May 9 Update: Reminder that American Express Cobalt Card multipliers are global, new Marriott bonuses for Montreal & London, 3x Aeroplan Miles for Coast Hotel stays

We wanted to remind all of our readers about the American Express Cobalt Card multipliers being available globally. First some background, anyone visiting Amex's website or even on many blogs discussing the card you'll see the terminology being used as "purchases in Canada" for the 5x Eats & Drinks and 2x Transit/Travel/Gas multipliers. Seeing that you may think those multipliers are for Canada only. And now with the Scotiabank American Express Gold Rewards card changing their multiplier rules to "Canadian Currency' only, you may think both cards are the same. However, they are not. As you may recall, when the Cobalt card launched in 2017 we reported the multipliers were available globally as long as the merchants coded properly into those categories and that is still the case. Unfortunately it is not the case for the Scotiabank Gold American Express card as our interview last week with them confirmed Canada only for their multipliers. Here is our post discussing the global availability of the Cobalt card's multipliers and of course the feature that the Rewards Canada community has greatly contributed to, the American Express Cobalt Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations

There are two more Marriott Bonvoy bonuses for stays in Canada to let you know about! The first sees 3,000 bonus points for Sunday night stays at the SpringHill Suites Old Montreal and the other is for 1,000 bonus points per night (for up to 3 nights) at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel & Suites London. See the bonus offers section below for complete details.

Also there is one other Aeroplan hotel stay bonus now available. Members can earn Triple Miles for stays at Coast Hotels in Canada and the U.S.. until June 30. See the bonus offer section for details!

Posts since our last update:

• Earn 750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays this summer
  One airline and hotel partnership you can almost always count on for having a bonus offer is from Aeroplan…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for May - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of May! This is…
• Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards Availability Update - Toronto to Europe for 90,000 miles or less in Business Class
  At the end of April we brought you the details of Air France KLM's Promo Rewards for May and…
• AIR MILES: Earn 40 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays until July 6
  Offer details 40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for each stay you complete at Best Western Hotels in Canada,…

Travel Deals

Avianca has a Mother's Day seat sale. Fly from Toronto to San Salvador for as little as C$569 round trip! Find out more here.

Save up to 30% at participating Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels in the Americas. Book by May 31 for stays August 30, 2019 to February 29, 2020. Find out more here.

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

Canadian Bonus Offers

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles when you book direct & stay at Coast Hotels in Canada or the U.S. More... Until Jun 30, 19

AIR MILES (Canada)
- 40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for each stay you complete at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the U.S. or Caribbean.  More... Until Jul 6, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for Sunday night stays at the SpringHill Suites Old Montreal. More... Until Jul 24, 19
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for up to three nights at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel & Suites London. More... Until Jul 4, 19

Other Bonus Offers

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Avios for stays at participating Marriott® hotels throughout Europe. More... Jun 1 - Dec 31, 19

Hilton Honors
- 5,000 Bonus Honors points when you stay of 2 or more nights at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Jun 30, 19
- 10,000 Bonus Honors points when you stay of 2 or more nights at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Jun 30, 19
- 15,000 Bonus Honors points when you stay of 2 or more nights at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Jun 30, 19

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Double iPrefer Points + $100 hotel credit when you stay 2 or more nights at the Shutters on the Beach Santa Monica. More... Unknown end date

Saudia Alfursan
- 5,000 Bonus Alfursan Miles for stays at the W Dubai – The Palm. More... Until Aug 31, 19

South Afirican Airways Voyager
- 1,000 Bonus Voyager Miles when you stay on Friday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at any participating Marriott hotel in Africa. More... Until Jun 30, 19

Thai Royal Orchid Plus
- Double ROP Miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Oct 31, 19

United MileagePlus
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus miles and up to $300 off for United Vacations air/hotel packages of 3 nights or more at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas. More... Book by May 16 for travel until Dec 31 , 19
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus miles for United Vacations air/hotel packages of 5 nights or more at Reflect Resorts & Spas. More... Book by May 31 for travel until Dec 22, 19



Follow Rewards Canada:

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Earn 750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays this summer

One airline and hotel partnership you can almost always count on for having a bonus offer is from Aeroplan and Best Western. In a few days the current 500 bonus Aeroplan miles offer will come to end but right on its heels we see a stronger offer come out for the summer! The new offer awards 750 bonus Aeroplan miles on top of the 250 base miles for a total of 1,000 miles per stay. You do have to be a Best Western Rewards member with your earning preferences set to Aeroplan to earn the bonus.

