This week we cover a range of topis. We
discuss the Coronavirus and how it is affecting travel, what travel and
credit card insurance covers
or does not cover, airline and hotel waivers, hotels extending status
and more. We then jump into the recently announced negative changes
coming to the three Rogers/Fido Mastercards, the big hotel category
changes from Marriott and also talk about their new hotels in Canada.
UPDATE: According to our reader Amy you have to wait 90 days between applications for any RBC cards (at least online, could be different in branch) so this may be tough to achieve unless one or both offers get extended to a point where you can get them 90 days apart
Right now if you grab yourself two RBC credit cards you can come out with at least 700 WestJet dollars for as little as $240 in annual fees and purchases. The two cards are the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card.
The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard currently has a 350 WestJet dollar welcome bonus until the end of March. That bonus is awarded on your first purchase which means you could choose to only spend $1 on the card in addition to the $119 annual fee to score the 350 WestJet dollars. This offer is set to end on March 31.
Next up is the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card - it has a 35,000 RBC Rewards Point welcome bonus that is awarded upon approval. That's right - no spend required. You do however have to pay the $120 annual fee on the card and you must apply by March 31. RBC Rewards Points convert to WestJet dollars at a rate of 100 points to 1 dollar which means this sign up bonus is worth 350 WestJet dollars. And if you don't need the dollars right away you can await one of RBC's twice annual transfer bonuses to WestJet. As of late it has only been 10% but that could mean you would actually get 385 WestJet dollars for the 35,000 points.
Let's quickly recap the spend - $1 purchase and $119 annual fee on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and $120 annual fee for the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card. All told that is $240 you dole out to get 700 WestJet dollars. Not a bad deal at all!
WestJet dollars work just like cash - that is 700 WestJet dollars equals 700 towards flights you purchase with WestJet. You could buy two $350 tickets (before taxes and fees as WestJet dollars don't cover those) or one $700 or even buy a business class ticket on the Dreamliner for several thousand dollars and redeem 700 towards it so you aren't spending as much.
You could also look at WestJet Rewards Member Exclusive fares where you can fly for as little as 99 WestJet dollars one way in Canada or 629 one way to Australia! There are lots of options to choose from and use your WestJet dollars for and to get 700 of them for only $240 is one of the better reward options in our market right now.
Just a reminder that come April 1 there are some changes coming to the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard as the annual companion voucher will be bumped up to $119 for North America flights and $399 for Hawaii and Sun destination. Read our complete post on the changes here.
On the latest Rewards Canada family vacation we got to check out the new American Express Centurion and Escape Lounges in Phoenix. The lounges are located in Terminal 4 of Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport and are very new - they just opened up during the second week of January. For most Canadian's this means if you are flying WestJet you will be able to use the lounges if you haveThe Platinum Card from American Expressor the Centurion Card. The Escape Lounge also has pay per use access should you not have either card. Unfortunately Air Canada changed terminals early in February so if you are flying AC you won't be able to access the lounge without changing terminals and going through security multiple times.
Lounge location
For our trip the location of the lounges was perfect - right next to B23 which is where our WestJet flight back to YYC was departing from. We were flying home on President's Day which meant the airport was insane with lots of people flying home from the long weekend but with TSA Pre-Check we cleared security in under 5 minutes.
We arrived at the lounge entrance around 4pm and at check in they have three kiosks - one for the Escape Lounge and two for the Centurion Lounge. There were six of us travelling together which meant my wife and I each had to provide our Platinum Cards as the access rules state each cardholder can bring two guests in with them. Once our credentials were quickly checked we received two invite cards stating three people in total on each to hand to the agent at the top of the stairs to enter the Centurion Lounge.
We handed the cards in and the nice agent detailed the lounge for us along with directions to access the shower suite if we wished to use it. She also gave the WiFi access details and off we went into the new lounge. The lounge itself was quite nice but seeing as it was late afternoon at the end of a long weekend it was packed! This is something that is not new to Centurion Lounges - they are somewhat a victim of their own success and many of them are packed during peak times. This was obviously a peak time. We did find a shared high bar table where the six of us could settle in and did so. It wasn't the most comfortable or private space and after looking at the line up to get drinks for the bar and the number of people hovering over the buffet for food I went off on a mission to see what the Escape Lounge was like. As I was exiting I wasn't the only one with that idea - another gentlemen was there talking to the agent at the entrance of the Centurion Lounge and she explained that entry to that lounge was also complimentary for Platinum or higher cardholders and that the food and drinks were exactly the same - just presented a little differently. I went in and found the lounge to be much quieter and in my opinion actually set up better and more comfortable than the Centurion Lounge. A quick text to the rest of the group and they came over and we settled in to some nice tables and seats in the back corner of the Escape Lounge.
The tables and seats we commandeered
Some of the other seating options in the Escape lounge
The food was quite good and ranged from some chicken with vegetable dishes, vegetarian cauliflower dishes, salads and some really good desserts. Also the Tortilla soup they had was quite delicious! Finally - and this a big plus - there was no line to get drinks from the bartender in the Escape Lounge. We were able to walk right up and order our beverages without waiting. He did ask to see our Platinum Card as a secondary check but he never did ask again after seeing it the first time. Seeing that the food is the same in both lounges I can tell you that it will be good whichever side you visit!
Salads and Desserts
Veggie dishes
Chicken and Veggie dishes
The Escape Lounge Bar
Both lounges also provide some great views of the tarmac and runways if you enjoy planespotting!
Planespotting
The Escape Lounge also has two single bathrooms for all to use and they are complete with l'occitane products:
All in all these new lounges in Phoenix are great and either one makes a great place to go and relax. Hopefully when you visit it isn't during a peak time and can enjoy the Centurion side more than we did! One of our Twitter followers mentioned she hasn't had any issues in the lounge with crowding so she obviously knows when to travel! I too hope that one day we can enjoy a Centurion Lounge a little more as this also happened to us in San Francisco where we walked into, around and right out of the lounge as it was insane when we went! However if you do visit and it is busy the Escape Lounge is a great place to visit.
Aeroplan's Miles Madness promotion for online shopping via the Aeroplan eStore has returned. You can earn up to 10x miles for your online shopping until March 8. Some retailers offering 10x miles are Frank & Oak and Indigo while others like Sephora and Old Navy are 5x miles. As always be sure to use a mileage earning credit card for the purchases and also to log in to your account at the retailer to earn that's retailer's points like Indigo's Plum Rewards, Sephora Beauty Insider etc.
Another hotel loyalty program sign up bonus for you today! Earlier we brought you the Hilton Honors new sign up bonusand now there is this one. This one is for Red Lion Hotels Hello Rewards
and doesn’t require a stay like the Hilton offer. Simply sign up by
February 29 to receive 30 bonus Hello Bucks which translates to $30 you
can use towards a future stay at over 1,100 locations which include some locations in Canada like Canada's Best Value Inns and Knights Inn.
Offer details
30 Bonus Hello Buck when you join the Red Lion Hotels Hello Rewards program.Full details.Until Feb 29, 20
You can also earn another 29 Hello Bucks if you book a stay by March 5 that is completed by April 30. Same link above provides details on that bonus!
If you haven't joined Hilton Honors yet but think you may stay with them this year you'll want to check out this offer. They are offering bonus points to anyone who joins the
program this year and completes one or two stays within 6 months of
joining. No registration is required – the bonus is triggered
automatically when you join the program. It is valid if you joined
anytime on or after January 1, 2020. After you join if you complete one
stay within 6 months you’ll earn 2,000 bonus points, complete a second
stay and you’ll get an additional 3,000 bonus points. Offer details:
Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Honors Points when you join Hilton Honors and complete Hilton hotel stays within 6 months of joining. Full details & online booking(No registration is required) Join by Dec 31, 20
Bonuses as follows:
2,000 bonus points on your first stay
3,000 bonus points on your second stay
This offer can be stacked with the current Hilton Honors systemwide
promotion when you earn 2,000 Bonus Honors points per stay at Hilton
Hotels worldwide plus 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights stayed. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required)
A new RBC Offers offer is out for those who
shop at Rexall. This offer gives a 4% statement credit on all your
Rexall purchases up to $1,000 during the promotional period which is
January 30 to March 26. I received the offer for my WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. Hopefully you will be targeted for it as well! Simply
log in to your RBC account online and check the Offers for You section
or via the RBC mobile app.
