July 15 Update: The soon to re-open Park Hyatt Toronto jumps to Category 6 from Category 4 & free Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star elite status

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.

 
Much like last week's update on new Marriott Hotels in Canada we have a mid-year update on new Hyatt Hotels in Canada. We now know the Park Hyatt Toronto will not remain a Category 4 hotel like they were before they closed for renovations. Unfortunately it is now confirmed to be a Category 6 hotel - that's a big jump from the previous 15,000 points required to now needing 25,000 points per night for a free night award! The hotel also now has a set date for opening and that is September 15.

15 credit cards that provide $300 or more in true value from their welcome bonus offers

 
Thanks to some huge new bonus offers from American Express and Scotiabank plus some ongoing big time offers from TD, CIBC, and RBC for their airline co-brand cards we are now seeing a plethora of cards that bring big value from their welcome bonuses. If I can recall correctly in our 20 years of writing about credit cards and loyalty programs in Canada we have never seen this welcome bonus offers that are valued at $300 or more. Typically we may have 6 to 8 cards in that range but right now we have 15 cards whose true value of their welcome offers are $300 or higher.

Earn up to 375 bonus AIR MILES when you shop online via AIR MILES Shops

Time for another bonus for your online shopping! This time we AIR MILES shops provide extra miles when you shop online at multiple retailers. The bonuses are awarded as follows:

• Receive 75 bonus miles when you spend $100 across 2 stores
• Receive 325 bonus miles when you spend $300 across 3 or more stores

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.