Offer details
Earn 750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each stay at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) May 13 - Sep 30, 19


Can't make use of this offer? Here are some other offers that might work for you!

• Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly on select Air Canada routes in Canada, or between Canada and the U.S., Sun Destinations, Europe or Asia. Register Online (Registration is required) 
• Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles per night for stays on Thursday to Sunday nights at Marriott hotels in Canada. Maximum bonus of 4,000 miles per stay. Full details & online booking.
• 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on qualifying Avis rentals Worldwide of 3 days or more during the week, or 2 days or more during the weekend. Book online at Avis.com 

Find our complete list of Aeroplan bonus miles offers here.

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for May - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of May! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when most or all of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards.  This month we're back to adding one annual fee card into the mix along with four cards that offer first year free waivers.

No change this month from April! The same five cards as seen last month are the top for this month!

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for May  (in alphabetical order)

BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard - 3,000 Miles  (Apply here)
This almost best ever sign up bonus for an AIR MILES co-branded card continues on our Top 5 sign up list thanks to its 3,000 miles sign up bonus (worth ~$300 or more) and no annual fee in the first year!  Even if you aren't a fan of AIR MILES the fact you can get 3,000 miles and them use them as cash rewards for no cost to you should be enough to go out and get this card. Please note: new Collectors have Miles automatically deposited into their Dream Account, not their Cash account. Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

BMO World Elite Mastercard - 35,000 Points  (Apply here)

The card offers a 35,000 point sign up bonus that is worth $250 in travel and since the card is first year free right now (they bill you $150 and then rebate after several months) that means your $250 in travel is free and yes you even get the LoungeKey access and 4 lounge passes included in that first year free.  Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card - 60,000 Points (Apply here)
 This is the only card on the list that has an annual fee right of the bat but the sign up bonus and other benefits more than make up for it. The 60,000 points, awarded after spending $1,500 on the card in three months are worth at least $600 in our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming out ahead by $480. In reality you can pull even more value out of the card (into four figures) as we outlined in our post A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!   Minimum Income: N/A

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card - 30,000 Miles (Apply here)

One of the more popular offers on our site right now with card offering up to  30,000 Aeroplan miles and the annual fee rebated in the first year! This is one of the richest offers yet for this card. The bonus is awarded as follows: 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your first Purchase with your Card + 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you spend $1,000 within 90 days of Account opening. Depending on how you redeem those Aeroplan miles should be worth no less than $450 but more likely closer to $600 or more! In fact, our post from late April shows value of over $1,700! Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000 Household

TD First Class Visa Infinite Card - 80,000 Points (Apply here)

We continue with the best offer we've ever seen for this card! You get the standard sign up bonus of 20,000 points after the first purchase made on the card and another 60,000 if you spend $1,000 on the card in first 90 days having it. And all of this with a first year annual fee rebate! Those 80,000 points translate to $320 worth of travel credits for any travel booking or $400 worth of travel for bookings made via Expedia For TD. Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000 Household

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with $1,800 to over $3,000 in travel value but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend. We don't really recommend getting all five in one month unless you know you can meet the minimum spend for them all at once, rather you'd want to pick one or two right now, perhaps another next month and so on.

Disclaimers:
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.

Sponsored advertising. The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is not responsible for the contents of this site including any editorials or reviews that may appear on this site. For complete and current information on any TD product, please visit the TD site. 

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards Availability Update - Toronto to Europe for 90,000 miles or less in Business Class

At the end of April we brought you the details of Air France KLM's Promo Rewards for May and we promised to give you some examples of the offers once the were available for booking.

To recap, with promo rewards you get a discount on the number of miles required to redeem for flights with Flying Blue on Air France, KLM and sometimes their other partner airlines like Kenya Airways. The discount ranges from 20 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. This month only one Canadian city is included and that is Toronto at 25% off business class.

Offer details
May Promo Rewards – Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket.
Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details  Book by May 31  for travel Jul 1 – Aug 31, 19
This month's Canadian cities:
Toronto - 25% off business class

Here are the mileage requirements for flying from Toronto to Paris (the mileage amount will vary for other cities in Europe)

And an example of some of the business class availability from Montreal to Brussels:

 You can see lots of availability on the way out but on the return..... not as good:

Total miles and fees come to 79,500 miles and 452.37EUR - less than the 90,000 advertised!

There are also plenty of other options to choose from especially from Toronto to Europe (availability on the way back is not so good so you could look at doing this offer one way and then a different airline or redemption option on the way back) Here are just a couple of examples:

Toronto - Prague

Toronto - Zurich

If you don't have enough miles for a Promo Reward your best bet is to convert Marriott Rewards points to Flying Blue on a 3:1 basis. Remember you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time (a total of 25,000 miles per 60,000 points) That means 120,000 points will get you to 50,000 miles which is enough to cover a one way flight between Canada and Europe in Business Class!

If you don't have any Marriott Rewards Points you can always look at getting the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card to top off your account. Currently the card comes with a 50,000 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 50,000 point sign up bonus. You would then ultimately be able to have 100,000 points not including what points are 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 and you'll have a lot more points!

AIR MILES: Earn 40 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays until July 6

Offer details
40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for each stay you complete at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the U.S. or Caribbean.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Jul 6, 19

You must be a member of Best Western Rewards, set your earning preference to AIR MILES and register for the promotion to earn the bonus.

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May 8 Update: Air Canada increasing Toronto-Dubai flights for W19, Avianca seat sale between Toronto & San Salvador + more!

Air Canada is increasing their flights between Toronto and Dubai for the winter 2019 season. Previously they were set to fly 3 to 4 times per week and they have moved the maximum allowed 5x weekly from October 27 to March 28. Hopefully this proves helpful for those looking to redeem Aeropln miles for this flight! (Source Routesonline)

A quick one day search did bring up some availability for Business Class - 165,000 miles + $1280 in fees

versus:

165,000 miles saves you $3908.12 or a value of 2.3 cents per mile - that's OK but not great for a business class redemption.  This is where the hope is that Air Canada with the launch of the new program in 2020 can change things. Bring down those fees! It would be a better deal at 165,000 miles plus the $99.98 in fees that Air Canada charges.

Posts since our last update:

• Earning Stories: Making the most of IHG Rewards Club's bonus point promotions - 172,000+ points earned in 3 months
  Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley provides details on how he completed the last IHG systemwide promotion Free Nights Faster.…

Travel Deals

Avianca has a Mother's Day seat sale. Fly from Toronto to San Salvador for as little as C$569 round trip! Find out more here.

Save up to 30% at participating Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels in the Americas. Book by May 31 for stays August 30, 2019 to February 29, 2020. 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

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
-  Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly on Alaska Airlines between Spokane and Seattle. More... Register & book now for travel Sep 8 - Oct 10, 19

Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up to 125% Bonus LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles. More... Until Jun 5, 19

British Airways Executive Club
- 33% Bonus Avios when you book hotel stays via Hotels.com. More... Book by Jun 7, 19
- 50% Bonus when you buy Avios. More... Until May 21, 19

Etihad Guest
- Earn up to 20% Bonus Guest Miles when you buy miles. More... Until May 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- 1,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for stays at Kimpton Hotels in Los Angeles. More... Until May 31, 19
- 50% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points on stays at select IHG hotels in the Americas. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 31, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 500 Bonus Bonvoy Points per night on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at the Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun. More... Until Jun 30, 19

Thai Royal Orchid Plus
- Earn up to Triple ROP Miles for stays at all participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 19


Follow Rewards Canada:

Earning Stories: Making the most of IHG Rewards Club's bonus point promotions - 172,000+ points earned in 3 months

Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley provides details on how he completed the last IHG systemwide promotion Free Nights Faster. This is a great example of how bonus points offers an be really lucrative, especially if you are a road warrior across the Canadian prairies like Bill is! Now you can use this example to gear up this summer's Accelerate promotion, that is if you are targetted for it!
 
Well, another successful IHG Accelerate promotion concluded on April 30th, 2019. You may remember from a previous post my offer was quite lucrative this time round, a total of 134,400 points were available.

I am happy to report that I was able to achieve all requirements and did in fact receive all offered bonus points. My requirements are listed below.

These obligations were completed with only 8 stays (12 nights). My total points earned during this period were 172,442.