Image via RBC
American Express announced the opening of their
11th Centurion Lounge in Charlotte, North Carolina will take
place on February 24. The new 13,000+ square foot lounge can be accessed
with The Platinum Card from American Express or the Centurion Card if
you are lucky enough to have the latter. Air Canada is the only Canadian
airline flying to Charlotte and you can access the lounge if you are
flying AC however be aware the lounge is pretty much on the other side
of airport terminal in the Plaza which is between concourse D & E
and Air Canada flies out of Concourse A. They are all connected after
security so you don't have to worry about having to clear multiple times
just to access the lounge.
"As the seventh busiest airport in the world and with more than 46
million travelers passing through, Charlotte Douglas International
Airport will host one of the largest Centurion Lounges to date spanning
more than 13,000 square feet. The new Centurion Lounge location will
welcome Platinum Card®, Centurion® and Delta Reserve Card Members and
their guests to redefine their pre-flight experience with top of the
line amenities and a premium dining menu curated by James Beard
semifinalist and local Charlotte Chef, Joe Kindred. "
A complimentary full bar with custom cocktails created by
renowned mixologist Jim Meehan and wines selected by wine authority,
Anthony Giglio*
A custom mural by local artist, Amanda Moody
Shower suites to keep travelers refreshed while on the go
Family rooms designed as a respite for parents and kids alike
Floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping airfield and downtown skyline views
Essentials for business and leisure travelers alike, including
dedicated workspaces, power outlets, private phone areas, comfortable
seating and access to high-speed Wi-Fi
Over the past year or so we have been giving you updates on the World of Hyatt and Small…
Travel Deals
Air Transat has some great
deals to the U.S. with their latest 4 day sale! Book by Feb 24 to grab
round trip fares between Montreal and New Orleans for $302, Toronto to
Orlando for $332 and more!. Find out more here.
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 20% Bonus Club Premier Points when you transfer Radisson Rewards points to AeroMexico Club Premier Points. More... Until Mar 21, 20
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at Fiesta Hotels. More... Until Mar 31, 20
Marriott Bonvoy
- 50% Bonus Bonvoy Points when you buy 2,000 or more points online. More... Until Mar 25, 20
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy points PER NIGHT at the Residence Inn Chicago Oak Brook. More... Until Mar 9, 20
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
-
30% KrisFlyer Miles Discount when your redeem miles for select award flights on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. More... Book by Feb 29 for travel Mar 1 - 31, 20
Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Earn up to 8X Miles&Smiles Miles for stays of 2+ nights at the Elite World Sapanca Hotel. More... Until Mar 31, 20
The most recent Rewards Canada family vacation had us visiting Scottsdale and Sedona, Arizona. With only a day trip planned to Sedona it seemed fitting to try out a tour - now the RC family isn't huge into tours, we usually like to explore on our own however with not too much time to spend in Sedona we wanted to see lots of the area without taking hours hiking around. The solution? A jeep tour! There are several off road tour operators in the Sedona area that offer Jeep and Hummer tours. The most popular and probably the most highly reviewed that we found wasPink Jeep Toursso we decided to go with them.
