American Express® Gold Rewards Card sees increased earn rate of 5 points per dollar with Skip the Dishes and Uber Eats

Yet another limited time enhancement from American Express! Last week on Thursday we saw a boosted earn rate on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and later that day they came out with an earn offer for the American Express® Gold Rewards Card. We were already off for the long weekend when the offer came through to our email so are posting it a few days late but hopefully you saw the email from Amex if you have the card.

The offer for the Gold Rewards card sees all Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes purchases earn 5 points per dollar spent instead of 1. Like the Marriott offer this one runs until August 31, 2020 and is available to new and existing cardmembers.

Learn more about and apply for the American Express Gold Rewards Card here.

Images via American Express Canada

AIR MILES Pop Up and Shop event - 7x Reward Miles sitewide on airmilessshops until May 18

AIR MILES' Pop-Up & Shop event has returned for the long weekend! If you need to get an online shopping fix and are collecting AIR MILES this offer is for you. From today to May 18 you'll receive 7x the base miles site wide across airmilessshops.ca and there is no minimum spend outside of what it takes to earn the first mile with a retailer. In most cases that's $20 (before taxes & fees) to earn 1 mile which translates to 7 miles with this promotion.

Recommended Reading: The ultimate guide to earning miles, points, and cash back for online shopping and food delivery services

The offer can be combined with other bonus offers that are available for select retailers over the weekend. For example Kiehl's has a 5x miles offer which means if you spend $20 you'll earn 12 AIR MILES with that purchase, $40 would earn you 24 miles and so on. These earnings don't take into account any points or miles you earn on your credit card for the purchase nor any points you earn with the retailer's own loyalty program.

Learn more about the AIR MILES Pop-Up & Shop event here.

Image via AIR MILES
 

Qatar Airways Travel with Confidence - The best airline rebooking policy yet that can be used to obtain cheap business class flights to destinations around the globe

A couple of days ago Qatar Airways released their latest initiative to stimulate bookings amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic. They have entitled it Travel With Confidence and it is by far the best re-booking policy to emerge during this travel downturn. The airline is offering unprecedented change and rebooking options for flights that are completed in 2020. That's the key to this deal - the minute bookings are for 2021 you won't get as sweet as deal as this!

First we'll explore Qatar Airways Travel With Confidence guarantees:

• Hold on to your ticket
  Keep your ticket and use it when you are ready with our extended ticket validity, now valid for 2 years from the date of ticket issuance for greater flexibility.
• Unlimited changes
  You can change your travel date or destination free of charge, as often as you need, for travel until 31 December 2020. You can change your origin to another city within the same country or any other destination we fly to within a 5,000 mile radius of your original destination.
• Swap for Qmiles
  Swap your ticket for Qmiles and redeem them towards reward flights, extra baggage or cabin upgrades when the time is right. For every 1 USD, you will earn 100 Qmiles that are valid for at least three years, so you can have the flexibility to choose how, when and for whom to redeem them.
• Exchange for future travel
  You can exchange your ticket for a future travel voucher with 10% additional value. Vouchers are now valid for two years from the date of voucher issuance.
• Refund your ticket
  Qatar Airways will refund your ticket to the original form of payment if your flight gets cancelled.

All of the above do provide a lot of confidence for travel in 2020 and if you are willing to give it a shot the point that is getting the most buzz is number 2 - unlimited changes. If you read it you may at first not believe it but it is true and Qatar is abiding by what they state. You can book any flight for travel until December 31 and change it as much as you want to any destination within 5,000 miles of your originally booked flights. Yes you read that right - 5,000 miles! And you can even change your origin as long as it is in the same country although that's not really useful for us seeing that Qatar only flies to Montreal and nowhere else in Canada. However they do have several U.S. departure points that you can look into and that's where the biggest buzz comes from.  One Mile at a Time shows that you can fly from Philadelphia to Kiev in business class for around US$1,600 and if you take a 5,000 mile radius from Kiev you have most of Africa, Asia and Europe covered where you can choose to change your ticket to. There are other examples that have been brought forward from bloggers showing New York to Kiev as a low price option as well. The route to Kiev is the one you'd want to book first since it prices out the cheapest and then you call to change to the actual city or cities you would want to visit. Basically you'd be looking at paying US$1,600 to fly business class to cities like Seoul, Delhi, Hanoi and so many others. A real steal of deal!

