May 20 Update: Flexibility in Amex Aeroplan statement credits, Canada-US border closure extended & IHG Rewards extends points expiration

 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 World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 70,000 bonus points and no annual fee in the first year! 

 
As a follow up to our post last week detailing the new statement credits that are being awarded to Aeroplan co-brand credit cards for booking Air Canada flights we wanted to provide further details on the Amex statement credits. The American Express offers provide more flexibilty than those seen with the TD or CIBC cards.That is, Amex Cardmembers can earn the statement credit for every $400 spent, regardless of the number of tickets or bookings made. For example, if an American Express Reserve Cardmember was to book a $2,000 fare with Air Canada, they would receive $250 back outright. The same applies for American Express Aeroplan Cardmembers, who would receive a $125 credit outright for a $2,000 booking thought Air Canada.With the TD and CIBC offers if you bought that $2,000 fare you would only receive a $25 or $50 statement credit depending on which card you have. Just some food for thought if you are booking Air Canada flights and hold Aeroplan co-brand cards from Amex and TD or CIBC. Learn more about the statement credit promotion here

Air Canada Aeroplan flight reward calendar is here and an update to seat selection on partner reward tickets

 
When Air Canada launched the new Aeroplan program in November there were quite a few action items left for them to implement as time went on. Now that we are seven months into the new program we've seen quite a few of the promised updates come to fruition and today we see a couple more becoming available. One item that Air Canada has promised and has been much awaited by the points and miles community is a flight calendar that shows the lowest price in points across a few days so that you don't have to re-do your search day by day. Well that calendar has been partially implemented today as well as the ability to select seats on some partner airlines during the reward ticket booking process.

WestJet further extends companion voucher expiry to the end of 2021

WestJet has announced a further extension of the expiry of companion pass vouchers that come from the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and WestJet RBC Mastercard. This marks the third such extension of the vouchers since the onset of the pandemic. The last update was from late December which extended the expiry of companion vouchers to the end of June 2021. That end date is now being moved to December 31, 2021. Here are the details from WestJet:

New! Earn 4% cash back in the first 6 months on the no fee SimplyCash Card from American Express

 

Today we see American Express boost the introductory welcome bonus on their great no fee cash back credit card, the SimplyCash Card from American Express. As of today the welcome offer jumps to 4% cash back on all purchases (up to $200 cash back) for the first 6 months. Typically the offer is 2.5% for up to $150 total in cash back before the card reverts to its standard earn rate.

Receive a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points

It has only been a week 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 July 8, 2021.This time you can buy up to 160,000 points which is doubley the amount of points you can typically buy annually. That 160,000 cap does not included the bonus points so if you max out this offer and buy 160,000 points you’ll receive 3200,000 into your account. Hilton however has increased the lower purchase threshold of 5,000 points seen during the last promotion to 15,000 this time.

The best credit cards for everyday non-category bonus spending

A lot of the focus on Rewards Canada is about credit cards as they are the easiest and number one way to earn loyalty points and miles in Canada. When it comes to spending your hard earned money on credit cards most of what we discuss revolves around the category bonuses awarded on those cards. Five times points this, three times points that but what about non-category bonus spending? Which cards stand out when it comes to your spending outside of things like groceries, gas, travel and other typical categories that are bonused? That's the focus of this feature and hopefully it can help you out especially if you are someone who does have a lot of spend on your card(s) that don't fall into category bonuses. 

May 18 Update: New Amex Offer for lululemon and five new hotel & airline bonus offers

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 World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 70,000 bonus points and no annual fee in the first year! 

One more new Amex Offers offer to let you know about! An offer for lululemon has returned - I received on my Platinum Card and provides a $20 statement credit when you spend $100 or more online. Find this offer and all others in our Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers'

 

Earn 10% cash back for first three months & get your 1st year free on the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card

 
Right now with cash back rewards being king in Canada most of the major card issuers continue to battle it out with their 10% cash back and first year free offers. One of those cards is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card. Heralded as one of the best cash back cards in Canada (we rank it #4 overall) the card is definitely one to look at if you are considering heading down the cash back route. If you are, you're not alone. Scotia recently provided the following statistics on what they have seen happen during the pandemic:

Best Western Rewards - Earn a $20 Best Western gift card for each night you stay (up to 5 nights total)

 
Best Western's next major promotion is out and it's a pretty good one. You'll also notice it's the exact same as one of the elite offers that were available last week in BW's Choose Your Own Adventure offers. The offer that came out of those to become available to all Best Western Rewards members is the $20 Best Western Gift Card for each night you stay for up to 5 nights. Those five nights do not have to be consecutive. You can have 5 one night stays, 2 two night and 1 one night and so on. The only thing missing from this general promotion from all members that the elite's got last week is the 5,000 bonus after every 5 nights. So hopefully if you do hold BWR Elite Status you registered during last week's offer as that closed on May 16.

Earn 10x points + an additional 10,000 points with the More Rewards Pile Up The Points Event

 

For the next week More Rewards members can earn 10x points for shopping with most More Rewards partners and if you shop at 3 or more (taking a hint from AIR MILES' Bonus Boom) you'll receive 10,000 bonus points on top of that! The offer started on May 13 and runs until May 19.