The new IHG Hotels & Resorts program is here - IHG One Rewards will offer better status benefits & milestone rewards

 

 

The wait is finally over. The refreshed and revamped IHG Hotels & Resorts loyalty program is here. Now branded as IHG One Rewards, the program that has had a quite few names through its history is upping its game for those who stay frequently at the chain's 6,000 hotels worldwide. The first update to the program was revealed this past January and that provided a peek at the changes to the elite status tiers which included some name changes and the addition of one more tier. Today, the rest of the new program was revealed and included such things as more benefits for elite members and milestone rewards.

Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for April - 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!

Buy World of Hyatt points with a 30% discount (1.68 cents US per point!)

Hyatt has come out with yet another buy points offer and this time it is a discount instead of a bonus. When you buy 5,000 or more points in one transaction they will give a 30% discount on the price. This is different than the typical 30 to 40% bonus that we usually see with Hyatt. With the discount the price works out to 1.68 cents (US$) per point which is lower than the 1.714 cents per point (US$) seen when they run their highest 40% bonus. Depending on how you redeem them it could be worthwhile to purchase them for rewards at high end hotels like Park Hyatt’s around the globe or even if you just need a few thousand points to top off for an award.

April 12 Update: Air France KLM Flying Blue launches a family pooling option, up to a 2.4% interest rate with HSBC High Rate Savings & Alaska Airlines introduces $8 flat rate Wi-Fi

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. Be sure to subscribe to the Rewards Canada News email newsletter so that you don't miss out on any loyalty program news and offers! You can subscribe to the newsletter here

Air France KLM Flying Blue announced a new family pooling option to the program today. Similar to family pooling programs from Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club and other airline programs, Flying Blue members can now set up a "Flying Blue Family" for up to 8 people to share/pool miles so that it can be easier to get to an award. Learn more about Flying Blue Family here.

Guide to Canadian Credit Card Car Rental Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) Insurance

 
Today we published a new detailed guide for Canadian Credit Card Car Rental Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) Insurance on the main Rewards Canada website. This guide takes a deep dive into one of the most popular and widely used benefits provided on most premium and ultra premium credit cards. It is one of the few insurance benefits that actually has front end value as it can save cardholders significant amounts of money by not having to pay for the car rental company’s insurance. That value can grow exponentially should the renter damage their rental car in an accident or if the car is stolen. However there are steps renters should take to make sure they are properly covered and not violating the terms of their card’s insurance policy and that’s where Rewards Canada’s new guide comes in handy.

April 11 Update: Changes to some new Hilton Hotels opening dates, a new Amex Offer for Fubo & a min. income requirement change for the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. Be sure to subscribe to the Rewards Canada News email newsletter so that you don't miss out on any loyalty program news and offers! You can subscribe to the newsletter here

 

We made an update to our New Hilton Hotel Openings in Canada for 2022 feature (Check out the feature here). Thanks to our reader Min'ai for letting us know the opening of the Hampton Inn by Hilton Midland, ON has been pushed back to May 26. We also decided to check the other hotels that were to open during February, March and April and have learned on has opened in Montreal and in addition to the Midland hotel four others have had their opening dates pushed back as follows:

Top Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for April - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 
Here are Rewards Canada's Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of April 2022. This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards 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.

Big news! Visa Canada switching lounge access from Priority Pass to DragonPass (which means access to Plaza Premium lounges!)

 

Two weeks ago Rewards Canada broke the news of Mastercard Canada switching their business class lounge access membership program from LoungeKey to DragonPass and now we have learned Visa Canada will be doing the same! This appears to be the case for various Visa cards in Canada that provide lounge access, which are some Gold and Visa Infinite Cards and all Visa Infinite Privilege Cards. As of July 1, 2022 Visa Canada's new airport lounge program will be called  Visa Airport Companion (powered by DragonPass).

New welcome offer of 100,000 PC Optimum points on PC Financial Credit Cards

 
We see the return of the 100K offer for PC Financial Mastercards. You can receive this bonus when you apply by April 15, 2022 and it is good for any one of the three cards in their portfolio:

• PC Financial Mastercard
• PC Financial World Mastercard
• PC Financial World Elite Mastercard
  

The credit card to consider getting right now - April 2022

Today we kick off a new monthly feature where we recommend a card to consider applying for right away.  How do we pick which card should be highlighted? We'll look at numerous factors however in most cases it will primarily be due to the limited time offer on the highlighted card ending that month or shortly thereafter. In some cases, it may be different factors or a combination of factors and it is the latter, a combination which is the case for this first highlight post.