In order to help understand the value of these promotions, I will break it down into cost per points. As IHG allocates points based on USD spent, I will use USD values.

My total spend was USD $1,287.03 (CAD $1,914.72). The points earned without bonus was 38,042. This equates to 19.86 points per penny.  The value of the bonus points of 134,400 is 104.42 points per penny. The combined total is 133.98 points per penny spent. That is a huge valuation for any rewards program to be earning at a cost per point ratio of this magnitude.

One interesting thing to note is that this promotion required staying at 4 different brands in order to accomplish one of the tasks. Towards that end I stayed at both a Candlewood Suites and a Staybridge Suites brand. While both hotels are very good and quite comfortable, from a points earning point of view, they are not as lucrative.  While most Holiday Inn branded properties offer 10 points per USD spend, both Candlewood and Staybridge only offer 5 points per USD spend. Something to consider when booking your stays….

Editor's addition:
And now Bill is onto the latest IHG Rewards Club Promotion which is the return of Accelerate for 2019, here is what he received:

And here is what Jeff W, another Rewards Canada contributor received:

And here is what I got:

Yes, a big fat zero for me despite having my first IHG stay in nearly two years during the last promotional period. IHG has decided that I would not get in on Accelerate, guess I'm not loyal enough. I even called IHG to see if this was a glitch and it was not. This of course happened when I just completed another IHG stay this past weekend. Seeing the above offers and/or the lack of one, it really looks like IHG is tightening the purse strings with this version of Accelerate!

Here is the latest promotion detail:
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)  Register by Jun 19 for stays May 1 – Aug 31, 19

May 7 Update: 2x Points or Miles at Best Western Plus Winnipeg Airport, 30% Bonus Miles on Turkish Airlines Toronto-Istanbul flight & more!

Today is all about bonuses!

The Best Western Plus near the Winnipeg Airport is offering double points or airline miles on all stays until the end of June! Perhaps you have an early flight to catch and want to stay close to the airport so this option may be right for you and you can earn extra points! Find out more here

Maybe you're flying to Toronto to connect to Turkish Airlines's flight to Istanbul and if that's the case and it's in June you can earn 30% bonus Miles&Smiles miles on the flight! Of course you don't have to be coming from Winnipeg - this bonus is for anyone flying between Toronto and Istanbul on a paid ticket in celebration of 30 years of Miles&Smiles. There are eight other routes that have the bonus as well so if you are connecting via Istanbul to anyone of those cities you'll earn the 30% bonus on that segment as well. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• More details on the revamped Scotiabank Gold American Express Card - all changes are confirmed
  Two weeks ago we gave quick mention to changes coming to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. These changes…
• Marriott Bonvoy – 2,500 Bonus Points for spa experience stays in the U.S. and Canada
  Offer details: 2,500 Bonus Bonvoy Points when you stay 2 or more nights on the Marriott Bonvoy member spa…
• Earn up to a 40% bonus when you buy World of Hyatt Points

Travel Deals

Save up to 30% at participating Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels in the Americas. Book by May 31 for stays August 30, 2019 to February 29, 2020. 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

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points or airline miles  for stays at the Best Western Plus Winnipeg Airport Hotel More... Until Jun 30, 19

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 30% Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles when you fly on Turkish Airlines between Istanbul and Toronto. More... Jun 1 - 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers

American AAdvantage
- Up to a 40% Discount when you buy American AAdvantage Miles. More... Until May 31, 19

Hilton Honors
- Triple Honors points on your next stay at Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Jun 30, 19

Le Club AccorHotels
- Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 17 for stays until Aug 4, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points + 10% off for stays of 7+ nights at participating Marriott Hotels in Mallorca. More... Unknown end date
- 10,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 2 or more nights in a premium suite or villa at The St. Regis Bali Resort. More... Until Jul 12, 19

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 5,000 Extra EuroBonus Points on Hertz rentals in participating countries in Europe and in the USA and Canada. More... Book by Jun 15 for rentals until Dec 31, 19

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 30% Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles when you fly on Turkish Airlines between Istanbul and Abuja, Sochi, Cape Town, Constanta, Islamabad, Marseille, Ljubljana, Salzburg or Toronto. More... Jun 1 - 30, 19
- 30% Miles&Smiles Discount when you redeem for award travel on Turkish Airlines between Istanbul and various cities in Europe, Africa, and Asia. More... Jun 1 - 30, 19
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at all participating Eresin Hotels in Turkey. More... Until Jun 3, 19

World of Hyatt
- Earn up to 40% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you buy points. More... Until Jun 11, 19


Follow Rewards Canada:

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More details on the revamped Scotiabank Gold American Express Card - all changes are confirmed

Two weeks ago we gave quick mention to changes coming to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. These changes have been confirmed with Scotia and cardholders are now receiving notices of the changes which are for the most part better!

