April 20 Update: Air Canada Buddy Pass conversion based on application date not posting date and convert Coast Rewards points to Aeroplan with a 4x 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.

According to an interview with Air Canada Aeroplan execs that Anshul at Points, Miles & Bling had over this past weekend the buddy pass conversion option is based on the date you apply not the date the buddy pass posts to your account - this means you can apply for this card by April 30 and be able to convert the buddy pass to Aeroplan points once it posts to your account. Please note there are mentions on other sites the conversion option is being extended however there is no confirmation of this just yet - we have reached out to Air Canada and should know by April 23 if this will be happening. In the mean time we have updated a trio of articles we posted back at the end of March / beginning of April to note this change on being able to convert the pass based on the date you apply:

Triple ALL Rewards Points + up to 40% off stays at Fairmont & Accor Hotels in Canada

 

Last week saw the end of Accor Hotels offer for double points for stays at their locations in North American and select Latin American countries but that didn’t mark the end of earning bonus points in the Americas. Right away they released a new offer entitled Get Real – Experience it all which offers triple points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Barbados and Bermuda. On top of triple points the promotion provides up to 30% off stays plus an additional 10% off for being an ALL Accor Live Limitless member. For most of this means Triple Points on Fairmont stays across Canada and for stays at the Novotel and Sofitel locations in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. On top of this all members earn double status points and nights on all stays in 2021!

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - 35,000 points upon approval, no minimum spend requirement

 
An amazing offer from RBC that we last saw in 2020 has returned! The offer is for their flagship card, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and it provides a flat 35,000 RBC Rewards Points, that get this - are awarded on approval - no minimum spend, no spend this much each month over this many months. You simply have to be approved for the card and the bonus is yours. Yes you do have to pay the annual fee of $120 but it is more than worth it with the value of the bonus (minimum $350 in value) and you get the points at the end of your first billing period. No waiting 3 months, 6 months or longer.

Hilton Hotels: Earn up to triple Honors points on all stays between May 3 and September 6

 

Hilton revealed the details of their next global systemwide promotion today. The More Night More Points promotion will award Hilton Honors members double or triple points on all their stays from May 3 to September 6. Once registered you’ll earn double points for stays of 1 or 2 nights, stays that have 3 or more nights will earn triple points. If you are staying prior to May 3 you can still earn 2,o00 bonus points per stay with their current promotion.

A look at the Canadian airport lounges that may be left for Priority Pass and LoungeKey come July

 
Last week we brought you the news that Plaza Premium airport lounges will be leaving the Priority Pass and LoungeKey access programs as of July 1. This doesn't mean that you can't access the lounges, you can but unless you get access from a card like the Platinum Card from American Express or are flying business or first class with an airline you won't get the discounted entry that Priority Pass and LoungeKey provide. So that begs the question that our Twitter follower Joshua asked:

And that's what we'll look at that in this post, what lounges will be left for members of Priority Pass and LoungeKey seeing that Plaza Premium operates the most third party lounges in Canada?

[OFFER EXPIRED] Last Day for the 40,000 point welcome bonus and no fee in the first year for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard

 
THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED

Today is the last day to apply for the elevated offer of 40,000 points for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. As of tomorrow the standard welcome offer of 20,000 points with an annual fee will be back. By no means does this 40K offer come close to the 100K offer they ran for the last four months of 2020 and we are hopeful a bigger bonus will be seen from them in the near future. If you do need to the grab the card sooner than later then go for it today as it 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:

AIR MILES Shops Birthday Offer - Shop online and earn 10x Miles sitewide until April 23

AIR MILES' online shopping portal airmilessshops.ca is 18 years old now and to celebrate they have brought back their huge site wide 10x miles offer.

April 16 Update: New Amex offer of 4 bonus points per dollar with mobile service providers & earn bonus points for Marriott stays in Kelowna and Kingston

 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.

Another new Amex Offers promotion came out yesterday and personally we received this one on the American Express Cobalt Card and it is one we have seen before for other cards and that is bonus points for mobile service providers. Time to swith the payment method for our mobile phones for the next three months! Let us know if you happened to receive it as well but on a different Amex card! The offer is as follows:

The Platinum Card from American Express just became more valuable for your future travels

If you didn't see the news from earlier this week about Plaza Premium lounges leaving the Priority Pass and LoungeKey lounge access networks. I recommend that you read that first (read it here) and then continue on with this post to see how this move just boosted the value of the Platinum Card from American Express.

MBNA Best Western Mastercard® Review

 

There is only one no annual fee hotel credit card in Canada and that is the MBNA Best Western Mastercard®. This card has been around for quite sometime now and has survived the turmoil seen in our market for hotel loyalty program co-brand credit cards. Just a few years ago we had no less than half a dozen hotel card to choose from but that has now dwindled down to two - well actually three if you include the business version of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. Both the Best Western and Marriott cards have definitely fit a niche in the Canadian market which have helped them outlast all the other hotel cards we seen come and go and the Best Western fills that no annual fee, road warrior, not looking for luxury travel niche perfectly. In fact this card has ranked in the top three in our annual rankings in the no annual fee travel rewards card segment so there is something to attest to here.