Receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card when you complete one stay in Canada, the U.S or Caribbean by September 7

Best Western has now launched their primary stay offer for summer 2020! Two weeks we let you know about it in our post Best Western’s upcoming summer promotions. The first offer Tanks-A-Lot went live last week and provides BW Rewards members with a $25 Best Western Travel Card after they complete 1 stay at a Best Western Hotel and submit a receipt showing a purchase of $10 (C$/US$) or more of gasoline or electric vehicle charging charges. Now we have the second offer which went live today and it also awards a $25 Best Western Gift Card! Simply register for the offer and complete one stay at any Best Western branded hotel in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean to receive a $25 Best Western Gift card. Like the Tanks-A-Lot offer this one can only be earned once but you can simply take advantage of both via two stays or possibly one. If I read the terms and conditions correctly for both offers it appears that it could be possible to earn both promotion’s $25 travel cards in one stay. There is nothing stating that they cannot be combined and since you have to register for this one and then for Tanks-A-Lot you have to send in a receipt but not register it is feasible that you could earn $50 in travel cards with just one stay. The travel card that you earn with this promotion must be used by December 31, 2020 just like the one you can earn from Tanks-A-Lot.

Offer details
Receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card when you complete one stay at a Best Western Hotel in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Full details, online registration & booking  (Registration is required) Until Sep 7, 20
For residents of the U.S. and Canada only

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Buy Miles Mystery Bonus – up to 60% bonus reported

Alaska Airlines has revealed another buy miles mystery bonus – this time it is only for a week as you have until June 28 to take advantage of it. Personally I received the offer to earn up to 50% bonus miles but we have OMAAT reporting up to 60%. For me this is better than the 40% I saw during the last mystery bonus offer which ran until the end of May. If you received the 60% offer consider yourself lucky as that is the highest bonus ever seen for buying Mileage Plan miles!! At 60%  you’ll be buying Mileage Plan miles for as little as 1.72 US cents each. If you received a different bonus from the 50 or 60% please let us know the details in the comments below and we’ll add it to the post.

Offer details:
Earn up to a 60% bonus when you buy Mileage Plan miles. Bonus varies by member and will be revealed after you log in. Buy Alaska Miles Here  Until Jun 28, 20
50% offer:

• Buy 3,000 – 29,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 30,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 50% bonus

60% offer:

• Buy 5,000-39,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, get a 60% bonus

Earn up to Triple Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada flights within Canada or between Canada and the U.S. (Targeted offer)

Air Canada sent out an email to select Aeroplan members to earn extra miles on Air Canada flights this summer. Check your inbox to see if you have been selected, I received the email on Friday with the subject line 'Satisfy your thirst for travel with up to 3X the Aeroplan Miles'. As you can gather from that subject line the promotion provides up to triple Aeroplan miles when you fly with Air Canada until October 15 within Canada or between Canada and the U.S.. What is interesting is that there is no registration button like we typically see with both targeted and non-targeted offers. This leads me to believe that Air Canada has automatically added the promotion to the selected Aeroplan members prior to the email being sent out. Unfortunately this means that you can't even try to register for it and hope the system accepts your Aeroplan number.

The offer itself provides double Aeroplan miles for flights booked in Standard Economy, Economy Flex, comfort and Latitude and triple Aeroplan miles for flights in Business Class, Premium Economy and Premium Rouge operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge.

Learn more about the offer here  
 

WestJet Rewards Member Exclusive Fares being paused as of June 25

Thanks to long time Rewards Canada reader CanadianPilgrim for alerting us to this news from WestJet Rewards. The news is that of June 25 WestJet is pausing their Member Exclusive Fares reward option. This is one of the lesser known yet most valuable redemption options in the WestJet Rewards program. If you are unfamiliar with their Member Exclusive fares you can think of them as WestJet's fixed price redemption option that is the vein of your classic flight reward charts from programs like Aeroplan, AIR MILES and most other frequent flyer programs. Essentially you would pay a flat rate of WestJet dollars for a flight on WestJet or even WestJet's partner airlines like Air France, Delta, KLM and Qantas. Flights in Canada or to the U.S. typically ran 99 WestJet dollars for short haul (although we are seeing that as low as 63 right now) or 125 WestJet dollars each way for long haul, to Europe for as little as 349, Asia for 599 and Australia for 629.

