Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Earn 2,000 bonus Bonvoy points for stays at the new JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District


You may recall that back in January we had a post on all the new Marriott Hotel openings in Canada for 2019. One of the hotels that we picked as the most anticipated openings was the JW Marriott Edmonton which is located in the ICE district. Well the hotel is finally open and to celebrate they are offering 2,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points per stay until October 25. This offer can be combined with the systemwide offer of 1,500 bonus points on all stays of 2+ nights.

Offer details:
2,000 Bonus Bonvoy points per stay at the JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District. Full details and online booking. Until Oct 25, 19

Here are some other Marriott bonus offers to check out as well:
  • Earn 1,500 Bonus Bonvoy Points on all stays of 2 or more nights at over 7,000 Marriott Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking. (Registration is required) 
  • 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays on a Sunday night at the Renaissance Montreal Downtown Hotel.  Full details & online booking
  • New Marriott Bonvoy™* American Express® Cardmembers earn 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy™ points enough for 3 free nights at a Category 2 hotel after you charge $1,500 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership. Full details


August 7 Update: Save 25% on companion fees at 7 Canadian Plaza Premium lounges, 4x Aeroplan Miles at Costco.ca & 9 new bonuses


Plaza Premium has a special offer running until the end of August where you can save 25% on lounge entry fees for any of travelling companions at 42 of their lounges worldwide. Seven of their Canadian lounges are included. Find out more here.
  • Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures, Terminal 3)
  • Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (US Transborder, Terminal 3)
  • Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures, Terminal 1)
  • Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures)
  • Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures)
  • Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Pier C, Domestic Departures)
  • Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (US Departures)

Aeroplan and Costco are once again offering up some bonus miles for shopping online at Costco.ca. You can earn 4x the miles when you register your Aeroplan number with Costco and use promo code AERO4 at check out. This offer coincides with their Back to School eStore event and runs until August 18. Find out more here.


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals

Hilton Asia Pacific 100th Anniversary Sale – Save up to 20% for stays through to February 2020

Fly TAP Air Portugal from Toronto to Lisbon for as little C$315 one way !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
- 5x Aeroplan Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. More...   Until Sep 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy

- OFFER EXTENDED 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays on a Sunday night at the Renaissance Montreal Downtown Hotel.  More... Until Sep 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Club Premier Points when you stay 2+ nights at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in Costa Rica. More...   Until Jan 31, 20

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Armenia, Azerbajan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Sep 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 3+ nights at participating Marriott Hotels in Southern California. More... Until Sep 8, 19
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 4 or more nights at the Westin Golf Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal. More... Until Sep 6, 19

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points when you refer people to the Avis Preferred program and those that are referred complete a 3 day Avis rentals of a Group C car or higher. More... Until Sep 30, 19

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Double ROP Miles and 2nd night free when you make a reservation for a 2-night stay (Dusit Best Available Rate) at any participating hotel of Dusit & Resorts. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Nov 30, 19

United MileagePlus
- 4x Mileage Plus Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 19



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Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays until September 30


Offer details:
5x Aeroplan Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. Full details & online booking Until Sep 30, 19
(The landing page does not list this offer at the time of posting but is live and available)

Can’t make use of this offer? Here are some other bonus offers available:
  • 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)
  • 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!


Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Hilton Asia Pacific 100th Anniversary Sale – Save up to 35% for stays through to February 2020



Hilton Honors members can save up to 35% on stays at Hilton’s Asia Pacific locations with their 100th Anniversary sale! Although advertised as an up to 20% off sale, the actual discounts range from 10 to 25% off and Honors members receive an additional 5 to 10% for up to 35% off.

This offer must be booked by September 6, 2019 for stays  all the way through to February 2, 2020. 

Remember that you should also be earning Double HHonors on these stays with the current summer Hilton Honors promotion (as long as it is your 2nd stay) that runs until Sep 8. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here..

Blackout dates may apply and vary by property. Rates are valid for single/double occupancy and are exclusive of all taxes, incidental charges, gratuities, and resort fees where applicable.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton APAC Resorts sale 

Here’s just a small sample of the offers available:

Aeroplan eStore Back to School event - Earn up to 7x miles for online shopping until August 18


August is here and the three words that most kids dread have returned - Back to School! Yes it is time to start thinking about Back to School shopping and if you are like me, a lot of that shopping will be done online. When you online shop you should always try to go through an online shopping portal like Aeroplan's eStore, and more so when they have a bonus offer event like this one! To celebrate back to school the eStore is offering up to 7x the miles for shopping via select retailers until August 18.

