November 15 Update: McDonald's will keep the on-cup sticker program, RBC extends the 35,000 points offers on the Avion cards & top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping

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! 

 
Our post on the new MyMcDonald's Rewards has proven very popular with our readers and a lot of the comments and responses we have received are those unhappy with the coffee side of things. That is, in the old program you could buy 7 coffees (typically at $1 each) and then get one free. In the new program via the app that will now take 20 coffees at $1 a piece. That's a big devaluation but there is a way around this! We have confirmation from McDonald's (and via their T&Cs as well) the on-cup sticker program will remain in place for the foreseeable future except in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario. That means you'll still be able to earn a free hot drink after only buying seven. And I would be led to believe you'll still earn your 100 points per $1 spent via MyMcDonald's Rewards as I don't see them giving one type of cup for orders via the app and another with a sticker for non Rewards orders. I'm thinking McDonald's is keeping this in place because of Tim Hortons, whose program still offers a free drink after seven purchases. However, if you can technically double dip with MyMcDonald's Rewards it actually works out better than Tims! Read more about the MyMcDonald's Rewards program here.

Awesome new Amex Offers for Dining - $50 to $100 statement credits on $50 to $100 dining spend

 
American Express cardmembers are abuzz this morning with the latest Amex Offers that have come through on many accounts. The offers are new dining offers that are appearing on a variety  of Amex cards namely the Bonvoy, Platinum and Aeroplan cards! These are some big offers of a $50 credit for a $50 dining or food delivery spend or $100 credit for a $100 dining or food delivery spend:

BMO introduces two new small business cards - the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Business Mastercard & BMO Rewards World Elite Business Mastercard

 Today BMO introduced two new small business Mastercards that replace a couple of their current  offerings. The two new cards are the 

• BMO AIR MILES®† World Elite®* Business Mastercard®* 
• BMO Rewards® World Elite®* Business Mastercard®*

These cards are now being offered in place of the the BMO AIR MILES Business Mastercard and the BMO Rewards Business Mastercard. Outside of now being World Elite Mastercards the new cards have different earn rates, annual fees and benefits from those seen on the cards they replace. Let's take a look at these two new offerings:

Crazy good deal for stays at the Four Points by Sheraton Niagara Falls Fallsview

 Last week we brought you the really good offer for stays at the St. Regis Toronto and now here's one for stays in Niagara Falls. This is for stays at the Four Points by Sheraton Niagara Falls Fallsview and it provides an amazing discounted rate that can be canceled up to one day prior to check in. On top of this it provides dining vouchers and attraction vouchers in the Niagara Falls area.

Fairmont Hotels launches once in a lifetime Grandest of Escapes luxurious stay experiences

 
Fairmont Hotels is brand that definitely offers something for everyone. You can stay at some of their iconic locations in Canada for a couple of hundred dollars a night or less and on the complete other end of the spectrum you can have stays that are in the five figures. That other end of the spectrum is highlighted with their newly released Grandest of Escapes luxurious experiences. What are the Grandest of Escapes and how much do they cost? Read on to find out!

Introducing MyMcDonald's Rewards - the restaurant's new points based loyalty program

 
Today's a big day for McDonald's Canada as they officially announced their new rewards program MyMcDonald's Rewards. This program replaces the current McDonald's Rewards and marks the restaurant chain's move into a points world. The new digital rewards program is a points based system where members will be able to earn points on almost all purchases at McDonald's and then redeem them for most menu items. If you live in Manitoba or parts of Northwestern Ontario well this may not be news to you as many of you got to pilot program there for a few months!

For the rest of you let's take a look at this new program!

Avianca LifeMiles potentially becomes a better frequent flyer program for Canadians

Avianca LifeMiles is an extremely popular frequent flyer program for mileage maximizers, points hounds or whatever term you would like to call us. The use of buy miles bonuses to fly business or first class on Star Alliance airlines around the globe has been a key factor in that popularity. However the program is rarely looked at for flights within North America but that may change now. As reported earlier today by Ben at One Mile at a Time, LifeMiles has made some changes to their redemption model for flights in Canada and between Canada and the U.S.. And unlike most changes to programs this one actually makes it better if you can find flights to redeem for!

November 11 Update: Hotel Belmont Vancouver to join Accor Hotels and Best Western Rewards extends status for all elite members to 2023

 

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! 

In writing our post yesterday about the new ALL Accor Live Limitless triple points offer we came across a new hotel in the listing of Accor properties in Canada. That hotel is the Hotel Belmont Vancouver MGallery. Right now the Hotel Belmont Vancouver shows as an Ascend Collection hotel from Choice Hotels but from what we can tell that will change on December 1st when the hotel moves over to Accor as part of their MGallery brand. MGallery is Accor's boutique hotel division with over 100 locations in 30 countries. The hotel is the second MGallery hotel in North America with the other being in Miami and it is the first non Fairmont Accor Hotel in Canada outside of Ontario and Quebec.  Click here to learn more about this hotel 

Offer extended: Welcome bonus of 100,000 PC Optimum points on PC Financial Credit Cards

 

 

We see the extension of the 100K credit card offer for getting a PC Financial Mastercard. They have now decided to keep it in place for applications until December 31, 2021 and is good for any one of the three cards in their portfolio:

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

 
Regional and city tourism boards here in Canada are back at it again looking to stimulate travel and have people stay in their areas! Over the summer we saw many of them provide incentives for hotel stays in their respective regions and a lot of those offers are back for the fall and winter. Typically the incentive is providing a gift card, discounts, free nights or other perks for booking and staying at hotels in that said region or city. This type of promotion is steadily increasing in  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.