February 24 Update: CIBC Aventura offering $50 gas and grocery gift cards for 5,000 points, one new Amex Cobalt multiplier & 2,500 bonus points at Alberta Sandman Hotels

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your 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! 

There are several good gift card redemption promotions right now from CIBC Rewards. Until May 4, 2022 you can redeem 5,000 Aventura points for a $50 Pioneer, Fas Gas, Ultramar or Chevron gift card or you can also redeem 5,000 Aventura points for $50 Save-On-Foods gift card. The Save-On offer is valid until February 1, 2023. Redeeming 5,000 points for $50 gift card works out to 1 cent per point in value and if you earned those points with an accelerate earn rate on one of the CIBC Aventura card it could translate to a 1.5% return. While the value and return is potentially lower than if you redeemed for travel via the Aventura Airline Reward Chart (where you can get up to 2.28 cents per point for up to 3.4% return) it's not a bad deal to consider for these cash equivalents. Click here to learn more about these offers

Here are the latest RBC Offers including statement credits for Boston Pizza and Microsoft

 
The RBC Offers program has several new promotions and extended some others over this past week or so to bring the complete list to 25 offers.

Be sure to login to your RBC account right away to load these offers (if required) or get the promo codes if required. Personally I received these offers on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard butmost if not all should also available for RBC's most popular card the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and most other RBC cards.

Receive up to $225 in gift cards and other rewards for hotel stays in Edmonton

 
There has been no shortage of hotel stay incentives across the country due to the pandemic and we've covered many of those offers right here on Rewards Canada. Whether it's Quebec City, Kingston or the ongoing offers from the various city or regional tourism boards that you've seen on our blog - there's some good options out there to earn free nights or to pad your wallet with gift cards. It's that latter one, the awarding of gift cards and rewards that we see return for stays in Edmonton. This offer from Edmonton's Best Hotels allows savvy travellers to earn up to $225 in rewards at any one of over 50 hotels in the region.

New Amex Offers released this week for Columbia, Dell & TurboTax

 
A trio of new Amex Offers came out this week from Columbia, Dell and Turbotax Personally at Rewards Canada we received two of the three and learned about the Dell offer on Red Flag Deals. The Columbia offer was received on our Platinum Card while the TurboTax offer came through on our Cobalt Card.

February 22 Update: American Express Green Card Review & a United MileagePlus award ticket flash sale for flights to London

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your 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! 

We added a new credit card review to the Rewards Canada site today. The American Express® Green Card has now received the Rewards Canada review treatment. Check it out today to see what think is good and not so good about Canada's Top No Fee Travel Rewards Card. Read the review here.

Air Canada announces a major schedule expansion for the summer including seven new routes and the return of dozens more

 
Air Canada sent out two press releases this morning announcing a significant increase in their flight schedules for this summer. One release covered their North American expansion which also includes seven new routes being added and the other release covered International flights beyond North America. Here are the details of the Air Canada's expansion as travel begins to recover.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club moving from Qmiles to Avios as its loyalty currency

 
News came out today from Qatar Airways that they will be adopting Avios as the new currency for their Privilege Club frequent flyer program. Avios is the currency of the airlines that are part of IAG (British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, etc.) which Qatar Airways happens to a be a major shareholder so it seems like a natural progression for Qatar Airways to bring on this change. 

Podcast Episode 88 - February 21, 2022 BMO, What are you doing? Part II

Who would have thought that almost exactly a year after we had a podcast "BMO, What are doing?" we release this episode, BMO, What are you doing? Part II. Yes, BMO is at it again, changing their best travel rewards card and for the most part it is getting worse. The BMO World Elite Mastercard will become the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard on May 3, 2022 and will undergo changes in the points earning category that make this card drop down in the ranks of cards in the Canadian Market. Listen now to learn more and hear our thoughts on these changes.

Stay with Coast Hotels and earn 2x Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles

 
Coast Hotels now has a couple of loyalty bonuses on the go for those who are planning to stay at any of their hotels in Canada or the U.S.. The first bonus is for those collecting Coast Rewards points and has been in market since the start of the year and that offers double points on all stays. You can learn more about that offer here. As of this past week they added another offer and this is one that is perfect for those who don't frequent Coast Hotels enough to earn a useful amount of Coast Rewards points. 

February 18 Update: TD cards receive 6 months of Instacart Express for free + a $15 credit & fly Aer Lingus between Toronto and Dublin for as little as $459 r/t

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your 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! 

 
TD has teamed up once again with Instacart to offer a special on Instacart Express memberships. If you have a TD Access Card with Visa Debit or a TD Travel Rewards Credit Card (not Aeroplan) you may be eligible to get 6 months of Instacart Express for 6 months. TD cardholders will also get $15 off their next Instacart order. This offer is available until August 22, 2022. Click here to learn more.