But if you don't want to go the route of travelling via the U.S. (getting a positioning flight etc.) you can look at Montreal departures. Here is just one example we found that doesn't price out too bad at all:

Montreal to Mumbai for $2892.45

Once booked you could then switch to cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo or even Perth. Of course you have the beautiful Indian Ocean island nations to pick from as well. We checked out Perth on the same dates as above and it prices out at over C$6,500 so by booking a ticket to Mumbai first and then changing it to Perth you would save yourself over 50% of the ticket price.

If you do choose to book some flights to try to take advantage of this generous policy I recommend putting the purchase on The Platinum Card from American Express as it earns 4 points per dollar spent on travel until July 20. If you take the Mumbai example above you would earn 11,568 Membership Rewards points on the purchase and if you take into account their double redemption value at 1,000 points to $20 you would essentially be earning $231 cash back on the flight purchase.

Now you do have a couple questions that you'll have to ask yourself before taking advantage of this offer:

• Do I want to travel in 2020? If you have any hesitation about travelling outside our borders don't move on this offer.
• Do I wait to see how and where the world goes in the next few months before booking? This one is tough to answer and I would say not to wait.  Even though they say it is good for tickets purchased up to September 30 that could change at anytime. The reason why is this policy and subsequent amazing deal to switch flights is being posted on so many miles & points and travel blogs around the world! It is very possible the demand along with so many flight changes may overwhelm Qatar Airways and force them to cut the policy short.

Should you choose to go ahead and give it a shot we'd love to hear from you and have you document and write about it for the Rewards Canada community.  Let us know in the comments below or send us an email!

Learn more about the policy and book your Qatar Airways flights here

Title image via Qatar Airways

Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card sees increased earn rate for groceries, food delivery and take out until the end of August

A couple of weeks ago we saw Marriott co-branded credit cards in the U.S. get an earning boost for grocery store purchases and now we see something similar for our Canadian Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card!

From today to August 31, 2020, Cardmembers will now earn 5 points for every $1 in eligible purchases on groceries, food delivery and takeout. That's 3 more points than the standard 2 points per dollar spent on the card for those categories. The bonus points will be awarded up to a maximum 30,000 bonus points.  Cardmembers can also continue to earn 5 points per $1 in purchases at Marriott Bonvoy properties and 2 points per $1 in purchases everywhere else.

This offer is open to existing and new Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cardmembers. So if you don't have the card yet you can apply for it now and take part in the promotion until the end of August. This is a really good boost for the card and continues to show how American Express is really at the forefront of making sure their Cardmembers are taken care of during these times.

Learn more about and apply for the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card here 

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May 14 Update: Receive 50% more value on hotel vouchers for future travel to Australia/New Zealand, don't use PayPal for Aeroplan's eStore co-brand card promotion & more!

Think you might travel to Australia or New Zealand by 2022? There is a pretty amazing offer from Swiss Belhotel. For a limited time you can get 50% more value by buying vouchers for future stays at their New Zealand and Australia Hotels. That's right - 50% more. Buy a $1,000 voucher and you'll get $1,500 in value to use towards the room and most incidental costs. The vouchers are valid until September 1, 2022 and come in $100, $200, $500 and $1000 denominations before the bonus.  Find out more here To ensure the most savings use a No Foreign Transaction fee credit card for the purchase!
Redeemable at Swiss-Belsuites Victoria Park Auckland, Zest OK Auckland, Swiss-Belsuites Pounamu Queenstown, Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak, The York Sydney, Swiss-Belhotel Brisbane. Voucher can be used for any payment (rooms, food, drinks, incidentals)

One of our readers, Phil M, asked if the current promotion to earn 5x Aeroplan Miles on Aeroplan eStore purchases with an Aeroplan co-branded card requires the purchase to be made directly with the card or if a card connected to PayPal will work. We reached out to Aeroplan and they told us it will not work. You have to make the purchase with your card directly at the retailer to earn the bonus..

We've now set up a section for Travel Resumption News, Articles & Information on our COVID-19 resource page . This section will provide details on quarantine procedures, country opening dates etc. for those who are just itching to start travelling when it becomes possible. If you find any details not listed or information that needs updating please let us know. Right now we've populated it with one country but will be adding to it on an ongoing basis.

