Thursday, December 5, 2019

December 5 Update: Le Club AccorHotels now ALL - Accor Live Limitless, Diners Club loses 5 airline/hotel partners & save up to 40% with Expedia's Escape sale


AccorHotels and their loyalty program Le Club AccorHotels has now become ALL - Accor Live Limitless. This change was announced back in February (see our post here) and at that time the rebranding was supposed to take place in 2020 but it looks like they got everything in order early and have launcehd the change. The program will see the addition of a Diamond elite status level, enriched benefits for elite members and new partnerships that will expand the experience side of the program. Learn more here.


We have added the Laurentian Bank Visa DOLLARS card to our Cash Back Comparison chart. See the chart here.


Diners Club Club Rewards has reduced the number of airline and hotel transfer partners for Canadians. I'm not exactly sure when this happened - it could have been quite sometime ago as I haven't look at the full list in awhile. Anyways they used to have 21 airline and hotel programs that you could transfer Club Rewards points to and that has now dropped to 16. Gone are Amtrak Guest Rewards, World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy and Korean Air SkyPass. Learn more here.


Give A Mile 2019 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign - Help Rewards Canada raise 50,000 miles for flights of compassion. Learn more here.

Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals


Expedia Escape Sale! Save Up to 40% Off hotel stays. 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
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you fly on GOL Airlines in an eligible fare class. More... Register by Jan 13 for travel until Mar 31, 20

Other Bonus Offers

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Club Premier Points when you stay at any Choice Hotels property Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios for stays at NH Hotels in Europe. More... Until Dec 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- Receive Spire Elite Status and earn up to 15,000 bonus IHG Rewards Club points for stays at participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 19 Targeted offer for corporate travelers - May not work for everyone
- Receive Platinum Elite Status and earn up to 15,000 bonus IHG Rewards Club points for stays at participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 19 Targeted offer for corporate travelers - May not work for everyone
- Double IHG Rewards Club Points for stays all December at the Staybridge Suites® Times Square - New York City. More... Until Jan 1, 20

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points on your next stay at a Wyndham Rewards Hotel worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Jan 7, 20



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World of Hyatt to introduce Peak and Off Peak pricing and add more value from Dining, Spa & More Awards


The World of Hyatt frequent guest program revealed details this week of some upcoming changes to the program that for the most part isn't news we like to see. The first change, which is the most important one, is that World of Hyatt will be introducing Peak and Off Peak award night pricing like we have seen from Marriott Bonvoy and other hotel programs.  This change will kick in in March 2020 and sees the standard rates being decreased or increased by 1,500 to 5,000 points per night depending on whether it is Off Peak or Peak respectively. View from the Wing reports that unlike Marriott which can and does change Off Peak/Peak pricing monthly "Hyatt will not change whether a night is designated as peak, standard, or off-peak for a given property once the night is loaded into Hyatt’s systems."

Here is more from Hyatt on the upcoming Peak/Off Peak pricing:
  • If the redemption amount for a night on an existing award reservation is lowered to Off-peak in March, we’ll automatically refund the point difference, and if it goes to Peak, you won’t be charged any more points.
  • Points + Cash will also offer Off-peak and Peak point redemption. The cash required will still be 50% of the rate.
  • Free nights in suites will also be offered at Off-peak and Peak redemption.
  • You’ll have plenty of time to plan ahead. Redemption rates for free nights will be announced as soon as nights are available for reservations (usually 13 months in advance), and won’t change once posted. A new online calendar will help you plan (coming soon).
  • Hotel award categories aren’t changing – there are still 8.
As you can see you will receive an automatic refund if you already have award nights booked or will book them prior to their launch should your nights fall into an Off Peak pricing scenario. On the opposite end if a hotel moves to peak pricing your originally booking will be safe at the points you booked for - so for all intensive purposes if you have been planning on redeeming points for Hyatt stay you'll want to see if you can get it done before March as no matter what you won't pay any more points than expected and you might even get a refund.

Here are the new free night award charts as of March 2020:




Overall this isn't a welcome shift from Hyatt. I mean it is a good thing  if you can get off-peak pricing for award nights but those will just mirror when the hotel isn't as full and the cash rates are lower anyways. The true value in the Hyatt program was being able to redeem at a flat rate for those aspirational properties during high season and getting great value out of your points. Now those same nights will undoubtedly price out as Peak. That being said the increase in points isn't massive, 5,000 at most for a standard room, 10,000 for a suite but when us Canadians that can be a significant amount since we don't have multiple avenues of earning Hyatt points outside of actual Hyatt stays (unless you go the route of getting a U.S. Hyatt credit card).

The other change coming to the program is an enhancement as the program is adding value by reducing the amount points required if you redeem for Dining, Spa & More Awards. This is where you use points for U.S. Dollar credits toward dining, spa, in-room purchases and more. These new rates will take effect in January. Here is the redemption chart for this option showing the old and new rates.

These redemptions are a lot better! You'll get no less than 1 cent per point to just over 1.5 cents per points in redemption value. This is still a lower than the value you would get when redeeming for the award nights or suite upgrades but is still an option if you have so many points that you don't know what to do with them or on the opposite end don't have enough for a meaningful award night stay but can get a credit for these other options.

Overall it isn't great news that Hyatt is moving to include Peak and Off Peak pricing. Sure there may be times it will be better as nights will be cheaper but for most of us we are using loyalty programs (or at least trying to) when everyone else is, fo spring break, summer, Christmas, you name it. Those nights will more than likely now cost more now.

You can learn all about these World of Hyatt changes here.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Marriott Bonvoy Moments has some incredible Super Bowl LIV packages that you can bid on!


Calling all NFL fans! Marriott Bonvoy has released a bunch of packages for Super Bowl LIV on their Moments site. There nine different package options that you can bid your Bonvoy points on, and there are multiples of most of the packages available.

Super Bowl LIV takes place in Miami Florida this year on February 2nd and most of the packages are weekend events that include tickets to the game along with additional perks like sideline access, post game field access, brunch with an NFL legend and much more! Of course most of the packages also include multiple nights at a Marriott hotel!

For example this is what you are bidding for if you go for the  Super Bowl LIV Stadium Suite Tickets, Pre-Game Sideline Access + Hotel package, of which there are two available and at the time of posting the bidding was up to 902.500 points per package:
  • Members-only game day brunch (2 February 2020)
  • Pre-game passes to access the sideline before Super Bowl LIV (2 February 2020)
  • Suite Tickets (seat 15A-16A or seat 17A-18A*) in stadium seats to Super Bowl LIV, complete with food and beverage (2 February 2020)
  • Three-night stay in a double occupancy standard room at a Marriott property (31 January - 3 February 2020)
  • Ground transportation to included events
  • Access for two people
Here the highlights of nine packages that you can bid on:




Of course if you bid on any of these packages and win you are responsible on getting yourself to Miami as flights aren't included in any of the packages.

Related: A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!


These are some really exciting packages for the ultimate NFL fan as they include access to events that the regular joe blow off the street can't access! So if you are sitting on a decent amount of Bonvoy points (the lowest bid on any of the packages at time of posting was 152,500 for the halftime show one) start getting your bid on to score a once in a lifetime experience!

Learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Moments Super Bowl LIV packages here! 



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Earn Double Aeroplan Miles when you fly on GOL

Travels taking you to South America? Check out this new bonus from Aeroplan to earn extra miles when flying on Brazil's GOL Airlines.

Offer details:
Double Aeroplan Miles when you fly on GOL Airlines in an eligible fare class. Register online (Registration is required) Register by Jan 13 for travel until Mar 31, 20

Here are some other Aeroplan offers to check out:
Find our complete list of Aeroplan bonus offers here!
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December 4 Update: Condor Airlines adds Edmonton-Frankfurt flights, Tangerine World added to comparison chart & new Amex Offers added


Condor Airlines, the German leisure airline that serves several cities in Canada has announced a new destination, Edmonton! The airline will fly twice a week between Edmonton and Frankfurt starting on June 1, 2020. The airline participates in the Miles & More frequent flyer program (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines etc.) so you can earn and burn your M&M miles on these flights should you wish however I think for most Edmontonians the better option is utilizing proprietary credit card loyalty programs for these flights. Find out more about the new route here.


