July 14 Update: Marriott gifted nights now posting - pick your Annual Choice benefits if you qualify, Canada-U.S. border closure to be extended, Coronavirus exposure on flights in Canada

 Back on June 15 it was announced that Marriott Bonvoy would be gifting qualifying nights to current elite members. The nights gifted would be equivalent to half of that required for the elite status that you currently hold and those nights are now posting to members accounts. For some of you, these extra nights may push you over the threshold to be able to select Annual Choice Benefits for 50 nights or 75 nights. You can access those benefit options here.

Screenshot of the gifted nights that posted over this past weekend

Annual Choice Benefit options

News is out that the Canada U.S. border will be closed to non-essential travel for another month. The CBC reports that the agreement that was supposed to end on July 21 will be extended for until at least another 30 days. The interesting point with this closure is that Canadians can actually travel to the U.S. by plane - the agreement only covers land crossings for Canadians. Not that travelling to the U.S. is on the top of everyone's list right now with Coronavirus cases reaching record levels in many States.

Keeping on the topic of travel, flying and the pandemic - things don't seem to be the rosiest here in our own country. Alberta is seeing a spike in cases, Kelowna has increased cases thanks to some parties and if you check the Government of Canada's website for tracking locations where you may be exposed to to COVID-19, there are affected flights being reported almost daily where someone on board has been confirmed to carry the virus - and this both for domestic and international flights. Just some food for thought if you are considering flying.

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary 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!

As anticipated WestJet's new flight between Calgary and Rome will launch in 2021 now instead of this year. Based on schedule updates the new route will now launch on May 1, 2021 with a once weekly flight and moving the three times per week service as of May 20. (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:

• Earn Double Flying Blue Miles and Double XP on all Air France and KLM flights out of Canada & Worldwide
  The encouragement to get travelling or at the very least, rewarding those who do travel continues to be front…
• All your Hilton stays in 2020 will rollover to 2021 to help you qualify for future elite status
  Hilton Honors was one of the early movers in this pandemic in terms of providing elite status extension and…
• AIR MILES and Shell introduce Shell Go+ - an opportunity for all cardholders to earn more AIR MILES Reward Miles
  AIR MILES gave us a quick teaser last week that collectors will be able to earn more miles with…
• Receive 2,500 free QMiles for joining Qatar Airways Privilege Club + 5,000 bonus Qmiles & 50 bonus QPoints on your 1st flight
  Qatar Airways has revealed a campaign to acquire new members for their Privilege Club frequent flyer program and to…
• July 13 Update: WestJet flights to Europe return this August and more hints of the airline retiring their Boeing 767 aircraft
  WestJet has released details of their updated flight schedule for August which sees the airline return to Europe and…

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
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

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

ALL Accor Live Limitless
- Double ALL Rewards Points for stays at participating Rixos hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Minimum stay requirements of 1 to 3 nights depending on hotel. More... Book by Sep 23 for stays until Dec 31, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios on all hotel stays booked via booking.com during the month of July. Stays do not have to be completed in July. More... Book by Jul 31, 20

Federal Hotels International Gracious Rewards
- 2X Gracious Rewards Points for stays at the Hotel Capitol Kuala Lumpur. More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Dec 28, 20
IHG Rewards Club
- Fast Track to Gold or Platinum Elite Status when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at the AC Hotel Irvine. More...Until Aug 31, 20






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Earn Double Flying Blue Miles and Double XP on all Air France and KLM flights out of Canada & Worldwide

The encouragement to get travelling or at the very least, rewarding those who do travel continues to be front and centre for most travel providers these days. Since the onset of the global pandemic we have seen flight incentives offering elite status earning bonuses from the likes of Alaska Airlines, ANA, Japan Airlines, Emirates and Etihad - just to name a few. These incentives when they came out weren't really meant to encourage travel since travel was curtailed by the closure of so many countries. What these incentives did try to achieve was to have those people that had to travel (whether repatriating home or essential travel for government officials, health care workers etc.) to book and fly with those airlines offering the incentive. Now with countries slowly opening up and travel starting to return very slowly these sort of incentives are not only rewarding those who have to travel but are now being utilized to move someone to actually get out there and start travelling.

