February 22 Update: More hotels added to Canada's authorized list of quarantine hotels, Rewards Canada Podcast now on vurbl & American Airlines will not resume several Canadian flights

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.

 
Last week we let you know about the list of authorized hotels for the new mandatory hotel stopover requirement when travelers return to Canada. At that time there were 11 approved hotels in the four Canadian cities accepting international flights. That list has now grown to 18 hotels as it seems like more locations are coming online each day. This mandatory requirement of a 3 night starts at 11:59pm ET is now in effect. Remember this requirement is over and above the other requirements already in place of having a negative COVID-19 molecular test within 3 days of your departure and the mandatory 14 day quarantine (the 3 day hotel stay counts as part of those 14 days) Learn more here.

The Ultimate Cash Back Credit Card Portfolio

 
Today we released an update to our Ultimate Cash Back Credit Card Portfolio on Rewards Canada!

In this feature of Rewards Canada' Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for earning cash back. We have always recommended that you should carry a Visa, a Mastercard and an American Express card in your wallet and that's what these portfolios encompass. Here we outline one card from each brand that will help you build up those cash back returns faster than ever. Ultimately there are various options that could be utilized for a cash back portfolio but we feel this trio of cards can earn you the most cash back across the board. Read the complete feature here to learn more!

Find all our Ultimate Card Portfolios here!

February 19 Update: List of authorized hotels for Canada's mandatory hotel stopover requirement, Amex mobile payment bonus points posting & another 100K offer for PC Financial Mastercards

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! 

 
The Government of Canada released their list of authorized hotels for the new mandatory hotel stopover requirement when travelers return to Canada. This mandatory requirement of a 3 night starts at 11:59pm ET on Sunday February 21. Remember this requirement is over and above the other requirements already in place of having a negative COVID-19 molecular test within 3 days of your departure and the mandatory 14 day quarantine (the 3 day hotel stay counts as part of those 14 days) Learn more here.

Earn up to 5,000 bonus Hilton Honors points when you join the program and complete stays with the hotel chain

 

A little late to the party with this offer as it has been out for sometime now but just in case you missed it here it is. For 2021 Hilton has brought out this member acquisition bonus  for joining the Honors program and then completing some hotel stays. If you are not  a member yet simply join via the link below and then complete one stay to earn 2,000 bonus Honors points. Complete one more stay after that and they’ll give you 3,000 more points for 5,000 bonus points in total. Now you will want to time it right for joining the program to ensure you can complete the one or two stays within 6 months of joining as is required by the promotion.

Targeted Offer: Earn double elite qualifying spend on WestJet flights until December 16 (book by Feb 28)

 
WestJet has just launched their first major frequent flyer promotion of the year with this new offer that doubles elite qualifying spend. WestJet Rewards members who are targeted for the offer will receive a 100% bonus on all eligible flight spending for travel within Canada. The flights must be booked between February18 and 28 meaning bookings made prior to this will not count. The flights themselves need to be completed by December 16, 2021. 

New Hyatt Hotel Openings in Canada for 2021 - Now 6 hotels confirmed including the reopening of the Park Hyatt Toronto

 
Continuing on with our new hotel openings in Canada series we now take a look at what Hyatt has planned for 2021.

Out of the major hotel chains, Hyatt Hotels are one of the smallest globally and their presence in Canada reflects that with less than a dozen hotels operating here.  This number has been changing relatively fast, it was only a couple of years ago when they only had four hotels across our country and over the next few year they are looking to expand that number.

February 18 Update: CIBC Aventura NEXUS credit upped to $100?, WestJet cuts four more Canadian cities and an update to the Marriott buy points bonus

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! 

 
I'm not entirely sure when this happened but I noticed yesterday that CIBC may have bumped up their NEXUS benefit on their Aventura cards to C$100 from the previous $50. Even our last update direct from CIBC at the start of February had it listed as $50 so if this is really the case it is nice welcome change to the Aventura cards. I will check with CIBC however as there is some confusing wording on CIBC's website as some pages state a $50 credit in their messaging while others don't and then the terms and conditions state $50 and/or $100.  If it has been bumped up I'm guessing it was done in response to TD offering a $100 NEXUS credit on their Aeroplan cards as those are the only other cards in our market that offer this benefit.

TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card Review

 
One of the most popular travel rewards credit cards in Canada, the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card was first reviewed by Rewards Canada in 2014 when it was introduced. For the better part of six years the card didn't change very much but then we saw the entire Air Canada Aeroplan saga transpire for numerous years which culminated in Air Canada buying Aeroplan back from Aimia and launching a whole new Aeroplan in November of 2020 along with refreshed credit card offerings. This mainstay Aeroplan card from TD underwent many changes for the new program and thus the need for this updated review.

If you want to see what the old card was like you can read our TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Review (Old 2014 version)

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card hit the market on January 1st, 2014 when TD took over as the primary issuer of Aeroplan co-brand cards in Canada from CIBC. The current version of the card was revealed on November 8, 2020 to coincide with the launch of the new Aeroplan program. The new card saw quite a few changes take place that ultimately made the card even better than version 1.0. Also with the launch of the new Aeroplan program we decided to re-classify its co-brand cards as airline cards once again in our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings as we dissolved the coalition program category. Hence this card returned to top spot in the Airline category, a position it held from 2014 to 2017 and yes it continues to be the best airline credit card in Canada.

Continue reading the entire review here.

Receive a 40% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy Points until March 22

 

A buy points  bonus for Marriott Bonvoy has returned and it is noticeably lower than the past few offers. We saw a 60% bonus in November, a 50% bonus in December and now for the next month and a bit they have brought in a 40% bonus. The 40% bonus is awarded on purchases from 2,000 to 100,000 points and that 100,000 is a doubling of the typical 50,000 point annual limit for buying points. This is also lower than the 150K we saw with the 60% bonus in November. Ultimately knowing that Marriott has offered 50 and 60% bonuses I most likely wouldn’t purchase with this 40% bonus unless I knew I needed to top off my account for an upcoming stay.

February 17 Update: Double Points for stays at the Yorkville Royal Sonesta Hotel Toronto, new Centurion Lounge to open at Washington's DCA airport & this week's PC Optimum offer is 50,000 points

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! 

 
Late last year the InterContinental Hotel Yorkville Toronto converted over to Sonesta Hotels and was rebranded the Yorkville Royal Sonesta Hotel Toronto. The celebrate they had a bonus points offer that ran until the end of January and now once again the hotel chain's loyalty program called Travel Pass is offering bonus points for stays at this location. The offer this time is for Double Travel Pass Points on all stays. The end date of the promotion has not been published but in my experience of covering Sonesta's promotions for years on end the offer should be available for quite some time. Learn more here.