Nov 30 Update: Best Western bonus in CA, HI & NV, Frontier Double EQMs Systemwide & CardSwap Winner

This will be the last Daily Update until December 6th as my family and I are off for a small vacation to relax and do some shopping. We're going to do our best to help bolster the U.S. economy: three ladies and a guy who is known to enjoy shopping on ocassion equals hefty spending!

News, Tips & Tricks
Melia International Mas rewards now offers an option to buy or gift Mas Points. To celebrate the launch they are offering a 20% bonus on all points purchased. The program allows you to buy up to 100,000 points before the bonus in a calendar year. I'm still looking at their redemption options to see if this can be worthwhile promo to take advantage of and will report back if there is anything that stands out.

The winner of Rewards Canada's Cardswap.ca giveaway was @BremerVan Congratulations!

Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for every qualified night you stay for up to 4 nights at participating Best Western Hotels in California, Nevada or Hawaii. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- 500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at th Best Western Hotel Restaurant Stadskanaal. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Points for each eligible stay at Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide booked through Carlson Wagonlit Travel. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when booking the special rate ""Double Miles for Early Birds" 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Delta SkyMiles
- Double SkyMiles on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More... Until Jul 31, 13

Frontier Airlines Early Returns (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
Double Elite Qualifying Miles on all Frontier Airlines flights systemwide. More... Dec 1 - 31, 12

Melia International Mas Rewards
- 20% Bonus Mas Points when you buy or gift Mas Points online. More... Until Jan 9, 13

Nov 29 Update: Air Canada new routes, Singapore Airlines Saver Awards expanded, Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Marriott Canada stays

At the end of each month loyalty program news and bonuses tend to fizzle out and November has been especially so. So not too much to bring you today:

News, Tips & Tricks
Air Canada announced some changes to their summer 2013 flight schedule which should appeal to Air Canada Top Tier and Aeroplan members alike. The new routes include 3x weekly service between both Toronto and Istanbul and Toronto and Seoul. Increases to Calgary-Tokyo (Daily serivce from 5x weekly), Vancouver-Beijing (11x weekly from 7x) and Toronto-Beijing (10x weekly from 7x). More details can be found on Airline Route Update

Aeroplan and all Star Alliance partners welcomed the newest member to their fold, Shenzhen Airlines. Another option for you to earn and burn Aeroplan (and other *A) miles.

The Alitalia MilleMiglia program is burdened by some obscure Italian law that makes it 're-invent' itself every few years and the 'current' version of MilleMiglia will end on December 31. This means members have until Jun 30, 13 to redeem their miles (usually Alitalia runs some sort of promo that allows you to keep or renew your miles) but if you are holding some and are afraid to lose them you can now redeem them for coupons that can be used towards future Alitalia flights. The coupons range in value from 100EUR to 4,000EUR with a cost of 17,000 to 400,000 MilleMiglia miles. The coupons are good for flights in all of 2013. More details can be found here.

Singapore Airlines sent out an email to its KrisFlyer members with further enhancements to their program that continue to be on the good side. The latest enhancement is that the lower mileage value Saver Awards are now available for the Singapore Airlines Suites on their Airbus A380 aircraft. Here is the wording from the SIA website:

Redemption bookings for Saver Award flights in the Singapore Airlines Suites on board the Airbus A380 are now available.

With the launch of this latest initiative, PPS Club and KrisFlyer members will have the choice and flexibility to redeem all award types in all cabin classes across the Singapore Airlines network.  We will be revising our award charts to include the Singapore Airlines Suites, which will be categorised together with First Class award levels for ease of reference.

Despite this change there will not be an increase in the current Saver Award levels for First Class.  All Saver Awards are also now valid for one year instead of six months.
There will, however, be an increase in selected Standard and Full Award levels for First Class which will also apply to the Singapore Airlines Suites. For members who have made a prior Standard or Full Award booking for First Class, the original award levels will be honoured for bookings made on or before 28 November 2012 and ticketed by 12 December 2012. Please contact KrisFlyer Membership Services for assistance.
Please click here to view the revised award charts.

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway of a $100 credit to CardSwap.ca which is good for $100 worth of gift cards. You can read the review of their reward program here or follow these instructions to enter:
1. Follow @RewardsCanada on Twitter 

2. Visit CardSwap.ca and find a gift card you think you would use the credit on

3. Tweet us the card you would pick, include @RewardsCanada @CardSwap and Hash tag #rewardscanada in your tweet 

Copy, paste and complete this to make it easier:


@RewardsCanada @CardSwap I would choose the (INSERT MERCHANT NAME) Gift Card #rewardscanada
4. Wait to see if you are chosen as a winner

!