One of the latest offers comes to us from Air France and KLM for their Flying Blue program. They are awarding double Flying Blue miles and Double elite qualifying XP on all their flights worldwide until the end of the year. Great news is that there is no need to register as long as you have your Flying Blue number on your reservation and unlike lots of promos we see these days it will also count if you booked your flight prior to launch of this promotion. Both airlines are now regularly serving major cities in Canada and are one of your best bets to travel to the countries in Europe that have opened up  to Canadians.

Offer details:
Double Flying Blue Miles and Double XP on all Air France and KLM marketed flights* to/from Canada and Worldwide. No registration is required. Simply book your flight online with Air France or KLM and ensure your Flying Blue number is included on your reservation. Learn more about the offer here. Until Dec 31, 20
* with an AF or KL flight number

All your Hilton stays in 2020 will rollover to 2021 to help you qualify for future elite status

Hilton Honors was one of the early movers in this pandemic in terms of providing elite status extension and the pausing of points expiration (March 25, 2020: Hilton Honors to offer elite status extensions for both 2019 and 2020 status members and pauses points expiry even further) and now they are taking another leading step in helping members keep or obtain status down the road.

Hilton reached out to us to let us know the following:

To help make every night count, all Hilton Honors members who stay at any Hilton-branded hotel between January 1 – December 31, 2020 will have all nights automatically rollover to next year to count towards their 2021-2023 Hilton Honors tier status, when they book through Hilton.com or the Hilton Honors App.For example, a Diamond Member with 15 nights at the end of 2020 will rollover all 15 nights into 2021.

What this means is that every night you have stayed or will stay with Hilton in 2020 will not only count towards your 2021 status qualification but will rollover to count with any stays you have in 2021 for qualifying or re-qualifying for 2022. Many programs have rollover nights, including Hilton themselves, but it was only the nights over and above whatever was needed to qualify that would rollover. For example, Gold Elite status requires 40 nights for qualification and if you had completed 42 nights during the year those 2 extra nights would rollover to the next year's qualifying period. Now with this modification to the rollover program for 2020 Hilton will rollover all nights, which means if you have 42 nights this year, all 42 will rollover to 2021 meaning you'd automatically have Gold status until March 2023 and only need 18 nights in 2021 to achieve Diamond status.

Hilton is the first hotel chain to move in this direction and it wouldn't surprise me if we see some other hotel chains follow suit. To recap as well, here is what Hilton has already provided for its members:

• 2019 Status Extension: All members whose 2019 status was scheduled to be downgraded on March 31, 2020—whether it’s Diamond, Gold or Silver—will automatically receive an extension through March 31, 2021.
• 2020 Status Extension: We are extending your 2020 member status through March 31, 2022. This means you will continue to enjoy all the Diamond, Gold or Silver benefits you have access to today for 24 months.
• Points Extension: We will pause the expiration of all Points scheduled to expire between now and December 31, 2020.

If you are planning on Hilton stays don't forget that you can earn 2,000 Bonus Honors points per stay at Hilton Hotels worldwide plus 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights stayed until September 7.

Title image via Hilton

AIR MILES and Shell introduce Shell Go+ - an opportunity for all cardholders to earn more AIR MILES Reward Miles

AIR MILES gave us a quick teaser last week that collectors will be able to earn more miles with Shell and details would be revealed this week. Those details are out now with the new initiative being called Shell Go+ and it is described to us by AIR MILES as "provides access to a full suite of member benefits along with special monthly offers and experiences, enabling Collectors to get more Miles and therefore, rewarded quicker."

These are the new reward opportunities with Shell Go+:

• Up to 100 per cent more Miles on all Shell fuels AND in-store purchases -- no longer are you limited to the types of fuel to get Miles
• Getting topped up to 5X the Miles when using a BMO AIR MILES credit card
• 10 Bonus Miles when using 95 Cash Miles towards a purchase
• 10 Bonus Miles with the purchase of any Shell Ultimate car wash and more!

The benefits of Shell Go+ are currently set to run for the remainder of 2020 and are on top of new regular earn rates revealed today for gas and in-store purchases:

• 1 Mile for every 10 L Shell V-Power premium fuels +
• 1 Mile for every 20 L Shell Bronze, Silver and Diesel fuels9 +
• 1 Mile for every $5 in-store

The new regular earn rates are actually better than the old school rates that were devalued 5 years ago to the very low rate we've become accustomed to for this half decade (read about that here) Then you add in the Shell Go+ initiative for the remainder of this year and you have some pretty decent earning potential at Shell. The ones that really stick out to me are the 5x miles when using your BMO AIR MILES credit card at Shell and the 20 bonus miles when you spend $20 or more in store. Ideally if you can keep those purchases right at the $20 level you'll be earning more than 1 AIR MILE per dollar spent (4 base miles + 20 bonus) which is an extremely good return!

The way Shell Go+ is worded is that may become an exclusive program after 2020 as right now the website states the following:

How to qualify for Shell Go+
Good news! Shell is giving all AIR MILES Collectors complimentary membership to Shell Go+ for the remainder of 2020.

So all members get this Shell Go+ membership for 2020 but me thinks you'll have to reach a certain spend or mileage accumulation with Shell to qualify in the future. I'll reach out to AIR MILES to see if this will be the case and report back.

Learn more about Shell Go+ here.

Receive 2,500 free QMiles for joining Qatar Airways Privilege Club + 5,000 bonus Qmiles & 50 bonus QPoints on your 1st flight

Qatar Airways has revealed a campaign to acquire new members for their Privilege Club frequent flyer program and to encourage you to fly with them soon. This is ideal for us Canadians as Qatar Airways just expanded their coverage in Canada! For years on end they only flew between Montreal and Doha but as of last week they added flights between Toronto and Doha. Between the two cities Qatar Airways is flying to Canada once a day, that is 4x per week from Montreal and 3x per week from Toronto.

With this offer you’ll get 2,500 QMiles just for joining the program and then if you complete your first Qatar Airways flight by December 10, 2020 they’ll give you an additional 5,000 QMiles and 50 bonus elite qualifying QPoints. Those 50 QPoints get you 1/3 of the way to Silver Elite status in the program.

Offer details:
Earn up to 7,500 Bonus QMiles and 50 bonus QPoints when you join Privilege Club using promo code JOIN2020 and complete your first Qatar Airways flight. Full details, online registration and booking.  (Registration is required) Join by Sep 30 and travel by Dec 10, 2020
Earn 2,500 miles for joining Privilege Club then earn 5,000 bonus QMiles + 50 Bonus QPoints when you complete your first flight by December 10, 2020

July 13 Update: WestJet flights to Europe return this August and more hints of the airline retiring their Boeing 767 aircraft

WestJet has released details of their updated flight schedule for August which sees the airline return to Europe and Jamaica. They will continue to fly to 5 U.S. cities, Cancun, Mexico and increase flights domestically. For Europe WestJet will return to London (Gatwick) with three flights per week and Paris with two flights per week as of August 20. (Source WestJet)

There are more hints of WestJet getting set to retire their four Boeing 767 aircraft. You may recall we mentioned a few months back how WestJet had donated a 100+ Boeing 767 food carts to Alberta Health Services without wanting them back so this gave us an inkling that retirement of the aircraft may been imminent. RoutesOnline reported this weekend that the airline's route to Barcelona for 2021 has been updated to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner instead of the 767 and they also report that they can't find the aircraft in WestJet's schedules as of September 15.

Recommended reading: WestJet RBC Mastercards will earn 2x rewards on grocery and restaurant purchases until August 31

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary 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!

Copa Airlines is looking to restart service to Canada this September. Right now they are planning for two flights per week between Montreal and Panama City as of September 18 and two flights per week between Toronto and Panama City as of September 4.. (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:

• Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for July - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Welcome to a new monthly feature here on the Rewards Canada blog - The Top 5 Small Business Credit…
• July 10 Update: Aeroplan extends buy miles bonus to July 14, an update to our Top 5 cards for July, 20x PC Optimum points this weekend
  As we predicted earlier this week, Aeroplan has extended the window for buying miles with up to a 75%…

Deals:

Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel - $159 night per night with parking via Travelzoo. Find out more here.

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

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Flying Blue Miles and Double XP on all Air France and KLM marketed flights out of Canada and Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 20

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 7,500 Bonus QMiles and 50 bonus QPoints when you join Privilege Club using promo code JOIN2020 and complete your first Qatar Airways flight out of Montreal and Toronto. More... Join by Sep 30 and travel by Dec 10, 2020

Other Bonus Offers

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles for stays at participating Shangri-La Hotels in Hong Kong More... Until Dec 31, 20

Enterprise Plus
- Elite Status Match - Receive Enterprise Plus elite status equivalent to Avis or Hertz elite status. More... Unknown end date



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Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for July - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

Welcome to a new monthly feature here on the Rewards Canada blog - The Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers. This feature is pretty much the same as the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers that we been posting for travel rewards cards for the better part of four or more years! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards for small businesses 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 see three first year free cards on the list!


Here are our top 5 small business credit card sign up offers for July:

BMO Rewards Business Mastercard (Apply here)

Minimum value: $357

This card had its welcome bonus boosted last week to 50,000 points when you spend $5,000 on the card in the first three months. On top of that they are waiving the $120 annual fee in the first year which means you get the full value out of those 50,000 points which when redeemed via bmorewards.com for travel will net you just over $357. This is the highest welcome bonus value out of all small business cards in Canada.

Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card  (Apply here)

Minimum value: $350

This card awards 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points which are awarded after spending $1,500 on the card in three months. Those points are worth at least $500 in our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming out ahead by $350. 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!  Don't forget you get an annual free night with the card as well on the card anniversary date! 

CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card for Business Plus (Apply here)

 Minimum value: $350
This card offers welcome bonus of 20,000 Aventura Points when the first purchase is made at any time. An additional bonus of 15,000 Aventura Points is awarded when you make $3,000 in net purchases during the first 4 monthly statement periods. Those 35,000 points are worth no less than $350 as the first year annual fee on this card is also waived. That is a minimum however as when you redeem the CIBC Aventura flight award chart you can get more value out of those points (up to $700) dependent on the price of the airline ticket you are redeeming for.

BMO^® AIR MILES^®† Business^® Mastercard^®* (Apply here)

Minimum value: $330
Like the other BMO Business card on this list, this card comes with a first year annual fee waiver which means the 3,000 AIR MILES welcome bonus comes at no extra cost. You'll receive 1,000 bonus miles on your first purchase and 2,000 more miles if you spend $5,000 on the card in the first three months of having the card. We value AIR MILES Reward Miles at no less than 11 cents each when you redeem for travel so that puts this welcome bonus value at a minimum of $330.

American Express Business Edge™ Card  (Apply here)

Minimum value: $201

The American Express Business Edge Card is the best overall Small Business card in Canada thanks to numerous factors. Its 30,000 Welcome Bonus points when you charge $5,000 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership is worth $201 ($300-$99 annual fee) may be less than other cards on this list but it has a stronger everyday earn rate on many purchases (Check out our American Express Business Edge Confirmed Multiplier Locations) and then you can also earn a 1,000 point bonus every month for the life of the card for each month you spend $3,000 or more on the card. This means in the first year alone you could earn up 42,000 points.

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with over 1,500 in travel credits but 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.

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.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

July 10 Update: Aeroplan extends buy miles bonus to July 14, an update to our Top 5 cards for July, 20x PC Optimum points this weekend

As we predicted earlier this week, Aeroplan has extended the window for buying miles with up to a 75% bonus + 100% AQDs. The offer now runs until July 14. Find out more here.

Even though it was just posted earlier this week we have updated our Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for July post as the new offer on the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard actually drops it off the list. It has been replaced with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. Read more here. 

If you missed the bonus from earlier this week, PC Optimum has another one for this weekend for shopping for beauty product online with Shoppers Drug Mart. From today through to Sunday you will earn 20x the points when you spend $75 or more. Find out more here.

