 points back when you redeem for flights by April 30 (flights do not have to be in April) Learn more about fixed points travel program here. This offer does not appear to be targeted, as long as you have a card that earns Membership Rewards points you should be able to get this bonus



 AIR MILES members residing or travelling in Toronto can earn bonus miles when buying Freshii products at select Shell gas stations in the GTA. Find out more here

Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
Marriott: Complimentary Room Upgrade and EUR50 Resort credit for stays at participating Marriott Resorts in Europe. Book by Apr 5 for stays until Apr 1 - Jun 30 & Sep 1 - Oct 30, 19 Full details & online booking

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 Bonvoy
-500 Bonus Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Residence Inn Calgary Downtown/Beltline District, City Centre. More... Until Apr 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Earn Double Mileage Plan Miles on select non-stop Alaska Airlines Transcontinental routes. More... Until Dec 31, 19

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 20,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you fly on Japan Airlines between Seattle and Tokyo. More... Until May 31, 19

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Asia Miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Jun 30, 19

Ethiopian ShebaMiles
- Double ShebaMiles when you fly Ethiopian to/from Istanbul More... Until May 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 80% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points. More... Until May 1, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays at the St. Regis Osaka. More... Until May 31, 19
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stay of 2+ nights over the weekend (Friday and Saturday required) at the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel. More... Until May 24, 19
- 2,500 Bonus Bonvoy Points per stay at the at the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel More... Until May 24, 19
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays at the Courtyard Melbourne West More... Until May 23, 19

Miles & More
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 19

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RBC Avion Cardholders: 20% Bonus Miles when you convert RBC Rewards Points to American AAdvantage


We see the first of RBC's spring transfer bonus offers emerge this month. This one is for transfers to American AAdvantage and while it's nice to have a 20% bonus it still doesn't make up for the change in the conversion ratio we saw a few years ago. The transfer ratio to American AAdvantage is 1 RBC Reward Point = 0.7 American AAdvantage Miles (used to 1:1 back in the day) and with this bonus it jumps to 0.84 AAdvantage Miles per RBC Reward point. If and only if AAdvantage is your main frequent flyer program and you can use these miles to top off for an award (or get a full award at good value) would you want to convert your points.  This offer is only available to Avion cardholders.

Offer details
20% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion cardholders only) to American AAdvantage. Full details Until Apr 30, 19



Scotiabank introduces a No Foreign Transaction Fee Small Business Credit Card, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business Card


Scotiabank is looking to take another big bite out of the credit card market with their newest card offering! This time they are attacking the small business card market with their new Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business Card. They are building on the success of the personal version of this card that they introduced last year by taking some of the great benefits of that card and placing them on a small business card. The biggest and best feature that is seen on both cards? No Foreign Transaction fees! That's right, this will be the first major bank issued small business card to have this feature, in fact, to the best of our knowledge, it is the very first out of all publicly available small business cards! Apparently this card has been available since mid March in branch but officially became available today online (even though we saw it on the site yesterday...)


Here are the highlights of this new card:
  • No foreign transaction fees on international foreign currency purchases made on the card, including online or outside of Canada. Only the exchange rate applies. 
  • Complimentary Priority PassTM membership, giving primary cardholders six free visits per year to exclusive airport lounges from the date of enrolment.
    • Includes access to over 1,200 airport lounges around the world, regardless of what airline you choose or your class of travel.
  • Car rental upgrades and discounts with a complimentary Avis Preferred Plus membership, accessible at Avis locations worldwide. 
  • A full range of comprehensive travel insurance benefits including trip cancellation, lost luggage and travel emergency medical insurance. 
  • Earn 1.5 Scotia Rewards points on every $1 you spend on all business purchases.
  • Payment control tools: Manage expenses by deciding where, when and how your card is used with account alerts, transaction limits and more.
  • Expense reporting tools: A web-based tool with a range of standardized reports that track spending by merchant, card, transaction, time period and more.
  • Access to Visa SavingsEdge, an automated discount program for select goods and services
    All made available from Visa to Visa Infinite small business cardholders.  
  • Annual Fee and Interest Rates:
    • $199 for Primary Card, $0 for secondary card; $50 for each additional card.
    • 19.99% interest rate on Purchases/22.99% interest rate on Cash Advances (including Balance Transfers, Scotia Credit Card Cheques and Cash-Like Transactions).  
And you may ask what is the sign up bonus for this card? It's 35,000 Scotia Rewards Points when you spend $5,000 or more on the card in the first three months.  Also like it's personal card compatriot, there is an annual   There is also a spending bonus of 15,000 points when you spend $60,000 or more the card in the first year. So there a couple of differences between this card and the personal card. The earn rate of a flat 1.5 points differs from the 1 to 2 points per dollar spent on the personal card, the sign up bonus is bigger on this card as is the annual spend bonus. Depending on your spending habits, this card could work out better because of the flat rate but you do have to take into account the business card is also $60 more per year for the annual fee.
For the business owner this card could be a big boon to your bottom line if you make purchases that are not in Canadian dollars. Saving that 2 to 3% in foreign transaction fees over other business cards is big news. I recall years ago one of our readers telling us how they imported thousands of dollars of items from New Zealand every month  ($30,000 if I recall correctly) and they wanted to know the best credit card to have to buy those items. Well if you are that reader and are still importing this is the card to have now if you need a small business card!

How about you? What do you think of this new card offering? Let us know in the comments section below!

Monday, April 1, 2019

Aeroplan eStore - Earn up to 5x Miles for select purchases during the Spring Fashion Event


The Aeroplan eStore is running a new bonus offer of up to 5x miles when you shop at select retailers that fall under the Fashion category. From All Saints to Matt & Nat and a bunch of other retailers you can earn 2 to 5 times the miles with these retailers until April 14. Kind of wish this offer was on a few weeks ago when we made a significant purchase from SSENSE but what can you do that's the name of the game in the points and miles world!

Find out more about this offer here!



April 1 Update: 500 Bonus Points for stays at the world's largest Residence Inn in Calgary, targeted 35% bonus for hotel points to Aeroplan conversion & more!

Rewards Canada is back from spring break vacation! Time to get back to your daily points and miles fix!

Last month the Residence Inn Calgary Downtown/Beltline District officially opened as we had previously noted in our Marriott New Hotel Openings in Canada for 2019 - 22 hotels in the works post from January. What makes this opening significant, is that according to Canadian Lodging News, this hotel is the largest Residence Inn in the World with 33 floors and 390 rooms! To celebrate the opening you can earn 500 bonus points per night for stays until April 30th! Find out more here.

 
As a follow up to our post that we automatically scheduled to post while on vacation about  
Aeroplan's conversion bonus from hotel loyalty programs that offers a 30% bonus. There are targeted offers out there for 35%, I did receive it and many of our readers have let us know that they have received it as well!


Check your email for a targeted flight bonus offer from Air France KLM! The offer is for double miles on all their flights out of Canada in all classes that are booked by April 30 for travel until June 30.

Continuing on with AF KLM news, the promo rewards offers for discounted tickets are out for April however there are no Canadian cities included so you won't see our regular post about it this month. Find what offers are available here.


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
Marriott: Complimentary Room Upgrade and EUR50 Resort credit for stays at participating Marriott Resorts in Europe. Book by Apr 5 for stays until Apr 1 - Jun 30 & Sep 1 - Oct 30, 19 Full details & online booking

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 Apr 22, 19
- Earn up to 1,000 Free Aeroplan Miles when you subscribe to receive text messages from Aeroplan. More... Until Dec 31, 19
- Double Aeroplan Miles on hotels or car rentals booked with cash directly through aeroplan.com. More... Until Apr 14, 19

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios on all British Airways flights worldwide including those out of Canada and also on a BA prefix on American Airlines, Iberia or Finnair between Europe and North America. More... Register and book by Apr 19 for travel until Dec 31, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- April Promo Rewards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by apr 30 for travel Jun 1 - Jul 31, 19

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- OFFER EXTENDED Earn Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on Alaska Airlines between Everett – Paine Field (PAE) and Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco or San Jose. More... Until Apr 30, 19
- Earn Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on Cathay Pacific between Seattle and Hong Kong. More... Mar 31 – May 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- REGISTRATION PERIOD EXTENDED Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. More... Until Apr 30, 19

Radisson Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Points for stays on the Park and Stay Package at Country Inn & Suites® by Radisson at participating hotels in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. More... Until Dec 31, 19

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IHG extends registration for Free Nights. Faster promotion to April 30 - earn 40,000 or more bonus points



A few weeks ago we gave you a reminder to register for IHG's Free Nights. Faster promotion as registration was set to close on March 15th. It looks like IHG decided to reverse this decision of having a registration cut off and have now extended the period you can register for the offer until the actual end date of the promotion which is April 30th! Nice to see IHG make this change and not alienate potential new members or members who may have forgot from this promotion! (HT Head for Points)

Offer details:
REGISTRATION PERIOD EXTENDED Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Apr 30, 19

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus points offers here! 

Image via IHG