Airline Schedule Updates
This will now be a standard feature for the foreseeable future in our daily update posts as we summarize Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Emirates has confirmed on their website that they will be flying between Toronto and Dubai as of May 21 instead of July 1. It is one of 9 cities that they are starting operations to next week. (Source Emirates)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

Posts since our last update:

• Shopping online from the U.S.? Check out these bonus offers from Alaska Airlines, American & United
  Online shopping portals are more popular than ever thanks to the huge shift in shopping habits due to the…
• Earn Double Stamps on hotel bookings made via Hotels.com – earn a free night after only 5 nights
  Hurry if you want to get in on this deal as it is limited to 12,444 bookings! Right now…
• 65% bonus for buying Aeroplan miles extended to May 15
  Aeroplan's first ever buy miles bonus offer has been extended to May 15. The tiered bonus offer that saw…
• May 13 Update: Amex lowers welcome bonuses on The Platinum Card & Business Platinum Card, a look back at the first 100K point credit card bonus in Canada, good Travelzoo deal for Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff
  American Express has really shifted focus on keeping current Platinum cardmembers engaged and using their cards as much as…

Deals:

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Travelzoo and Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff are selling discounted vouchers for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for starting at $179-$199 each for June, $199-$239 for July and $269-$319 for August & September. Based on these numbers looks like they are anticipating a decent return to travel in late Summer. We did a quick check for a mid-week stay in June and Brewster's wanted $339 for the same room and the cheapest 3rd party rate we could find was $209. Sot the $179 voucher definitely provides some savings. Find out more here. 

Great deal! Fairmont Chateau Whistler golf package offer - stay and play from $185pp per night in June. Find out more here.
 
Travelzoo and Huntingdon Manor Hotel in Victoria B.C. are selling discounted vouchers offering Breakfast & Parking, 35% Off for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for stays starting at $95 per night each for stays between June and November. Find out more here. 

4Ocean - Introducing the Sperm Whale Beaded Bracelet - $20 at 4ocean! Valid until 5/31. Shop Now!

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

No new bonus offers added today

Other Bonus Offers

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Earn up to 2,020 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you shop online via the Mileage Plan Shopping portal.  More... Until May 19, 20

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 2,020 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you shop online via the AAdvantage Shopping portal. More... Until May 18, 20

IHG Rewards Club
- 4,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for stays of 7+ nights at the Staybridge Suites Washington-Greenbelt More... Until Dec 31, 20

United MileagePlus
- Earn up to 2,020 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you shop online via the MileagePlus Shopping portal. More... Until May 19, 20




Follow Rewards Canada:

Shopping online from the U.S.? Check out these bonus offers from Alaska Airlines, American & United

Online shopping portals are more popular than ever thanks to the huge shift in shopping habits due to the current global situation. With more people shopping online than ever it is a little surprising that we even see any bonus offers for going through these online shopping portals but we are! The three latest offers come from U.S. airlines but are very much accessible to Canadians for those retailers that do ship up to Canada or for even more retailers if you ship to a U.S. address and then forward to Canada. Remember though all these retailers charge in US$ so you may want to utilize a No Foreign Transaction fee card like the HSBC World Elite Mastercard or Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card to save on that 2.5% conversion fee that most other cards charge.

The offers are almost the same from all three - you can earn bonuses of 500 to 2,020 miles in each program and the only real differences are a higher spend requirement with Alaska while American's offer ends one day sooner than the other two.

NOTE: Before you complete any shopping via the portals you do have to register for the promotion(s) which can be done via the links below.

Here are the offers.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Earn up to 2,020 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you shop online via the Mileage Plan Shopping portal.  Full details Until May 19, 20
Tier 1 bonus: 500 miles for 1 individual qualifying purchase of $75 or more;
Tier 2 bonus: 1,000 miles for 2 individual qualifying purchases of $75 or more;
Tier 3 bonus: 1,500 miles for 3 individual qualifying purchases of $75 or more;
Tier 4 bonus: 2,020 miles for 4 or more individual qualifying purchases of $75 or more.

American AAdvantage
Earn up to 2,020 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you shop online via the AAdvantage Shopping portal.  Full details Until May 18, 20
Tier 1 bonus: 500 miles for 1 individual qualifying purchase of $50 or more;
Tier 2 bonus: 1,000 miles for 2 individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more;
Tier 3 bonus: 1,500 miles for 3 individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more;
Tier 4 bonus: 2,020 miles for 4 or more individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more.

United MileagePlus
Earn up to 2,020 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you shop online via the MileagePlus Shopping portal. Full details Until May 19, 20
Tier 1 bonus: 500 miles for 1 individual qualifying purchase of $50 or more;
Tier 2 bonus: 1,000 miles for 2 individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more;
Tier 3 bonus: 1,500 miles for 3 individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more;
Tier 4 bonus: 2,020 miles for 4 or more individual qualifying purchases of $50 or more.

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Earn Double Stamps on hotel bookings made via Hotels.com – earn a free night after only 5 nights

Hurry if you want to get in on this deal as it is limited to 12,444 bookings! Right now you can book stays via Hotels.com and receive double stamp in the Hotels.com Rewards program. That means instead of 10 stamps to get a free night you’ll get it after collecting only 5 stamps. You can book for stays all the way until August of next year and they don't have to be prepaid stays - you can book ones that are fully refundable as well.

Offer details:
Double Stamps on all stays booked via Hotels.com using coupon code RWD2X2020  Full details & online booking. Book by May 24 for stays until Aug 31, 21

Terms & conditions:
Use this coupon to collect double stamps with Hotels.com^® Rewards for every night you stay. E.g., if you stay 5 nights, you’ll collect 5 stamps and we’ll add another 5 stamps to your account – giving you a total of 10 stamps for your stay. Remember, collect 10 stamps, get 1 reward night.
Your reward night may not be redeemed on bookings paid for at the property. While we usually add collected stamps to your account within 72 hours of your completed stay, it may occasionally take as long as 4 weeks for your second room booking and extra stamps to get posted to your account. See here for full Hotels.com^® Rewards terms and conditions.
1. To use this coupon and collect double stamps, you must be a Hotels.com^® Rewards member over 18 years old and you must be signed into your account.
2. You need to make a new booking between 12:01 am MT (Mountain Time North America) on 05/14/2020 and 11:59 pm MT on 05/24/2020 on the United States version of Hotels.com^® for your check-in date between 06/01/2020 and 08/31/2021.
3. Redemptions are limited to the first 12,444 coupons used.
A reward night does not include taxes and fees and the value of these promotional stamps will not impact the average daily rate in determining the value of any reward night. You must also pay a redemption fee when you redeem your reward night on our desktop/mobile web site. You will not be charged a redemption fee when you redeem your reward night on our mobile app.
This coupon can’t be used for:
1. Package bookings i.e. property + flight
2. Bookings made through Group Travel Services
3. Booking paid for at the property
4. Bookings made prior to receipt of this coupon
5. Bookings at non-participating properties. Participating properties are subject to change at any time. Participating properties are marked with a “collect double stamps” badge on the Hotels.com® website.
This coupon only applies to the first room of your booking.
We reserve the right to remove any promotional stamps collected with this coupon if you combine your Hotels.com^® Rewards account with another account that has also received promotional stamps using this coupon.
You won’t be able to use it again, even if you cancel your booking.
Coupon limit per booking: 1.
This coupon can be combined with discounted prices on Hotels.com^®. It cannot however be used in conjunction with any other promotion on Hotels.com^®, whether offered by a third party or otherwise.
You can’t redeem this coupon for cash, and it can’t be transferred or sold. It’s void where prohibited by law. Improper use of the coupon by you is prohibited and could be construed as fraud.
We reserve the right to change or withdraw this offer at any time and to cancel any bookings made where the coupon has been used to make any speculative, false, or fraudulent bookings or any bookings in anticipation of demand.
Usual booking terms and conditions apply and all bookings are subject to availability.
Hotels.com^® is the promoter of this offer. These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington.

65% bonus for buying Aeroplan miles extended to May 15

Aeroplan's first ever buy miles bonus offer has been extended to May 15. The tiered bonus offer that saw an amazing 115% and 90% bonus come and go within minutes last week is still a good proposition at the current lowest tier of 65%. The offer was slated to end yesterday but you are in luck if you missed out as you now have until tomorrow to get in on buying some miles. With a 65% bonus you are buying miles at 1.8 cents apiece plus tax. Not ideal for many economy class redemptions but it can provide significant savings when redeeming for business class or first class flights where you get well over 2 cents per mile in value.

Learn more about and buy Aeroplan miles here

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May 13 Update: Amex lowers welcome bonuses on The Platinum Card & Business Platinum Card, a look back at the first 100K point credit card bonus in Canada, good Travelzoo deal for Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff

American Express has really shifted focus on keeping current Platinum cardmembers engaged and using their cards as much as possible with the amazing double points double value promotion. However as it is so lucrative for cardmembers and pricey for American Express to maintain they have dropped the welcome bonus significantly on both the personal and business versions of the Platinum Cards. The new welcome offers are as follows:

• The Platinum Card®
  New Platinum® Cardmembers, earn 25,000 Welcome Bonus Membership Rewards® points when you charge $2,000 in purchases to your Card in the first three months of Cardmembership
• Business Platinum Card® from American Express
  Earn a Welcome Bonus of 35,000 points when you charge $7,000 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership

Not sure why but the other day I was thinking back to a credit card promotion from 2013. That promotion held the title of the highest ever welcome bonus offered in Canada until late 2018. That is in terms of the number of points offered at 100,000. However in terms of value it wasn't even close to be anything good. It's a good reminder to everyone that every loyalty program and credit is about the earn AND THE burn. Read all about it here. 

(In case you are wondering the current record holder for the highest bonus in terms of just the number of points is the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which had a 105,000 points bonus for Quebec residents in late 2018.)

Airline Schedule Updates
This will now be a standard feature for the foreseeable future in our daily update posts as we summarize Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Yesterday we let you know that Pacific Coastal Airlines will resume operations on June 1st with a reduced flight schedule. Here are the routes planned
Kelowna – Cranbrook 3 weekly
Kelowna – Victoria 3 weekly
Vancouver – Bella Bella 3 weekly
Vancouver – Bella Coola 3 weekly
Vancouver – Campbell River – Comox – Vancouver 4 weekly
Vancouver – Port Hardy 3 weekly
Vancouver – Powell River 6 weekly
Vancouver – Tofino 3 weekly
Vancouver – Trail 3 weekly
Vancouver – Victoria 3 weekly
Vancouver – Williams Lake 3 weekly
(Source RoutesOnline)

TAP Air Portugal is looking to launch their Montreal to Lisbon flight on July 16 now while Toronto to Lisbon is set to relaunch on June 5. The new route between Toronto and Ponta Delgada has now been pushed back to July 2. (Source RoutesOnline)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

Posts since our last update:

• AIR MILES Bonus Boom returns May 21 through 27
  Back on March 17 AIR MILES decided to postpone their big Mega Miles promotion due to the COVID-19 Pandemic…
• May 12 Update: Avianca goes into bankruptcy protection, Pacific Coastal Airlines set to resume flights on June 1, Air Canada schedule update
  We updated the entire Canadian airline and loyalty program section on our COVID-19 resource page. We'll continue the big…

Deals:

Travelzoo and Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff are selling discounted vouchers for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for starting at $179-$199 each for June, $199-$239 for July and $269-$319 for August & September. Based on these numbers looks like they are anticipating a decent return to travel in late Summer. We did a quick check for a mid-week stay in June and Brewster's wanted $339 for the same room and the cheapest 3rd party rate we could find was $209. Sot the $179 voucher definitely provides some savings. Find out more here.

Image via Travelzoo

Fairmont Chateau Whistler golf package offer - stay and play from $185pp per night in June. Find out more here.
 
Travelzoo and Huntingdon Manor Hotel in Victoria B.C. are selling discounted vouchers offering Breakfast & Parking, 35% Off for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for stays starting at $95 per night each for stays between June and November. Find out more here. 

Missfresh: Simplify your life with 45% off your first 2 consecutive orders with code SIMPLIFY45. Find out more here.

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

4Ocean Introducing the Sperm Whale Beaded Bracelet - $20 at 4ocean! Valid until 5/31. Shop Now!

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

No new bonus offers added today

Other Bonus Offers

Choice Privileges
- Save 30% when you buy Choice Privileges points. More... Until Jun 12, 20

Hilton Honors
- Double Honors Points for weekend stays of 1 to 4 nights with Thursday, Friday or Saturday arrival at the LXR Susona Bodrum More... Jul 1 - ?

IHG Rewards Club
- 4,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for stays of 7+ nights at the Staybridge Suites Schererville More... Until Dec 31, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points, free breakfast & 1000THB daily hotel credit for stays at any one of 18 hotels in the Bangkok area. More... Book by Jun 30, 20



Follow Rewards Canada:

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AIR MILES Bonus Boom returns May 21 through 27

Back on March 17 AIR MILES decided to postpone their big Mega Miles promotion due to the COVID-19 Pandemic but now it looks like they are ready to test the waters again - not with Mega Miles but with their Bonus Boom event. This promotion is similar to Mega Miles but takes place over a much shorter period of time - perfect to gauge how ready, willing and able collectors are to go out and earn some extra miles. Bonus Boom last appeared in February 2020 with bonuses totaling over 1,000 miles and chances are we'll see something very similar for this version. When the promotion launches you can simply navigate to the AIR MILES Bonus Boom page, select your province and then all the available offers to you will be presented. This iteration of Bonus Boom runs from May 21 to 27.


Learn more about the Bonus Boom promotion here.


Image via AIR MILES