The oneworld Alliance has put together a dedicated website that outlines what the alliance and all its member airlines are doing to make sure your health and safety are top priority if and when you travel with them. The site details airport operations and also lists what each airline's policy is in regards to cleaning, on-board safety and more. Check it out here.

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary 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!

Lufthansa is flying 3 weekly flights on their Toronto to Frankfurt and Vancouver to Frankfurt routes for this month. Those are planned to be bumped up to 5x weekly in August and then to daily service in September. (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:

• The BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard has a new increased welcome bonus offer of 40,000 points with a first year annual fee waiver
  ** This post has been updated to reflect how the welcome bonus is broken down into two parts**  …
• New increased welcome bonus of 50,000 points on the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard®
  The personal BMO Rewards World Elite card isn't the only card from the bank that is changing today (more…
• July 9 Update: 500 bonus points for stays at the Hyatt Place Kelowna, Last day for the BMO Rewards Mastercard 20,000 point bonus & Wyndham Rewards lowers elite qualification requirements
  Yesterday we wrote about the new Hyatt Place Kelowna that will open next week. What I forgot to mention…

Deals:

Air Canada has launched a Europe seat sale - yes a seat for flights to Europe this summmer. Some countries in Europe are now open to Canadians and Air Canada is flying to those like Greece, The Netherlands and others. Book by July 16 for travel until September 10. Find out more here.

Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel - $159 night per night with parking via Travelzoo. Find out more here.

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

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Up to 75% Bonus Aeroplan Miles + 100% AQD when you buy or gift Aeroplan miles. More... Until Jul 14, 20

Other Bonus Offers

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 500 Bonus Asia Miles when you join the Asia Miles program and complete your 1st Miles earning activity at The Langham, Hong Kong or Cordis, Hong Kong. More... Until Aug 31, 20

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles when you rent with Sixt for 3 or more days in Germany (only until Sep 15), Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, France, Monaco, Spain, the UK, Italy and the US. More... Book by Jul 31 for rentals until Sep 30, 20

Red Roof Inn RediRewards
- 50% bonus RediPoints for stays at any Red Roof location, including The Red Collection and Hometowne Studios by Red Roof in the U.S., Japan, Brazil and Canada (if the Canadian location opens in August as is slated right now)  More... Until Sep 7, 20

World of Hyatt
- 25% World of Hyatt points rebate for Hyatt credit card holders when you redeem for award nights or points+cash stays or when using points for hotels incidentals like room upgrades or spa services. More... Register by Sep 1 for stays until Oct 8, 20
- 15% World of Hyatt points rebate when you redeem for award nights or points+cash stays or when using points for hotels incidentals like room upgrades or spa services. More... Register by Sep 1 for stays until Oct 8, 20



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The BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard has a new increased welcome bonus offer of 40,000 points with a first year annual fee waiver

** This post has been updated to reflect how the welcome bonus is broken down into two parts**
 
BMO revealed the highest ever welcome bonus points offer for their premier card the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard . As of today the card comes with a limited time offer of 40,000 BMO Rewards Points that is broken down as 30,000 when you spend $3,000 within 3 months of being approved for the card and another 10,000 on the card's first anniversary.  On top of that the annual fee of $150 is waived for the first year of having the card. So basically the offer is actually 5,000 points less than the last offer on initial spend but you get that 'anniversary' bonus when you pay your annual fee for the second year.

Once you meet the minimum spend requirement you'll receive those 30,000 bonus points which are worth ~$214 towards any travel booked via bmorewards.com. Add in the 10,000 after your first year and you have $285 in points but you are now paying that $150 annual fee. You can also choose to use the points as a cash back credit towards purchases you make on the card but note the rate is quite low - those 40,000 points are equal to $133.33 in statement credits. So as you can see it is much better option to go down the travel redemption route!

The welcome bonus isn't the only factor to consider for this card - here are some of the key features of the BMO World Elite Mastercard that also make it one of the stronger cards in Canada:

·         Get 3 BMO Rewards points for every $1 spent on eligible travel, dining and entertainment purchases
·         Get 2 points for every $1 spent everywhere else
·         Complimentary membership in Mastercard Airport Experiences provided by LoungeKey, with exclusive VIP access, plus four annual complimentary passes

On top of that it has one of the best in class insurance packages mainly due to the fact that this is one of the few cards where the insurance will cover you when you fly on award tickets from other loyalty programs. As they state in their insurance policy you will be covered is you pay for the full or partial cost of a trip with this card. This means you can redeem Aeroplan miles, AIR MILES, etc. for a flight and as long as you pay for the taxes and fees with the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercrd you have met the partial payment requirement to avail of trip cancellation, trip interruption, flight delay, baggage insurance etc.

Back to the points side and redeeming them - it takes 140 points for a $1 travel redemption and with accelerated earn rate of 3 points per dollar for travel, dining and entertainment purchases your return becomes 2.14% however the remainder of your spending at 2 points per dollar only provides a ~1.43% return. Points have to be redeemed via BMO Rewards unlike some of its fiercest competition that allow their cardholders to make their own bookings with any travel provider and redeem points against those charges. There does not seem to be a minimum amount of points that you need to redeem with BMO Rewards at one time so this card can be quite advantageous in redeeming for seat sale fares. As an example, flights between Toronto and Ottawa or Montreal often dip below $50 each way and come in under $200 with taxes which means, you could redeem as little as 28,000 points for the flights (or $9333.33 in spending) When redeeming with this card you want to try to do it online as BMO Rewards will charge you for bookings made over the phone.

Here's a quick review of the pros and cons of this card

Pros

• Great welcome bonus of 40,000 points + first year annual fee waiver
• Excellent insurance package that covers award tickets
• Four complimentary lounge passes

Cons

• The everyday spending return of 1.43% is on the lower side when compared to this card's direct competitors
• Having to book via bmorewards.com can be less flexible than some competitors who let you book any way you want and then redeem points against the charge.

Learn more about and apply for the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard here.

New increased welcome bonus of 50,000 points on the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard®

The personal BMO Rewards World Elite card isn't the only card from the bank that is changing today (more on that coming later today!) The premium small business version of the card, the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard® sees a nice welcome bonus increase as well. As of today the limited time offer for the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard® is now 50,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 or more on the card in the first three months of having it. On top of that the annual fee of $120 is waived for the first year of having the card. That means you basically get those 50,000 points at no cost outside of the spending that you actually put on the card.

Once you meet the minimum spend requirement you'll receive those 50,000 bonus points which are worth $357 towards any travel booked via bmorewards.com. You do have other redemption options with this card but travel does provide the best value.

Here are some of the key features of the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard® to also take into account on top of the welcome bonus

·         Get 3 BMO Rewards points  for every $1 you spend on gas, office supplies and cell phone/internet bill payments
·         Earn 1.5 BMO Rewards points for every $1 you spend
·         Strong travel insurance pacakge

Much like the personal version of the card this business card's insurance will also cover you when you fly on award tickets from other loyalty programs. As they state in their insurance policy you will be covered is you pay for the full or partial cost of a trip with this card. This means you can redeem Aeroplan miles, AIR MILES, etc. for a flight and as long as you pay for the taxes and fees with the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercrd you have met the partial payment requirement to avail of trip cancellation, trip interruption, flight delay, baggage insurance etc.

Back to the points side and redeeming them - it takes 140 points for a $1 travel redemption and with accelerated earn rate of 3 points per dollar for  gas, office supplies and cell phone/internet bill payments your return is 2.14% however the remainder of your spending at 1.5 points per dollar only provides a ~1.07% return. The Points have to be redeemed via BMO Rewards unlike some of its fiercest competition that allow their cardholders to make their own bookings with any travel provider and redeem points against those charges. When redeeming with this card you want to try to do it online as BMO Rewards will charge you for bookings made over the phone.

Here's a quick review of the pros and cons of this card

Pros

• Great welcome bonus of 40,000 points + first year annual fee waiver
• Excellent insurance package that covers award tickets

Cons

• The everyday spending return of 1.07% is on the lower side of earn rates
• Having to book via bmorewards.com can be less flexible than some competitors who let you book any way you want and then redeem points against the charge.

Learn more about and apply for the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard® here.