CIBC's new welcome offers are here - Up to 35,000 points on the Aventura Cards and up to 10% cash back on the Dividend Cards

 

CIBC released new welcome bonus offers on several of their Aventura and Dividend Cards today. The base welcome bonus on the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite and Gold cards has been bumped up to 20,000 Aventura Points. Those 20,000 points are awarded on your first purchase and then you can earn 1,250 bonus points per month in each month that you spend at least $1,000 on the card. This spend bonus equates to 15,000 points, add this to the 20,000 points and you have 35,000 points after your first year. They are also offering a rebate on the first year annual fee.  This reminds of the 35K offer on this card from February of last year albeit this one is better as you don't have to wait until your card anniversary to get the additional 15,000 points since you'll be getting them in 1,250 points increments over the year.

Breaking News: Canada to require mandatory testing and hotel quarantine upon arrival into Canada

 
Justin Trudeau announced further measures today in the fight against the Coronavirus Pandemic that will see all overseas travellers arriving into Canada to be tested at the airport and be required quarantine at a designated hotel for three days. All of this is at the expense of the traveller and expected to cost up to $2,000. If the traveller tests negative they can finish the mandatory 14 day quarantine period at home. If they test positive they will have to quarantine at a designated government facility. As this is a major undertaking the Government of Canada is once again limiting international flights to Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver just like we saw early on during the pandemic.

Podcast Episode 76 - Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards for 2021

It's that time of year again! Time for our annual travel rewards credit card rankings. In this 13th edition of the rankings we take a look at using your cards to rack up the best points and miles for travel down the road. We delve into the top overall cards, the best travel points cards, no fee cards, as well as hybrid and airline cards. Plus we add a new category this year - Ultra Premium credit cards. Listen in to find to find out all the details behind Canada's most trusted rankings! View the full rankings here.

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Another batch of new RBC Offers - From Asos to GMC & more!

 

It's been over a month since we last updated our RBC offers page and there are some new offers to be had as well as extensions on quite a few others! m Be sure to login to your RBC account right away to load these offers (if required) or get the promo codes if required.

The new offers are as follows:

Hilton Honors halves the requirements for their Gold elite status match and fast track to Diamond status

 
First off I want to apologize I didn't post this earlier as it has been out for a couple of weeks now and am just getting around to writing about it now! Granted with the current state of travel I would tend to believe this is an offer to keep in your back pocket for when you may start traveling again as there is set time period associated with it to complete the offer.

[OFFER EXPIRED] One of Canada's best low interest cards has an unheard of bonus offer - 30,000 points and first year free with the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard

 THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED

Last week we provided details on HSBC's flagship card, the World Elite Mastercard having a new welcome offer of up to 40,000 bonus HSBC Rewards points and the first year with no annual fee. That offer is a far cry from the 100,000 points with first year free they offer prior to the end of 2020 so I feel like a lot of people may be waiting it out for that card to come out with an even stronger offer. There was however another card from HSBC that saw its welcome bonus increased last week and that card and offer have kind of flown under the radar. The card is HSBC's low interest rewards card option the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard.

January 27 Update: Alaska Airlines changing some mileage earn rates, Amex Offer for Hillberg & Berk and 50,000 bonus PC Optimum points with Shoppers Drug Mart online

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. This update is brought to you by the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 30,000 bonus points, no annual fee in the first year and a low 11.9% interest rate! 

 

Alaska Airlines will be changing mileage earn rates for travel on their own flights as of March 30. There aren't too many details as of yet but One Mile at time notes the only publicly known changes so far are for earn rates on some First Class Fares (the highest fare class will earn more two lower fare classes will earn less) Alaska does state the new earn chart will be released on February 23, 2021. There is no word yet on whether mileage earn rates on Alaska's partner airlines will change or not. (Source OMAAT)

Radisson Rewards – Double Points on all stays in Canada and Worldwide from February 1 to April 30

 
Radisson Rewards first global promotion of 2021 is here and it’s a nice simple one. Double points on each and every stay at all hotels worldwide. For most who read Rewards Canada that will mean stays in Canada and all hotels here are participating. The offer doesn’t start until February 1st but you can register for it now and also book now for stays between February 1st and April 30th.

January 26 Update: Redeem Amex Membership Rewards points for education via HigherEdPoints, AIR MILES Bonus Boom returns February 4 and more!

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. This update is brought to you by the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 30,000 bonus points, no annual fee in the first year and a low 11.9% interest rate! 

 
Great news from our friends at HigherEdPoints as they have brought back another big loyalty partner to their ranks that you can redeem points for education! You can now once again redeem American Express Membership Rewards points for a HigherEdPoints certificate. This means you can use your Membership Rewards points (all types Select, First etc.) to help pay for tuition and/or student loans. The redemption rate is 32,500 Membership Rewards points for $250. This works out to almost 0.77 cents per point which puts the redemption value about 10% higher than the Use Points for Purchases option (essentially cash back). This means for cards like the American Express Cobalt Card which earns up to 5x points your return woud range from 0.77% to just over 3.8%. Learn more about redeeming MR points for HigherEdPoints here.

Canada’s Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards 2021 Revealed - Time to rack up the points for future travel

 
Travel may not be on the radar for Canadians due to the ongoing pandemic but people are itching to get away once it is safe to do so. That means most Canadians are planning for the long term when it comes to travel and now is the time to start thinking about collecting as many points and miles possible for those future travels. The easiest way to build up those points balances is through credit card spend and that plays a key factor in determining the best travel rewards cards in Canada For a fourth straight year, the American Express Cobalt Card takes the top prize in Reward Canada’s Travel Rewards Credit Cards Ranking as it is the best card to use to build up a flexible travel rewards balance that provides big redemption value. For over 13 years Rewards Canada has been helping Canadians sift through the more than 70 travel rewards credit card offerings with its annual ranking. The rankings can be found at rewardscanada.ca/TopTravelCreditCard2021