July 21 Update: Canalta Rewards adds elite tiers with more benefits, JetBlue TrueBlue added to Rewards Canada & 2,500 free Qatar Airways Qmiles

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.

Western Canada's Canalta Hotels has made changes to their Canalta Rewards program. You may have received an email from them stating this:

Some of you may be aware already that we are making a few changes to our rewards program. Your points will remain the same, and you will still earn points the same way. 

We are moving our program to a new platform, so please bare with us while we work out some of the kinks during the move. 

Some exciting news with the new platform: We will be bringing back Gift Cards again! And we will be adding a brand new tier system.

With a number of technical issues with our Canalta Hotels App - we will be retiring the app. However, the new site is totally mobile friendly! 

How to score flights to Ireland for as little as $120 plus taxes and fees

With news that Ireland reopened to vaccinated Canadians with no quarantine or testing requirements as of July 19 (Source Canadian Travel News) I thought it would be the perfect time to bring one of the easiest, most achievable transatlantic economy class redemptions back to the forefront. We discussed this redemption quite a few years ago and frequently bring attention to it but figured it would be best to update it for 2021.

That redemption option is using British Airways Executive Club to redeem for flights on Aer Lingus between Toronto and Dublin. Back in 2017 the redemption option (well any redemption on Aer Lingus) became part of BA Executive Club's off peak award pricing. With off-peak In the off season, which is actually the majority of the year, you can fly round trip on Aer Lingus' Toronto-Dublin flight for only 26,000 Avios (13,000 one way) which is a steal in the points and miles world!
 

Receive a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points

 Hilton’s bonus for buying points is back after a 13 day hiatus! You can earn a 100% bonus for buying Hilton Honors points until July 29, 2021. Unlike last time where you could buy double the annual limit of points this time you can only buy up to 80,000 points which is the typical maximum amount you can buy annually. That 80,000 cap does not included the bonus points so if you max out this offer and buy 80,000 points you’ll receive 160,000 into your account. Also this time Hilton has limited the points purchases to 20,000, 40,000 or 80,000 with no in-between. Those three packages will also be limited to a maximum of 280 million points sold for this promotion so if that is reached sooner than July 29 the bonus points offer will end.

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.