Monday, January 16, 2012

La Quinta extends Fast Track to Gold Status offer

La Quinta's fast track to Gold Status offer that was around for most of 2011 has been extended for all of 2012. The offer lets new La Quinta Returns members earn Gold Status within the program after completing only 2 stays within 60 days of enrollment. This offer is not too bad for those Canadians who travel a lot to the Southern U.S. and Mexico where La Quinta has most of their properties, in Canada La Quinta only has one location near the Vancouver airport.

To enroll please click here.

La Quinta Gold Status offers the following and is normally awarded after 10 qualifying stays.
20% More points 
Free room upgrades
Express Check-In, and more.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Priority Club changing points requirements for Reward Nights

I am little late to the game with this post if you follow some of the U.S. based frequent flyer blogs but I also wanted to wait for more details from my contacts at IHG. Some of those details I cannot release yet and have not been made aware of but they assured me that Priority Club has a strong focus on guest experience and will be implementing initiatives to ensure they continue to set the standard for loyalty programs. What I can cover is the same as what other blogs have covered to this point, the changes in the number of Priority Club points required to redeem for a free night reward stay. Essentially what has happened is that Priority has added additional reward point levels for all of their brands with all of the new levels being higher than existing ones save for tHoliday Inn/Holiday Inn Express where the addition is between the previous mid and high levels.

The reward night requirements are as follows:
Candlewood Suites
Old: 15,000
New: 15,000 or 20,000

Crowne Plaza
Old: 25,000
New: 25,000 or 35,000

Hotel Indigo
Old: 25,000
New: 25,000 or 35,000

Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express
Old: 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000
New: 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 or 25,000.

InterContinental
Old: 30,000 or 40,000
New: 30,000 or 40,000 or 50,000.

Staybridge Suites
Old: 20,000
New: 20,000 or 25,000

Here are some more details on these changes that begin on January 18th:
- PCR members will need more points to redeem a Reward Night stay in roughly 25% of our IHG hotels around the world
- 20% of our hotels PCR members will actually need less points to claim a Reward Night
- 55% of IHG hotels, Reward Night values won’t change at all
- PCR members with existing bookings will be honored at the Reward Night rate that they were booked for
- PCR members have until 18th March to benefit from the old Reward Nights rates for new bookings too. All they need to do is call the PCR Service Centre and ask for the previous rate.

This is really an unfortunate change as the 25% of hotels that are increasing will more than likely be the high end/much desired locations such as the IC Bora Bora, although we can only confirm this on the 18th when the new rates are loaded into IHG's system.

It can also be seen somewhat of a devaluation for those Canadians who have gotten themselves a Priority Club MasterCard from Capital One (which only launched in November). They will now be required to earn more points for those certain locations that are being increased.

Overall I believe the program still offers some great value for Canadians as they have their Point Breaks option where select hotels Worldwide can be booked for only 5,000 Priority Club points often including some of the high end InterContinental Hotels plus Priority Club doles out so many bonus offers for points that it is one of the easiest hotel programs to earn points in. It is not unheard of to earn 20,000 to 30,000 points for one hotel stay as long as that PCR member remembered to register for all the possible bonuses. To see a complete list of bonus offers please see Rewards Canada's Priority Club Bonus Point Opportunities.

For more details on PCR's Reward nights please visit this page

Feel free to add your two cents to these changes by commenting below

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Free Hilton HHonors Gold Status

January 24th Update: Looks like this offer is dead, will update if this changes again
January 9th Update:
Thanks to the first commenter below who clarified it more than likely won't work with a Canadian Infinite card but you can try using 442394 which did work for me


Gary Leff of View From the Wing posted this offer over the Christmas break about free Hilton Gold Status for Visa Infinite Card holders. Since there are lots of Infinite cards in Canada (RBC Avion, CIBC Aerogold & Aventura, TD First Class) this offer should work for many of you. Since I actually don't have an Infinite version and I wanted to make sure this offer was still alive I heeded Gary's advice and used the first 6 digits from a bank issuer (you can google these or see Gary's post for a working number) and received Instant Hilton Gold Status at 2:15pm MST on January 4th. So at this point this offer is still valid but just like other 'Instant Elite Status' offers out there it can disappear at anytime so be sure to take advantage of it sooner then later.