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles with every stay at 33 participating Marriott hotels across Canada. More... Until Mar 31, 13
- 250 Bonus Aeroplan miles for parking at the Vancouver International Airport’s Economy or Long-Term Parking Lot. More...Until Jan 6, 13

Amtrak Guest Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Guest Rewards Points on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More... Until Jul 31, 13

Asiana Club
- Double Club Miles when booking the special rate ""Double Miles for Early Birds" 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Country Inn & Suites I-240 Tunnel Road Asheville. More...

Stash Hotel Rewards
- 500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points when you book the “Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale” package at the Riverside Hotel Fort Lauderdale. More... Book by Dec 30, 12 for stays until Apr 30, 13
- 500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays at Larkspur Landing Hotels in California, Oregon, Washington. More... Until Jan 13, 13
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at the Williamsburg Hospitality House. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Remember to follow Rewards Canada on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our Newsletter and RSS feed

Nov 28 Update: Trip Reports, AAdvantage bonus for Hertz Rentals, JAL Status Point bonus offer extension

At the end of each month loyalty program news and bonuses tend to fizzle out and November has been especially so. So not too much to bring you today:

News, Tips & Tricks
No news to bring to you today but do have a reminder tip. Be sure to check out Rewards Canada's route bonus listing before you book a flight to see if you can earn more miles on your planned route. This is an invaluable tool that everyone should consult before you book. You can find it here.

I posted two trip reports today, one for some recent Air Canada flights and one for my stay at the Westin Harbour Castle.

Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More... Until Jul 31, 13

ANA All Nippon Mileage Club
- Double Mileage Club Miles when booking the special rate ""Double Miles for Early Birds" 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Czech Airlines OK Plus
- Earn 3,000 Bonus OK Plus Miles for flights in Business Class or Economy Flex between Prague and Bucharest. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- OFFER EXTENDED 400 Bonus Fly On Points (Status Qualifying Points) on all Japan Airlines flights Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Scandinavian EuroBonus
- 50% Discount on the transaction fees when you transfer EuroBonus points to friends or family. More... Until Dec 21, 12

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points + 3rd night free for stays in a Horizon Club Suite at the Shangri-La Hotel, Shenzhen. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 13
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Horizon Club Room at the Golden Flower Hotel, Xian. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 13
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Horizon Club Room at the Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 13
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Club Suite at the Kerry Hotel Pudong, Shanghai. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 13

Hotel Review: Westin Harbour Castle Toronto

Over the past 2 years my travels have been taking me to Toronto more often. Since it is primarily for business I seem to be bouncing around hotels in YYZ per the demands wishes of my clients. The latest trip which was for Aeroplan’s Media Day, (see the flight report here) had me staying for the first time at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel The stay was paid for by Starwood Canada but surprisingly enough the rate they booked and paid awarded me Starpoints and also counted for the Better by the Night promotion. So I ended up with double Starpoints for this very short stay. It should also count for the Aeroplan Starwood promo that is currently being offered since that one is stackable. I will see how that comes out after my upcoming stay at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in Palm Springs next week.

As I mentioned in the flight report my actual stay in Toronto was less than 24 hours and my actual time at the hotel clocked in at 9 of those hours. I checked in roughly around 11:45pm and was assigned an Deluxe (almost) Corner Room on the 21st floor.  I say almost corner room as the room was at the part of the hotel where there is a bend in the architecture which isn’t 90 degree corner but more so a 45 degree bend. You can see what I mean in this picture:

The room itself was quite large and it afforded a great view of the Harbourfront, Lake Ontario and the flight path for the Toronto Island Airport. Sorry ‘avgeeks’ I didn’t get any shots of the Porter or Air Canada Dash 8’s coming in to land! Here are some pics of the view at night and during the day testing out the panorama feature of my iPhone 5 for the first time.

 The bed, as is usual with Westin was super comfortable, the Heavenly bed is definitely one that like (I mean my wife and I just bought one for our bed back in August) so there are no complaints there. The room itself was clean, showed some signs of aging/use (some unknown and I don’t want to know stains on the chaise lounge) but for a stay that I would only be using the bed and the bathroom for I didn’t really care about the minor condition issues. Speaking of the bathroom, it was typically Westin appointed and clean but I did find it a little small when compared to the rest of the room. The shower produced enough pressure with the nice Westin showerhead (I do miss the double heads that some Westin’s used to have but I’m not sure if the Harbourfront ever had them but I know other hotels have pulled them in the name of water conservation)

I didn’t spend too much time checking out the general areas of the hotel in the morning as I was on the hunt for breakfast off site.  Once I got back to the hotel checkout was painless and 9 hours after checking in I was in a taxi on my way to Airship 37.

The Westin Harbour Castle Toronto
SPG Category: 4
Points required for a free night: 10,000 Starpoints
Cash+Points Requirement: 4,000 Starpoints + $60 per night

Links:
The Westin Harbour Castle Toronto

Gift Basket from Aeroplan

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Flight Review: Air Canada AC140/AC125 YYC-YYZ-YYC

I don’t put too many of my flights up onto the Rewards Canada blog but I had some time to do this review of my quick turnaround for the Aeroplan Media Day held on November 13, 2012. Since I wasn’t planning on doing a review of the flight I unfortunately have no photos to post which will make this review even more boring since even I , when I read trip reports, like the photos the most!

Anyways, Aeroplan contacted me back in October to see if I could attend their annual media day and this year my schedule allowed me to do so. It also helped that Aeroplan  covered the flight costs and Starwood Canada covered the stay at the Westin (see my separate post on the stay). It’s hard to say no when your costs are covered!

Although my schedule did allow me to attend, it was tight, so I requested flights out of YYC on the evening of the 12th and back on the 13th in the afternoon or evening. Aeroplan booked the flights not too far out so I figured it would cost them more miles than the basic 25,000 miles required for a Classic flight but when I saw my itinerary I was shocked (well not really) to see it cost them 108,000 Aeroplan Miles to get me on those flights. Personally I can think of a lot of better redemptions that 108,000 Aeroplan miles can be used for but I figure the actual accounting cost of those miles to Aeroplan would only run around $500-$800 so no different than what the flights would have cost to purchase straight from Air Canada. Still, for my family of four we could have got flights to Disneyland for that amount! But it is what it is.

Aeroplan had put me into a middle seat around the middle of the plane so a few days before I changed my seat on the Air Canada iPhone app (I do really like this app) to a window seat towards the back as it was wide open and my hope was that no one would take the middle seat. I also changed my seat on the return flight towards the back. Now, I am different than many flyers out there. When I am not traveling up front and am in economy I like to be at the back of the plane. Typically I am in no rush to get off the plane so I like to board earlier to ensure I get overhead space as I do not check luggage for short trips like this but do take two carry-on bags. Plus I have found it more likely to get the middle seat empty at the back of the plane than in the ‘preferred’ economy seats in the middle of the plane.

I got to YYC at quarter after four in the afternoon, an hour before departure and much to my surprise parkade #1 was slammed and I ended up parking on level 7. Never had that happen before but I attribute it to it being holiday Monday and being late in the afternoon. Most of my flights out of YYC tend to be morning or late at night (Red Eye to YYZ) so I have never had any issues parking on the lower levels. Luckily it didn’t add too much time for me to get to security which was light and I was through in less than 10 minutes and off to gate A10.  My outbound flight was AC140 an Airbus A319, boarding was smooth, I got into my window seat and my gamble to get the middle seat empty paid off which meant my laptop bag went under the seat in front of that one allowing me to stretch my legs a little more. Although the  plane left the gate on time, due to the high winds only runway 28 was in use and it was busy. We had roughly a ten minute wait before being cleared for takeoff were airborne at 5:37 according to FlightAware. The flight was virtually uneventful, little to no turbulence allowing me to get a good amount of work done and fit in the second Sherlock Holmes movie. It’s nice to see the larger selection of movies being offered by AC now on their IFE system. The service from the flight attendants was good, none of them were grumpy as many people I talk to seem to encounter or experience from Air Canada. On approach to YYZ the captain came on the PA to announce that several flights ahead of us encountered severe turbulence around 13,000 feet, so we should be prepared for that. Luckily we encountered very little turbulence and the landing into Toronto was smooth and on time. The taxi to our gate was exceptionally quick compared to most of my flights into Pearson and I was in a taxi on the way to the Westin Harbour Castle by 11:25pm and at the hotel by 11:45 or so.

Routing of AC140 YYC-YYZ

A little more than 12 hours later I was back at YYZ right after 12:00pm with the hope of getting onto one of the earlier YYC flights (2 or 4pm) as I was booked onto the 6:30pm flight. First I checked at the baggage drop off desks and the agent didn’t even look into the flights as I wasn’t the first to ask and that all the flights for the day were full. Well at that point that saved me the $75 change fee on the Aeroplan ticket but I figured I would try to see if I could get on standby at the gate for each of the flights. As much as I like relaxing in business class lounges (I had two choices this day, the Plaza Premium lounge with my Diners Club card or the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge with a Maple Leaf lounge pass) I much rather get home sooner. Security wasn’t too bad for YYZ but definitely could have been faster had there been some people working the lane I was sent to. I wanted to get to the gate of the 2pm YYC flight as soon as possible to see if I could get on that flight and there were CATSA agents around but it didn’t seem like it mattered to them that people were waiting in my particular lane. After about 5 minutes they decided to get back to work and a translator was needed for the gentleman ahead of me so that took up some more time, thinking the more time I lose the more people would be asking for standby on the 2pm flight since the front end agent did state I wasn’t the first to ask. Once through the gate I made a beeline for gate D39 and of course no agents were there (the time was about 1pm). I did find agents at gate D41 for the 4pm flight and asked about changing my flights. The agent was helpful enough that she said normally there would be a change fee but since every flight was full and overbooked that if I could get onto an earlier one my seat on the 6:30 would open up for someone else, so she put me on the standby list for the 2pm flight.

Fast forward to about 1:55 and the 2pm YYC flight is boarded by everyone that should be on the flight. The gate agent, Marko began paging latecomers and stragglers with a few showing up. I knew my prospects didn’t look good as there were lots of people around waiting to get on the flight. He starting calling people and the group of at least 10 or 15 people began thinning out but alas my name was not called. He made the last page that the standby list has now been transferred to the 4pm flight. When he was free of people bugging him I decided to go bug him to see what place I stood in for the 5pm flight. Number 12, darn that doesn’t look good to get on the 4pm flight. So with an hour and half to spare do I hit a lounge or just stick around, I decided to just stick around since YYZ has free wi-fi and I knew I was going to hit some of the shops for some small gifts for my wife and kids. Once all that was done and the 4pm flight was almost fully boarded I noticed some people hovering around the gate agent’s desk. I figured I should get in there too. Lucky for me I did, as they didn’t call out names in order of the standby list. The agent just asked the first guy in line his name, handed him a boarding pass and he was on. I was next in line with a few people behind me. The other agent was still paging latecomers and few did come along (some with the usual excuses that didn’t realize what time it was or that they didn’t hear the pages). Finally the gate agent asked if my name was ‘Wall’, ‘No, Sojka” I responded and a couple of clicks later I had a boarding pass for seat 24D on this Airbus A320. Sweet I’m on! I get down the jetway and there is a line of people waiting to board the plane. Not more than a minute later I can hear one of the gate agents walking down with their radio blaring “Grab the gentleman who was just given 24D as the passenger has just showed up, unless he is on board already then I will deny this person boarding”

“Alright, move out of my way people!!!” is not really what I said but was thinking since if I was on the plane I would be safe. However it wouldn’t be like that. The agent tapped me on the shoulder and I explained I heard everything but he gave me some hope in that the very last person for the plane, whoever was to be in 15D had not shown up yet and that they were about to page them and give it two minutes. In the meantime I waited those 2 minutes in the jetway with the agent and saw the few people who were in line in front of me had to gate check their carryon luggage so I knew that if I got on it would be the same case for my roller. Two or so minutes passed and the agent smiled at me and said get onboard! Yes! I was on, they took my roller to place in the cargo hold and much to the disgrace of the person in 15E who was hoping to have the seat empty next to him I planted my butt in the seat and looked forward to getting home 2.5 hours earlier. Here is my tweet right after I sat in my seat:

Just like my flight to YYZ, the actual flight AC125 on an Airbus A320 back to YYC was uneventful. Service from the flight attendants was fine except for having some water spilled on me by one of them, not a lot and thankfully it wasn’t the Clamato Juice in her other hand. Despite cramped quarters, the man sitting in the middle was quite big, and I don't mean fat, just a big man, I was able to get some work done for the websites and fit in a movie (The Descendants) and a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory.

Routing of AC125 YYZ-YYC

Upon arrival, there was some delay getting off the plane and we soon found out why. They had to close some doors in the terminal and set up our exit via the upstairs customs corridor as the WestJet flight next to us that arrived from Mexico had numerous people get sick on the flight and there was a quarantine in place on the plane and the immediate gate area. They told us not to hang around the gate, just get upstairs as soon as we could and we would be directed back down to the domestic portion of Concourse B/C
.  I was a little disappointed they didn't bring the carry on luggage to the jetway as WestJet had done on my only other flight where I had to gate check luggage. Can someone tell me, since this only the second time ever I had to gate check a carry on, was I lucky on that WestJet flight or is that WS's standard policy? Anyways it took the better part of 20 minutes to get my gate checked luggage on the baggage carousel and I was soon on my way home. And just an after thought, anyone else notice that the YYC parkade payment machines in the terminal don't seem to work half the time? Yup I ended up paying at the parkade exit.

