October 22 Update: Hilton adds automatic upgrades for Gold & Diamond Elites, WorldHotels Rewards offering instant Gold Elite status & more!

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 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

 Hilton Hotels announced some minor changes this week that include automatic upgrades for elite members and digital key sharing. Here are the details Hilton provided to us:

Loyalty Lesson: Is a 30% return on credit card spending possible? Yes, it sure is!

 
This is one of those posts that wasn't planned but it kind of fell right into my lap and I had to write it after I completed another post on our site. That other post was A closer look at the credit card that Canada voted as the number one overall travel rewards card in Canada where we took a detailed look at the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. In that post we provided an example of how you could redeem Aeroplan points for a Business Class ticket between Calgary and Toronto and get 6 cents per point in value.

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions – October 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. 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! Most of 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:

WestJet will allow you to use expiring companion vouchers for others and you don't have to travel with them

 

WestJet Rewards revealed a new limited time promotion today that will allow members to utilize any companion vouchers that are expiring this year for others without the need of the voucher holder travelling. 

AIR MILES Flight-A-Day Giveaway - Enter to win $5,000 and $25,000 flight vouchers

 

As mentioned in our Big changes coming to the AIR MILES program post from earlier this month one of the promotions you could expect is now here! That promotion is the AIR MILES Flight-A-Day Giveaway which offers a total of 21 $5,000 flights vouchers (1 awarded per day) and a grand prize of a $25,000 flight voucher! 

A standardized Canadian COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination (Vaccine Passport) is now here

 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that a Canadian Vaccine Passport that can be used for international travel will be available soon. The Government of Canada has worked with the provinces and territories to create a standardized proof of vaccination.

A closer look at the credit card that Canada voted as the number one overall travel rewards card in Canada

 

The results of Canada's Choice 2021 were revealed earlier this week covering 10 categories of credit cards and loyalty with some surprising and not so surprising results. The first of those we look at was a not so surprising showing by the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card The card took first place in two categories along with it's associated program, Aeroplan, taking top spot in a third category.

Podcast Episode 84 - See who Canada chose as their favourite credit cards and loyalty programs

 

Wyndham Rewards: Earn 7,500 bonus points when you stay 4 nights in Canada & Worldwide

 

Wyndham Rewards next systemwide promotion is here and it offers the equivalent of a free night after you complete four nights with the chain. Advertised as a free night after four nights the promotion actually awards 7,500 bonus points when you complete those four nights. Those 7,500 bonus points are enough for the lowest level award night redemption in the  Wyndham Rewards program. While it is nice to have a systemwide promo from Wyndham this is one of the hardest bonuses to earn in the current market of offers with most only requiring one or two nights or stays to get a bonus.

World of Hyatt's new Peak & Off-Peak pricing will be effective as of October 26

 
Originally planned to come to into effect in March of 2020 Hyatt's Peak and Off-Peak pricing for their World of Hyatt program was delayed due to the pandemic. Earlier this year the program said they will come into effect this October and now we know exactly when. As of 10:00am CT on Tuesday October 26, 2021 these new options are being introduced for award nights starting on March 1, 2022. This means all free night awards will be at the standard rates until February 28, 2022.