World of Hyatt's annual hotel category changes are here - two hotels in Canada will increase in points cost

Hyatt's World of Hyatt program announced their annual hotel category changes today. These are the hotels that will be moving up or down in the eight categories that the program has. It is not a change to the actual categories or points requirements themselves as those stay the same. Overall the program will see 146 hotels changing worldwide, 70 will be moving to a higher category (69 move up one, 1 hotel moves up two categories) while 76 will move down in their categories. Here in Canada we have two of the current 16 hotels falling into those 70 hotels that are moving up.

February 11 Update: Wait. What? Diners Club actually sent an email? Plus Swoop announces a major domestic expansion

 Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your bear 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! 

 
I received a bit of shock in my email inbox yesterday. BMO actually sent a Diners Club email that wasn't strictly an automated statement or payment reminder! First thing I thought is "What is going on?" I haven't had an email from BMO or Diners Club like this in years! And by years I'm thinking nearly a decade if not more. Are they actually starting to pay some attention to the card and the Club Rewards program now?

February 10 Update: Could we see an update to the Marriott Amex card and Amex cards lose access to Quebec City's Jean Lesage VIP Lounge (could be temporary)

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your bear 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! 

Down in the U.S. there were changes announced to the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature Credit Card including new accelerated earn rates on dining, gas and grocery plus elite status night with spend. According to an interview Gary Leff at View from the Wing had with Chase and Marriott these changes were not meant to attract new customers:

AIR MILES Bonus Boom is back! Earn bonus miles with participating partners + up 300 bonus miles when using multiple offers

 
The latest AIR MILES Bonus Boom event kicked off today with your usual set of bonus miles offers for shopping or completing actions with various AIR MILES partners. Most of the bonuses are available between today and February 23. While this may version may not be called Bonus Boom Boost like we saw at the end of 2021 the additional bonus is tiered for using multiple offers is more like Boost rather than the previous Bonus Boom offers which had your standard 95 miles for three offers.

Great deal! TAP Air Portugal business class from Toronto to Portugal round trip for under $2,000 plus double Miles&Go status miles

TAP Air Portugal has launched a great Valentine's Day sale for travel for their flights out of Toronto. It is available in both Economy and Executive (Business) Class but I'll focus on the latter in this post as that really seems like the good deal! With this sale you can fly round trip business class from Toronto to Portugal from $1,999 all in or travel beyond to other European destinations for $2,499. On top of this, for the Executive/Business Class fares they are offering double status miles in TAP's Miles&Go program.  This means you would earn 10,746 status miles each way if you fly Toronto to Lisbon.

February 9 Update: Marriott's global promotion now live, a new flash bonus points offer for Homes & Villas by Marriott + one more Amex FedEx offer

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your bear 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! 

A reminder that Marriott's systemwide bonus offer went live yesterday. This promotion offers 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points + Double Elite Night Credit for each night you stay at Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Simply register by Apr 20 for stays Feb 8 – May 4, 22. Click here to register for this offer & to book your stays (Registration is required prior to completing any stays)

Up to a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Points by March 18

We see the return of an IHG Rewards' buy points bonus offer for the next month and a bit and this time it is a mystery bonus. Some members will receive a 100% bonus offer while others will get a different offer, like the 80% we received here at Rewards Canada.  The bonus is offered when you purchase 5,000 or more points at a time and for this promotion they have not raised the annual limit of points that you can buy.

Miles & More Mileage Bargains - Big mileage discounts of 50% or more on flights to Europe from Montreal & Toronto

 
The latest set of Miles & More Mileage Bargains (Meilenschnaeppchen) discounted mileage awards are here for this month. It does appear they are back for good as this is the fifth month in a row we have seen Canada on the list. The list is a little smaller this time however there are still Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class to choose from!

February 8 Update: SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) launching Toronto to Copenhagen & Stockholm flights plus a new Amex Offer for FedEx

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your bear 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!

Star Alliance airline SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) and partner of Air Canada announced today the launch of flights from Toronto. Starting this June the airline will fly 3x per week from Toronto to Copenhagen and 4x per week from Toronto to Stockholm. The airline will use their Airbus A321LR aircraft on the route which feature 22 lay flat business class seats, 12 premium economy seats and 123 economy class seats. These new routes are great news for Aeroplan members as SAS is part of the Star Alliance which means you will be able to earn and more importantly redeem points for award flights on these routes. (Source SAS)

Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for February - 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 three 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 all of these cards since they earn Aeroplan points or Marriott Bonvoy points - both of which can provide some huge outsized value rewards!