Starbucks Rewards - Changes confirmed to be coming April 16 and they're both good and bad (mostly bad)

News of changes to the Starbucks Rewards program have been circulating for almost a month south of the border but there wasn't much news for those of us in Canada. That's probably because the Canadian Starbucks Rewards is pretty much just an extension of the U.S. one. Today Starbucks Canada sent out email confirming the changes coming that in Starbucks own press release states they are enhancing the program. If you follow the loyalty industry with even the slightest interest you should be wary of when a program uses the term 'enhances' or 'enhancements' in their headlines. More often than not that means the program is getting worse.

Personally I would say that this holds true once again with Starbucks Rewards 'enhancements' to the program.

For those of you who have been familiar with the program, and I'm sure it's a lot of you, you collect Stars (2 for every $1 spent) at Starbucks and then you can redeem 125 Stars for any drink or food item on their menu. This easy system was really good for maximizing value out of the Stars collected. Think about it you could redeem 125 Stars for a $3 or a $7 or $8 food item. I always did and still do the latter, to pull the most value out of the program I never redeemed for anything below $5 and most redemptions have been for those food items in the $7 range.

Well that's all going to change on April 16 and I think that myself and countless others could be to blame for this change since we were redeeming for the priciest options possible! Starbucks is going away from the 125 Stars for any drink or food item to a tiered reward system which is what they are touting as there enhancement. Sure it enhances the amount of things you can redeem for and has made 'basic' drinks cheaper to redeem for but everything else - the fancier drinks and bigger food products are increasing in price. I don't have stats but just from being in line at Starbucks there aren't a whole lot of people buying basic drinks like straight coffee or tea. Most are buying espressos, refreshers, lattes and the sorts and those are all going up in price for Stars.

Here is a breakdown of all the new reward options and pricing:

As you can see the most popular drink and smaller food items will now cost 150 Stars. That's 25 more than what we are paying right now. Sandwiches, Salads, and protein boxes see a huge increase to 250 Stars! That's a doubling of the amount of Stars required now yet these items don't tend to cost twice as much when paying cash. And in the U.S. this food option is only jumping to 200 Stars not 250 - while the other new levels are equal between Canada and the U.S. The good news is that basic coffee, tea and bakery items have dropped significantly from 125 Stars to only 50 Stars. That's a pretty decent deal but again these don't appear to be the most sought after items. The drink customization redemption option is good I guess simply because it gives another option to use your Stars on. It's also nice to see the select merchandise and at -home coffee being added. These will run 400 Stars and could be where the most value could be brought out of the new program if you are able to redeem for some of those $25 or so coffee or drink cups.  Time will tell if that will be option!

Update: Just read further into the terms and conditions and the 400 Star redemption option is limited to a C$20 maximum before tax.

As you can see it is both good and bad news coming for the Starbucks Rewards program. For me it is mostly bad as the items I was redeeming 125 Points for will now cost 150 to 250 points. I'm sitting on 12 rewards in my Starbucks Rewards account at the time of writing this that were waiting to be redeemed for food items during this busy kid's activity season. I will definitely be upping the redemptions for anything over $5 during the next three weeks to get the most value of the Stars that have been earned. Even with the changes  I will still collect Stars and maybe go on my own advice of "The True Value in Reward Redemptions" and not worry about maximizing the value out of this program and be happy I get free item every once in awhile. And I'll still be collecting 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar loaded onto my Starbucks App thanks to the American Express Cobalt Card.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming changes to the Starbucks Rewards program

What do you make of the changes? What type of Starbucks collector and redeemer are you? Are the changes better or worse for you? Let us know in the comments below!

Last day to book the Hilton Asia Pacific Resorts Sale - Save up to 35% for stays March 20 - February 2, 2020

 
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO BOOK THIS OFFER!

Hilton Honors members can save up to 35% on stays at Hilton's Asia Pacific Resort locations when you book by March 19, 2019. The offer for non-members is only up to 25% off so it really makes sense to join Honors to get the additional discount seeing that it costs nothing to join the program. The great

This offer must be booked by March 19, 2019  from March 20 all the way through to February 2, 2020. Remember that you should also be earning 2,000 bonus points on these stays with the current winter Hilton Honors promotion that runs until May 5. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here..

Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China)
Stays booked between 19 February 2019 (09:00 GMT) and 19 March 2019 (09:00 GMT), and completed between 20 March 2019 and 2 February 2020. Twenty Nine (29) days advance reservations required. Discount varies from 15% to 25% off Breakfast Included Rate (B&B) across all participating properties. Hilton Honors members will receive an additional 10% discount. Hilton Honors Membership is required to book the Hilton Honors Members rate.

Greater China
Stays booked between 14 February 2019 (03:00 GMT) and 15 March 2019 (15:59 GMT), and completed between 21 February 2019 and 23 January 2020. Seven (7) days advance reservations required. Discount is 25% off BAR or B&B across all participating properties in Greater China. (Properties in Hongkong SAR and Taiwan do not participate in this promotion.)

Blackout dates may apply and vary by property. Rates are valid for single/double occupancy and are exclusive of all taxes, incidental charges, gratuities, and resort fees where applicable.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton APAC Resorts sale 
 
Here's just a small sample of the offers available:

FLASH SALE - 100% Bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club Points until March 22

Another buy points flash sale from IHG Rewards Club and it is at the highest bonus level again. You can earn a 100% bonus when you buy 7,000 or more points. This sale runs until March 22.

The best price for buying points comes when you buy 30,000 or more points in one transaction. For example, buying 60,000 points (120,000 total with bonus) costs US$600 which means each point will only cost you 0.5 cents. That's up to 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks 5,000 point level, 12 nights at 10,000 and 8 nights at the 15,000 point level. Even at that highest level it is like you are buying each night for only US$75.

 

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 7,000 points. Buy Points here Until Mar 22, 19


Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here!

Limited time left to apply for the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard and receive up to 3,000 bonus miles and a companion flight rebate!

THE OFFER WITH THE COMPANION PASS IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

One of the more popular cards on Rewards Canada right now is the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard. There are several reasons as to why this is the case: Up to a 3,000 bonus AIR MILES Reward Mile welcome bonus (1,000 on first purchase, 2,000 more when you spend $3,000 within 3 months), the first year annual fee is waived and the main reason for this post, the companion flight benefit. This one time companion flight benefit can provide some huge value over and above the miles earned and the annual fee waiver, both of which we value at no less than $420 combined. The value of the companion flight benefit? Really depends on what flights you redeem for. There is no limit to this voucher in terms of where you can fly - redeem miles for two short haul flights in Ontario and you'll get the miles for the second ticket credited back to your account. Or redeem for two long haul flights from Vancouver to New Zealand and you'll get the miles back for that second ticket. That's right you would get 11,500 miles or more returned to you! That's a huge deal.

If you recall back in November Rewards Canada contributor Jim M. detailed his redemption for travel booking between Sudbury and Vancouver using the companion flight benefit. Here is an excerpt:

Here is a good example of how we have been able to receive amazing value from AIR MILES. I applied for the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard last month. It offers first year free, 3,000 AIR MILES Rewards Miles on a minimum spend of $3,000 which in turn produces 3,300 Air Miles. The card also brings a 15% reduction in AIR MILES award flight mile requirements for travel within North America and a one time free companion benefit.

I received the card and am in the process of completing the minimum spend. Last week I booked return flights between Sudbury and Vancouver for the spring. The mileage cost was 7,200 Air Miles for two, reduced by the 15% the card provides so in the end the redemption was 6,120 AIR MILES Reward Miles.. The companion benefit will see 3,060 miles returned to my account so the net miles cost is only 3,060! That’s 240 less than the sign-up bonus on the card and the earnings for the minimum spend.

The taxes and fees for two return tickets YSB-YVR were $287. The lowest price I could find for two between YSB and YVR return flights on the same dates of our travel was $1,471. The immediate dollar value of the miles earned from this card is therefore $1,184!

 

As you can see between the miles earned on the card, the 15% discount for award flights in North American and the companion benefit netted Jim a savings of nearly $1,200! If we split the amount between two tickets, the companion benefit saved Jim $592.12 (the price of buying the ticket outright less taxes and fees charged by AIR MILES) 

If you like this savings and value of the companion flight benefit, the question you need to ask is when should I apply for this card? The answer is right away, well by March 31st as that is the last day BMO will offer the companion flight benefit for new applications. Come April 1 that benefit will be gone. The welcome bonus and first year annual fee waiver will still be there but the potential huge value of the companion flight will not be. So don't delay if this offer is right for you! You can apply for the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard here.

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This post was sponsored by BMO. The views and opinions expressed in this post however, are purely those of Rewards Canada

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: Receive a 40% bonus when you buy 20,000 or miles by March 17

Alaska Airlines has launched another buy miles bonus! Though not as good as the 50% we sometimes see, some of you may be able to make great use of buying the miles with just a 40% bonus! With the 40% offer you are buying Mileage Plan Miles at roughly US 2.11 cents each (plus GST/HST)

Remember Alaska now setting in place a maximum amount of miles you can buy in a year if you don't hold MVP status.  Non-Elite members can only buy 150,000 miles per year now.  MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K member are not subjected to this limitation. Seeing that Alaska does have 50% bonuses at times I wouldn't buy at 40% unless you have a need for these miles to be redeemed over the next 60-90 days at which time we may see their next bonus offer.

If you do buy right now remember you can redeem miles for premium class flights on British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Hainan, Korean Air and more, there are lots of options for you to use these miles. It only takes 70,000 Mileage Plan miles to fly Cathay Pacific First Class one way from North America to Asia and those 70K will cost you US$1478.13 as seen above - and to pay for that first class will cost you a lot more than that!

Offer details
40% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift 20,000 or more miles. Buy Alaska Miles Here Until Mar 17, 19

Find many more Mileage Plan bonus miles offers here!

March 12 Update: Stash Hotel Rewards now offers 3x points on approved non-Stash hotels and 7 new bonus offers

Stash Hotel Rewards, the independent loyalty program built around independent boutique-style hotels has a new ongoing offer that could be of interest to those of you who prefer to stay at non-chain hotels. They now have Stash Approved Hotels - these are hotels that do not participate in Stash Rewards but rather are a selection of hotels from their book any hotel option. That's right, Stash awards you points for booking hotels via their site that are not Stash Hotel Rewards properties (think Rocketmiles, Kaligo, Pointshound) and typically they award you with 1 point per US$1 spent on those hotels. Well these new Stash Approved Hotels will earn 3x the points, so 3 points per US$1 spent before taxes and fees. When you search for hotels on Stash Rewards site you'll see in the box of each property whether the hotel is Stash Approved or not. Here is an example from Toronto:

The good news is that Stash uses Booking.com as their booking engine and they typically have very competitive rates. In the case of the Broadview hotel in Toronto they are all pretty much equivalent which means by booking via Stash you'd get the 3 points per dollar plus whatever points or miles your credit card earns.

Stash Hotels pricing (in USD)

The Broadview Hotel's own pricing (in CAD)

Booking.com pricing

However depending on how and where you collect miles and points you may want to check other options - we checked PointsHound and Rocketmiles - PointsHound had the same price and awarded 700 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles and Rocketmiles offered the same price with 708 Aeroplan miles - both of which in my mind are worth more than the Stash points - that is unless you aren't as interested in the miles and are partial to using points for boutique hotel stays!

PointsHound price is the same and earns 700 Mileage Plan miles

Posts since our last update:

• Reminder to register for IHG Rewards Club's Free Nights. Faster promotion by Friday - and a great example of how to make the most of the promotion
  Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley reminds our readers you only have a few days left to register for IHG…

Travel Deals
Hilton Asia Pacific Resort Sale: Up to 35% off when you book by March 19 for stays March 20, 2019 - February 2, 2020. Find out more here.

Avis Spring Sale - Save up to 30% on Avis Rentals Worldwide until March 31 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
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 5x QMiles when you book and fly with Qatar Airways out of Montreal and globally. More... Book by Mar 31 and register by May 30 and travel by May 31, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Double Airpoints when you rent with Budget in Australia. More... Until Mar 31, 19

Avianca LifeMiles
- Quadruple LifeMiles for stays at La Quinta and LQ Hotel locations across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. More... Until Mar 31, 19

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays of 2+ nights at participating Accor hotels in Italy or Greece. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays until May 12,19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays at the AC Hotel Belfast. More... Until May 24, 19

Miles & More
- Double Miles&More Miles when you stay at a HYPERION Hotel from H-Hotels.com. More... Until Mar 31, 19

Radisson Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Points for stays at the Radisson Hotel Portland Airport. More... Until May 31, 19


Follow Rewards Canada:

Reminder to register for IHG Rewards Club's Free Nights. Faster promotion by Friday - and a great example of how to make the most of the promotion

Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley reminds our readers you only have a few days left to register for IHG Free Nights. Faster. promotion. Even if you haven't planned any IHG stays you'll want to make sure you register by Friday just to be safe in case your travel plans change and you do end up having IHG stays before the end of April!
 
A reminder you only have a few days to register for IHG’s Free Nights. Faster. Promotion. Registration must be completed by March 15th, 2019 and the earning period goes until April 30th, 2019. You may remember that IHG ran a similar promotion (Accelerate) last year during the same time period (January – April). These beginning of the year promotions are quite lucrative for me. My bonus point allotment for completing all tasks this year is 134,400 vs. 61,300 last year, more than double the potential reward.

I have only 4 goals that I have to achieve this time round and I must achieve all of them.  In previous years they have had up to 8 separate requirements, but it was only necessary to complete 6 or 7 of them. I will be speaking strictly about my offers, yours may differ from mine.

While it is true that my travels do keep me on the road a lot, quite often I find myself in smaller towns that do not have an IHG branded hotel.  This does make it a bit harder to complete the requirements, but it is still quite doable.  This year’s promotions don’t rely so heavily on number of nights being a main driver, rather it appears they are trying to expand the hotel type (i.e., I have a requirement to stay at 4 different brands). There is also a return of the dreaded Saturday night stay requirement. I say dreaded as most of my traveling is done during the week. However, I have already completed one of the 2 stays. The other one may just be where I book a couple of nights away from home and surprise my wife.

That option is actually quite lucrative to me with my bonus point completion targets. I will need to stay 2 nights (Friday & Saturday). I can get 2 nights locally with a 3,000 point per night (paid) bonus for $252.66 (tax in). My total points for the stay will be 6,000 for the paid bonus and 2,643 (1,762 base + 881 elite bonus) for a grand total of 8,643 points. When you factor in the bonus points I will get for completing all tasks (67,200), my total points accumulation for an extra 2 night stay would be 75,843. Divide that into my cost of $252.66 and I am getting 300 points for the penny. To purchase 76,000 points direct from IHG would cost $760.00 (USD). Factor in exchange rate of 34% and I would be paying over a thousand dollars ($1,018.40) for those same points.

Another thing to take into account when booking a room is the bonus points per night. These can assist you in achieving higher levels quicker (Paid bonus points count towards Elite status). Taking the same example above, the rate for the 3,000 points per night is $14.25 which equates to $28.50 for 6,000 points. (2.1 points per penny) To purchase 6,000 points is $81.00 (USD) multiplied by 34% exchange equals $108.54. (.55 points per penny). However, all that being said I will still attempt to complete the second Friday/Saturday stay through work and then not have to pay the out-of-pocket expense.

To date I have achieved 50% of the requirements towards the full allotment of bonus points for this promotion and have no doubt that I will be able to accomplish all of them. These types of promotions are always a very good thing to register for. Sometimes it may take a bit of extra planning to ensure you obtain all the objectives, but it will be well worth it in the end. 134,400 bonus points can be redeemed for 5 or 6 nights (depending on redemption rates), a very nice bonus to reduce the costs of taking the family out.

Here are the promotion details and link to register and book:
Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Mar 15 for stays until Apr 30, 19

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus points offers here!

March 11 Update: Maple Leaf Lounge in Newark leaves Priority Pass, Earn up to 5x QMiles on Qatar Airways' flights out of Montreal & more!

Air Canada's Maple Leaf Lounge at Newark airport left the Priority Pass program last week. It is not known if this is a temporary or permanent change. (Source DOC)

If you are thinking of booking a flight on Qatar Airways you may want to do so this month as they have an offer of up to 5x the QMiles ! Qatar flies from Montreal to Doha and then beyond to dozens of cities worldwide. To earn the bonusyou must book by March 31 for travel April 1 to May 31. Find out more here.

Bonuses as follows:
o 5X Qmiles in Premium and 4X Qmiles in Economy: 01 March 2019 to 31 March 2019
o 3X Qmiles in Premium and 2X Qmiles in Economy: 01 April 2019 to 31 May 2019

Posts since our last update:

• Save up to 35% with the Hilton Asia Pacific Resorts Sale - Book by March 19 for stays March 20 - February 2, 2020
  Just a reminder that you only have a little over a week left to book this offer! Hilton Honors members…
• A closer look at the newly refreshed Platinum Card from American Express
    The Platinum Card from American Express is now three weeks into its refresh and for the most part the…

Travel Deals
Hilton Asia Pacific Resort Sale: Up to 35% off when you book by March 19 for stays March 20, 2019 - February 2, 2020. Find out more here.

Avis Spring Sale - Save up to 30% on Avis Rentals Worldwide until March 31 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
La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Mar 31, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- Double Bonvoy Points plus a free day when you rent with Hertz for 6 or more days at participating locations in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, on all Car Classes and Collections. More... Until Jun 30, 19

Millennium Hotels My Millennium
- Up to a 50% My Millennium Points discount when you redeem points for hotel stays or dining vouchers. More... Limited Time - Unknown end date

Radisson Rewards
- 3,000 Bonus Points for stays at participating Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson and Park Inn by Radisson Hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. More... Book by Apr 7 for stays Apr 8 - May 30, 19



Follow Rewards Canada:

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Save up to 35% with the Hilton Asia Pacific Resorts Sale - Book by March 19 for stays March 20 - February 2, 2020

Just a reminder that you only have a little over a week left to book this offer!

Hilton Honors members can save up to 35% on stays at Hilton's Asia Pacific Resort locations when you book by March 19, 2019. The offer for non-members is only up to 25% off so it really makes sense to join Honors to get the additional discount seeing that it costs nothing to join the program. The great

This offer must be booked by March 19, 2019  from March 20 all the way through to February 2, 2020. Remember that you should also be earning 2,000 bonus points on these stays with the current winter Hilton Honors promotion that runs until May 5. Find that and all other Honors bonuses here..

Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China)
Stays booked between 19 February 2019 (09:00 GMT) and 19 March 2019 (09:00 GMT), and completed between 20 March 2019 and 2 February 2020. Twenty Nine (29) days advance reservations required. Discount varies from 15% to 25% off Breakfast Included Rate (B&B) across all participating properties. Hilton Honors members will receive an additional 10% discount. Hilton Honors Membership is required to book the Hilton Honors Members rate.

Greater China
Stays booked between 14 February 2019 (03:00 GMT) and 15 March 2019 (15:59 GMT), and completed between 21 February 2019 and 23 January 2020. Seven (7) days advance reservations required. Discount is 25% off BAR or B&B across all participating properties in Greater China. (Properties in Hongkong SAR and Taiwan do not participate in this promotion.)

Blackout dates may apply and vary by property. Rates are valid for single/double occupancy and are exclusive of all taxes, incidental charges, gratuities, and resort fees where applicable.

Click here to take advantage of the Hilton APAC Resorts sale 
 
Here's just a small sample of the offers available:

A closer look at the newly refreshed Platinum Card from American Express

 

The Platinum Card from American Express is now three weeks into its refresh and for the most part the changes have been well received.  Back on February 13th we detailed the refresh that saw two changes come to one of the best high end premium cards in Canada. The first change was the points earning structure and the second change is the introduction of the metal card that The Platinum Card has seen in other countries. The beauty of these changes was that they were brought in without changing any of the card's other benefits nor with an increase to the annual fee.

Now let's take a closer look as to why The Platinum Card from American Express is one of the best high end premium cards for Canadians:

Points Earning

 This was where the first major change happened with the refresh of this card. Prior to February 13 the card earned 1.25 points on all eligible purchases made on the card. Now the cards earns up to 3x points depending on the category:

• 3 points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible dining in Canada
• 2 points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible travel
• 1 point for every $1 in all other Card purchases

As you can see two categories have increased earn while all other spending has gone down. The 3x points for dining is great and just like the Cobalt card, American Express has to legally word it 'in Canada' as that is all they can control but as long as a restaurant outside of Canada codes properly as dining you will earn the 3x points (this has been confirmed from Amex). I would recommend reading the following for additional details on dining outside of Canada:

• Are the American Express Cobalt Card category multipliers available globally? 
• American Express Cobalt Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations

The other increase is that the card now earns 2 points per dollar on travel spending - this should be global like the Gold Rewards Card and is a welcome increase. Here are examples of the 2x points already posting on some flights I booked:

The remainder of the spending does unfortunately drop to 1 point per dollar. I did a lot of shopping on my Platinum card to earn the 1.25 points where other cards don't have category bonuses and I will now have to reevaluate that spending.

I was told by American Express that they did lots of research and their numbers do show most spending on the Platinum Card is for dining and travel so for most people this should be a boon. Even if you don't have other cards and get 1 point per dollar, when you average out with your other spending you will most likely still be getting 1.25 points per dollar or more.

A deeper evaluation of this earn shows that the 3 points per dollar is also like earning 3 Aeroplan Miles or 3 British Airways Avios per dollar since Membership Rewards points transfer to those programs 1:1! That's huge and remember Amex typically offers a bonus once per year for transferring to British Airways so that 3 per dollar could go as high as 3.75 or higher depending on the bonus! No other cards can get you that many Aeroplan Miles or Avios on dining spend. For the 2 points per dollar on travel, this is the same as the Gold Rewards Card which means you can earn 2 Aeroplan Miles or Avios on travel spending, once again the highest earn for all around travel for those programs in Canada.

Points Redemption
When you redeem Membership Rewards points for their great Use Point for Purchases Travel option it means you'll be getting a 3% return on Dining, 2% return on Travel and a 1% return on all other purchases. Remember you only have to redeem as little as 1,000 points - you don't have to wait until you have the full amount of points and you can redeem up to 12 months AFTER the purchase posts to your account!

Related: Membership Rewards Use Points for Purchases explained

The points can also be used for the Membership Rewards Fixed Points for Travel option that works like traditional frequent flyer programs with set point amount for tickets.

Related:  A closer look at the Membership Rewards Fixed Points Travel program 

Of course there many other redemption options like the aforementioned transfers to frequent travel partners. Currently you can convert Membership Rewards points earned on The Platinum Card to the following partners:

You can also choose to redeem points for Ticketmaster & Amazon purchases, merchandise, gift cards and a whole lot more!

Benefits
The card is stacked with a lot of benefits and features. In fact - the last time the card was refreshed in 2012 (read our post from June 2012  to see what happened then!) and at that time Amex went out to their members asking what they wanted in the card and points was not the number one topic - it was benefits and experiences! Those benefits continue on today!

$200 Annual Travel Credit
You get this credit right when you get the card and then it renews each year on your card anniversary. What is it? It's $200 you can use towards any single travel booking of $200 or more charged to  your Platinum Card through Platinum Card Travel Service or American Express Travel Online.

Fine Hotels & Resorts

Fine Hotels and Resorts provides complimentary benefits at over 1,000 extraordinary hotel and resort properties around the world. Benefits are as follows and may vary based on the location.

Not only do you get these benefits there are times of the year  where you can book a certain amount of nights, 3 for example and you get one more night free.

Global Lounge Collection

From years of talking with our readers, one of their favourite benefits from The Platinum Card is the Global Lounge Collection. The card gets you access to over 1,200 airport lounges around the globe and thanks to its top end Priority Pass membership you'll also get dining credits at select airport restaurants!

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


Hotel Benefits
The Platinum Card provides you with automatic hotel elite status from four major hotel loyalty programs. Gold with Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and Radisson Rewards as well as Jade status with Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle.  To get these status levels without the card would take thousands of dollars in actual hotel night stays - so it is a huge benefit!

And a hint from us.... you can then parlay those four statuses into even more status:
Get elite status with ten hotel reward programs, one airline and one cruise program with The Platinum Card from American Express

Car Rental Benefits

Similar to the hotel elite benefits, the card provides Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star membership and Avis Preferred membership. The Hertz membership is an elite status level while the Avis membership is the same as what anyone can get albeit the Platinum Card discount code may provide larger discounts than without it.

Other benefits you'll also find on the card are Toronto Pearson International Airport benefits like valet service, discounted parking and priority security, Preferred Golf Membership, a strong insurance package and more.

As you can see there is lot to The Platinum Card from American Express, in fact we could probably write an entire novel detailing each and every benefit but to keep this post to reasonable length we've only highlighted the most popular benefits of the card. Some may wince when they first see the annual fee of $699 but when take into account everything the card provides you can quickly see how you can pull way more value out of the card than the $699. Another benefit of the card that I myself like? Additional cards are only $175 each and provide the majority of the benefits listed above like the Priority Pass membership and hotel elite status benefits to each additional card holder. Pretty good deal for only $175!

Finally here's the nitty gritty on the card:

- American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now link.
- This post was sponsored by Amex Bank of Canada. The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.