Here are just some of the retailers that have bonuses for this event:
  • Amazon - 5x miles
  • Gap - 5x miles
  • Indigo - 7x miles
  • Microsoft - 3x miles
  • Sephora - 5x miles
  • Under Armour - 7x miles
Not only will you earn the bonus miles for shopping during this event via the eStore you can earn additional Aeroplan miles by making those purchases on an Aeroplan affiliated co-brand credit card like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card. On top of that you can also earn points with specific retailer's loyalty programs like Chapters Indigo's Plum Rewards or Sephora's Beauty Insider. If you haven't done so yet now is the time you should start your back to school shopping and pad your Aeroplan account with some extra miles!

Click here to learn more about this offer!


Friday, August 2, 2019

August 2 Update: Save up to 15,000 miles when you redeem Aeroplan miles for gift cards & earn bonus Lucky13 Rewards stamps for Sandman Hotel stays


Aeroplan is celebrating Back to School with discounts of up to 15,000 miles when you redeem for select gift cards. This offer runs until September 3. Gift cards (and merchandise) are typically the last thing you want to redeem miles for however there are members who may never earn enough miles to redeem for meaningful flights so this is gives them an option. On the total other end of the spectrum you could have more miles than you know what to do with so getting some gift cards is a way for you to use up some of those miles. Learn more about this promotion here.


Sandman Hotels is a chain we haven't really covered here on Rewards Canada however we want to make aware of a promotion for their Lucky13 Rewards program. Until the end of this month you can earn double or extra Lucky13 Rewards Stamps on all your Sandman Hotel stays. Find out more here!


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals

Hilton Asia Pacific 100th Anniversary Sale – Save up to 20% for stays through to February 2020

Save 20% when you stay 2+ nights at participating Wyndham Hotels in the U.S. and Canada. Full details and online booking Until Sep 5, 19

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

Aer Lingus Aer Club
- Double Avios on all Aer Lingus flights between Dublin and London Gatwick. More... Until Aug 31, 19

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- August 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 August 31  for travel Oct 1 – Nov 30 19

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios for stays at participating World Hotels Worldwide More... Until Mar 31, 20

Le Club AccorHotels
- Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More...Book by Sep 9 for stays until Oct 27, 19
- Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Mantis Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Aug 26 for stays until Oct 14, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 500 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays 2+ nights Thursday-Sunday (Friday or Saturday required) at the Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott.  More... Until Aug 24, 19



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Thursday, August 1, 2019

Save 25% on business class reward tickets between Western Canada and Europe with Air France-KLM's August Promo Rewards


The newest set of Air France KLM’s Promo Rewards are now out!  This month we see more options for flying out of Canada when compared to June With promo rewards the discount ranges from 20 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class! This month sees the airlines' Western Canadian cities as part of the deal. You can save 25% off business class reward tickets to Europe from Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver on Air France or KLM.

Offer details
August 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 August 31  for travel Oct 1 – Nov 30 19

This month's Canadian cities:
Calgary - 25% off business class on KLM
Edmonton - 25% off business class on KLM
Vancouver - 25% off business class on Air France or KLM

Here are the mileage requirements for flying from the three cities to Amsterdam or Paris (the mileage amount will vary for other cities in Europe). As you can see this is a real good deal even at 25% off!


And an example of some of the business class availability from Calgary to Amsterdam:



and the return:

Total miles and fees come to 90,750 miles and 424.75EUR:


And a few more options:





Remember one way flights are exactly half of the above mileage amounts.

If you don't have enough miles for a Promo Reward your best bet is to convert Marriott Bonvoy 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 which can be converted 3 to 1 to Flying Blue Miles plus Marriott will kick in an additional 5,000 miles for every 60,000 points transferred.  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!
 


Scotiabank Gold American Express - Enhancements launch today along with an increased welcome bonus


For several months now we have discussed the changes coming to the Scotiabank Gold American Express card and are happy to report that today they went live! Not only are the enhancements now live on the card but to celebrate the changes Scotiabank has brought out a limited time increased welcome bonus on the card! Normally the card comes with a 15,000 point welcome bonus but as of today that has been boosted to 25,000 points when you spend $1,000 on the card within three months. On top of that, Scotia will reward you with another 5,000 points if you hit $10,000 in spending in your first year of having the card. That additional bonus tier should be relatively easy for most to hit.