Rewards Canada is a guest on the North Report podcast which focuses on all avenues of running a technology business in Toronto and beyond. In episode 5 of their 2nd second season we discuss the back end of loyalty programs and what sort of shifts we have seen in the industry. Check it out here!

We have added the recently released Tangerine Bank World Mastercard to Cash Back Comparison Chart. Visit the chart here and see how this card stacks up against the rest of the cash back cards in Canada!



Several new Amex Offers are now available! The offers are for Clear Clinical (spend $250 get $50 credit) and Busy Bee Tools (spend $100 get $20 credit). I don't think I'll use either of these ones but maybe you can! Simply login to your online account or the app to see if you these offers are available to you. I received both of these offers on my American Express Gold Rewards Card.

And speaking of Amex Offers I recently took advantage of the Wayfair offer (spend $125 get $25 credit). The credit showed up 2 days after the Wayfair purchase posted. Always nice to get some money back on something you have to buy!

Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals


Ethiopian Airlines is offering 20% off their flights out of Toronto with promo code EUA01. Book by Dec 26 for travel to any Ethiopian Airlines destination in the New Year! 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

Aeroflot Bonus
- 5,000 Bonus Bonus Miles when you book a Maldives package from Maldiviana. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jan 15, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- OFFER EXTENDED Double Avios on every hotel booking made with Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31, 19 for stays until Jun 30, 20

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles for stays at The Fullerton Hotel Sydney More... Book by Jan 17 for stays until Mar 17, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- 2,000 Bonus  Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Moxy Minneapolis Uptown. More... Until Jan 23, 20

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Double FlySmiles when you fly on SriLankan in business class from Trivandrum to Colombo. More... Book by Dec 10 for travel until Jan 31, 20


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Aeroplan's 12 Days of Gifting launched today with 10x Miles for online purchases with Indigo


Aeroplan's 12 Days of Gifting has returned for 2019! The campaign kicks off today and will feature a different bonus mile offer each and every day for the next 12 days. The first offer that is for today only is 10x Aeroplan Miles for purchases made online with Indigo. You do have to click through the Aeroplan eStore to earn the miles so make sure you start your shopping process there! Remember as well that you can still earn your Chapters Indigo Plum Rewards points on these purchases as well and not to mention whatever points or miles you earn on your credit card for the purchase as well!


You'll find this offer and more tips for holiday shopping on our Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shoppinng feature!

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Give A Mile 2019 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign - Help Rewards Canada raise 50,000 miles for flights of compassion


Rewards Canada's charity partner Give A Mile has launched their annual Flight Hero Christmas Campaign. We have covered Give A Mile many times before on the blog and our podcast but as a quick refresher here is what Give A Miles is all about:


Established in Calgary, Canada in February 2013, Give A Mile is dedicated to bringing together the terminally ill, or critically sick, with family members or close friends by crowdfunding airline flights through micro-donations of travel loyalty miles. We work across Canada. We are 100% donation model so all miles donated go to flights.  We are 100% volunteer team with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal of giving 1 billion miles to families that need these flights.  A federally registered not-for-profit agency in Canada, Give A Mile is recognized as a charity by Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program, and offers tax receipts for money donations to donors through an agreement with the Place2Give Foundation.

For the 2019 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign Give A Mile's goals are to raise enough miles to provide 60 flights of compassion. 



Rewards Canada has signed on to be a Flight Hero for the 2019 campaign and our Flight Hero goal is to raise 50,000 miles!

We are asking our readers to help us reach that goal! Rewards Canada has donated 10,000 miles to kick start our portion of the campaign and as we do each year we ask the Rewards Canada community to help Give A Mile and Canadians in dire circumstances get the flights they need to visit their loved ones. Whether it is 40 of you at 1,000 miles each or any other combination - any donation is greatly appreciated!

Donate today via Rewards Canada's Flight Hero Page on Give A Mile

To donate simply click the link above and then click on Donate to this Story


 

You'll go through a couple of steps and be able to choose which program to donate from and once your donation is complete the total should be updated on the Give A Mile site within a few minutes.

Give A Mile and Rewards Canada appreciate and are very thankful for any and all donations!

