Thursday, September 19, 2019

30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points extended to September 25

The Aeroplan hotel loyalty program conversion bonus released earlier this month has been extended to September 25 from the original end date of September 22. 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 again. 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 50,000 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% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  Click here for full details Until Sep 25, 19

Additional bonus offers:

* Radisson is offering an extra 50% conversion bonus, meaning members will earn a total of 80% 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, Wyndham Rewards, Shangri-La, Accor Hotels, Choice Hotels and Coast Hotels.


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Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for Coast Hotels stays in October & November


Normally we don't get details of Coast Hotels' airline bonus miles offers until the actual launch date but this time Coast Hotels has revealed details of their next Aeroplan promo early! You can now prepare and book your Coast Hotel stays for October and November with the plan to earn Triple Aeroplan miles! If you have stays coming up still this month you can choose to earn double HawaiianMiles for those stays.

Offer details:
Triple Aeroplan Miles for stays at any Coast Hotels location in Canada or the U.S. Full details & online booking Oct 1 - Nov 30,19

Here are some other offers to also check out!

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here



Earn double points & double elite night credit for stays at Radisson Hotels Worldwide


Offer details:
Double Radisson Rewards points & Double Eligible Nights/Stays for stays at all Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels worldwide.  Full details, online registration and booking. (Registration is required) Register & book by Sep 26 for stays Sep 26 – Dec 29, 19
Maximum of 120,000 bonus points awarded per member during the promotional period.

Once registered you can simply book your stays online at: Country Inns & Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, or The Radisson Collection.


Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Earn Double Avios on all British Airways flights from Canada to London (and all other BA flights worldwide)


The British Airways Executive Club Double Avios on all flights offer is back! Just like the previous iteration the double Avios is limited to 10 sectors or flights however this time the actual flight period is quite long as flights until June 30, 2020 count for this offer. This means if you are flying point to point it would be valid for up to five round trips however if you are say flying Toronto-London-Milan-London-Toronto that would count as 4 sectors alone. Simply register and book by December 13.

Offer details
Earn Double Avios on all British Airways flights from Canada to London and beyond. British Airways flights operated by American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair when travelling between Europe and North America are also included. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required)
Register and Book by Dec 13 for travel Until Jun 30, 20
Bonus will be awarded for up to 10 flights (one way sectors, round trip counts as two)

Here are some more ways to earn even more Avios:
  • Earn 50% Bonus Avios for stays at all participating Accor Hotels Worldwide  Full Details and online booking
    Select automatic conversion
    to convert your Le Club AccorHotels points into Executive Club in your Le Club AccorHotels account preferences
  • 30% Bonus Avios when you buy or gift Avios online. Full details 
  • 30% Bonus Avios when you covert American Express Membership Rewards points to Avios. Full details
Find many more bonus Avios offers here 

One of the best ways to earn British Airways Executive Club Avios in Canada is the American Express Gold Rewards Card which at the time of posting offers a bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards Points which can then be converted to BA at a 1:1 rate however until Oct 31, 19 that will be bonused by 30%!



Vancity introduces new Visa Infinite and Visa Infinite Privilege Cards with decent earn rates, lounge access and more

Vancity, the British Columbia based credit union has added two new cards to their portfolio of card products. Previously offering a base Visa card and Gold Visa they have now moved into the premium and ultra premium market with the Vancity enviro Visa Infinite Card and Vancity enviro Visa Infinite Privilege Card.

A quick look at the cards shows they are some strong offerings and we'll be sure to provide more in-depth coverage here on Rewards Canada in the near future. But for now here is a quick overview of what each card looks like and what you can expect from them:


Vancity enviro Visa Infinite Card
  • $120 Annual Fee - $0 for first additional card, $50 for each card after
  • No welcome bonus points
  • 2.5 points for every $1 spent on groceries
  • 5 points for every $1 spent on public transit and ferries
  • 10 points for every $1 spent at select local businesses
  • 1.25 points for every $1 spent on all other purchases
  • Earn double the points when you use your enviro Visa card to book travel through the Vancity Rewards program
  • Priority Pass membership (a US$99 value)
  • Decent Insurance package including price protection and mobile device insurance but no out of province medial insurance, trip cancellation or interruption insurance
  • 100 points = $1 towards travel and other redemption options

Vancity enviro Visa Infinite Privilege Card
  • $245 for Vancity members ($395 for non‑members) $0 for first additional card, $50 for each card after
  • No welcome bonus points
  • 3 points for every $1 spent on groceries
  • 5 points for every $1 spent on public transit and ferries
  • 10 points for every $1 spent at select local businesses
  • 1.5 points for every $1 spent on all other purchases
  • Priority Pass membership (a US$99 value) with six complimentary airport lounge visits (US$192 value)
  • Extensive Insurance package including 22 day out of province travel medical coverage, price protection and mobile device insurance
  • 100 points = $1 towards travel and other redemption options
Seeing that the cards offer a nice and easy 100 points to $1 redemption ratio it quickly tells us that the Visa Infinite card earns a base rate of return of 1.25% (1.25 points per dollar) up to 10% for the 10 points per dollar at local businesses. It also appears the multipliers of 3, 5, and 10 points are not capped at a set dollar value like we see on many other cards. TheVisa Infinite Privilege card is similar however the base earn rate is 1.5 points (a 1.5% return) and also has 3 points on groceries for a 3% return in that category.

The 10 points per dollar on both cards is currently limited to these three local businesses in B.C.: Modo Co‑operative carshare, JJ Bean Coffee Roasters and Fresh Prep meal kit delivery



The Vancity Rewards site looks easy to use and I did a quick flight booking search between Vancouver and Calgary to see how the results come up:

As you can see it works to the 100 points to $1 redemption ratio as mentioned above and it allows you to easily redeem points for the flights. As with many other proprietary credit card programs you can also do partial redemptions. Say you only have 30,000 points, you could redeem them for $300 towards one of the flights above and pay the rest with your credit card (and earn double points while you're at it since it is a Vancity Rewards booking)

You can also use points towards cash back (Pay with points or a statement credit) or convert points to be cash deposited in savings accounts, TFSA accounts and more. Finally you can also redeem points for gift cards and the great news is the redemption rates for gift cards aren't devalued like lots of other programs - it still works out to 100 points to $1.

The insurance package on the Visa Infinite card is weaker than many other Visa Infinite cards in the market place, to get a really good insurance and benefits package you have to go to the Infinite Privilege card which also costs more. The latter though, if you are a Vancity member has a lower annual fee than other Privilege cards in the market and this one includes Priority Pass with 6 lounge visits, worth nearly US$300. 

Some things you need to be aware of to get a Vancity card - you must be 19 years and you must also be a B.C. resident which is too bad as it really limits the possibility of these cards making in roads in the Canadian market. That being said, if you are 19 and live in B.C. then these new offerings from Vancity are something you may really want to take into consideration when picking a new credit card.


September 18 Update: Case Study of a Fixed Return Travel Card versus a Reward Chart Travel Card, Hilton Hotels partners with iHeartRadio & more!


We wanted to pass along the details of a case study we completed a few years ago that still holds true today. It compares credit cards that have a flat redemption rate versus those that have the traditional award chart style redemption rate. This is a very useful article for those wanting to see how the value of cards like the RBC Visa Infinite Avion who have award charts compare to cards like the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard who simply give you a flat 'cash back' option towards travel. You can read the case study here.

Air Canada announced today a new year round route between Montreal and Bogota, Colombia, The three times weekly service will launch in June 2020 and will be operated by Air Canada Rouge with a Boeing 767-300. (Source Air Canada)
 



Hilton is expanding the services provided via their Hilton Connected Rooms by adding iHeartRadio to them. Currently there are 15 hotels in the Hilton portfolio that offer Connected Rooms but that is being expanded. (Source Hilton)
Hilton today announced a new integration with iHeartRadio to allow guests to stream live radio stations, thousands of music playlists and podcasts directly from their TVs through Hilton’s high-tech Connected Room guest technology platform..... With iHeartRadio, guests who stay in Hilton Connected Rooms will be able to play exclusive audio content and have instant access to thousands of live radio stations from across the country, customized music stations based on their favorite artists and top podcasts across all categories including travel, business, sports, entertainment, comedy and more. Travelers can use either their Hilton Honors app or the in-room remote to access the content on their guestroom TV.

Posts since our last update:

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

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles for stays at all participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Best Western Rewards
- Earn a Free Night when you complete 2 eligible stays at a Best Western® branded hotel in the United States, Canada or Caribbean. More... Until Nov 17, 19

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn Double Avios on all British Airways flights Worldwide including those out of Canada as well as British Airways flights operated by American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair when travelling between Europe and North America. More... Register and Book by Dec 13 for travel Until Jun 30, 20

Radisson Rewards
- Double Radisson Rewards points & Double Eligible Nights/Stays for stays at all Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels worldwide including Canada.  More... Register & book by Sep 26 for stays Sep 26 - Dec 29, 19

Other Bonus Offers

American AAdvantage
- 25% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you convert points from Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, IHG Rewards Club or Marriott Bonvoy to AAdvantage miles. More... Until Oct 30, 19

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- 50% Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you fly on Hainan Airlines or Grand China Airlines international routes to or from Shenzen. More... Until Dec 20, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club points for each stay at any participating InterContinental Hotel or Resort Worldwide. Bonus awarded for up to 5 stays. More... Sep 26 – Nov 30, 19
- 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Sep 24, 19

Le Club AccorHotels
- 4x Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at the Ibis Le Touquet Thalassa or the Novotel Thalassa Le Touquet. More... Book by Oct 21  for stays until Dec 8, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- Receive a 30% discount when you buy 2,000 or more Marriott Bonvoy points. More... Until Oct 18, 19
- 2,000 Bonvoy Points on Hertz rentals of 2+ days in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. More... Ongoing

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

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Earn up to Triple Miles&Smiles Elite Status Miles when you fly on Turkish Airlines one-way or round trip international flights in Economy Class or Business Class between Turkey and select cities in Europe, Africa or Asia. More... Book by Sep 30 for travel until Oct 31, 19

World of Hyatt
- Up to a 25% World of Hyatt Points Discount when you redeem for award nights at any one of 14 locations in Greece, Italy, Spain or Mexico. More... Until Nov 30, 19
- 25% Discount when you book a Points + Cash award at participating hotels Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 19


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Credit Card Showdown! CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card vs. RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card


It has been a few years since we last had a credit card showdown but are ready to make it an ongoing feature here on Rewards Canada!

The first showdown of our newly reincarnated series sees two of the most popular premier cards in Canada go head to head! This showdown is between the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card and the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card!

Past credit card showdowns:
In the showdown we look at a half a dozen criteria to compare the cards against one another along with a head to head detailed table comparison.

FLASH SALE – 100% Bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club Points until September 24


Another buy points flash sale from IHG Rewards Club and it is at the highest bonus level again. You can earn a 100% bonus when you buy 7,000 or more points. This sale runs until September 24.

The best price for buying points comes when you buy 26,000 or more points in one transaction. For example, buying 60,000 points (120,000 total with bonus) costs US$600 which means each point will only cost you 0.5 cents. That’s up to 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks 5,000 point level, 12 nights at 10,000 and 8 nights at the 15,000 point level. Even at that highest level it is like you are buying each night for only US$75.



Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 7,000 points. Buy Points here Until Sep 24, 19

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here!

Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for IHG Hotel stays until the end of the year


The fall Aeroplan IHG Double Miles offer is back! This is the exact same offer we saw this time last year and is good a one to take advantage if you only have one stay planned or aren't someone who normally collects IHG Rewards Club points.  Remember that you no longer earn a flat rate of miles per stay rather miles are awarded per US$1 spent, 1 to 2 miles depending on the brand which means you'll earn between 2 to 4 Aeroplan miles per US$1 with this offer. You will have to set your IHG Rewards Club account to earn Aeroplan miles to make sure you receive the bonus.

Offer details
Double Aeroplan Miles for stays at all participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required)  Until Dec 31, 19

Here are some other offers to also check out!
Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here and more IHG offers here.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

A look at how the current TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card sign up offer of up to 40,000 miles can provide huge value!

 
Earlier this month TD came out with an amazing new offer for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. The offer provides the best ever welcome bonus of up to 40,000 Aeroplan Miles and a first year annual fee rebate for the primary card. The 40,000 Aeroplan Miles welcome bonus is broken down into three parts.

Part 1
When you receive the card you will be awarded with 15,000 Aeroplan miles on the first purchase made.

Part 2
You will receive double Aeroplan miles on eligible purchases in the first three months, up to 20,000 miles, for a total of 35,000 miles when you combine Parts 1 and 2.  This is all with the first year annual fee of $120 waived on the primary card.

Part 3
You can also earn an additional 5,000 miles when you add an authorized user to your account (an additional card, formerly known as supplementary card). The latter however is still subject to the $50 annual fee.


The good news is that if you have a TD All Inclusive Banking plan you don't ever pay fees on the primary or first additional card so if you don't have the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card as part of your banking package this would be the time to switch to get the 40,000 miles at no cost other than the spend requirement. Even if you don't go for the additional card (you're single or don't want to pay the $50) the 35,000 Aeroplan miles you can earn at no cost other than your credit card spend is higher than any other bonus we have seen on the card before.

You do need to consider how you go about getting the most miles possible because to earn the full 40,000 miles you need to max out your spend on the card in the first three months to take advantage of double Aeroplan miles. If we take the 20,000 mile maximum earned for the double miles portion it will take $6,666.67 to $10,000 in card spend to get all the miles possible. That means you need to budget just over $2,200 to $3,333 in spending per month.  The range in spend is due to the earn rates on the card, the card earns 1.5 Aeroplan miles per eligible dollar spent on grocery, gas, drugstore and aircanada.com purchases which translates to 3 miles per dollar during the double mile earning period. All other purchase earn 1 Aeroplan mile per dollar which doubles to 2 per dollar during those first three months. If you have been planning some home renos, booking a vacation, buying a car, etc. this would be the time to do it and put that spend on this card to get you the most miles. 

The questions is after you get the card and receive the miles,  how can you get really good value from them?

To start, here is a broad example of what 40,000 Aeroplan Miles can get you:
  • 2 Round Trip Economy Class Short Haul Tickets in Canada and the U.S. (with 10,000 miles left over)
  • 1 Round Trip Premium Economy Class Long Haul ticket in Canada and the U.S.
  • 1 Round Trip Economy Class Short Haul ticket and 1 Round Trip Economy Class Long Haul ticket in Canada and the U.S. 
  • 1 One Way Economy Class ticket to Asia (with 2,500 miles left over)
  • 1 One Way Premium Economy Class ticket to Europe (with 2,500 miles left over) 
Have a look at the Classic Flight Award chart for travel out of Canada. Values outlined in red indicate round trip flights you can redeem for while those outlined by a blue box are one way flights you can redeem for.

That's great but what is the value of those 40,000 miles? With so many great welcome offers available right now on a variety of travel rewards credit card why would you want to pick the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card over others? You would want to because this card has the ability to provide you with as little as $480 in value to well over $2,000 just from the miles and not taking into account additional benefits. You have to remember as well - the card is first year free - so outside of the minimum spend requirement, these miles are coming to you for free.

Enough of that! Let's look at some examples of where those miles can take you and the value you can get from them!

The first example we look at of a redemption falling within the 40,000 miles is a one way economy class flight from Toronto to Frankfurt:


This example shows $861* saved on the revenue ticket price for using 30,000 miles and you still have 10,000 miles left over.  That redemption gives you a per mile value of 2.87 cents or a potential value of $1,148 from the 40,000 miles.
(*Calculated as Revenue Ticket Price - Taxes and Fees paid on award ticket - authorized user fee or $861 = $1245.16 - $334.16 - $50)

Another example is a Premium Economy class redemption between Vancouver and Montreal:


This example gives the 40,000 mile welcome bonus a value of $1445.20. This was derived from the ticket costs of $1653.85 on Air Canada less the $158.65 in taxes and fees you have to pay on the Aeroplan ticket and the $50 you pay for the additional card. For those calculating cents per mile, this

How about traveling in style? Here is an example of traveling in business class - and not just bigger seats business class but a flight will full lie flat pods on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner! Air Canada flies their internationally configured 787 on select flights between Toronto and Los Angeles where you can enjoy their best business class product:


It only costs 25,000 Aeroplan Miles to redeem for a one way business class ticket on this route and those miles save you $1,518.16. That translates to a value of 0.06 cents per mile or a total value of $2,400 from the welcome bonus! With this redemption option you still would 15,000 miles left over which you could use to book a one way economy class ticket to return from Los Angeles to Toronto for only 12,500 miles.

We've only given you three award flight examples of literally thousands that you could take advantage of with this welcome bonus and from those three alone you can see the value that can be had. To make sure you can get in on this best ever offer on the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card you have to apply for the card by December 1, 2019 but the sooner you get it the sooner you can have those miles in your account to redeem for that vacation you want to take! As to a vacation, we'd love to know what are some of the flights you would redeem these miles for? Let us know in the comments section below!

Click here to learn more about or to apply for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card