Now let's recap the changes that have come 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

The biggies here are the no foreign transaction fee now being offered on the card along with the increased earn rates for Grocery, Dining, Entertainment to 5 points per dollar in Canada (up to $50,000 annually) and 3 points per dollar for Transit and Streaming Services. Of course it isn't all good news, the annual fee as of today is now $120, up from $99 and some benefits and insurances have been either removed or lowered. Still I would say the positive changes far outweigh the negatives!

For the new category of 3x points for streaming services, you can expect to earn the extra points with the following:

  • Apple Music
  • Cineplex Digital Store
  • iTunes
  • Kindle
  • Kobo
  • Netflix
  • SiriusXM
  • Spotify
You'll have to note that the 5x and 3x points categories are for purchases in Canadian currency only. That means you'll be earning those accelerated rates in Canada while all foreign currency purchases will only earn 1 point per dollar spent but that is on top of saving 2.5% thanks to the No Foreign Transaction fee.

From the beginning this card has always been one of the stronger cards in our market and now with these changes it has further solidified that. What do you think of the card now and will you jump on it thanks to the changes and this increased welcome bonus?

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Redemption Stories: Redeeming points for Best Western free nights at a value that maximizers may cringe at


Last week, the Rewards Canada family decided to head up for a small road trip to the Edmonton area and would need a hotel for one night in Stony Plain. We chose the Best Western Sunrise Inn and Suites Stony Plain as we had stayed there many moons ago and enjoyed the hotel. As with most of our hotel stays now we book two rooms for the family and here's what the two rooms were pricing out at:


A very reasonable price of only $121.49 plus taxes per room for the Best Western Rewards members rate (the AAA rate was the same). However I also saw the 20,000 points option and it triggered my memory that 'hey we have Best Western points we haven't used'. I have been sitting on 60,000+ Best Western Rewards points for years as Best Western is a brand we almost never stay at! As most of our readers may know it's Marriott, Hyatt etc. for most of the Rewards Canada family stays. The last time we stayed at a BW hotel was back in 2015. So, I decided that I would redeem points for the two rooms as the points are just sitting there not being used. It is better to use them up rather than not at all and seeing that I don't even know when we may stay at another Best Western hotel it just made sense to redeem. This was the topic of discussion for episode 56 of our podcast with guest Rob Carrick about hoarding points and something we talk about in a lot of our media interviews that it is better not to hold on to points for too long. Give it a listen if you haven't yet!

Anyways, back to the redemption. The process on the Best Western website was super easy and I was able to select the 20,000 points rate for the first room, then it went to the second room and I was able to do the same and after completing some fields in the reservation form (requesting connecting rooms etc) we had the rooms booked in less then 5 minutes.

40,000 points and no cash outlay. Nice. But for some of our readers, you are probably cringing now! Why redeem 40,000 points for a hotel stay that isn't very expensive. Yes if we paid cash it would have only been $264.84 total for the two rooms.


40,000 points for $264.84 in room cost translates to a value of only 0.66 cents per point. I would say this on the mid to lower end for Best Western Rewards where you could pull upwards of 0.9 cents per point. Don't get me wrong, I like to be able to receive as much value for my points whenever possible but I also live by my mantra that was covered in my feature The True Value in Reward Redemptions where the best redemptions are those that make you happy. This redemption made me happy, I got to use up points that have been sitting there for years and most likely would have sat there for many more years. I also got to keep almost $265 in my wallet. So in my mind this was a redemption that was well worth it.


Not only did we get the stay for free, I also earned 750 points on the stay thanks to being a Best Western Diamond member (thanks to BW Status Match No Catch) and completing the stay survey afterwards:


Overall I would say this was a great redemption for the Rewards Canada family! We'd love to hear your comments about redeeming points for Best Western stays. Do you try to maximize them or don't even bother looking at the value and just redeem for those free nights whenever you can get them? Let us know in the comments below!

Title image courtesy of Best Western

The limited time offer of 4% Cash Back on the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card has been extended to October 31


The limited time increased sign up bonus for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card has been extended to October 31. This limited time offer that was originally slated to end on July 31 provides 4% cash back in two categories that you select (three categories if you choose to deposit the cash back into a Tangerine savings account) for three months. After that period the rate returns to the regular 2% in your selected categories and 0.5% on all other spending.

These are the spending categories you can choose from to earn the higher cash back rates:
Once, one of the best cash back cards out there the current version of the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card is now somewhere in the middle of the pack for cash back cards but the earn of 4% (and then 2%) on certain categories might just make the best sense for some of you!!

The card details below show the latest offers on this card and may not be representative of the discussion above: