American Express Front of the Line is gearing up for a return to live events!

American Express has recently been sending out numerous emails letting cardmembers know that American Express Experiences and Front of the Line are set to return for live events. If you you are a first time Amex cardmember who just got their card during the pandemic when FOTL wasn't running or are unfamiliar with FOTL it essentially  allows American Express Cardmembers to enjoy exclusive access to ticket presales and reserved seating offers for concerts, musicals, shows and much more. During the pandemic FOTL switched to offering and still do offer access to virtual events but come this fall that all changes as live events are set to return.

New increased welcome bonus of 50,000 points + first year free on the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard®

BMO's mainstay premium small business card, the BMO Rewards® Business Mastercard® sees the return of it's 50,000 point welcome bonus which ran for the latter half of 2020 all the way into February of this year. The 50,000 bonus points are awarded when you spend $5,000 or more on the card in the first three months of having it. On top of that the annual fee of $120 is waived for the first year of having the card. That means you basically get those 50,000 points at no cost outside of the spending that you actually put on the card.

July 20 Update: Eearn bonus miles for U.S. online shopping & PaySimply adds more payment categories

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. 

 

If you are planning on shopping online from some U.S. retailers check out this trio of bonus miles offers via three U.S. airline's shopping portals:

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Earn up to 1,200 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you shop online via the Mileage Plan Shopping portal. Click here to find out more. Until Aug 8, 2021
Tier 1 bonus: 300 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $150; Tier 2 bonus: 600 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $300; or Tier 3 bonus: 1,200 miles for qualifying purchases of $500 or more.

Check out these regional tourism board offers for hotel stays across Canada - receive free gift cards, discounts & more

 
Regional and city tourism boards are always looking at ways of attracting visitors to their part of the country by offering various incentives and promotions. One such incentive has been to provide some sort of promotion like providing gift cards for booking and staying at hotels in that said region or city. This type of promotion has seen increased popularity in Canada ever since one of early trendsetters started it off many years ago. That trendsetter was Tourism Vancouver  and Vancouver Hotel Destination Association who launched BeVancouver as early as 2015. Now known as StayVancouverHotels we see them run their gift card offers for stays in the Vancouver region several times per year and it is back for this summer. Vancouver is not the only region however running promotions right now. In fact at the time of posting we here at Rewards Canada were aware of five offers across Canada and are sure there are even more.

July 19 Update: World of Hyatt adds 20 more Small Luxury Hotels of the World locations, earn 5x points on some fancy cookies in YYC & two new Amex 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.

Hyatt''s World of Hyatt program added 20 more Small Luxury Hotels locations to the program last week. The 20 locations are spread out around the world and actually range in award night categories from 3 to 8 so some of these luxurious locations won't actually cost an arm and leg in terms of points! Learn more about the Hyatt-SLH partnership here.

Canada will reopen border to fully vaccinated travellers from the U.S. in August, rest of world in September

 
Canada's travel and tourism industry can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief as the Canadian Government today announced an easing of the border restrictions that have been in place since March 2020. Barring any changes to the current COVID-19 situation in Canada our borders will open up on August 9 for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and on September 7 for the rest of the world.

Loyalty Lesson: Why hybrid rewards credit cards are the best bet for most Canadians

Whether you are a frequent flyer, a points & miles junkie or just someone who wants to have the utmost in flexibility with your travel rewards then there is one type of credit card that is the best for most of you and in reality for most Canadians. That type of card is the Hybrid Card. Hybrid cards are the moniker for these cards that Rewards Canada instituted many moons ago. Also known as Flexible Points card, Hybrid cards give the cardholder the best of all worlds when it comes to being rewarded from their credit card spending and welcome bonuses.

Receive up to a 60% bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles

The next airline to bring out a bonus for buying their miles/points today is Alaska Airlines. The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan buy miles bonus is back and once again we see it up at the 60% level which does seem to be new normal for the airline.  The bonus is tiered in that if you buy 3,000 to 39,000 miles you’ll get a 40% bonus and the 60% kicks in at the 40,000 mile level.

Receive up to an 80% bonus when you buy Aeroplan points

Aeroplan has brought back a buy points bonus for the next week and a half or so. This tiered offer sees bonuses ranging from 50% to 80% dependent on how many points you buy. This offer runs until July 30 and allows members to buy up to 350,000 points per transaction up to a new annual limit of 1 million points. If you buy 3,000 to 24,000 points you'll earn a 50% bonus, 25,000 to 55,000 points will earn a 65% bonus and 60,000+ will earn the 80%.

Redeem your PC Optimum points at Shoppers Drug Mart and get up to 50% more value until July 21

PC Optimum is running another Bonus Redemption Event when you shop at Shoppers Drug Mart between today and Wednesday July 21, 2021. This often seen event provides extra value on redemptions of 50,000 or more points. If you redeem 50,000 points you will get $65 off your purchase instead of $50, edeem 100,000 points for $140 off your purchase instead of $100 or redeem 200,000 points for $300 off your purchase instead of $200.

Click here to learn more about this offer and to shop online with Shoppers Drug Mart