30 to 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points extended to April 26th

The Aeroplan hotel loyalty program conversion bonus that launched on March 25 and was set to end today has been extended to April 26. Last seen in November, the hotel only transfer bonus is the what now seems to be the regular bonus of 30% more miles. There are two programs offering more miles however, Radisson Rewards is adding in an additional 30% for 60% total while Coast Hotels Coast Rewards is giving 4x Aeroplen Miles. You'll have until April 26 to make any transfers into Aeroplan. This bonus offer is a good way to use up some of those orphaned hotel points you may never use if you are a frequent Aeroplan redeemer.

The great news for this version of this bonus is that Marriott Bonvoy is included. Marriott (and its subsidiaries) have the best transfer ratio to airline programs at a rate of 3 Marriott Rewards points to 1 airline mile but they also add in 5,000 more miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time. That means with this promotion 60,000 points transferred to Aeroplan will net you 32,500 miles (20,000 miles at 3:1 + 5,000 miles from Marriott + 30% bonus). The easiest way to earn Marriott points in Canada outside of actual hotel stays is with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card which at the time of this post is offering 60,000 points as a welcome bonus. Now chances are you won't have the points post from the card in time for this iteration of the Aeroplan transfer bonus but you can start banking on the summer bonus which typically comes around August. This is also a good time to convert points from something like the Cobalt Card to Marriott to Aeroplan!

Most of Aeroplan's hotel partners are participating in the promotion so you can convert from any of the following to add to your final tally.

Offer details
30% to 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  Click here for full details Until Apr 26, 19

Additional bonus offers:

* Radisson is offering an extra 30% conversion bonus, meaning members will earn a total of 60% more miles if they convert their Radisson Rewards points during the campaign

* Coast Hotels is offering a bonus of 4x the miles when you convert your Coast Rewards points to Aeroplan Miles during the campaign

Hotel partner loyalty programs eligible for this promotion are: Marriott, IHG, Hilton Honors, Best Western, Radisson, Shangri-La, Accor Hotels, Choice Hotels and Coast Hotels.

There is also this targeted offer being sent out to select members:

  I did receive it and many of our readers have let us know that they have received it as well!

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here

Images via Aeroplan

One day left to book the British Airways Double Avios on all flights worldwide offer

You have one more day to get all your British Airways flight bookings made to earn Double Avios on them for the remainder of the year. Remember when you register and book British Airways flights by April 19 you’ll earn 100% bonus Avios on those flights. The bonus is good for up to 6 flight sectors. This means if you are flying point to point it would be valid for three round trips. However if you are flying a route like New York-London-Milan that would count as 4 sectors if flown round trip.

Offer details:
Double Avios on all British Airways flights worldwide and also on a BA prefix on American Airlines, Iberia or Finnair between Europe and North America. The promotion also applies to travel on domestic flights within the UK and southern Africa (operated by Comair), Sunnair and CityFlyer.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register and book by Apr 19 for travel until Dec 31, 19

Find many more Executive Club bonus Avios offers here!

April 18 Update: Jet Airways may have stopped all flights but your JetPrivilege miles are safe for now + 7 new bonus offers

Yesterday we brought you the details of India's Jet Airways cancelling all their flights due to financial troubles. The question for some of you now may be what happens to my JPMiles, the currency of Jet Airways' Jet Privilege programs. According to an email we received today everything seems intact with the programs since it is actually owned by Etihad Airways. They have also expanded their option to redeem miles on more airlines for any seat. Think of it as booking through a travel agent and then redeeming your miles for the flight you choose. I haven't looked too deeply at redemption rates but as you can see below they want 50,000 JPMiles to fly one way from Vancouver to Los Angeles, that's a terrible rate (unless you can find a lower 15,000 mile rate) but in the end it may be advisable to use them now for something rather than not having any option in the future should Etihad choose to shutter the program. (Source Jet Privilege)

Posts since our last update:

• Up to a 50% Bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
  Alaska Airlines has brought back their best bonus for buying Mileage Plan miles! Right now you will get up…

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

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until May 19, 19

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Avios for stays at all participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 16, 19

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Earn up to Quadruple FlySmiles when you rent a car at participating Hertz locations for 3 or more days in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand. More... Book by May 31 for rentals until Jun 30, 19

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Hotel Maison Yakima. More... Until Aug 31, 19
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Chateaux Deer Valley Park City. More... Until Dec 6, 19

TAP Portugal Miles&Go
- Earn Triple Miles&Go Miles for stays at all participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 15, 19

Wyndham Rewards
- 900 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points for your next stay at a La Quinta Hotel in the U.S., Canada or Latin America. More... Until May 20, 19


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Up to a 50% Bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles

Alaska Airlines has brought back their best bonus for buying Mileage Plan miles! Right now you will get up to a 50% bonus when you buy 40,000 or more miles. This is one of the best buy miles offers from any program that you will find as it can provide lots of value when redeeming for the right flights!

Seeing that you can redeem miles for premium class flights on British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Hainan, Korean Air and more, there are lots of options for you to use these miles. Remember it only takes 70,000 Mileage Plan miles to fly Cathay Pacific First Class from North America to Asia and that flight alone will cost a lot more than $1,773.75!

Remember if you are a MVP member there is no maximum limit on miles you can buy however if not you are limited to 150,000 miles per year.

Offer details
Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. Buy miles here Until May 19, 19

Bonuses as follows:

• Buy 10,000 – 19,000 miles and get a 20% bonus
• Buy 20,000 – 39,000 miles and get a 35% bonus
• Buy 40,000 – 60,000 miles and get a 50% bonus

Find many more Mileage Plan bonus miles offers here

Image via Alaska Airlines

April 17 Update: Jet Airways suspends all operations, fly Air Italy from Toronto to Rome for under $750 & more!

Late last week India's Jet Airways cancelled all their international flights including those to and from Toronto amidst serious financial trouble. Since that time they were only flying domestic flights but it appears that as of today those have come to an end as well. If you were booked for any of the Toronto or even domestic flights within India check with your credit card company about a refund as in most cases they will provide with one since you had no services rendered for the payment. If that doesn't work Jet Airways is offering refunds as well, you'll need to complete this form and expect a response back within 7-10 days. They state it is a temporary suspension of flights but if history is any indicator there is a very good chance the airline will not fly again. (Source Jet Airways)


Posts since our last update:

• Save 25% when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points until May 15
  This is an offer we used to see back in the of Starwood Preferred Guest and now is the…
• Two weeks left to earn your IHG Rewards Club Faster Nights Free bonus points
  You now only have two weeks left to earn 40,000 or more bonus points with IHG Rewards Club's Faster…

Travel Deals

Air Italy has dropped their fares between Toronto and Rome to below $750 for travel in May and beyond. Find out more here!

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- Earn up to Double World of Hyatt points for stays at participating M life Rewards Destinations in Las Vegas. More... Until Jul 31, 19

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Earn up to 800 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles for stays at Tokyu Hotels in Japan. More... Until Sep 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles. More... Until May 11, 19

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- 30% KrisFlyer Miles redemption discount on selected destinations across the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir network. More... Book by Apr 30 for travel May 1 - 31, 19

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Double Elite Status Miles&Smiles Miles when you fly on Turkish Airlines to or from the new Istanbul Airport. More... Book by Apr 30 for travel May 1 - 31, 19



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Save 25% when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points until May 15

This is an offer we used to see back in the of Starwood Preferred Guest and now is the first official buy points discount from the Marriott Bonvoy program. Marriott themselves, when they ran Marriott Rewards typically did not offer bonuses or discounts on buying points but it appears that they may see the value in doing so after the takeover of SPG. Back in the SPG day most offers were 35% off which meant you were buying an SPG point US 2.28 cents (and since Marriott valued SPG points at 3:1 to Marriott) you were effectively buying Marriott points for 0.76 cents each. With this 25% discount you are buying Bonvoy points at 0.937 cents each. This is noticeably higher than we saw with SPG. That being said, there are many redemptions with Marriott where you can get over 1 cent per point value so buying points could make sense for an expensive stay or for topping off an account. This is encouraging however and perhaps Marriott will see how successful or unsuccessful this offer is and adjust it for future sales to something that is more inline with the old SPG buy points offers.


Offer details
Receive a 25% discount when you buy 5,000 or more Marriott Bonvoy points. Maximum of 50,000 points can be bought per calendar year. Buy Marriott Bonvoy Points here Until May 15, 19

Find many more Marriott Bonvoy bonus points offers here!

Here's an example of just some of the other offers you might find!

• 500 Bonus Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Residence Inn Calgary Downtown/Beltline District, City Centre. Full Details and online Booking
• Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays that include a Friday or Saturday night at any one of 20 participating Marriott Hotels in London. Full Details and online Booking 

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Two weeks left to earn your IHG Rewards Club Faster Nights Free bonus points

You now only have two weeks left to earn 40,000 or more bonus points with IHG Rewards Club's Faster Night Free promotion! The individualized systemwide bonus offers provides IHG Rewards Club members with opportunities to earn 500 to 40,000 or more IHG Rewards Club points on their stays. If you haven't registered yet or stayed yet or both, double check your upcoming travels to the end of the month to see if this is an offer that you should be taking advantage of!



Offer details:
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!

April 15 Update: A reminder that the mostly negative changes to Starbucks Rewards and Cineplex SCENE take place this week

Just a friendly reminder that today is the last day for flat rate rewards at Starbucks! Starting tomorrow the new redemption schedule kicks in with Starbucks Rewards. The best redemption options in the current program (fancier drinks and food) will cost you more Stars as of tomorrow. Granted there are now some lower priced options where rewards will start at 25 Stars and go up versus the current 125 Stars for any item. I used up all my rewards over the past week (about 9 in total) for the drinks and food we like. Came at the right time as we were on the road a lot for our kid's activities! You can read all about the changes in our post Starbucks Rewards - Changes confirmed to be coming April 16 and they're both good and bad (mostly bad) 

While we're on the topic of changes, here is also a reminder that following Starbucks' changes on Tuesday, the changes to the Cineplex SCENE program kick in on Wednesday April 17. Once again the changes are pretty much for the worse. You can read all about it here: Cineplex's SCENE program changing earn and burn rates on April 17 - significantly devalues current balances and the SCENE Visa Card

Posts since our last update:

• Using the Scotiabank Gold American Express card to redeem for any travel - whale watches included!
  Today we welcome the second post from Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W.! Jeff has been a long time reader of…
• Earn 1,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points per night for stays at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Calgary Downtown
  Another Marriott bonus points offer for stays in Calgary has been released! Right now you can earn bonus points…

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

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles for stays at Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts in Hong Kong. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Emirates Skywards
- Triple Skywards Miles for stays at participating Tivoli Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 29, 20

Le Club AccorHotels
- Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by May 6 for stays until Jun 23, 19
- 1,000 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points when you join the program and complete your first stay. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel. More... Until May 31, 19
- 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points per stay including any night Friday-Sunday at the AC Hotel Manchester Salford Quays More... Until May 31, 19

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 20,000 QMiles when you fly Qatar Airways between Doha and Davao. More... Jun 18 - Sep 15, 19



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Using the Scotiabank Gold American Express card to redeem for any travel - whale watches included!

Today we welcome the second post from Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W.! Jeff has been a long time reader of Rewards Canada and we've had lots of discussions with him via email and Twitter as he is always looking to maximize his credit card, travel and other loyalty program rewards! This is his second post of several that will look at how he utilizes the Scotiabank Gold American Express card!