Pink Jeep tours offers a whole bunch of different Jeep tours and itineraries. As it we had never done one before and were also somewhat time constrained with a 2 hour drive to Sedona and back in the same day we looked at the shorter tours they offer which are 2 hour tours. The most popular tour they have is Broken Arrow, which is also exclusive to Pink Jeep which means no other tour companies offer this route is the one we chose. This tour seems ideal as it's not overly crazy but has enough bumps, climbs, descents to make an off-road enthusiast happy not to mention some amazing scenery! We booked the tour several weeks in advance on Pink Jeep's website and used myPlatinum Card from American Expressto pay for it. Pink Jeep codes as travel so it earns 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent (same would go for the Gold Rewards or Cobalt cards) and is also an eligible charge for the full Pay with Points option of 1,000 points to a $10 statement credit. I would recommend booking in advance especially if you are looking to go on the weekend or during a busy holiday period. We visited on a Friday of President's Day weekend (same as Family Day here) and the Saturday and Sunday were already quite full when we booked so we went with the Friday.
On to the tour! We had six people travelling in our group and the Jeeps seat seven so there was a fun lady from California who joined our crew for the 2 hour tour. After you check in at Pink Jeep Plaza on Highway 89A in North Sedona you are told to go to the passenger waiting area about 15 minutes before your booked departure time.
As departure time nears they have a 'greeter' who details what will transpire next - the guides will come out and call your name and then take you to your Jeep.
You'll board the Jeep, buckle up and off you go! It the took the Jeep about ten minutes to get through Sedona to the trailhead. I'm guessing it didn't used to be that long however Sedona is a victim of success and is now a travellers mecca with lots of people visiting it and with that comes traffic. He said that our traffic was nothing - on the busiest days of the year they sometimes have to cut tours short so that they can make it back to the Pink Jeep Plaza on time for the next tour.
The tour itself was amazing and the scenery alone is worth it:
Our guide Stephen was awesome and we were so happy we had him as our tour guide! He was funny, outgoing, friendly, knowledgeable, didn't beat around the bush and more! Stephen definitely made the tour very enjoyable. He discusses the local geology, history of the area, history of Pink Jeep, went into details about the Jeeps, the trails and more. He even revealed a fault line through Submarine Rock which is evidenced in this photo:
Not only did we visit Submarine Rock, the tour also took us to Chicken point where you can see the Two Nuns - named so as on the other side of them is the Chapel of the Holy Cross and then closed out with a ride down the Devil's Staircase.
The Two Nuns
Devil's Staircase
We took a bunch of photos and videos of the tour and chances are you will as well so make sure your phone has lots of juice! I should also mention Stephen is a great photographer, he took some amazing photos of our family! I haven't pieced together our videos from the tour just yet so if you want to see it in action here's a video from Pink Jeep Tours detailing Broken Arrow:
Overall we weren't sure about a jeep tour as we've seen them before in places like Palm Springs and have avoided them but if they are all like this one then you can bet we will be going more of them in the future! In fact, we are already saying that we need to return to Sedona and do another one of the tours - perhaps a longer one!
Have you been a jeep tour before? Are there any you have loved? Or disliked? Let us know!
* Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you book direct with Pink Jeep via these links. You don't have to book via our link but thank you in advance if you choose to do so!
Earlier in the week Marriott Bonvoy revealed their next buy points offer.
This is Marriott’s fourth offer on buying points since taking over SPG,
who was famous for their offers! All the previous offers were discounts
on the price of the points while this time they take a new approach and
keep the pricing at the base amount but are adding bonus points. When
you 2,000 or more Bonvoy points you’ll receive a 50% bonus and they have
also increased the maximum number of points you can buy from 50,000 to
100,000 annually with this promotion. Note that you can only buy 50,000
points in one transaction so you would have to complete 2 transactions
to get to the annual maximum. Marriott points are sold a flat rate so
you are paying the same amount per point if you buy 2,000 points or
50,000 points. With a 50% bonus the per point cost drops to 0.83 cents
(US) or about 1.1 cents in Canadian dollars. This is the lowest price we have seen for Marriott points to date
but still not as low as we saw with SPG. With that being said 0.83 cents US
is a pretty good price seeing that you can easily achieve well over 1
cent US per point on award night redemptions – more so if you take
advantage of the 5th night free benefit.
For example, Rewards Canada’s most recent redemption was just over 1.4 cents (C$) so such a
redemption would be advantageous if you bought the points at 1.1 cents
each – that’s only of course if you don’t already have tons of points in
your account which we did. And that 1.4 cents was only for four nights as that's all our schedule allowed, had we had more time we could have received a fifth night for free and have bumped that up to about 1.75 cents per point.
Chances are I won't be buying points this time as we still have well over 7 figures in our accounts but for those of you who are on the low end this could be an opportune time to buy some - as long as you know you can use them soon and will come out ahead.
Offer details:
50% Bonus Bonvoy Points when you buy 2,000 or more points online. Buy points here.Until Mar 25, 20
You can buy a maximum of 100,000 points annually with this promotion.
Here are some more Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points offers to check out:
Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points + receive a hotel credit for
stays of 2+ nights for Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights in a suite at
any one of 12 Marriott Hotels in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Israel,
Kazakhstan, Russia, Romania, or Turkey. Full details & online booking.
25,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the
French Leave Resort, Autograph Collection Governor’s Harbour Eleuthera. Full details & online booking
1,000 bonus Bonvoy points and receive 20% off best available rate,
free buffet breakfast daily, Wi-Fi at The St. Regis Mauritius Resort or
the Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa. Full details & online booking
Over the past year or so we have been giving you updates on the World of Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels of the World partnership.
Most of those updates have been when more SLH Hotels were added to the
World of Hyatt program. One thing we always kept an eye out for was the
one Canadian SLH Hotel location and up until recently it was never
included in the updates. Well good news is that it is now participating
in the World of Hyatt program! That hotel is Trout Point Lodge
in East Kemptville Nova Scotia. The hotel clocks in as a Category 6
hotel in the World of Hyatt program which means the standard award night
rate is 25,000 points per night. As of March 22 there will also be Peak
and Off Peak pricing which means the hotel could go low as 21,000
points per night or as high as 29,000 points per night. Suites are more -
from 36,000 to 44,000 points per night and since Trout Point consists
primarily of Suites and Cottages chances are most redemptions will be in
this latter points range. Learn more here!
Title Image via Hyatt
Here's a Throwback Thursday from the Rewards Canada
archives! This one goes back to October 2007 and covers the Cathay
Pacific Roadshow. This article details the time Cathay Pacific drove an
18 wheeler to various cities including Calgary to reveal their new cabin
interiors from Economy Class to First Class. In Calgary the had the
truck and display on Stephen Avenue during the day to reveal the cabin
interiors to all the business people who walk the street during the
lunch hour! Let us know in the comments if you happened to visit the roadshow and remember it! You can read the old article here!
Back at the start of the month we let you know that Swissport was setting up to open a…
Travel Deals
Expedia is offering up to
40% off select hotels. Book yours by Mar 1 to save up to 40% on spring
escapes through May 31. Terms and conditions may apply.Find out more here.
Alitalia MilleMiglia
-
OFFER EXTENDED Earn up to 1,500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you fly Alitalia between Milan and London City. More... Until Mar 31, 20
Aer Lingus Aer Club
-
700 Bonus Avios when you rent with Avis for 3 or more days
in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, USA, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and Mexico. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until May 31, 20
Marriott Bonvoy
- 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy points PER NIGHT on Thursday-Sunday nights at The Westin Austin at The Domain. More... Until Mar 16, 20
- Earm up to 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy points PER NIGHT at The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square. More... Until Mar 24, 20
Miles & More
- 2,500 Bonus Miles & More Miles when you rent with Enterprise for 3
or more days in Worldwide. Complete 5 rentals and earn an additional
5,000 miles. More... Until Apr 30, 20
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- 30% ROP Miles discount for award tickets on 34 international routes,
economy and Royal Silk classes operated by THAI and THAI Smile. More... Book by Feb 29 for travel until Jun 30, 20
United MileagePlus
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles per adult member when you book a 6+
night United Vacations air+hotel package to Iberostar Resorts in Mexico.
More... Book by Feb 27 for travel until Oct 31, 20
