Face coverings to be mandatory at Hilton, Hyatt, IHG & Marriott Hotels in Canada and the U.S. as of next week

As many more cities, regions, businesses and such make face coverings mandatory we are now seeing major hotel chains join that movement. Marriott was the first out of the gate with news on Monday July 20th that they are making face coverings mandatory as of July 27 at all their U.S. and Canadian locations.

This announcement came on the heels of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) making this recommendation the week prior. Masks do not have to be worn in your hotel room but for the most part are required in all indoor public places like lobbies, restaurants, bars, meeting spaces and so forth.

Image courtesy of Hyatt Hotels

Hyatt soon followed suit with their own announcement on Tuesday essentially mirroring what Marriott was doing by also making face coverings mandatory as of July 27 at all their locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Then it was IHG adding themselves to the list as of yesterday making face coverings mandatory also at their locations in the U.S. and Canada as of July 27.  There isn't any formal news from IHG about this however LoyaltyLobby appears to have confirmed it with IHG.

And finally today several sites are reporting that Hilton has also jumped into the fray that as of July 28th they will require face coverings at their U.S. locations only. I have reached out to our Hilton contact for confirmation and also posed the question if their Canadian locations will also have the requirement.

I did a quick check of some other chains like Accor, Best Western, Coast Hotels, Choice Hotels, Fairmont and Sandman Inn but none of these chains have revealed any news yet as to whether they will also put in place mandatory face covering requirements.

Air Canada to begin re-opening Maple Leaf Lounges with new biosafety measures

Hot off the wire is this latest news from Air Canada that they will begin to re-open some of their Maple Leaf lounges this week. The first to open will be the Maple Leaf Lounge at Toronto Pearson D Gates on July 24:

"We are pleased to welcome eligible customers again to one of our Maple Leaf Lounges at our primary Toronto Pearson hub. The Maple Leaf Lounge experience has been completely re-thought with a range of industry-leading biosafety measures in place for the safety of customers and employees alike. We are introducing electrostatic spraying in our Lounges as part of our significantly enhanced cleaning procedures for additional peace of mind, and launching new touchless processes, such as the ability to order pre-packaged food directly to your seat from your smartphone. When the Air Canada Café reopens later this year, customers will also benefit from touchless self-entry, a process which we are looking to implement at other lounges. We will progressively re-open other Maple Leaf Lounges throughout our network starting with Montreal Trudeau Airport and Vancouver International Airport by early fall in time for the expected resumption of more business travel," said Andrew Yiu, Vice President, Product, at Air Canada"

Air Canada CleanCare+: Maple Leaf Lounges Re-Open With New Biosecurity Measures from Air Canada on Vimeo.

Based on the video the Maple Leaf Lounge experience will be very different than what we were all accustomed to prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gone are the buffets and self service bar. Gone are the magazines and newspapers. Now food service will be provided as pre-packaged options that you'll order via the Air Canada app and have it brought to your seat. The same goes for the beverage service as it will be assisted now and no longer self service.

This is how Air Canada describes the Food and beverage service:

In the lounge, meals can be ordered and delivered straight to your table through the new Maple Leaf Lounge @ la table service simply by scanning an NFC or QR code found at the table.

In addition, customers can select from two cold meal options, pre-packaged and sealed in our convenient meal snack bag. During select times, hot options and a kid’s menu are also available. A shrimp roll offering will also be available in the evenings from our culinary partner, chef Antonio Park.

Meal options are adjusted based on time of day, and an antiseptic wipe and a disposable cutlerly roll will be provided with each meal.

There will also be assisted bar service with our full bar offering.

 Air Canada will provide digital options for magazines and other reading materials. Essentially most high traffic touch points have been eliminated. They will be cleaning all seats and tables after each use and will have dedicated washroom attendants who will be making sure washrooms are properly sanitized. Check in counters will have plexiglass shields in place and all customers and employees will be required to have face coverings.

The Toronto lounge that is opening will be the only one to operate for just over a month as Air Canada then plans to open lounges in Montreal and Vancouver by Labour Day. The video mentions Calgary and Ottawa will follow suit sometime in the future and possibly some overseas locations as well.

You can learn more about Air Canada's Service Offerings Changes here.

Recommended reading: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access

Image via Air Canada 

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World of Hyatt now lets you book suites online with points

An exciting development came out of Hyatt Hotel's World of Hyatt program late last week whereby they now allow you use your points to book suites online. Prior to this you would have to call World of Hyatt to book them and with so much of everything in the world these days being online this is nice option to have with the program. This is especially so thanks to the value the World of Hyatt program provides for it's suites!

Here's what Hyatt told us about this new development:

Technology is helping us better care for our members – by introducing this capability across Hyatt’s digital channels, we can elevate the booking process and put members in control as they plan their leisure travel when they feel ready to explore.

As a reminder these are the points required for a free night across the board at most Hyatt Hotels:

You'll see that you can redeem as little as 8,000 points to get into Standard Suites and 10,000 points for a premium suite per night. On the top end you are looking at 48,000 points and 60,000 points respectively.  Points requirements do go higher if you want to redeem at Miraval Resorts while Hyatt Ziva resorts range from 32,000 to 40,000 points per night.

To see how it works I decided to check out the Hyatt Regency Calgary as I saw last night on Twitter  that they are finally reopening this Friday. So how about a suite for that opening night?

The conference suite can be booked for 20,000 World of Hyatt points for the night versus an all in cash rate of $616. This gives you a value of nearly 3.1 cents (C$) per point. That's pretty good but there are options out there around the world that give even better value of well 5 to 10 cents per point (C$). For example one of the locations making the rounds on the blogs right now is the Ventana Big Sur an Alila Resort.

Here's one night in September:

The Big Sur Suite is available for 48,000 points or a cash price of US$2,250.55. That's almost 4.7 cents US per points or around 6.3 cents per points in C$. But you have to remember as well that right now Hyatt is offering a 15% World of Hyatt points rebate when you redeem for award nights or points+cash stays until October 8. Technically speaking you can then discount those points rates above by 15% and create more value out of each point.

Aeroplan Big Summer Miles Offers - Earn up to 150% bonus on Air Canada flights and up to a 40% rebate on Aeroplan flight redemptions

If I worked at a loyalty program I feel like working at Aeroplan would be the place I would want to be at right now. Not only is it Canadian but right now they are making so many moves on so many fronts that they are the program to watch. I like to keep busy and Air Canada sure seems to be keeping their Aeroplan employees busy! Where other programs are sitting on their laurels and not really doing much during the pandemic Aeroplan has been doing the opposite. Working for one of those other programs would be boring and I'd be going out of mind twiddling my thumbs. Anyways let's get back on topic here - more Aeroplan news. Now it's a new promotion from the program that is broken down into two parts - both of which require you to register for beforehand which you can do right here.

Part 1: Book and earn up to 150% bonus miles

Pretty simple - a systemwide flight bonus for flying on Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Rouge. When you book new flights within the eligible fares between today and August 4 for travel between today and September 30 you'll receive up to 150% bonus Aeroplan miles. 100% is doled out on all eligible economy class fares and 150% is awarded on premium economy (incl. premium Rouge) and business class fares.

Part 2: Redeem and get up to 40% miles back 

This is similar to the offer Aeroplan just ran a few short weeks ago albeit that one was a flat 50% in North America only. When you redeem Aeroplan miles for an award flight you'll receive a rebate of miles after you complete that award travel. This means you do have to have the full amount of miles in your Aeroplan account to redeem for a flight - say 25,000 miles for a round trip flight in Economy Class within North America. Then when you complete the travel, Aeroplan will give you 7,500 back into your account as the rebate is 30% on for economy class. The rebate increases for the higher fare classes with 35% back for premium economy and 40% back for business class. Like the flight bonus above the rebate is valid for award booked between today and August 4 for travel between today and September 30. It is valid for Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Rouge flights and it works on both Classic Flight Rewards and Market Fare Rewards. If your award flight is on a partner airline or contains legs with a partner airline you will not be entitled to the rebate.