For example here's a look at round trip flights between Calgary and Toronto using the Member Exclusive fares this August:

Round trip sees you spending 250 WestJet dollars plus $97.22 in taxes and fees versus the actual cash outlay cost of $459.01 for the cheapest of cheap Econo fares. As you can see they have been and still are a good deal until June 25! This was always an amazing deal to use your 250 to 350 WJD welcome bonus from the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard on! Fingers crossed when the rewards return that that value proposition will still be there.

We have reached out to WestJet to see if they can provide us with any details on the future of Member Exclusives. We passed along CanadianPilgrim's note as to whether this is a pause, suspension or cancellation of this feature. Based on the screenshot above from WestJet they do claim it is only a pause so they can revamp the redemption option. They do state 'Enhance' but unfortunately with our experience of covering loyalty programs for nearly 19 years now, we know 'enhance' is more often a term that is negative rather than a positive. Let's hope that's not the case. Also a few years ago WestJet starting working on Member Exclusive rewards for business class on their partner airlines (we even had draft blog post all ready to go and IIRC one way on Delta to Europe was around 600 WJD!) but that was paused as their focus shifted away from that. So let's also hope that when the new Member Exclusives come out you'll be able to redeem for business class on WestJet and their partner airlines!

Learn more about the pause of WestJet's Member Exclusive Fares here.

Here's some of our past coverage of Member Exclusive fares:

• WestJet Rewards lowers, that's right, lowers redemption rates for Member Exclusive award travel on WestJet & Delta Airlines 
• You can now redeem WestJet Rewards dollars for flights on Qantas  
• You can now redeem WestJet Rewards dollars for flights on Air France and KLM!

Fairmont Stay Close buy 1 get 1 night offer expanded to six more hotels in Canada and the U.S.

Since our last Fairmont Stay Close update the hotel chain has added even more hotels and extended the bookings dates to some for their amazing Stay Close offer. This promotion provides every 2nd night or 2nd room free for stays at select hotels in Canada, the United States and Mexico!

Here is our previous coverage of the offers:

• Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu now part of Stay Close offer
• Fairmont Stay Close extended for Canadian mountain resorts
• Vancouver's Fairmont Pacific Rim now part of Stay Close Buy 1 night get 1 free offer!
• Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and Fairmont Winnipeg now part of Stay Close Buy 1 night get 1 free offer!  
• Fairmont Chateau Laurier Ottawa and Faimont Royal York Toronto now part of Stay Close Buy 1 night get 1 free offer!
• Fairmont’s Canadian mountain resort hotels offering every 2nd night or 2nd room free for the rest of 2020!
• Fairmont Hotels Stay Close – Every 2nd night or 2nd room free for the rest of 2020 at three U.S. locations!

In the latest update we see 6 more hotels added and those are the :

• Fairmont Empress (Book by July 8)
• Fairmont Hotel McDonald (Book by July 16)
• Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (Book by July 16)uly 16)
• Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello (Book by July 16)
• Fairmont Queen Elizabeth (Book by July 31)
• Fairmont Miramar (Book by July 16)

These hotels have had the booking period extended to June 22:

• Fairmont Banff Springs  
• Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge  
• Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise  
• Fairmont Chateau Whistler

Stays must be completed by December 31, 2020

Here’s a quick look at the rates for the Fairmont Empress (September 15-17):

Just like all the other hotels this deal is exactly 50% off the daily rate and is also significantly cheaper than other special rates. The rates must be prepaid in advance however they are fully refundable as long as you cancel in advance. Some hotels show a cancellation policy of only 24 hours before so there is lots of flexibility while others have a  7 day cancellation policy which is still pretty good!

Black out dates:
Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello: September 10-13, 23; December 23-31, 2020
Fairmont Empress: Not specified
Fairmont Hotel Macdonald: Not specified
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver: Not specified
Fairmont Queen Elizabeth: Not specified
Fairmont Mirimar: Not specified

Remember that Fairmont Hotels is now part of the ALL Accor Live Limitless program so stays at Fairmont Hotels will rack up points in that program.

For more details or to book this offer you can do so via these links:

• Fairmont Banff Springs  
• Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge  
• Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise  
• Fairmont Chateau Whistler
• Fairmont Chateau Laurier Ottawa
• Fairmont Royal York Toronto
• Fairmont Winnipeg
• Fairmon Le Chateau Frontenac 
• Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel
• Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu
• Fairmont Empress
• Fairmont Hotel McDonald
• Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
• Fairmon Le Chateau Montebello 
• Fairmon Queen Elizabeth 

• Fairmont Austin
• Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
• Fairmont Washington D.C. Georgetown
• Fairmont El San Juan Hotel
• Fairmont Miramar 
• Swissotel Chicago
• Fairmont Heritage Place Mayakoba (Book by July 15)
• Fairmont Mayakoba (Book by July 8)
   

Here are the terms & conditions of the offer:

Buy one night and receive a complimentary second night during the same stay. A 1 night prepaid fully-refundable deposit is required. This promotion is subject to availability and may not be combined with any other offers, promotions or packages. For stays through December 31, 2020. Blackout dates may apply.
*You may also use your complimentary night as a second room on the same night. Should you wish to do so, please book a two night stay and then you must call the hotel directly to amend the reservation. The reservation will be amended to have two rooms in the same room category for the price of one for one night.
ALL Rewards points may not be redeemed to cover the cost of any charges associated with stays booked on the “Stay Close” offer either at time of booking or during the stay. This includes, but is not limited to charges for room rate/restaurant/in-room dining/spa/golf. Members who book through the “Stay Close” offer will receive the on-property benefits associated with their tier level at time of stay. Members will earn points at standard earn rates for room charges and all eligible spend that is charged to their room during the stay.

June 18 Update: Aeroplan extends cancellation policy to August 31 while they doled out over 5.5 billion miles during Travel at Home & how you can earn 2,800 AIR MILES for free

Aeroplan has extended their generous cancellation policy to August 31. You can book your award flights and if you need to cancel you'll receive a full refund of the miles and taxes and fees paid without any fees. This extension is great seeing that there will be an onslaught of bookings thanks to the 50% back sale Aeroplan launched yesterday! This means you can go ahead and book as many flights as you like proactively and have the peace of mind you can cancel them.  Learn more about Aeroplan's cancellation policy here.

Continuing on with Aeroplan they also supplied us with an infographic detailing the success of their Travel at Home campaign. Can you believe that over 5.5 billion miles were earned during that short time span? This is setting fear in some that it will really push a devaluation of the program when it relaunches in Q4. Only time will tell if that will be the case and seeing that more of the popular redemption options will be moving toward their market fare style rewards we may definitely see this happen. However if Air Canada keeps to their promises then some of the best redemption options that provide out-sized value shouldn't change. 

A long awaited update to our Travel Hacking 102 - Earn up to 2,800 or more AIR MILES Rewards Miles for FREE with a potential value of over $600 in travel was made yesterday. The offers to earn AIR MILES at no cost are definitely lower than seen back in 2019 or earlier. Read the article here. 

HSBC has extended the 60,000 point welcome bonus with no annual fee on the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and the 10,000 point welcome bonus with no annual fee on the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard until August 17.

And a heads up or hint if you want to call it - grab yourself the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card between now and July 1 if you want to get in on the 10% welcome bonus! If you haven't listened to our latest podcast it's the top long term cash back card in our market out of all the ten percenters right now. Listen to the Podcast here and learn more about the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card here.

Here are your weekly stats for hotel occupancy in Canada. The week of June 7-13 saw numbers climb ever so slightly to 23.6% from 22.2% from the week before. This is still way down from the 68% seen for the same period in 2019. (Source HNN)

Airline Schedule Updates
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!

Central Mountain Air is planning to resume flights on July 6 with the following flights. (Source: RoutesOnline)
Prince George – Fort St. John 3 weekly
Prince George – Kamloops 3 weekly
Prince George – Kelowna 3 weekly
Prince George – Terrace 3 weekly

Looks like bookings for Pacific Coastal's flights are increasing as will be offering more flights in July on the routes they are current flying (Source RoutesOnline)

AeroMexico is planning to offer two flights per week between Toronto and Mexico City as well as four flights per week between Vancouver and Mexico City for the month of July (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:

• More Rewards partnership with Petro-Canada ending on July 31
  Not so good news for those who collect More Rewards points - one of the programs best partners will…
• OFFER EXTENDED – 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club points
  The 100% bonus for buying IHG Rewards Club points has been extended by five days to June 20.  IHG…
• CIBC offering double Aventura points, Aeroplan Miles and Cash Back on dine in, take out and delivery purchases
  Hot on the footsteps of card issuers like American Express and TD who have been boosting earn rates on…
• June 16 Update: Earn 39,000 Aeroplan Miles or 28,000 BA Avios for free, AIR MILES Shops Father's Day bonus & an issue with Choice Privileges new promotion
  We updated our Travel Hacking 101 post which details how you can earn Aeroplan Miles and/or Avios for free…

Deals:

Fairmont Hotels Stay Close - Buy Night 1 Get 1 Night free at select hotels in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Find out more here

Sandman Hotel Group is offering savings of up to 35% off the Standard Rate when you book by June 21 for stays until September 30. Find out more here.

Instacart: Get $10 when you place your first order with Instacart! Register here.

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. 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)

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

Wyndham Rewards
- 2,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points per stay at participating Wyndham Hotels in Canada and Worldwide. More... Until Jul 28, 20

Other Bonus Offers

Aer Lingus AerClub
- 20% Bonus Avios on your first transaction when shop online via the Aer Lingus eStore. More... Unknown end date

Marriott Bonvoy
- Triple Bonvoy Points for eligible meetings, events and groups booked and held by March 31st, 2021 at participating hotels across Europe, Middle East and Africa. More.. Until Mar 31, 21

Melia Hotels MeliaRewards
- 50% Bonus when you buy MeliaRewards Points. More... Until Jul 12, 20


Follow Rewards Canada:

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AIR MILES Bonus Boom is now live - earn bonus miles with participating partners until July 1

The latest AIR MILES Bonus Boom event kicked off today with a whole bunch of bonus miles offers for various AIR MILES partners. Most of the bonuses are available between June 18 and July 1 although several like the AIR MILES Hotels have already been in market and will continue to be in market past the main promotional period. This version also has an nice extra bonus of 95 miles when you use three different Bonus Boom offers.

There is the potential to earn over 1,000 bonus miles with all the offers but in reality most collectors will be earning 50 to several hundred miles. It really depends on what shopping you need to get done - for example if you do need something like a Samsung phone you can earn up to 500 bonus miles just with them. While AIR MILES Mastercard holders can earn 75 to 125 bonus miles when they meet minimum spend requirements at AIR MILES partners. And the most important one - there are some good grocery store offers with places like Foodland, Safeway, Sobeys and so on.

There's even an offer where you can earn 25 AIR MILES for free. Simply subscribe to receive emails from AIR MILES and you'll be credited with 25 miles.

Overall this version of Bonus Boom has more achievable offers than the one we saw in May but no matter what it is nice to be able to score some extra miles over the next week.

Learn more about Bonus Boom and check out your province's offers here

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Your complete guide to TD credit card accelerator offers

If you are a TD credit card holder, chances are you saw an email come through in May letting you know that your card will receive a boost in earning in response to the current situation.

We had learned sometime ago about this offer being available on the TD Aeroplan cards thanks to  one of our readers and detailed it in a post in May.

Turns out this good will gesture from TD isn't limited to their Aeroplan cards - it is in fact available on all of their reward credit cards. We have now been able to compile all the offerings and present them to you here:

If you already have a TD Credit card, this offer has already been applied to your card!
Note: all of these offers end August 15, 2020

TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card

TD Rewards Visa

2X the points when you order food and grocery deliveries from:
Cartly, Chanmao Inc., Chefs Plate, Cook it, Cornershop, CultivatR, DoorDash, GOcery, GoJava, Goodfood, Grocery Gateway, HelloFresh, INABUGGY, Instacart, Just Eat, metro.ca online grocery, MissFresh, Mister Produce, PC Express, SaveOnFoods Online, SkipTheDishes, SPUD.ca, The Grocery Link, The Organic Box, and Uber Eats.
+
Use 25% Less TD Points to redeem for gift cards, merchandise, and Shop The Mall retailers available through TDRewards.com.