The offer also comes with 40,000 Bonus HHonors Points if you complete four qualifying stays at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio by 31 May 2012 and pay with your Visa Infinite card

You can take advantage of the offer at .https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/landingpages/VisaInfiniteGold.aspx

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Alaska Airlines: Save over 30% Mileage Plan miles on select flights out of Canada

Alaska Airlines is running a Winter Award sale for their Mileage Plan program and the sale includes their flights between Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, or Victoria and Seattle plus Vancouver and Portland. Each one-way award ticket can be had for 8,700 Mileage Plan Miles (regular is 12,500) and must be booked by January 10th for travel until Mar 7.

More details can be found here.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Air Miles adds expiry rule and instant redemption option

EXPIRING MILES
It was inevitable, one of the longest hold outs from the expiring miles/points camp has joined the party. Canada's largest loyalty program, Air Miles, has enacted an expiry rule of 5 years on their Reward Miles loyalty currency. Much like Aeroplan's expiry rule of 7 years, Air Miles members will have 5 years from the month they earn a Reward Mile to redeem it otherwise it will expire. This expiry rule is different than inactivity rules where you don't use your account at all (earn or burn miles) which is 24 months with Air Miles.

This change is really unfortunate as this was a key strength of the program but according to Air Miles, the majority of Reward Miles earned by its members are redeemed within that 5 year limit. The ones who may lose out here are the collectors looking to earn enough miles so their family can take a dream trip. Ultimately the landscape has changed for loyalty programs in Canada (and the world) and that has necessitated or accelerated the need for expiring miles. Loyalty programs need to show worth and profitability to their shareholders and carrying unused miles is a liability for the program. The term for having these miles removed without them being redeemed is called breakage and all programs count on a certain percentage of breakage. Knowing this, a loyalty program like Air Miles wants to create a healthy balance of breakage and keeping their customers engaged and happy. How can expiring miles keep a customer engaged? By having them redeem for rewards to use up miles that might otherwise expire. So while the member may not be getting the reward they initially wanted to get out of the program they are getting something. Typically these redemptions will be on merchandise or gift cards instead of travel and those catalog items tend to be have higher profit margins than travel so it is a win-win for the Loyalty company by keeping the customer engaged and making a healthy profit.

One question that does need an answer as I see it as a bit of a contradiction is that if the majority of miles that are earned are burned within the 5 year period than the amount of miles left on the books can't be worth that much. Is the value of writing off those miles more than the potential loss of profit  from collectors who are aspiring for a dream vacation that may switch to a program like Aeroplan because they will have 2 more years to earn miles? There will be other questions as well from our readers as I can guarantee most of you will not be happy with this rule based on the experiences with Aeroplan's announcement of their expiry rules back in 2006.

For more on Air Miles Expiry please see here

INSTANT REDEMPTION
Also in today's announcement from Air Miles on the changes of their program is the new Instant Redemption option called Cash Rewards. This option will effectively create a second account or an account within an account for Air Miles members to redeem instantly at Air Miles sponsors. This is key, you will only be able to instantly redeem at Air Miles sponsors and its makes total sense. Up to now, Air Miles members could collect at many sponsors but than redeem for items like Gift Cards for stores, restaurants etc that were not sponsors, so basically the non-sponsoring companies earned money from miles paid for by Air Miles sponsors and this practice had to be curbed by Air Miles to keep its sponsors happy (it may also explain the shrinking of the gift card rewards you can redeem for) Anyways, enough on that and more on how it works:

Essentially when the program launches, Air Miles members will have the option to run a 'cash account' in conjunction with their Air Miles Reward Miles account. When they open up this 'cash account' they will be able to choose what percentage of the Reward Miles earned will go into their 'Mileage Account' and what percentage will go into to their 'Cash Account'. The 'Mileage Account' will be the legacy account that is used to redeem for travel, merchandise, gift cards and more via the Air Miles program while the 'Cash Account' will allow the Air Miles members to instantly redeem against a charge at a participating Air Miles sponsor. So if you have $10 in your Air Miles cash account you can redeem that against any purchase of $10 or more at the participating sponsor.