Here is a summary of what's happening to the card:

Item Changing	Until July 31, 19	From August 1, 2019
Annual Fee for primary cardholder	$99	$120
Foreign Transaction Fee	2.5%	0%
Grocery Dining Entertainment earn rate per dollar	4 points	5 points
Gas	4 points	3 points
Daily Transit	1 point	3 Points
Select Streaming Services	1 point	3 points
All other purchases	1 point	1 points
Price Protection	Yes	No
Travel Medical Insurance for those 65 years or older	10 days	3 days
Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption	$2,500 per person	$1,500 per person

I got to catch up with and discuss the card changes with Brett Mooney, Senior Vice President, Credit Cards. You may recall Brett from Podcast Episode 41 when they launched the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card.

We discussed the changes to the card and some of the reasoning behind them. Brett told me it is all about creating value and solutions for their customers and they need to evolve their products for the ever changing market in Canada. They wanted to make the card a more lifestyle focused card because Canadians are eating out more, moving to streaming services, using ride sharing and transit even more. Things like Netflix, Spotify and Apple Music have become so popular and part of many people's everyday lives that Scotia wanted to be the first to bonus that category and have done so with this card.

In some ways they have taken what American Express did with the Cobalt card and gone beyond that with the higher points earning for Daily Transit, Gas and a higher spend cap in bonus categories of $50,000 annually, albeit the Cobalt's cap is only on eats and drinks not transit. But then Scotia added in the streaming services which will be very appealing to many. Finally, and this is the big change, is the addition of the no foreign transaction fee! Following in the footsteps of its brethren card, the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card, Scotia will be dropping the 2.5% foreign transaction fee to 0% on the August 1 change date. You'll notice one other change and it is bolded in Scotia's notice to cardholders and was confirmed by Brett to me last week is that the bonus multiplier categories will only pay out the big points on purchases in Canadian currency.

Thanks to RC contributor Jeff W. for supplying the letter!

That means if you are dining out in the U.S., buying gas in France and so on you will not earn 5x points or 3x points respectively. Those purchases will only earn 1 point per dollar but they will not incur the 2.5% FX fee. You may ask how does this compare with something like the Cobalt card that will earn 5x points on foreign dining? Let's take a look:

	Scotia Gold Amex	American Express Cobalt Card
$100 dining bill in the U.S.	$100	$100
Total billed price in Canadian $ (1.34 exchange rate + FX fee for Cobalt)	$134	$137.35
Points earned	134	687
Minimum value of points	$1.34	$6.87
Net price of dining bill	$132.66	$130.48

As you can see the lack of offering the category multipliers outside of Canada even with no foreign transactions fees may not provide the best return. This however is only one example and one category , take into account most other types of shopping not made in C$ (including online shopping) and you will see the Scotiabank Gold American Express card come out ahead due to the savings of 2.5% and the 1 point earned per dollar.

Brett Mooney did say they are making this card about lifestyle, particularly lifestyle in Canada which makes sense as to why they set the earn rates they did and limited it to Canadian currency. They did not want to take away from the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card which is about travel, hence the latter's ability to still earn its category bonuses abroad with no foreign transaction fee.

Overall these are very welcome changes to the Scotiabank Gold American Express card! I would believe that the other big card issuers in Canada will take note of what Scotia is doing. Not just with the Gold Amex but also the Passport Visa Infinite Card. There are rumours that RBC is going to be changing the Avion program and I would think that Amex will be watching closely to see how these changes affect the Cobalt card. It will be interesting to see what transpires for the rest of this year in the premium credit card market!

Brett finally said they aren't done yet with positive changes to their products and if past experience is any indicator then we can hold this to be true. For the most part, every time Scotia has told has told us changes are coming they have been positive movers in the market.

What are your thoughts on these changes?

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