And that's that! Two big promotions coming out of Air Canada's Aeroplan again to help stimulate travel or at the very least to sway those who have to travel to travel on Air Canada rather than other airlines. Remember to be able to participate in either of the above offers you have to register your Aeroplan number first. Click here to learn more and to register for this offer.

 

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Aeroplan modifies mileage expiration rule for the better

If yesterday's news is any indication - the relaunch Air Canada Aeroplan program that is slated to come to us later this year is something to look forward to. An email was sent out to all Aeroplan members on Monday that revealed some changes coming to Aeroplan's mileage expiration policy. In the point and miles world there are two types of mileage expiration rules. The first is miles that expire based on time (a mile had a lifespan from the month it was earned) and miles that expire based on activity or lack there of. Many moons ago, Aeroplan had both, miles had a 7 year life span so no matter how active you were in the program you had 7 years to use up a mile from the month it was earned in and they also had a rule that your account would be closed and all miles in it forfeited if you had no activity in your account for 12 months. The 7 year rule didn't last long - there were class action lawsuits filed against it and eventually Aeroplan relented and got rid of the lifespan rule. They did sooner and in better fashion than their biggest rival AIR MILES who waited until a few weeks before miles starting expiring at the end of 2016 in millions of members accounts and after millions had redeemed miles for things they didn't want or aspire for.

So that left Aeroplan's mileage expiration policy as an inactivity rule. That is, if you are not active in the program for a set amount of time the miles in your account would removed. The rule with Aeroplan up until yesterday was that you had to have mileage activity in your account once every 12 months and that activity simply had to be earning or redeeming one mile. Even with this simple way of keeping your account active we heard from many Canadian's who lost there miles as they weren't active with the program. The good news is that effective immediately Aeroplan's inactivity rule has now been extended to 18 months to keep their accounts and miles alive. Keeping your account going is easy - you can earn miles not only by travelling you can shop online via Aeroplan's eStore, redeem for so many different items, you can donate miles or buy miles as that became a viable option a few months ago. Another way to keep your account active is if with a  card like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card as miles never expire for those hold an Aeroplan co-branded credit cards.

The other change to Aeroplan's mileage expiration policy is the reinstating of miles should you happen to lose them after 18 months of inactivity. Aeroplan will reinstate all your miles within 6 months of your account becoming inactive if you simply fly on an eligible Air Canada ticket or apply for and are approved for an Aeroplan credit card. Prior to this you could reinstate your miles but you would have to pay to do so for a $30 fee plus 1 cent per mile reinstated which will remain in place if you can't meet the other two options in those 6 months.

Again, some really good news coming of Aeroplan. They can be commended for the moves they have been making during the pandemic - not that the changes announced yesterday were a result of them however as a whole Aeroplan has really been doing things right since March.

AIR MILES Summer Stay-Cay Giveaway - Chance to win 100,000 miles or other prizes when you shop at participating partners

AIR MILES launched a new contest today where you could win up to 100,000 AIR MILES Reward Miles by shopping at participating partners:

There are a total of 301 76 possible prizes - 200 of which are only for BMO AIR MILES credit cardholders. You have to opt-in to the contest first which you can do right here and the contest runs from today to August 9th. You'll then earn 1 entry for every mile you earn from the participating partners which you'll also find on the contest website (it varies by province so I won't list them here)

Once you opt-in for the promotion you'll get an option to receive double the entries by opting in to receive emails from AIR MILES (plus 25 miles for doing so):

However if you already subscribe to emails this is what you'll get sent to you:

A thanks but no thanks email saying you are ineligible for the Bonus Offer - which I assume is the 25 miles but hopefully the double entries works.

Click here for complete details and to enter the contest!

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Receive a 15% discount when you buy Marriott Gift Cards by July 24

Marriott is once again offering a discount for buying gift cards to be used for stays at most participating Marriott Hotels Worldwide. This the discount is 15% whereas the last sale saw it 20%, still if you missed out last time to be able to get 15% off for future Marriott stays can be a good deal. The offer is only available to residents of the U.S. and Canada and the gift cards are only available in US$ in the following denominations:

eGift Card Value	Cost to Purchase
$50 USD	$42.50 USD
$100 USD	$85.00 USD
$250 USD	$212.50 USD
$500 USD	$425.00 USD
$1000 USD	$850.00 USD

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

• Receive 15% off the face value of five (5) eGift Cards
• These are eGift cards and not physical/plastic cards
• $5,000 limit per person/per credit card/per day
• eGift Cards are all in U.S. Dollars and can be purchased by residents of USA/Canada Only, providing gifts.marriott.com can validate the buyer’s banking information
• eGift Cards will be delivered within 1-15 business days upon order approval

As these gift cards never expire you don’t even have to have any stays planned right now with Marriott. As long as you know that sometime in the future you will be staying at a Marriott property then you probably should take advantage of this offer to avail of that 15% savings. Be aware that you cannot use gift cards for prepaid stays, they are to be used when you pay for your stays (including incidentals) right at the hotel. Don’t wait too long however as the offer only runs until July 24.

Learn more about this offer here.

Provide your feedback on the airline refund situation in Canada for an upcoming episode of the Rewards Canada podcast

For an upcoming episode of the Rewards Canada podcast I am planning to delve into the travel topic that is one of the most talked about in Canada right now. That topic is the issue of most Canadians not being able to get refunds for flights that were cancelled by airlines in Canada due to the pandemic. It has been on the back of my mind for sometime now and even one of Facebook readers suggested it back in early June, so it's time the get the ball rolling.

I thought it be best that I reach out to the Rewards Canada community and get some real world data points from our readers and listeners as to how you have approached the issue, what you have done and are planning to do if you haven't gotten anywhere with your situation. Tell us all about your successes, failures to get things resolved, and anything else that may be on your mind about the topic!

Personally, when the pandemic hit the Rewards Canada family had only one confirmed trip booked with WestJet to the U.S. and if you follow us on a regular basis you'll know we did get a refund since WestJet did go ahead and start refunding those customers who had flights to/from the U.S. and U.K.. You can read our refund story here: My experience getting a refund from WestJet for cancelled U.S. flights.

Here are some of the things you can pass along in your comments but by all means expand on these and provide any other details you feel are pertinent!

• What airline did you have travel booked with that was cancelled
• Did you cancel the flights yourself pro-actively or did you wait until the airline cancelled the flight?
• How many times have you reached out to the airline? How did you reach out to them? Phone? Social Media?
• Did you receive a refund? A voucher?
• Are you fine with a voucher and the terms & conditions attached to it?
  
• Have you been successful in converting a voucher to a refund?
• Did you convert Air Canada tickets to Aeroplan miles?
  
• Was your booking made via a rewards portal like RBC Rewards, CIBC Rewards, AIR MILES and how has that process been?
  
• Did you approach your credit card company for a charge back? Was it approved?
• Was your approved charge back get reversed after the fact?
• Have you joined any proposed class action lawsuits?
• Have you written to your MP or to Marc Garneau
• and anything else you can think of!
  

We also recommend visiting Air Passenger Rights and reading what they are doing in pressuring the airlines and the government to follow suit with what other countries are doing. If you are unfamiliar with Air Passenger Rights, they are a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of Canadian travellers.

So without further ado please bring on your comments!

Earn 7,500 bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you stay two or more nights in Canada or Worldwide

Wyndham Rewards current systemwide bonus offer hasn’t even come to a close yet and they have revealed a new bonus offer for the remainder of the summer. The new offer is being promoted as receiving a free night after staying 2 or more consecutive nights however in actuality you will be receiving 7,500 bonus points. Those 7,500 bonus points can then be redeemed for a free night at their lowest redemption level hotels (Wyndham Rewards required 7,500 to 30,000 points per award night) The good news in this is that they have tons of hotels at that lowest level and ultimately you have the flexibility in doing what you please with the points. You are not stuck with free night certificate that expires after a short time period like we see from some other hotel chains.

Key details of this offer:

1. The stay must be at least two consecutive nights
2. You have to register by September 8
3. You can stack this with any other eligible Wyndham Rewards bonus points offers
4. The bonus can only be earned once

Offer details:
Earn 7,500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you complete two separate stays at participating Wyndham Rewards Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking. Register by Sep 8 for stays until Sep 10, 20

This offer can be stacked with the current Wyndham Rewards offer of 2,000 bonus points per stay that runs until July 28.

July 16 Update: Hawaii delays reopening to September, 25,000 bonus Be Well points at Rexall this weekend & more airline schedule updates

If you have been itching to go to Hawaii you'll have to wait a bit longer. The state was poised to open up on August 1 but that has now been pushed back to September 1 thanks to the spike in cases in the lower 48 states. (Source OMAAT)

Rexall is offering 25,000 bonus points ($10 in value) when you spend $70 or more in store this weekend from Friday to Sunday.

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!

Air Canada has loaded thier first flights to mainland China as they are looking to offer one time per week service between Vancouver and Shanghai starting on August 7. (Source RoutesOnline)

Pacific Coastal Airlines must be seeing increases in traffic as they are further expanding their flight schedules as of July 26. 7 of the current 10 routes they fly will have more frequency while the airline will also resume Vancouver-Bella Coola flights. (Source RoutesOnline)

Royal Air Maroc has further pushed back the re-launch of their international flights including Montreal to Casablanca to August 11. (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 an extra Hotels.com Rewards Stamp for hotel stays booked by July 29 and completed by Dec 31
  Offer details: Earn 1 bonus Hotels.com Rewards Stamp when you use promo code RWD1EXTRA on stays booked via Hotels.com.…
• IHG Rewards Club offering up to 4x points for stays this summer
  Over a month ago IHG Rewards Club revealed their systemwide promotion for stays over this summer. It had one…
• This week's Marriott Bonvoy Escapes provide up to a 25% discount at 95 hotels across Canada
  In 2019 Marriott released a weekly last minute deals campaign called Marriott Bonvoy Escapes with new offers revealed every Wednesday.…
• IHG Rewards Club Fast Track Offer for Gold and Platinum Status (only 2 or 5 nights respectively)
  IHG Rewards Club came out with a new fast track to elite status offer last week that makes it…
• July 15 Update: You can no longer earn AIR MILES on lottery purchases at Shell, 20,000 bonus Be Well points for beauty products at Rexall and more!
  Long time Rewards Canada reader Harry B. pointed out to us that the new Shell Go+ AIR MILES initiative…

Deals:

Glacier Mountaineer Lodge in Golden BC has a deal via Travelzoo where you can stay 1 inght for $165 or 2 nights for $290. 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

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Other Bonus Offers

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus AAdvantage miles in qualifying rentals of 3 or more consecutive day at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Sep 15, 20
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus AAdvantage miles in qualifying rentals of 3 or more consecutive day at participating Budget airport locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Sep 15, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- 10% Bonus Avios on your next hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Aug 31, 20

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 4x IHG Rewards Club Points on all IHG stays. More... Until Sep 8, 20

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 5,500 Bonus EuroBonus Points when you rent with Avis in Europe or North America. More... Book by Jul 31 for rentals until Sep 30, 20

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Double GC Points for stays in a suite at Jing An Shangri-La, West Shanghai. More... Until Aug 31, 20



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