Some things to note, you will not be able to transfer miles between the 'Mileage Account' and the 'Cash Account' nor will you be able to initially fund your 'Cash Account' with your existing miles. Instant redemption will not be available until March of 2012 but the accounts can be set up right away so that you can start building up a cash balance to use when participating sponsors begin accepting the instant redemption. You will be able to modify your percentages as you go along and learn what amounts to each account work for you and of course you have the choice of only sticking with one. Personally, I don't earn very many Air Miles to redeem for many things so I may move all my future earning to a 'cash account' for the instant redemption savings even though my rate of return will be lower than redeeming for travel, but like I said I don't earn very many Reward Miles so I would rather get something than nothing.

For more on Air Miles Cash Rewards please see here.

Please comment below to tell us what you think of today's announcement of the expiry rules and instant redemption options in the Air Miles program.

Comparison of Canada's Three Main Travel Loyalty Programs Expiry & Inactivity Rules
Air Miles:
5 Years Expiry
2 Years Inactivity

Aeroplan
7 Years Expiry
1 Year Inactivity

WestJet
5 Years Expiry
No Inactivity rule (although WestJet does state that it can be 12 months at their discretion)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Air Canada 2013 Top Tier Program Announced

Just a few days after the release of the changes/benefit packages for the people who qualified for 2012 Top Tier Status, Air Canada has announced the 2013 Top Tier Program, primarily the qualifying criteria and key benefits for each tier. Speaking of tiers, Air Canada is moving to a 5 tier model from the everlasting 3 tier model (Prestige, Elite, Super Elite) and the qualifying criteria for the 5 levels are as follows:
25,000 Status Miles or 25 Segments
35,000 Status Miles or 35 Segments
50,000 Status Miles or 50 Segments
75,000 Status Miles or 75 Segments
100,000 Status Miles or 95 Segments

Some other key changes include the loss of Star Alliance Gold Status at 35,000 Status Miles, that now requires 50,000 Status Miles. Instead you will receive Star Alliance Silver Status at 35,000.

For complete details on the 2013 Top Tier Program  please visit this page on Air Canada

They have also set up an FAQ for the new program

Clarification on earning rewards with the WestJet Frequent Guest program

Recently one of our readers commented on the WestJet Frequent Guest Program as follows:
"WestJet rewards stops when you reach the $ 7,500 milestone. No more rewards! I reached this in 6 months and I need to wait until my membership year is over to start over again!"
So I went to the WestJet website to check this out for myself, and the site does not state this nor does it state the opposite. The lead me to send an email to one of my contacts at WestJet to clarify what I believed was the case in that the bonuses stop at $7,500 but you will continue to earn your 2.5% WestJet dollars on each dollar spent no matter how much you spend with them. He confirmed this is the case, so to reiterate, the spend level bonuses and JetAway bonuses stop at $7,500 but your base earning does not.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Air Canada 2012 Top Tier Program

Air Canada recently announced the 2012 Top Tier program for those who have or will qualify for it.  The following is taken from the Air Canada site:



Enhanced Select Privilege: 2012 Top Tier Bonus

New this year, Top Tier members who choose the Top Tier Bonus as one of their Select Privileges will enjoy a 25% Aeroplan Mile Bonus on eligible flights operated by TAM. This complements the current range of airlines participating in the Top Tier Bonus, including Air Canada, Air Canada Express, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS and United. Unlike in previous years, note that this year ANA will no longer participate in the Top Tier Bonus.

Super Elite Threshold Gift

New this year, Air Canada Super Elite members who achieve the 150,000 Air Canada Status Mile threshold before December 31 will be rewarded automatically with 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles. Members achieving the 200,000, 250,000, 300,000 or 350,000 Air Canada Status Mile threshold will continue to be able to choose from a range of exclusive gifts, including Bonus Aeroplan Miles, gift certificates and electronics.

Expanded upgrade eligibility for Prestige members

Air Canada Prestige members will now enjoy access to upgrades from all Tango Plus fares on flights within North America, including Sun destinations. This change will be effective for upgrade requests made as of January 1, 2012.

eUpgrades for the 2012 Air Canada Top Tier Program

eUpgrade Credits earned as part of the 2012 Air Canada Top Tier Program will be valid until February 28, 2013. Additionally, note that this year, an Aeroplan Member, regardless of their Air Canada Top Tier status, can only be identified as an eUpgrade Nominee by one Air Canada Top Tier member.