Finally we ask that you comment below after you donate! Don't be shy, let us and our readers know how much you donated and feel free to pass along any comments or well wishes to Give A Mile!
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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for December - 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 December! 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 (welcome/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 some 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 actually only see one first year free card on the list! A

A big change this month as we look at overall value - not just if a card is first year free. We also rank the cards based on minimum travel value. That being said there are  3 of the same cards from November, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and the National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard.  The two newcomers are the American Express AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard as it had a new welcome offer brought to it in November and also the Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard as we updated the value on that card.

Remember as well that you will  find this list right on the Rewards Canada homepage for easy reference!


Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for December (in order of welcome bonus value, calculated as mile/points minus annual fee)

American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card - 3,500 Miles (Apply here)
New to the list the American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card recently underwent some changes and to mark those changes they came out with this big offer on the card. The bonus is split, 1,700 on spending $1,500 on the card in the first three months and then an additional 1,800 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in each of the first six months of having the card. Those 3,500 miles are worth no less than $385 in our latest valuations.  This card just underwent some changes that make it the best card for earning AIR MILES in Canada which you can learn more about that here: Earn up to 3,500 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles with the newly enhanced American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card
Minimum Income: N/A


Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card - 50,000 Points (Apply here)
No changes to this card means it stays put on the list The 50,000 points, awarded after spending $1,500 on the card in three months are worth at least $500 in our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming out ahead by $380. 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)
The new offer on this card is somewhat lower than the last offering but it is actually a lot easier to obtain and you only come out 5,000 to 10,000 miles below. The bonus is awarded as follows: 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your first Purchase with your Card + 5x Aeroplan Miles on all purchases per $1,000 in the first three months (up to 15,000 miles) Depending on how you redeem those Aeroplan miles should be worth no less than $360 but more likely closer to $800 or more! In fact if you take the per mile value from our post from late July this welcome bonus would be worth $1,800 or more.
Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000 Household

Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard - 30,000 Miles (Apply here)
This card offers a welcome bonus of 30,000 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first three months of having it. This is one of the easiest bonuses to achieve and this card is one of the most churnable in Canada. There are really no problems in getting it 2-4 times in one year alone! Those 30,000 miles are worth no less than $330 when redeeming for economy class flights and just go up from there like the TD Aeroplan card.
Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard - $480 Cash Back (Apply here)
This card's offer hasn't changed in a few months so it retains its spot in the list. You will get $40 cash back for each month you spend $500 on the card in the first 12 months. This will give you $480 in rewards but then subtracting the annual fee of $150 you are coming out ahead by $330.
Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with anywhere from $1,700 to over $3,000 in travel value. However 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. 


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Fly Edmonton to Europe in business class for as little as 58,000 miles, Calgary & Toronto from 79,500 miles


On Saturday I brought you the details of the Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards for December. As I mentioned in the post they weren't bookable just yet and would follow up with an availability post. As promised, here it is! Check out Edmonton to Milan - only 58,000 miles round trip in business class!

Air France KLM’s Promo Rewards offer mileage discounts from 20 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class and that's the case for flights on KLM out of Edmonton! For Calgary and Toronto the discount is 25% off business class. 

Offer details
December 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 Dec 31 for travel Feb 1 – Mar 31, 20

This month's Canadian cities:
Calgary - 25% off business class on KLM
Edmonton - 50% off business class on KLM
Toronto - 25% off business class on Air France or KLM

Here are the mileage requirements for flying from Canada to Amsterdam or Paris (the mileage amount will vary for other cities in Europe).


And an example of some of the availability from Edmonton to Amsterdam in February:


 And return flights:


Here is an example of a round trip booking:


It's actually 500 miles less than published at 60,500 miles and 424.88 EUR in taxes and fees. Even with the taxes and fees at that amount this is a great redemption as business class flights on these routes will cost you over $3,900 (this is actually a really good seat sale price too!)



Here are some other city options we looked at that price out at the same amount or even less miles:

And some 25% off potential from Calgary and Toronto:



Honestly though if you are based in Calgary I would maybe consider taking a drive up to Edmonton to save those 30,000 miles!

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 more than enough to cover a round trip flight between Vancouver and Rome, Lisbon or Warsaw in premium economy 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!   
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