First day of full updates in July brings us:
News, Tips & Tricks
Carlson Rezidor Hotels’ Club Carlson
program decided to change their points to miles conversion rate
yesterday with no prior announcement. The devaluation is quite big, over
44% at the top level as the redemption option moves from an incremental
tiered basis to a flat rate. Previously the rates were as follows:
2000 Gold Points = 250 Airline Miles
50,000 Gold Points = 8000 Airline Miles
100,000 Gold Points =18,000 Airline Miles
Now the new flat rate is 10 Club Carlson Points to 1 Airline Mile. So at
the top level that same 100,000 Gold Points will only equal 10,000
Airline Miles. I can see a number of reasons that Club Carlson did this.
They had a couple of big promotions in the past couple of years where
you could earn 50,000 Points for a one night stay and while the best use
of those points would be for a free nights within the Club Carlson
hotel portfolio, I’m sure many members converted them to airline miles
and the same goes in the U.S. for their credit card holders who were
only getting the card to transfer the points to airline miles. This run
on mileage costs Club Carlson as they cannot make any incremental
revenue on award night stays. By changing these redemption levels for
airline miles I can only assume that Carlson is hoping that members will
redeem the points for hotel stays rather than miles as there is
potential revenue on those award stays in terms of food and beverage
purchases, extra nights purchased to tack onto an award stay etc. None
of which would be achieved if members redeem for airline miles. And
while we would all like to have advance notice and it is poor practice
to do so for your loyal members I can see why Club Carlson didn’t as
there would have been a run on redemptions for airline miles and it
simply would have cost Carlson Hotels money that they now get to keep in
their bank account. So the B2B side of me sees why they did it but the
B2C side of me says “Shame on you Club Carlson, you just made some of
your members mad and they may choose to no longer be loyal to you.”
Air Canada will be discontuing two more small
market U.S. routes: Toronto to Albany and Grand Rapids will be cancelled
as of September 3rd. (Source Airlineroute.net)
If you were away over the long weekend, here is a summary of three posts that went up here on the Rewards Canada blog.
Limited Time: Increased sign up bonus of 20,000 Starpoints for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
50% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is now live
Limited Time: Increased sign up bonus of 15,000 Asia Miles for the RBC Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Platinum Card
Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
– Earn up to Triple Flying Blue Miles for stays at participating Shangri-La, Kerry and Traders hotels worldwide. More… Jun 1 – Aug 31, 13
airBalitc BalticMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
– GHA Hotels Double BalticMiles Points for every stay at all GHA Hotels Worldwide. More… Until Sep 30, 13
British Airways Executive Club
– 50% Bonus Avios for RBC Avion Visa cardholders who transfer their RBC Rewards points to Avios. More… Until Jul 31, 13 Valid for residents of Canada only
Garuda Frequent Flyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
– Double GFF Miles for Garuda flights in Executive Class between Jakarta and Bangkok. More… Until Jul 31, 13
–
Earn up to Double GFF Miles for Garuda flights between Manado and Makassar or Jakarta. More… Until Aug 1, 13
Le Club accorhotels
– Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Ibis Hotels in the Netherlands. More… Until Sep 8, 13
– Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points+ 3rd night free for stays of 3
nights or more at participating Sofitel Hotels in the Southern
Hemisphere. More… Until Aug 31, 13
–
Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points+ 4th night free for stays of 4 nights or more at participating Sofitel Hotels Worldwide. More… Until Aug 31, 13
Starwood Preferred Guest
– Earn 20,000 Welcome Bonus Starpoints® after you charge $1,000 in
purchases to Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership. More… Until Sep 25, 13 Residents of Canada Only
United Mileage Plus
– Double Mileage Plus Miles when you fly nonstop between Washington DC and Guatemala City. More… Until Sep 30, 13
Voila Hotel Rewards
– Earn up to 50% VHR Points for stays at any VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. More… Until Sep 30, 13