Offer ends August 15, 2020

TD Cash Back Visa Card

TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card

2X the cash back when you order food and grocery deliveries from:
Cartly, Chanmao Inc., Chefs Plate, Cook it, Cornershop, CultivatR, DoorDash, GOcery, GoJava, Goodfood, Grocery Gateway, HelloFresh, INABUGGY, Instacart, Just Eat, metro.ca online grocery, MissFresh, Mister Produce, PC Express, SaveOnFoods Online, SkipTheDishes, SPUD.ca, The Grocery Link, The Organic Box, and Uber Eats.
Offer ends August 15, 2020

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card

 TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege

TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum

2X the miles when you order food and grocery deliveries from:
Cartly, Chanmao Inc., Chefs Plate, Cook it, Cornershop, CultivatR, DoorDash, GOcery, GoJava, Goodfood, Grocery Gateway, HelloFresh, INABUGGY, Instacart, Just Eat, metro.ca online grocery, MissFresh, Mister Produce, PC Express, SaveOnFoods Online, SkipTheDishes, SPUD.ca, The Grocery Link, The Organic Box, and Uber Eats.
Offer ends August 15, 2020

TD Emerald Flex Rate Visa Card

1% cash back when you order food and grocery deliveries from:
Cartly, Chanmao Inc., Chefs Plate, Cook it, Cornershop, CultivatR, DoorDash, GOcery, GoJava, Goodfood, Grocery Gateway, HelloFresh, INABUGGY, Instacart, Just Eat, metro.ca online grocery, MissFresh, Mister Produce, PC Express, SaveOnFoods Online, SkipTheDishes, SPUD.ca, The Grocery Link, The Organic Box, and Uber Eats.
Offer ends August 15, 2020

While these offers are marketed for existing customers you can still apply for any one of the above cards and also be able to take advantage of the accelerators as they are valid for any and all open cards.

You can learn more about these TD cards on Rewards Canada's TD Canada Trust Credit Card - Bonus Mile & Point Offers

Huge Aeroplan promotion - Receive 50% of your miles back on award flights within Canada or between Canada and the U.S.

Even though Aeroplan's huge Travel at Home promotion is over they aren't stopping with providing new offers for members. The latest is really for those itching to travel and it's a big one! When you book flights with your Aeroplan miles for travel within Canada or between Canada and the U.S. they will give you 50% of your miles back! The offer valid on new bookings only, made between June 17 and July 1, 2020, for travel from July 1 to October 15, 2020. 

The miles will be credited to your account within three weeks of you completing the flights which means you need to have the full amount of miles at time of booking. However in the end this means you would only be spending as little as 3,750 miles for one way short haul economy class flight or 6,250 miles for a one way long haul economy class flight. For round trip those numbers are simply doubled. Business class would end up being 7,500 miles and 12,500 miles one way respectively.

As there are only two weeks in this promotion you won't have time to apply for an Aeroplan earning card to use for the promotion however if you have a card earning Amex Membership Rewards Points like the Platinum Card or Gold Rewards Card you can convert points over instantly to Aeroplan. And lucky for you if you do have the Platinum Card all your points earned on spending has been doubled which means there is even more value to be had!

Like I said this is a huge promotion from Aeroplan and Air Canada with the simple caveat being you are wanting and willing to travel over the next few months. It is definitely a move to help encourage people to start travelling again and to help fill their planes. It even puts the airline on the radar for my family - we were thinking of a few trips this summer  to neighbouring provinces and were planning to road trip it but this offer may just sway us to fly.

I would also tend to believe that this will not be the only promotion like this from the program and we may see something similar for international travel once that becomes more accessible. Whether future promotions are as lucrative as this one is an unknown though!

Learn more about this offer here.

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Earn 2,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points per stay at Wyndham Hotels in Canada and Worldwide

Wyndham Hotels has joined the club of hotel frequent guest programs starting to reveal systemwide bonus offers as travel slowly resumes. The offer for Wyndham Rewards members provides 2,000 bonus points per stay for up to five stays in total at participating hotels Worldwide. As it only runs until July 28 for most of us Canadian that means we'll really only earn the bonus on stays here at home. This will include stays at their most prolific brands like Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, Travelodge and more.

Offer details:
Earn 2,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points per stay at participating Wyndham Hotels Worldwide. Bonus awarded for up to 5 stays. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Until Jul 28, 20