Not in the notice of change but on Air Canada's upgrade page:
Change to the ability for sharing eUpgrade Credits
Additionally, note that this year, an Aeroplan Member, regardless of their Air Canada Top Tier status, can only be identified as an eUpgrade Nominee by one Air Canada Top Tier member.

To view all  the details on the  2012 Top Tier program visit Air Canada

To learn even more on the 2012 program and some insight into some changes not listed above I recommend reading this FlyerTalk post

My first year with the American Express Gold Rewards Card

This is the fifth and final installment in my series on the American Express Gold Rewards Card. In this post, I will look at my experience with the Card over the past year.

Earning
Years ago, I got my first American Express Card (Blue Sky) simply because I wanted to be rewarded for my spending at Costco. Now with my new Gold Rewards Card, my usage of American Express has expanded greatly partly due to the double points per dollar earned on eligible gas, grocery, drug store and travel purchases. I do not pull out any other card when I am at these locations as I want to ensure I earn the most points on every purchase I make. The card also makes its way out for other purchases as I see fit. In the first year of having the card, I earned nearly 90,000 Membership Rewards points (including the sign up bonus). As of late, my use of the card has expanded due to a bonus offer I received from American Express.

Bonus Offer
In September, I received a mail out from American Express that offered me 5,000 bonus Membership Rewards points if I spent $5,000 on my card by January 15th, 2012. Well, suffice to say I hit that $5,000 mark by the beginning of November, so I should see that nice little bonus in the new year. A nice perk from American Express I must say! I would love to hear if anyone else received this or some other targeted bonus for using their American Express Gold Rewards card. If you did not receive this bonus, don't fret as I am sure this was not the last targeted offer American Express will offer on this card.

Redeeming
In the first year of cardmembership, I made one redemption with the Membership Rewards points I had earned on the Gold Rewards Card. That redemption utilized the TripFlex option of Membership Rewards (see this post for a detailed account of TripFlex) and I must say that it was totally painless. Essentially I had booked flights to Maui for my family using an existing credit I had with Air Canada, but the value of the tickets exceeded the credit by just over $600.00 and I paid that difference with my American Express Gold Rewards Card. As soon as I saw the amount from Air Canada on my online statement, I called up Membership Rewards and within two minutes had them redeem a little over 60,000 points against that charge. Now they say it can take up to one billing cycle to see that credit on your account, but it showed up on my online statement within three days. This is a feature I will definitely make use of again. In fact, in the New Year I will be paying for my hotel for my next trip to Maui on the card and redeeming the points against that charge once it shows up on my account.

Perks
In addition to an accelerated earn rate and flexible redemption options, a great perk offered on the Gold Rewards Card is Front of the Line, which grants Cardmembers early access to concerts and events across Canada. I utilized this feature to get four tickets to the Selena Gomez show in Toronto this past August and was able to treat my daughters to their first ever concert. When we got to the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, we discovered another perk of being an American Express Cardmember - an exclusive entrance for that allowed us to bypass the much longer general admission line!

All in all, my first year with this card has been wonderful, it came free (all new approvals have the first year free) and I have happily paid the annual fee for the next year as I will continue to use this card frequently.

Click here to learn more about the American Express Gold Rewards Card

Friday, December 16, 2011

IHG Priority Club Stay X Get Y Targeted promos are back!

Noticeably absent for the last quarter of 2011, the ever popular Stay X Get Y bonus promos have made a return for Q1 2012. Although these are supposed to be targeted it seems that most if not everyone can qualify for at least one version of these offers.

Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for a certain amount of nights at participating InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo™, Holiday Inn®, Express by Holiday Inn™ and Holiday Inn Express® hotels worldwide, Do not sign up until the previous quarter is over. Use the following codes to Register Online (use the smallest amount first or the promo that best matches your anticipated stays and then go on to the next if you do not qualify, however once you do qualify for one you cannot sign up for any others):
Stay 3, Get 5,000 - Code 2174
Stay 4, Get 5,000 - Code 2183
Stay 7, Get 10,000 - Code 3164
Stay 8, Get 10,000 - Code 3190
Stay 10, Get 10,000 - Code 5148
Stay 12, Get 10,000 - Code 5157
Stay 15, Get 15,000 - Code 2190
Stay 18, Get 15,000 - Code 3182

Be sure to check out our Priority Club Bonus Point Opportunities page for even more bonus point offers that can be stacked up with this promo.