This story revolves around a family trip to Saskatchewan in May and looks at the earning story for our Canalta hotel stay.
Related: Hotel Review: Canalta Hotel, Humboldt SK
Our stay was at the Canalta Hotel Humboldt on a AAA rate that included an enhanced continental breakfast. I booked it not fully knowing that I would earn bonus points as it was a very last minute booked (read the review link above for the details behind the stay). From the stay I had learned that your first stay at a Canalta Hotel will earn double Canalta Rewards Points after you join the program. This offer in now up on our Canalta Rewards Bonus Points page
Here is my screen shot of the Canalta Rewards Points that posted with this stay:
As you can see by registering for the program I earned 11,000 points for the stay! I can already redeem those points as $10 Gift Cards are only 9,000 points and/or make a charitable donation. As I am not completely sure about when my next Canalta stay may happen and since that next stay will only earn base points when it does happen I just may redeem some points right away. Is it the best use of points? Not on paper when you look at the numbers but I'd rather get something than nothing. This is a great example of using a secondary program, sure its not your number one choice but if you don't take advantage of the program you stand to lose out. In my case, it may only be $10 but that is $10 more in my pocket now if I choose to redeem for one of the gift cards and I can plant of couple of trees as well (donation of points). Just remember that everyday people have stays like this that are not earning any points at all since the people aren't part of the hotel's program!
Related: When and why secondary loyalty programs can prove to be valuable
On top of the 11,000 points earned, when I joined the program I completed my online profile for an additional 500 points:
Tips for Hotel Stays
- Watch the rates that include bonus miles - If there is a bonus most of my stays do earn those extra points but a lot of hotel offers for bonus points also come with higher rates so be sure to check other rates like AAA, Senior Rates, etc. as those could be a better deal than the paying for the extra points. For a complete list of hotel bonus offers see this page on the main Rewards Canada site.
- Read the fine print - When a bonus offer is available be sure that your stay meets the criteria. Those criteria can include certain rates, select days of the week or multiple night stays.
- If you are staying at a hotel/hotel chain that isn't your primary program chain you may be better off posting that stay to a preferred airline rather than earning the hotel points. You'll still have to join that hotel chains program but set your earning preference to your preferred airline.
Have your earning story featured!
Not only are Rewards Canada Earning Stories featured in this series, we want to feature your stories as well! Have you earned a lot of points or miles by utilizing offers posted on Rewards Canada? We would love to hear about them and potentially feature them here on Rewards Canada. Tell us your earning story by emailing us the details of what you earned, screenshots if possible of those points/miles posting and what offer on Rewards Canada you took advantage of. Email it to us info@rewardscanada.ca
