The Platinum Card from American Express will lose its Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade Elite Status benefit on March 31

 
Earlier in the month the U.K. based points and miles blog Head for Points announced the U.K. version of the Platinum Card from American Express was losing its Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle Jade elite status benefit. Rewards Canada immediately reached out to American Express Canada who confirmed this is the case for Canadian cardholders as well. At Amex Canada's request we didn't release the details until now as Platinum Cardmembers will be receiving details on their next statement about the departure of this benefit. Based on the U.K. and Canada losing this benefit I am under the impression this is a change seen by American Express globally.

New 40,000 point welcome bonus and no fee in the first year for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard

 
Earlier this week HSBC's revealed a new offer for their HSBC World Elite Mastercard that is better than the standard welcome offer we've seen since late December but by no means does it come close to the 100K offer they ran for the last four months of 2020. The new offer provides up to 40,000 bonus HSBC Rewards Points along with having the first year $149 annual fee waived on the primary card.  The bonus is awarded as follows:

Alaska Airlines is offering up to a 60% bonus when buying Mileage Plan miles

 

Some of the best frequent flyer miles out there are Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan miles so when they are offered with a bonus when buying them people take notice. For the longest time the biggest bonus on buying Mileage Plan miles was 50% but in the latter half of 2020 we saw that boosted to 60% and even 70% for select members. Well we're happy to tell you that that  the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan buy miles bonus is back and once again we see it up at the 60% level! 

Receive a 30% bonus when you buy World of Hyatt points

Hyatt has brought back their 30% bonus on buying points.  This version was last seen in October/November of last year and it allows you to buy World of Hyatt points for only 1.85 cents (US) each.  There is potential value in buying these points for select Hyatt stays around the globe as you can easily get more value than that per point on the right redemptions. Ideally since the transaction with points.com who facilitates the sale is conducted in US$ you'll want to use a credit card that has No Foreign Transaction fees to get the best value possible out of the points.

January 19 Update: New welcome offers for the TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum & Business cards, bonus Aeroplan points for opening TD accounts & an Amex Offer for Mr. Lube

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Yesterday we let you know about the new welcome offer on the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card but didn't go into the two other TD Aeroplan welcome offer changes. Here are the new welcome bonuses for the two of the other Aeroplan co-brand cards from TD:

American Express brings back a $200 statement credit offer for Sobeys, Metro, Save-On-Foods and Uber Eats purchases (Platinum Card only)

 

When the Coronavirus pandemic hit last year American Express shifted a good chunk of their resources from acquiring new customers to supporting existing customers. We saw many amazing offers to help out their cardmember base from double points, boosted cash back redemption value and more. One offer that resonated extremely well with many Canadians was a $250 statement credit for grocery shopping. Amex offered their Platinum cardmembers that credit for spending up to $250 at participating grocery retailers in Canada. That's right they gave $250 for spending $250. An amazing offer that we are happy to say has returned once again! This time they are offering up to a $200 credit when you spend up to $200 with  Sobeys, Metro, Save-On-Foods and Uber Eats. (Thanks to Paul on Twitter for letting us know about it!)

It’s back – a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points

It has been just over two weeks since we last saw Hilton run their 100% bonus for buying points and it’s back again! You can earn a 100% bonus for buying Hilton Honors points right through to March 5, 2021. This time however you can only buy up to 80,000 points as they’ve dropped last year’s doubling of your annual amount of points you can buy. That 80,000 cap does not included the bonus points so if you max out this offer and buy 80,000 points you’ll receive 160,000 into your account. Hilton however has kept the lower purchase threshold of 5,000 points for where the bonus starts rather than the 10,000 we used to see.

Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for January - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 

Here are Rewards Canada's Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of January 2021. This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards 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.

TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card welcome offer boosted to 20,000 Bonus Aeroplan Points, buddy pass and no annual fee in the first year

TD has revealed a new welcome bonus today for their TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card and it actually took us a little by surprise. We knew the last offer was going to end on January 17 and were guessing that we’d either see a continuation of the 10,000 points, a buddy pass and first year annual fee rebate offer or a move back to a typical higher points bonus with no pass. That’s where TD and Aeroplan surprised us as we got the best of both worlds in the offer! They’ve kept the buddy pass bonus, they’ve kept the first year annual fee waiver but boosted the welcome bonus points to 20,000! Now that’s truly a valuable welcome offer!

January 15 Update: New welcome offers on the RBC Avion Visa Infinite & Rewards+ Visa cards and double points on Best Western stays until the end of January

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

The RBC Rexall partnership we detailed earlier this week also include new welcome offers on two of RBC's credit cards. If you apply via the RBC Rexall partnership page for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card you'll receive the standard 15,000 RBC Rewards Points welcome bonus but on top of that you'll get 200,000 Be Well points when you link your accounts within 30 days of approval plus 10% back on all Rexall purchasees in the first 12 months up to a maximum of $100 ($1,000 in spending). The other offer is for the RBC Rewards+ Visa with its up to 3,500 bonus RBC Rewards points plus 50,000 Be Well Points and 10% back on Rexall purchases up to $50 ($500 in spending). Both offers are in place until March 31. .Learn more about these offers here.