Hey fellow Rewards Canada Readers!  This is now my second time writing for Rewards Canada.  My first post was in regard to earning points on my Scotiabank Gold Amex card.  This time around, I’ll be delving into the redemption side of things.

Read Jeff's first post here:  A closer look at how a Winnipegger maximizes his Scotiabank Gold American Express Card purchases


To recap, if you missed my first article, I’ve always been intrigued by rewards credit cards as well as loyalty programs.  We’re a family of 4, with two young kids, I’d say with an average family income.  We like to travel and take our kids on experiences as often as we can as I think family vacations can be very educational.  Normally we’ll do a few weekend road trips per year, a week or two summer vacation, and then a winter tropical vacation every two years, for a couple weeks.

As I mentioned previously, based on my families spending habits, the best card out there is the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.  There are a couple of ways you can redeem with this card.  The first, is pay for your travel on your card, once you see the charge applied, redeem your points towards this charge, either the full charge, or some of it, its your choice.  The second way is to book through the Scotiabank Rewards website.  One advantage of booking through Scotiabank’s Rewards website is being able to book a flight on WestJet for a 5% discount (on the base fare) over their regular rates.  When it comes to redeeming, it’s really your own preference.

I prefer to use the points I earn from Scotiabank for our ‘major’ vacations, those that are for a week or longer, aka the big-ticket vacations.  Therefore, I’ll use them for our summer holiday plans or for our tropical vacations that we take every two years.  When it comes to booking a vacation, I’m looking for the best deals out there to make our travel dollars go the furthest.  Most hotels have their ‘member’ pricing, or ‘loyalty program’ pricing.  If you can combine that with the advance purchase rate, this is the best rate you can obtain online.  This is not however the “best” price you can get.  If you return to the same hotel, over and over again, you can build a rapport with the management team, and for future visits contact them directly for a negotiated rate, which is cheaper then the best advance booking loyalty rate.

For example, on our winter vacation a few years ago, we went to Hawaii for three weeks.  We were contemplating staying at the same hotel as our previous vacation.  If and when, staying at the same hotel, and being at the hotel for an extended period, many of them will give you a deal.  We received a 20% discount on the hotel.  By booking through the hotel, you can also earn points towards their loyalty program, which is another bonus.  You can’t do this if you’re booking through an online travel agency.  On this trip we booked our flight through the Scotia Rewards program on WestJet, so we also received the 5% discount on our flights.

Keep in mind as well, if you are doing excursions or sightseeing tours while you’re on vacation, these could also be categorized as “travel” expenses and could be valid for you to redeem your points towards.  We went whale watching and were able to redeem our points towards that expense as well.

Editor's note: I recall this as well, we went whale watching with Maui's Pacific Whale Foundation  and the charges showed up as a travel charge for our American Express Gold Rewards Card.

Redeeming points on the Scotiabank Gold Amex card is so easy to do online, and no one to call.  Charge my travel to my card, and then simply log in to Scotia Rewards to redeem my points.  Cards like these, that allow you to book your travel how you want are in my mind the best possible cards out there, as it allows you to maximize your savings.

Related: Why proprietary credit card reward programs are the best option for most Canadians

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Earn 1,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points per night for stays at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Calgary Downtown

Another Marriott bonus points offer for stays in Calgary has been released! Right now you can earn bonus points for stays at the new Residence Inn Calgary Downtown/Beltline until the end of the month and now the Fairfield Inn that is only a few blocks away is also offering a bonus. This is pretty decent at 1,000 points per night for up to 5 nights.  This hotel is only a few years old and also houses two great restaurants, the Beltliner and Native Tongues Taqueria.

Offer details:
1,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points per night for stays at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Calgary Downtown. Bonus awarded for up to 5 nights (5,000 points) Full Details and online Booking Until Jun 15, 19

Find many more Marriott Bonvoy bonus points offers here!