July 14 Update: Beauty bonus points offers abound from Be Well & PC Optimum, Double points at Esso & Mobil stations this weekend + save 25% over 50 Canadian Marriott hotels

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.

 
I think this might be the biggest bonus yet that we've seen for Rexall's Beauty Thursday. You can earn 100,000 Be Well points if you spend $100 or more on beauty products on July 15. Those points are worth $40. Check the app to add this bonus to your account!

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions – July 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:

Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for July - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for this month! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards for small businesses that have very good acquisition (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we see four first year free cards on the list! And remember this list is based on minimum value towards travel which we calculate as the minimum value of the welcome bonus less the annual fee. It is entirely possible to receive more value out of the welcome bonuses on some the cards below namely those like Aeroplan and Marriott. 

Here are the latest RBC Offers including an annual DoorDash pass, free EV charging from Petro-Canada and much more

 

It's been a couple of months since we last updated the RBC offers on our site as once again we had ssues with RBC's system that wouldn't show them to me when I logged in. That seems to be fixed again so here is the update with all the latest offers. Most of these are available on all RBC cards. You can view RBC's card offerings here.

July 13 Update: American Express Gold Rewards Card is NOT being discontinued, confirmation of HSBC to BA transfer bonus & an Etihad bonus for travel between Toronto & Dubai

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.

 

A correction for our Daily Update post from yesterday - American Express has reached out to us to let us know the American Express Gold Rewards Card IS NOT being discontinued. We'll provide more details as soon as we can about this news. You will notice however that it will be removed from the Rewards Canada site later this week but it will return in the near future!

Get the American Express Cobalt Card right away to lock in a lower monthly fee for 12 months

 

We know that American Express will be updating the Cobalt Card as of August 16, 2021. On that date the card will get an increased earn rate of 3x points for select streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. It will also get Mobile Device insurance added to insurance suite of benefits. The biggest change however will be the ability to convert points earned on the Cobalt Card directly to American Express' airline partners. This is big news for many points and miles enthusiasts as this means 1 to 1 redemption to Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club. And then a redemption rate of 1 to .75 points for the other airline partners.

World of Hyatt and American AAdvantage fast track to elite tier status in both programs

 World of Hyatt and American AAdvantage have had a long standing partnership that goes beyond your standard hotel-airline earning partnership seen with most programs and today they launched additional opportunities for elite members in both programs to fast track to elite status in the reciprocal program.

Receive a best ever 40% bonus when you transfer HSBC Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club

 

For this month HSBC has brought back their transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club and it is the best ever that we've seen at 40%! The last few iterations of the bonus have seen it at 35% so now if you choose to transfer you'll score an extra 5%.  And seeing that most of you who jumped on the amazing 100,000 bonus points (or 130,000 if you are in Quebec) from the HSBC World Elite Mastercard in Fall of 2020 should have your points in your account you may want to seriously take this transfer bonus into account. 

July 12 Update: The end of an era - Amex to discontinue the Gold Rewards Card and earn up to 8,000 bonus points at Sonesta Hotels in Toronto

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.

 
GREAT NEWS! American Express has reached out to us to let us know the Gold Rewards Card IS NOT being discontinued. We'll provide more details as soon as we can about this news.

We have received word that the American Express Gold Rewards Card will be coming to an end. The iconic card that really seemed to get things restarted for American Express over a decade ago and was crowned the best card in Canada for many years will no longer be available for new applicants. It does appear it will be grandfathered for those who choose to keep it - an Amex customer service rep said my card isn't going anywhere so I can only assume that means it will be grandfathered. 

A new or revamped RBC Avion Card is in the works

 

Thanks to one of our regular contributors of breaking news: @joshnet on Twitter, we have be alerted to what appears to be a new or revamped RBC Avion credit card being released soon. Josh directed us to a post on Red Flag Deals that provides some details of this card that will be in the suite of RBC Avion cards. Price and benefits wise this card falls in between the premium veteran RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and the Ultra Premium RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege card. Part of me actually thinks this is the anticipated revamping of the current RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card.