The Humaniti Hotel Montreal, Autograph Collection is opening early on June 1st with some great rates!

We've been providing coverage of the Humaniti Hotel Montreal, Autograph Collection over several posts since February as it is one of the most anticipated Marriott openings in Canada this year. Last time we checked the hotel was scheduled to open on June 10 and at that time we saw prices running in the high $600 to low $700 per night range. Well we just learned the hotel will now be opening on June 1st (yay! 9 days early) and not only that, they have dropped the nightly rates by a pretty penny! You can stay at the hotel on opening night for only $195+tax (about $37 in taxes and fees). That's a huge difference over those high rates we saw in early April when we posted about the grand opening 2,000 bonus points offer.

May 25 Update: Muir Autograph Collection Halifax will be a Category 6 hotel, discussing unused miles & points plus reduced redemption rates for Amex prepaid cards

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! 

 
We have now learned what Marriott Bonvoy category the Muir, an Autograph Collection Hotel Halifax will be. As I had predicted the hotel is a Category 6 hotel which unfortunately puts it out of reach for the anniversary free night awarded on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card - that is unless there is an Off Peak Pointsavers award available in which case you could use it for one night. We have also learned the opening of this hotel has now been pushed back to November of this year from the projected summer opening. Learn more about this and other new Marriott Hotels in Canada here.

It's time for American Express to tweak the venerable Gold Rewards Card

You may recall that early in the year I published the article "There is one very popular travel rewards credit card in Canada that is due for a major overhaul" which detailed my thoughts on how the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card is due for a change. That article was originally planned as five cards that need an overhaul but I ended up writing so much about the RBC card that it would have been way too long of an article to read. Even to cover the next four cards in their own article may prove too long so I figured I'll tackle them one by one - well not all of them as two of the cards on my list really only need the slightest changes so I'll probably lump them together in one article. With that out of the way I'll look at the how I think the next card due for an overhaul - I guess not really an overhaul but due for some tweaking is The American Express Gold Rewards Card.

The Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco Canada

 We've updated our feature on the Top Mastercard cards to use at Costco due to the recent changes to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard. The BMO card saw its earn rate at Costco drop from 1.5% to 1% which meant it dropped off this list of the best five cards to use at Costco Canada stores. That card has been replaced with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and we've also added an honorable mention Mastercard to the list as well. The Top 5 Cards are as follows:

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions – May Edition

 Here is your monthly update of all the global hotel bonus points promotions that are available. One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of these systemwide bonuses that come from many of the big chain programs and also from the lesser known programs. In fact, right now it should be rare for you NOT to earn a bonus. Unless you are staying at a boutique hotel or perhaps an independent hotel most other hotels out there have a bonus. So take advantage of it! These systemwide bonuses simply require you to register beforehand and they do not affect hotel pricing as long as you book a point eligible rate which are most rates out there. Of course booking through a third party site like Expedia or Rocketmiles does not count as most chains only award points on bookings that are made directly with them.  Here are all the current promotions that are available to everyone this month:

How to earn bonus miles and points on travel, shopping and credit cards

 

One thing we have done at Rewards Canada right from when we first launched in September of 2001 has been to research, track and publish bonus offers for flights, hotels, car rentals and much more. In fact it proved to be so popular on Rewards Canada with visitors not only from Canada but from abroad as well that I created frequentflyerbomuses.com in 2005 to strictly cover loyalty bonus promotions from around the world! The bonus points listings and coverage on both sites became quite well known that I even recall attending a loyalty industry conference in the late 2000s and someone commenting "Oh, you're the bonus points guy" And that was before that other site with the last two words in that comment even launched ;-)

Earn 5 points per dollar when buying gas with an Aeroplan co-brand credit card

 

Wow - Aeroplan just continues to dole out the promotional offers for their members - well, right now for their members who happen to hold one of their premium or ultra premium co-brand credit cards! Last week it was the statement credit offer for booking tickets with Air Canada and this week it is a boost in the points you earn when using your card to buy gas in Canada! This is the latest in Aeroplan's “Aeroplan Ahead” offers. These time-limited offers give members special earning opportunities on the ground and at home to help accumulate points faster for their  future travels.

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: