July 17 Update: 700 bonus SCENE points for ordering via the East Side Mario's App, big WestJet seat sale and more!

You can earn 700 bonus SCENE points by downloading the East Side Mario's app and placing an order via the app by December 31. Just enter your SCENE number and coupon code ESM700 at check out. Find out more here

Posts since our last update:

• Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa
  Another friendly reminder about The Hilton Summer Sale! Don't Miss Out On Savings Of Up To 25% On Selected Hotels…
• Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles on Amazon.ca purchases until July 18
  In celebration of Amazon Prime Day which launched yesterday and runs until the end of today Aeroplan is offering…

Travel Deals
WestJet has launched a big summer sale with over 2 million seats on sale! Book by July 19 for travel until December 15. Find out more here

Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by August 1, 2018 for stays until August 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Hilton Honors
- 40% Discount when you buy 5,000 or more Honors points. More... Until Aug 15, 18

Iberia Plus
- Triple Avios for stays of 5 or more nights at Melia Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 18
- Double Avios for stays of 4 or more nights at Melia Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Oct 31, 18
- Double Avios for stays at NH Hotels in n Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Milan, Turin, Florence Venice or Rome. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. More... Book by Sep 9 for stays until Oct 11, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay for 2 or more nights Fri-Sun at participating Autograph Collection hotels in South Africa. More... Until Sep 30, 18

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays at the Kerry Pudong Shanghai. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Voila Hotel Rewards
- Triple VHR points & Double Elite Status Credit when you stay at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Another friendly reminder about The Hilton Summer Sale! Don't Miss Out On Savings Of Up To 25% On Selected Hotels in Europe, Middle East & Africa. #ad #sponsored

Make your summer one to remember with the Hilton Sale. Save up to 25% off breaks across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. To access our best savings, simply join Hilton Honors for free while you book. With hotels in over 100 locations, there is a break for every occasion.

Stays must be booked by September 3, 2018 and completed on weekends until October 7, 2018. Remember that you should also be earning Double Points on these stays with the current summer Hilton Honors promotion that runs until August 31. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here.

Discounts are up to 15% off the Best Available Rate and Best Available Bed & Breakfast Rate and vary by property, excluding Hampton by HiltonTM hotels where the discount is up to 10% off. The Summer Sale Hilton Honors member rates are an additional 10% off the Best Available Rate and the Best Available Bed and Breakfast Rate, for weekend stays.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton Summer sale 

For purposes of this offer, "weekend" is defined as Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday nights and in Middle East (excluding Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Africa) as Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday nights. Must book a minimum 3 days before arrival, this may vary and be reduced at points throughout the campaign

Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles on Amazon.ca purchases until July 18

In celebration of Amazon Prime Day which launched yesterday and runs until the end of today Aeroplan is offering 5x the miles for all eligible Amazon.ca purchases until July 18. Not only can you score some cheap deals but you can get some extra miles with those purchases! To earn the miles you must visit Amazon.ca via the Aeroplan eStore.

 

July 13 Update: Aeroplan extends Carrot Rewards partnership, Air Canada to open new lounge in St. John's & more!

Aeroplan has renewed their partnership with Carrot Rewards with a multi-year agreement. The extended partnership will enable Aeroplan Members in Ontario, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and very soon throughout the rest of Canada to continue to earn miles on the following:
• Downloading and registering on the Carrot Rewards app;
• Referring a friend who then joins Carrot Rewards;
• Completing a quiz or survey; and
• Meeting step goals and successfully completing step challenges.
To celebrate the expanded partnership from July 13 – 31, 2018, the first 10,000 new members will earn 2X the miles for downloading and registering the Carrot Rewards app (and selecting Aeroplan as their earning preference). In addition, the first 20,000 members who achieve their step goals for 5 consecutive days will earn 2X miles. Find out more here!
 

Air Canada announced that they will be opening a redesigned Maple Leaf Lounge at St. John's International Airport this fall. The new Maple Leaf Lounge will have 77 per cent more square footage, 46 additional seats, and windows offering a panoramic view of iconic Signal Hill and a beautiful view of the ocean. (Source Air Canada)

Related: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access


Posts since our last update:

• Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for stays at Radisson and Country Inn & Suites hotels in Canada and the U.S.
  As we see every summer there is no shortage on being able to earn bonus Aeroplan miles for hotel stays…
• Marriott Travel Packages will lose a lot of value come August
  Back on June 28 Marriott revealed where all their 6,500 hotels will fall into in their new free night…

Travel Deals
Cathay Pacific has extended their seat sale for economy class flights to Hong Kong. You can fly from Vancouver for as little as $753. Book by July 16. Find out more here

Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by August 1, 2018 for stays until August 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles per stay at Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels in the United States and Canada. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Aeroflot Bonus
- Double Bonus Miles for stays at participating Jumeirah Hotels in the United Arab Emirates. More... Until Oct 19, 18

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for stays on the Club and Suite Indulgence package or Linger Longer Package at any participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 29, 18

Choice Privileges
- Save up to 30% when you buy Choice Privileges points. More... Until Aug 10, 18

Iberia Plus
- Quadruple Avios for stays at the Iberostar 70 Park Avenue New York. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay for 2 or more nights at one of 5 participating Marriott hotels in Paris. More... Jul 15 - Sep 15, 18

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at Wyndham Hotels Worldwide. Bonus will be awarded on the first, second and third stays. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Nov 9, 18

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Double iPrefer Points for stays of 2 nights or more at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels in Africa & the Indian Ocean. More... Book by Aug 12, 18

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn Double Starpoints and receive up to 35% for stays at Starwood Resorts in Arizona, Colorado, Florida and South Carolina. More... Book by Jul 24, 18 for stays until Feb 15, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for stays at Radisson and Country Inn & Suites hotels in Canada and the U.S.

As we see every summer there is no shortage on being able to earn bonus Aeroplan miles for hotel stays and this offer adds to the list of places you can boost your balance for those hotel stays. Normally you'll earn 250 to 500 miles per stay with Radisson Rewards but with this offer it is tripled to 750 to 1,000 miles. If you are planning a stay of 2 or more nights you'll have to do the math to see if the double points offer for Radisson Rewards works better for you than this offer.

Offer details:
Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles per stay at Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels in the United States and Canada. Full details and online booking Until Aug 31, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here

Marriott Travel Packages will lose a lot of value come August

Back on June 28 Marriott revealed where all their 6,500 hotels will fall into in their new free night award charts. On that day they also revealed the details of what is happening to the very valuable Travel Packages redemption option. Marriott travel packages provided some huge value if you were able to earn enough Marriott Rewards points to redeem for them. Earlier in the year when we learned about all three reward programs coming together it was announced the packages would be retained but we did not know what would happen in terms of redemption rates.

Well that was also revealed on June 28 and the news isn’t so good. Previously there were multiple charts for the various airline partners and now there is one for all of them.

The old Travel Package redemption rates

For most of us Canadians we used Hotel + Air Package 1 as that has Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines, and British Airways and for some it was the Rewards Plus chart for United.

Here is the new chart:

You'll see that for all categories and airlines the number of points required has jumped significantly. For example right now you can redeem 270,000 rewards points for 7 nights at category 1-5 hotel and 120,000 Mile into the most popular programs like Aeroplan, Alaska and British Airways. Come August you’ll need 330,000 points for 7 nights at Category 1-4 hotels and 100,000 miles. That’s 60,000 more points for roughly the same hotel options but with 20,000 less miles.  

The packages may still provide some value if you have long stays planned, what I mean by this is if you are planning a 7 night stay somewhere it will cost you less points then redeeming for just a hotel on its own by getting a travel package as you’ll get the miles on top of it but you really have to run the numbers to make sure this is the case for you. You also get many more higher end hotels to choose from now that Starwood hotels are in the mix.

Ultimately though the Marriott Travel Package as we know it will lose a lot of its luster come August. Which means if you have enough points right now and know that you can make use of the certificates for the 7 nights and won't let the airline miles go to waste - you'll want to redeem for a package(s) as soon as you can this month and book your hotel to get the best value out of them.   

Here are other posts that you may want to read in regards to the integration of the programs

• Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest come together with the announcement of one set of benefits
• Further details to the combination of the Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz-Carlton Rewards Programs 
• We have a preview of some new redemption rates with the combined Marriott Rewards-Starwood Preferred Guest program 
• June 26 Update: What happens to Marriott Free Night Certificates come August
• New earn rates and benefits revealed for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express  
• New Free Night Award Chart for the combined Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and SPG program has been released  

July 11 Update: 2018 Top Cash Back Credit Cards, Double Points for Radisson stays, new Coast Hotel in Oliver BC

If you missed it earlier we released out Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings for 2018! Three cards from 2017 remain in the Top 5 and two new cards make it into the list! Find them all here.