Alright so this isn’t much of a flight review as I actually don’t delve too much into the actual flights since most of the action happened on the ground but I hope you enjoyed it anyways!

Nov 27 Update: Bonus Marriott Rewards points for Gift Cards, Aegean Miles and Bonus 10th Anniversary contest, US Airways Marriott bonus

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

News, Tips & Tricks

The best news today and what is also a tip comes to us from Marriott Rewards. For the past few years, Marriott has rewarded Marriott Rewards members with bonus points for purchasing Marriott Gift Cards during certain times of the year and that time is back. The latest version of the Marriott Gift Card bonus points offer is out, which you should take advantage of if you have or plan to have upcoming Marriott stays since you will earn miles/points using a credit card to purchase the gift card, get the bonus points for the gift card and then earn your regular Marriott Rewards points for the actual stay. A very easy triple dip and if you registered for the MegaBonus, or any future promos you could consider it a quadruple dip (very similar to the Aeroplan Best Western Gift Card offer from this past summer)

Aegean Miles&Bonus, the program that is famous for offering the easiest route Star Alliance Gold status is 10 years old and to celebrate they a running a contest where the person who guesses the closest amount of miles awarded by Aegean Miles&Bonus over its 10 year history will win Businesss Class tickets and hotel stays. More details can be found here.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway of a $100 credit to CardSwap.ca which is good for $100 worth of gift cards. You can read the review of their reward program here or follow these instructions to enter:
1. Follow @RewardsCanada on Twitter 

2. Visit CardSwap.ca and find a gift card you think you would use the credit on

3. Tweet us the card you would pick, include @RewardsCanada @CardSwap and Hash tag #rewardscanada in your tweet 

Copy, paste and complete this to make it easier:


@RewardsCanada @CardSwap I would choose the (INSERT MERCHANT NAME) Gift Card #rewardscanada
4. Wait to see if you are chosen as a winner

!

Bonus Offers
Air Tran A+ Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double A+ Credits on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More... Until Jul 31, 13

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More.... Until Jul 31, 13

Avianca TACA LifeMiles
- 250 Bonus LifeMiles for all qualified Best Western stays Worldwide that are booked on bestwestern.com. More... Until Dec 31 12

Belavia Leader (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Leader Points for Belavia flights between Minsk and Riga (flights B2 841/B2 842), Tehran (flights B2 983/B2 994), Stockholm, Helsinki, Novosibirsk or Ekaterinburg. More... Dec 1 - 20, 12

Marriott Rewards
Marriott Gift Cards: 10 Rewards Points per US$1 Spent - Marriott Rewards members earn 10 bonus points per dollar for each GiftCard purchase made online at gifts.marriott.com and by entering their valid Marriott Rewards number in the Promotion Code field at checkout. Maximum of 20,000 points awarded per member. Until Dec 31, 12

US Airways Dividend Miles
- 1,000 Bonus Dividend Miles for stays at select JW Marriott,® Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott® Hotels & Resorts, or Gaylord Hotels. More... Book by Jan 15 for stays unitl Feb 15, 13
- Quadruple Dividend Miles when you rent any car for 2days or more at any participating Alamo location in the U.S. or Canada. More... Until Jan 28, 13

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points on qualifying stays at participating Wyndham Hotel stays n the U.S. or Canada. More... Book by Jan 31, 13 for stays until Feb 7, 13


Remember to follow Rewards Canada on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our Newsletter and RSS feed

Nov 26 Daily Update: 100 Free Aeroplan Miles & Best Western Online Booking Bonus

Mondays are almost always the quietest here on the Rewards Canada website

News, Tips & Tricks
The biggest tip today is a way to earn 100 free Aeroplan miles. If you don't subscribe to Home Hardware emails you can do so now and earn the 100 mile bonus. Pretty easy. You can do so here. Plus you can earn an additional 50 miles on your first Home Hardware purchase.

Also check out the Best Western online booking bonus, if you have upcoming Best Western bookings and stays you need to make sure you are not throwing away points by not registering for this offer.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway of a $100 credit to CardSwap.ca which is good for $100 worth of gift cards. You can read the review of their reward program here or follow these instructions to enter:
1. Follow @RewardsCanada on Twitter 

2. Visit CardSwap.ca and find a gift card you think you would use the credit on

3. Tweet us the card you would pick, include @RewardsCanada @CardSwap and Hash tag #rewardscanada in your tweet 

Copy, paste and complete this to make it easier:


@RewardsCanada @CardSwap I would choose the (INSERT MERCHANT NAME) Gift Card #rewardscanada
4. Wait to see if you are chosen as a winner

!

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 100 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you sign up to receive email from Home Hardware. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- 50 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on your first purchase at Home Hardware, Home Building Centre, Home Hardware Building Centre or Home Furniture stores. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Double MilleMiglia Miles when booking the special rate ""Double Miles for Early Birds" 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1, 12 - Feb 28, 13

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles when booking the special rate ""Double Miles for Early Birds" 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Best Western Rewards
- 250 Bonus Rewards Points for any qualified stays Worldwide that were booked on bestwestern.com. More... Until Jun 30, 13

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles for stays of two or more consecutive nights at participating Regent Hotels & Resorts properties worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 12

Stash Hotel Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for weekend stays (Friday - Sunday) at the Creekside Inn Palo Alto. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays Sunday - Thursday at the SeaCrest OceanFront Hotel Pismo Beach. More... Until Feb 13, 13
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays at Pala Mesa Fallbrook. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays Sunday - Thursday at the Inn at Middletown. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Inn at Middletown. More... Jan 1 - 31, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays of 3 nights at The Shores Resort & Spa Daytona Beach Shores. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 6, 13
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays of 3+ nights at the Emerald Greens Golf Resort Tampa. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- 1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Commons Hotel Minneapolis. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Hotel Andaluz Albuquerque More.... Until Feb 28, 13
- Double Stash Rewards Points + Comp Upgrade for stays at the Affinia Gardens New York. More... Until Dec 30, 12
- 500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points for stays on the “Dine and Unwind” Package at The Resort at Port Ludlow. More... Until Dec 30, 12

Remember to follow Rewards Canada on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our Newsletter and RSS feed

Nov 23 Update: Emirates sale out of YYZ/SEA, free Accor Platinum Status, 500 AAdvantage Miles on Avis Rentals

End of the week brings a nice mix of news and bonuses to the Great White North:

News, Tips & Tricks
There is another instant/free Accor Platinum Status offer floating around when you register your Le Club number or join Le Club via this link. These Accor Platinum offers tend to be pulled pretty quick so be sure to sign up for it ASAP. If and when you get your status don't forget to use it for a status match from Best Western and possibly even Carlson Hotels Club Carlson.

If you are planning any travels to Seoul check out my City Bonus Highlight for ICN over on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog.

Avianca TACA's LifeMiles (one of the best programs for Star Alliance redemptions) is offering double LifeMiles for purchases made via their online shopping mile until November 26. More details can be found here

In cased you missed it yesterday, I'm giving away a $100 credit to CardSwap.ca which is good for $100 worth of gift cards. You can read the review of their reward program here or follow these instructions to enter:
1. Follow @RewardsCanada on Twitter 

2. Visit CardSwap.ca and find a gift card you think you would use the credit on

3. Tweet us the card you would pick, include @RewardsCanada @CardSwap and Hash tag #rewardscanada in your tweet 

Copy, paste and complete this to make it easier:


@RewardsCanada @CardSwap I would choose the (INSERT MERCHANT NAME) Gift Card #rewardscanada 4. Wait to see if you are chosen as a winner

!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Tangerine Saturday where all CIBC Aeroplan Cardholders will earn double miles on all eligible retail purchases. If you are doing online shopping via the Aeroplan eStore, make sure you do it this day to earn the double miles plus register via the Aeroplan Facebook page to earn 5x the Aeroplan miles if you shop at four or more retailers. So technically speaking you can earn 7x the Aeroplan Miles per dollar spent (depending on the online retailer)

And also don't forget that today only you can earn3x the Aeroplan miles for all eligible purchases made at Costco.ca

Travel Deals
Emirates is offering a savings of CAD 150 off round-trip Economy Class fares via Seattle (SEA) and savings of 25% off on Business / First Class via Seattle and Toronto (YYZ). Fares must be booked by Dec 2 for travel January 13 - May 9, 2013. Visit Emirates.com for more details. These fares are eligible for any Miles Accelerator offers that are available (totally free bonus miles irregardless the fare you pay). At the time of posting these are the current offers (please remember EK's Miles Acc. offers are dynamic and tend to change as each new month approaches):

Toronto - Dubai
4,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in Business Class for Jan/Feb
4,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in Economy Class for May

Seattle - Dubai
16,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in First Class, 8,000 in Business Class for February
16,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in First Class, 10,000 in Business Class for February
14,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in First Class for March
14,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in First Class, 4,000 in Business Class for April
6,000 Bonus Skyward Miles in First Class for May

Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- 500 Bonus AAdvantage Miles on rentals of 3+ consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Mexico the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Avianca TACA LifeMiles:
- Double LifeMiles on purchases over US$50 made via the LifeMiles e-Store. More... Until Nov 26, 12

Le Club Accorhotels
- 5x Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any one of 18 ibis hotels, ibis Styles and ibis budget hotels in Indonesia. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- 300 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at the Ibis Styles Kuala Lumpur Cheras and the Ibis Styles Kuala Lumpur Fraser Busines Park. More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Dec 31, 12
- 1,000 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in the Middle East. More... Until Jan 16, 13
- Free Platinum Status when you register your Le Club number or join Le Club via this link (these usually don't last so sign up ASAP) More...

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for Austrian Airlines flights between Vienna and Chicago. More... May 17 - Jul ?, 13
- Double Miles & More Miles when you fly on Brussels Airlines between Brussels and Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Malaga. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Virgin America Elevate (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Elevate Points on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating Hertz airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico or Canada. More... Until Jul 31, 13

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Complete a 2 night stay at IHG Hotels in Canada and receive a $50 Prepaid Visa

Receive a $50 Prepaid Visa when you stay any two consecutive nights at any InterContinental® Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels and Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® or Candlewood Suites® hotel in Canada.
Full details, online registration and booking.

You can also combine this offer with a loosely targeted 1,000 bonus point offer for stays any IHG hotel in Canada: Earn 1,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for your next stay at an IHG hotel in Canada. Maximum of 5 bookings. Register online with code 7620

Wording of the $50 offer as taken from the IHG Offer page:

Here’s how you get your $50 Prepaid Visa^® card:

1. Register for the promotion and print the Confirmation Page
2. Book a qualifying stay at any IHG hotel in Canada between November 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012
3. Mail your completed rebate form along with your hotel bill showing your qualifying stay to:
   
   IHG VISA 50 Rebate
   C/O Compass Creative Media
   6-6150 Hwy 7
   PO Box 432
   Vaughan, Ontario
   L4H 0R6
4. Your $50 Prepaid Visa^® card will arrive within 6–8 weeks

CardSwap.ca SwapPoints review + $100 CardSwap Credit Giveaway

The following post is another in Rewards Canada's growth outside of the travel rewards industry by looking at and reviewing non-travel loyalty programs:

If you are a fan of CBC's Dragon's Den, you may recall this company, if not don't fret here is a YouTube vid of their appearance on the show.

CardSwap.ca is a company that allows Canadians to buy and sell gift cards. At the time of the Dragons Den appearance CardSwap ran a different business model than they do now. I actually took advantage of CardSwap once by selling them a Brick Gift Card I won in a local lottery and would never use. The card was worth $100 and they paid me $74 for it. Sure I lost out on the value but that is why CardSwap is around, so that you can get something instead of nothing if you were not planning on using the gift card. CardSwap would then turn around and sell the card below face value but higher than what they bought it off me at. That is where the company made its money, the difference between the purchase and sale price of the gift card. The initial marketing stated you could save up to 40% versus buying the gift card at the actual retailer or any place that sold the cards. By selling them below face value they hoped to attract the many frugal Canadians looking to get a deal.

Fast forward to 2012 and CardSwap has changed their business model into one that focuses more on a loyalty program rather than a straight discount. Which is why they are being featured here today, because of their CardSwap SwapPoints program. Instead of gift cards being sold at a discount on CardSwap they are now sold at face value. Wait a minute why would someone go the CardSwap and pay face value for a gift card when they can get them on their day to day travels to various stores? That’s where the new SwapPoints program comes in. When you buy a gift card from CardSwap you are awarded SwapPoints for that purchase.

Earning

The amount of points you earn depends on what CardSwap paid for the card and what margin they want to get for the sale of the card. Looking through the site it looks like you get the equivalent of 2% to 10% of most of your gift card purchases back in SwapPoints but I did even see one card even coming in at almost 42%. The return is all dependent on the value of the card and who the retailer is. 

Redeeming

Those SwapPoints can then be redeemed for other gift cards, prepaid Visa Cards and even cash into your PayPal account. The standard redemption rate runs is 1,000 SwapPoints = $10 and 1,000 points is the minimum redemption amount. Typically this means you will have to make several gift card purchases from CardSwap before you start seeing a return. Frances Ho, one of the founders of CardSwap explained to me that most people will need to spend between $100 and $300 to get to the 1,000 point level. Before the change in their business model it didn’t matter whether you purchased 1 gift card or 10 gift cards, you saw the savings right away as those cards were bought at a discount.

 

As an entrepreneur and business major I had a hard time at first getting my head around the change CardSwap did with their business model because it could drive away one time buyers and first time buyers who are unsure if they would return for another purchase. As a loyalty consultant, I can understand from their end why they would make the change however. First is the term ‘loyalty’, they want people coming back to use their service so by moving to a points system they are hoping to encourage people to keep returning so they can build up enough of a balance to redeem. As is seen with any loyalty program another reason you go to a points or miles based system is that you bank on breakage.

What is Breakage?

In the loyalty world, Breakage is the number of points or miles that go unredeemed and are lost by program members either through account inactivity or point/mile expiration. Depending on the industry, typical breakage rates that loyalty programs try to achieve run between 10 and 25%.

So, I would place a guess that CardSwap initiated this change banking on the fact that some users would be attracted at first by the SwapPoints program but in the end may only buy one or two gift cards and never earn enough SwapPoints to make a redemption. That allows CardSwap to enjoy much better margins on the gift cards sold to these type of buyers rather than the smaller margins they saw before when the card was sold up front with a discount. I would be curious to see what CardSwaps numbers are like today in comparison to the old model as I would think that people who are one off buyers and not enticed by the SwapPoints loyalty program would forego buying cards via CardSwap and get them at the retailer (especially for us savvy points collectors who buy the cards at grocery, gas or drug stores on a credit card that has those particular category multipliers... I know I do)

Is SwapPoints a worthwhile program?

Absolutely, for the right type of person. If you are someone who regularly buys gift cards for yourself or as gifts then you should definitely utilize the CardSwap avenue.  You will see savings on your gift card purchases once you start building up your SwapPoints balance and using those points either for more gift cards, the prepaid Visa cards or cash via PayPal.

At this time, CardSwap is offering $5 for free when you join their SwapPoints program so it is entirely possible that you could reach the 1,000 or $10 level with only one purchase of the right gift card.

Selling Gift Cards
Of course there is always the other side of CardSwap, but it doesn’t have anything to do with loyalty and that is the selling of gift cards to them. It is only fair to mention it however as it is vehicle behind the purchasing side of CardSwap. Essentially what happens is if you have an unwanted gift card you contact CardSwap with the retailer name and value and they will get back to you with an offer. If you accept the offer they will provide you a prepaid shipping label to send the card in and once they receive the card and confirm it is valid they will send you a cheque or credit your account with SwapPoints.

In conclusion, if you are someone who regularly buys gift cards then there is no reason you shouldn't sign up for CardSwap. However if you are like me and only buy gift cards once a year or even less then the process of signing up for Card Swap and earning some points that will never be used won't be worth it since you are still paying face value for the card and you have to wait for it to be shipped out. I would rather take advantage of bonus Air Miles or Club Sobeys Points (hence Aeroplan Miles) offers from places like Safeway or Sobeys when they are occasionally run, not to mention the fact that if I buy those cards from a grocery store I'll earn double Membership Rewards points on my American Express Gold Rewards Card.

Contest!
Now, to the fun part! CardSwap offered me a $100 credit to try their site out but I am not much of gift card person and I asked Frances if I could instead offer it to one my Rewards Canada readers. She agreed and here is what you have to do to be entered to win the $100 CardSwap credit.


1. Follow @RewardsCanada on Twitter 

2. Visit CardSwap.ca and find a gift card you think you would use the credit on

3. Tweet us the card you would pick, include @RewardsCanada @CardSwap and Hash tag #rewardscanada in your tweet 


Copy, paste and complete this to make it easier:



@RewardsCanada @CardSwap I would choose the (INSERT MERCHANT NAME) Gift Card #rewardscanada

4. Wait to see if you are chosen as a winner

!

Contest Details

- Deadline for entry tweets is 11:59pm MST on November 29, 2012

- Open to all Canadian residents (I love that Quebec raised their limit above $100 to have to register with them)

- Limit of 1 tweet per day/twitter account

- If you win, you don’t have to use the credit on the retailer you put in your tweets just in case you find another one of interest




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