Radisson Hotels have launched a new systemwide bonus offer. Members of Radisson Rewards can earn double points for all stays of 2 or more nights at participating hotels worldwide. That means you'll earn 40 points per US$1 spent on those stays. Find out more here
 

Coast Hotels has opened a new location in the heart of the famed Okanagan Wine Country. The Coast Oliver Hotel is now open for business. If you stay at this hotel you can choose to earn Coast Rewards points, Aeroplan miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles or More Rewards points. Also to celebrate the opening of the hotel you can save 25% off the best available rates for stays until April 30 if you book by August 31. Find out more here

Posts since our last update:

• Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2018
  Welcome to Rewards Canada's second annual Top Cash back Credit Card rankings! Just like last year, these rankings are…
• Current Bonus Mile & Point Offers for hotel stays booked via 3rd Party sites - Agoda, Kaligo, PointsHound, Rocketmiles
  Ever since Pointshound launched quite a few years ago the market for earning miles and points in your favorite programs…

Travel Deals
Cathay Pacific has extended their seat sale for economy class flights to Hong Kong. You can fly from Vancouver for as little as $753. Book by July 16. Find out more here

Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by August 1, 2018 for stays until August 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Iberia Plus
- 25% Bonus Avios when you fly on Iberia Express on select routes within Spain and Europe. More... Book by Jul 30 for flights Sep 1 - Oct 26, 18
- Double Avios for stays at Derby Hotels in Madrid and Paris. More... Until Aug 31, 18
- Double Avios for minimum 4 nights stay length at the Hotel Jerez & Spa, Villa Jerez and Guadacorte Park More... Until Aug 31, 18

JAL Mileage Bank
- Earn 1,000 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles + 20 Radisson Rewards points per dollar spent for stays at Radisson Blu, Radisson, and Park Plaza hotels worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 18

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Aug 2, 18

Radisson Rewards
- Double Points for all stays of 2 or more nights at participating Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Radisson RED, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson and Country Inn & Suites® by Radisson hotels worldwide More... Until Aug 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2018

Welcome to Rewards Canada's second annual Top Cash back Credit Card rankings!

Just like last year, these rankings are coming out later in the year then planned thanks to changes to existing cards and the launch of new cash back cards in our market! We wanted to see how these card launches and updates would affect our rankings! 

Now that the cards we have been waiting for have been updated or released we are pleased to offer our list of the Top Cash Back Credit Cards in Canada for 2018. The main card we were waiting for was the Rogers World Elite Mastercard that was announced earlier this year but wasn't officially released until late May. That card debuts at number three in the rankings thanks to strong earn rate and no annual fee. We are still waiting to see what will happen with Brim Financial's launch - they have cash back cards coming out but no one seems to have received cards from them yet so we could not wait any longer to see if could add them in.

What are Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2018? Click here to find out!

Current Bonus Mile & Point Offers for hotel stays booked via 3rd Party sites - Agoda, Kaligo, PointsHound, Rocketmiles

Ever since Pointshound launched quite a few years ago the market for earning miles and points in your favorite programs for hotel stays booked via third party sites has exploded. Second on the market was Rocketmiles and now we've seen huge growth from Singapore based Kaligo which launched in fall of 2014 as well as major booking engine Agoda grow their PointsMAX option. All four operate on pretty much the same premise. Book hotel stays with them and they will award a lot of miles for those stays in the partner program of your choice. As with many third party booking sites the stays may not earn hotel frequent guest points, status credits and the hotels may not recognize your hotel elite status. These sites tend to be best used for hotels that do not have loyalty programs or if they are from a major chain they are ones that you don't collect points with as they are not your brand of choice. Of course, occasionally (well more than occasionally right now) these 3rd party sites offer bonus miles on top of the regular miles they award and those offers can be found right here

If you don't see your program of choice listed below you can book and earn regular miles with our referral link. (we earn a commission on these bookings - thank you for your support!)
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	2 Bonus KrisFlyer Miles for every US$1 spend on hotel bookings made via Agoda. Full details & online booking	Until Jul 31, 18
If you don't see your program of choice listed below and have not booked via Kaligo before you can earn 1,000 Bonus Miles/Points when you make your first booking with our referral link. (we'll also earn 500 miles)
British Airways Executive Club	Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Avios for all hotel stays booked via Kaligo. - 5,000 bonus Avios for minimum spend of GBP300 on one or more hotel bookings with Kaligo - 10,000 bonus Avios for minimum spend of GBP500 on one or more hotel bookings with Kaligo - 20,000 bonus Avios for minimum spend of GBP1,000 on one or more hotel bookings with Kaligo. For British Airways American Express cardholders only. Full details and online booking	Book by Aug 31 for stays until Feb 28, 19
Ethiopian ShebaMiles	50% Bonus ShebaMiles for all hotel stays booked via Kaligo. Full details and online booking	Book by Jul 17 for stays until Dec 31, 18
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings	50% Fortune Wings Points for all hotel stays booked via Kaligo. Full details and online booking	Book by Jul 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Double Flying Club Miles for your first hotel stay booked via Kaligo. Full details and online booking	Book by Jul 14 for stays until Dec 31, 18
	30% Bonus Flying Club Miles for all hotel stays booked via Kaligo. Full details and online booking	Book by Jul 14 for stays until Dec 31, 18
If you don't see your program of choice listed below and have not booked via PointsHound before you can earn 1,000 Bonus Miles/Points when you make your first booking with our referral link. (we'll also earn 1,000 miles)
American AAdvantage	Earn up to 6,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you make your first booking on PointsHound. Full Details Spend $150 - $299 = 1,000 Mile Bonus Spend $300 - $999 = 2,000 Mile Bonus Spend $1,000+ = 6,000 Mile Bonus	Until Jul 31, 18
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Flying Club Miles when you book hotels via PointHound. Full details Spend between £150-£399 (or the equivalent) on your booking, you'll receive a 1,000 mile bonus on top of the generous amount you'd usually earn. And if you spend £400 or more, you’ll enjoy a 3,000 miles bonus	Until Jul 31, 18
If you don't see your program of choice listed below and have not booked via Rocketmiles before you can earn 1,000 Bonus Miles/Points when you make your first booking with our referral link. (we'll also earn 1,000 miles)
Alitalia MilleMiglia	5,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. Full details and online booking	Book by Sep 30, 18
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles	2,000 Bonus HawaiianMiles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. Full details and online booking	Book by Dec 31, 18
United MileagePlus	3,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you complete your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. Full details and online booking.	Book by Jul 31, 18
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	75% Bonus Flying Club Miles on your first hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. Full details and online booking	Book by Sep 30, 18

July 6 Update: Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card will get Elite Night Credits, 30K mbna Alaska card offer is not limited time and 15 new retailers added to AIR MILES Shops

American Express has sent out letters to those who have the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card outlining the details of the changes to the card that are coming on August 4th. We provided this information in our post "New earn rates and benefits revealed for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express" but one detail that we did not receive at the time which is in the letter is that an Elite Night Credit is coming in the year. Thank you to our reader Harry B. for letting me know about it as I didnt' read the flipside of the letter where this was mentioned. I know not offering elite nights was a bone of contention for some of our readers saying they should offer this and that the U.S. card offers a 15 night elite credit. Well the good news is we're getting it on the card although we don't know the details I am guessing it will be the same as the U.S. card (and the old Chase Marriott card) of 15 nights. That seems to be the rate that Marriott likes to allow the credit card issuers to give out.

On our blog post for the increased sign up offer on the mbna Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard, Jeffrey asked if this is a limited time offer. We reached out to mbna and they let us know that the new 30,000 mile offer on the card is not a limited time offer, this is the new ongoing bonus you'll see with the card!

 

AIR MILES let us know that 15 new retailers have been added to their online shopping portal airmilessshops.ca. Some of the new retailers include Kiehl’s Canada, Adidas Canada, Bumble and Bumble and more. The news release also states that Ticketmaster will be joining the portal soon as well. To celebrate these new stores AIR MILES is awarding 50 bonus reward miles if you shop at any of them by July 31.

Finally are we going to see cheaper prices when it comes to buying points and miles? Loylogic, a Swiss loyalty consulting and back end software development firm announced a new platform they are going to offer to loyatly programs for the buying, selling and transferring of points and miles. Accodring to Loylogic the new platform's plug and play solution can be integrated within a few weeks and deliver substantial program revenue almost immediately at a cost of 60-90% below that of current solution providers. The current solution provider in most cases is Canada's Points.com which is used by almost all the programs. I'll be curious to see which programs which move to Loylogic and if they'll pass along the savings! (Source Loylogic)

Posts since our last update:

• Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Canmore, Alberta
  We welcome another hotel review from Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley:   The Holiday Inn Canmore is located just off…
• WestJet Flash Sale: Up to 25% off Econo flights including Canada Day sale fares
  Not only has WestJet extended their Canada Day but for today only you can save an additional 25% on top…

Travel Deals
Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by August 1, 2018 for stays until August 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you use Park & Jet at the Calgary Airport. More... Until Aug 31, 18

AIR MILES
- Earn up to 500 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles when you book flights via redtag.ca More... Until Aug 14, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles
- Double ShebaMiles when you fly Ethiopian between Addis Ababa and Jakarta. More... Jul 16 - Sep 19, 18

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays on an experential package at any one of five Shangri-La destinations in China - Hangzhou, Chengdu, Yunnan, Sanya and Xiamen. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada: