Register now for Hyatt Gold Passport's Stay More Play More promotion to earn up to 75,000 bonus points

Registration is now open for what is Hyatt's first systemwide promotion in roughly 6 months.

Offer details
Earn up to 75,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points when you stay at participating Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Register online (Registration is required) Apr 1 - Jun 30, 16
Stay 5 nights earn 5,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points
Stay 10 nights earn an additional 10,000 points for 15,000 total
Stay 15 nights earn an additional 15,000 points for 30,000 total
Stay 20 nights earn an additional 20,000 points for 50,000 total
Stay 25 nights earn an additional 25,000 points for 75,000 total

mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard Review

One of the most under regarded cards in the market, even by ourselves, the mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard is the best card in mbna's portfolio for any type of rewards! While the card may not rank in our Top 5 Travel Points cards with an annual fee, it can definitely compete with those cards as long as you are fine with lesser insurance benefits and a lower sign up bonus.

Overview
The mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCardis marketed by mbna as a travel rewards credit card, which it is, but it is also cash back credit card and one of the best at that! We recently placed it into our Ultimate Cash Back Credit Card portfolio because of this. The card is known for its strong return on everyday spending, a straight 2%. No tiers or specific categories to worry about. No matter what, your return is always 2%. 

Continue reading the entire review on the main Rewards Canada website

Finally a new Hyatt Gold Passport systemwide promotion and it's a good one!

We haven't seen a systemwide bonus points promotion from Hyatt Gold Passport since last summer, nor have we even seen many individual hotel bonus offers outside of the more expensive double points rate so when One Mile at a Time broke this news yesterday, we were excited!

The new promotion is called Stay More Play More will run from April 1 to June 30 with registration opening up on June 1. So start booking now to get your stays in!

It will award you as follows:
Stay 5 nights earn 5,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points
Stay 10 nights earn an additional 10,000 points for 15,000 total
Stay 15 nights earn an additional 15,000 points for 30,000 total
Stay 20 nights earn an additional 20,000 points for 50,000 total
Stay 25 nights earn an additional 25,000 points for 75,000 total

Keep an eye out here on RC as we'll re-post this when the registration link goes live!

OFFER EXPIRED New 75,000 point referral sign up bonus available on The Platinum Card from American Express

THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

An amazing new bonus has come out on The Platinum Card from American Express. This bonus is not on the public American Express Canada site but it is rather part of their member get a member referral program. If you apply for the card via a referral you will now get 75,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points instead of the 60,000 that it used to be when you spend $1,000 in the first three months of cardmembership.

Here are the card details

• Platinum members are automatically enrolled in the Membership Rewards First™ Tier and earn 1.25 points for every dollar in purchases charged to the Card
• $699 Annual fee
• The Platinum Card gives you access to exceptional lounge benefits such as the Canadian Platinum Lounge Benefit, Airport Club Program
• You will also have access to elevated status with many Hotel & Car Rental loyalty programs, $200 Annual Travel Credit for Travel Bookings through Platinum Card Travel Service, lodging benefits at a collection of over 700 Fine Hotels & Resorts around the world, access to special events and unique opportunities and a dedicated concierge team
• You can use Apple Pay on your eligible device to pay for goods and services at participating American Express contactless merchants
• 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.
• As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full. 

If you would like to be referred to the card with this new offer please email me at info@rewardscanada.ca and I'll send you the referral link. As with the typical referral program I will also receive 25,000 points with your successful application so I thank you in advance for applying via my referral.  Remember that once you have the card you can also refer people to it and get 25,000 points for each successful referral.

Redemption Stories: Using Diners Club Club Reward Points for a Hertz Car Rental

For our Maui trip back in February we rented a large SUV to shuttle us around the island. We picked a 7/8 passenger SUV (Ford Explorer or similar) from Hertz as they had some of the best pricing and we could take advantage of an Aeroplan bonus mile offer for Hertz rentals.

Related: Earning Stories: 2,500 Aeroplan Miles on a Hertz SUV rental in Maui

I put the car rental charges on my Diners Club MasterCard for two reasons. It has no cap on rental car value for the CDW just in case we got an upgrade (and we did, read the related story above!) and the possibility of using Club Rewards points for the charge. In the end I did end up using points for the rental:

So as you can see the rental ended up costing us 47 cents as you don't redeem points for portions under $1. I pretty much only use the Diners Club card for the Tailored Travel Credit redemptions to save us money on our vacations (see my other Diners Club redemption stories here). The redemption rate works out to a 1.7% return on my spending, of course there are cards out there that could have got me 2% however I wouldn't have been able to drive around in an upgraded luxury SUV with those cards. This is one card where I am willing to give up the .3% return for the benefits it provides like the great CDW and airport business class lounge access. 

That being said, the Club Rewards Program is changing on April 6th and the tailored travel credit drops to a 1.5% return. So that has got me thinking about my main MasterCard choice. It may be time to move to another card but keep this one for car rentals and the airport lounge access. The good thing is you can also convert Club Rewards points to 19 airline and hotel programs at OK but not great ratios unless they run a promotion. For example I did convert Club Rewards points during their last bonus for British Airways where the redemption rate of 1,250 points gave 1,300 Avios instead of 1,000.

Unfortunately the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard is not available for new applications but you could use some of the following cards to do the same type of partial (or full) redemption towards the travel charge:

• American Express Gold Rewards Card
• Capital One® Aspire Travel™ World Elite MasterCard®
• mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard
• Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
• TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
• and more! Simply look for "Any Travel Provider" in the Redemption Centre row of this chart: Travel Points comparison chart

Ultimately this redemption shows the power in proprietary credit card programs. You don't have to redeem for flights only, you have lots of options. You also earn points on the charge at first not to mention potential frequent flyer miles like we did (2,500 Aeroplan Miles) and technically you don't have to have all the points, you can do a  partial redemption or wait  longer to redeem more points against that charge. This is why we believe proprietary credit card programs are the best option for most Canadians.

Related: Why proprietary credit card reward programs are the best option for most Canadians

March 23 Update: Choice & Hilton buy points bonuses, Amtrak Choice Hotels stay bonus and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
Just bonus offers for you today!

Posts since our last update:

• Hilton HHonors - 80% Bonus when buying HHonors Points until April 1 (~0.56 US cents per point)
  Hilton HHonors is once again running another buy points bonus of 80%. This is a really good bonus, not…

Bonus Offers
Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Double Guest Rewards Points for stays at Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 21, 16

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 6x FlyerBonus Points for stays at Chatrium Hotels & Residences in Bangkok and Yangon. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for stays on the Bed and Breakfast package at any participating Raffles property Worldwide. More... Apr 1 - May 31, 16

Choice Hotels Privileges
- Up to 40% Bonus Privileges Points when you buy points online. More... Until Apr 14, 16

Emirates Skywards
- Quadruple Skywards Miles on all Europcar rentals Worldwide except in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until May 15, 16

Ethiopian Sheba Miles
- Double Sheba Miles when you fly Ethiopian between Addis Ababa and Tel Aviv. More... Until Jun 30, 16
- 4,000 Bonus Sheba Miles when you fly Ethiopian between Addis Ababa and Sao Paulo. More... Until Jun 30, 16
- Receive a Sheba Miles Discount when you book award flights on Ethiopian from Los Angeles, Abuja, Sao Paulo or Dubline. More... Until Nov 30, 16
- Double Sheba Miles when traveling between London, Entebbe, Juba, Dubai, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Khartoum and connecting to Lusaka and/or Harare on Ethiopian Flight 893. More... Until ?

Hilton HHonors
- 80% Bonus HHonors Points when you buy points online (min. purchase of 5,000 points) More... Until Apr 1, 16

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 35% Bonus Rapid Rewards Points when you buy points online. More... Until Apr 24, 16

Hilton HHonors - 80% Bonus when buying HHonors Points until April 1 (~0.56 US cents per point)

Hilton HHonors is once again running another buy points bonus of 80%. This is a really good bonus, not as good at the 100% we saw last year but still buying at this rate of about US 0.56 cents per point can be beneficial as you can you pull out value of US 0.8 cents or more on certain redemptions (check out Loyalty Travelers evaluation here!).

Offer Details
80% Bonus HHonors Points when you buy points online (min. purchase of 5,000 points) Full details Until Apr 1, 16

March 22 Update: Amex Platinum losing Accor Status Benefit, $25 off your 1st HotelTonight booking, 40% off Air India Award flights

Rewards Canada sends our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by today's devastating news from Brussels.

News, Tips & Tricks
The Platinum Card from American Express will be losing the Le Club accorhotels Platinum status benefit. If you haven't signed up for this offer yet be sure to do sot by April 15th and you'll get the status for another year. I just checked mine and it expires on April 30 so I believe, from the terminology below, that I will be automatically enrolled for another year.

Effective April 30, 2016, enrollment in Le Club AccorHotels’ Platinum tier membership will no longer be a benefit on The Platinum Card.

If you are currently enrolled in Le Club AccorHotels’ Platinum tier membership and your membership expires on, or before April 30, 2016, Le Club AccorHotels will offer you one (1) additional complimentary membership year in their Platinum tier, with no minimum requirements. To preserve your Platinum tier membership after your complimentary year comes to an end, you will need to fulfil the Le Club AccorHotels qualifying criteria, details of which can be found at www.accorhotels.com/leclub.
If your membership expires on, or after May 1, 2016, you’ll be able to retain your Platinum tier membership provided that you have met Le Club AccorHotels’ qualifying criteria. Depending on the number of nights stayed or points earned, Le Club AccorHotels will assess your membership and enroll you into the appropriate tier in accordance with Le Club AccorHotels terms and conditions available on www.accorhotels.com/leclub. If you are not yet a member, Le Club AccorHotels will offer you one (1) complimentary year of their Platinum tier membership if you enroll by April 15, 2016.

At first this may not seem like a big loss seeing that Accor only has a few hotels in Canada and the U.S. except for those who travel to Europe and Asia where Accor has a bigger presence. But for those whom it may not seem like a big loss, it potentially is. Remember Accor is the chain that has bought Fairmont Hotels. Right now the two chains are separate but it may only be a year or so before we see Fairmont's President's Club integrated into Le Club accorhotels as Accor finishes the Fairmont takeover. Sure the Platinum cards gives a fast track to Fairmont Platinum status but once President's Club is gone the loss of the Accor benefit on the Platinum Amex means no more status at Fairmont Hotels. Here's what I would do, make sure you do take advantage of the Fairmont fast track from the Platinum Card this year as there is a good chance that Fairmont Platinum's will be extended Accor Platinum status when it is integrated. So in general, we should be safe for 2016 and 2017 but 2018 and on will be a loss unless other benefits (like the recent Hilton HHonors Gold) are brought to the Platinum Card.

Emirates Airlines is starting their WestJet codeshare later this week on several routes to/from Toronto and more in April. (Source: Airlineroute.net)

Over on our global site we have an exclusive offer running with HotelTonight! HotelTonight is an app that allows you to book last minute hotel stays at discounted rates. If you haven't used it before you can save US$25 on your first stay! Find out more here.

Shoppers Optimum members can get 8,000 bonus points when you spend $30 or more tomorrow at Shoppers Drug Mart. Print the coupon here.

AIR MILES members can get 50 bonus Reward Miles when you spend $30 or more at Rexall until March 24th. Print the coupon here.

Posts since our last update:

• Hotel Review: Best Western Cedar Park Inn Edmonton
  A few weeks back I was in Edmonton for my daughter's volleyball tournament. The volleyball team had selected the…

Bonus Offers
Air India Flying Returns
- 40% Flying Returns Miles Discount when you redeem for any domestic or internationl Air India flight for travel Mon-Thu. More... Until Apr 28, 16

AIR MILES (Canada)
- Earn up to 25 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles when you get an oil change at Jiffy Lube. More... Until May 31, 16

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles when you rent a compact through full-size car at any participating National location in the United States. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for booked and pre-paid car rentals via Rentalcars.com. More... Book by Apr 8 for rentals until Apr 30, 16

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus EuroBonus points on Budget rentals Worldwide except in New Zealand. More... Apr 1 - May 31, 16

South African Airways Voyager
- Double Voyager Miles and 4th night free for stays at participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 16

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Double Stash Rewards Points and 4th night free at the POSH Palm Springs Inn. More... Until May 31, 16
- Double Stash Rewards Points when you book the Bed and Breakfast package. Bonus 500 points on 3 or more nights stay at the River Terrace Inn Napa. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jul 31, 16
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Dunes on the Waterfront Ogunquit. More... Apr 29 - May 26, 16
- Double Stash Rewards Points when you book the Romance Package at The Olde Mill Inn Basking Ridge,. Only valid Friday, Saturday, Sunday. More... Until Dec 30, 16
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Jefferson Street Inn Wausau. More... Book by Jun 1 for stays until Jun 30, 16



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Hotel Review: Best Western Cedar Park Inn Edmonton

A few weeks back I was in Edmonton for my daughter's volleyball tournament. The volleyball team had selected the Best Western Cedar Park Inn as the team hotel for the tournament. As a parent I didn't have to stay there but the team did get special rates and parents were responsible for getting their kids to and from the volleyball venue so it only made sense to stay in the same hotel as the team.

The hotel itself is going through a major renovation as the hotel is moving up to the Best Western Plus level however some rooms have still not been renovated and those were the ones we received. The rooms did have updated beds and furnishings but still felt like something out of the 70s!

Don't you just love the brick walls and the open stainless steel medicine cabinet! Even though it felt old and not like most of the hotels that the Rewards Canada family stays at I figured that most of the time I'll be at the volleyball tournament and really only sleep in the room. Isn't that what a lot of people say? As long as it has a bed and you can sleep it doesn't matter right? I used to say that long ago but have found that even if you are not spending much time in a room, the nicer, cozier and more appealing it is the better it makes that stay no matter how short the time is in the room.

As Best Western Rewards Diamond member I received two water bottles and two biscotti snacks at check-in. Didn't try the biscotti as they were some odd combination of flavours and even the front desk agent warned against trying them! 

The bed was OK but possibly the worst feature of the room is that there seemed to be absolutely no sound proofing from the outside, super loud trucks and cars that would roar off the line when lights turned green kept me awake for a good part of the first night! Not sure if the renovations are addressing this but if you are planning a stay at this hotel try to ask for a room away from the streets (somewhat hard since there are major roads on three sides of the hotel) My daughter said her room while not against the highway was still loud with the highway noise and also had a constant dripping noise from somewhere not in their room!

While awake, I can say the Wi Fi was good but that was because the hotel is Shaw Open Wi-Fi in addition to their own Wi-Fi. I didn't try BW's own Wi-Fi as the Shaw Open was excellent.

The bathroom and doors for the room really showed their age with patches from where holes must have been fixed, the tub was yellowing etc. Like I said, I was in a non-renovated room so I can't speak to what the hotel will look like when its done but if you are staying here soon I would push for one of the new rooms.

We received complimentary buffet breakfast that wasn't anything to write home about. Cold bacon at 6:30am, when breakfast starts at 6:30am doesn't make sense. The kids on the volleyball team did enjoy making their own waffles however! When I just looked at the website for the hotel they discontinued the free breakfast as of March 1st.

A lot of the parents along with us also had issues with the hotel charging us for our stay even though we paid for it through the team. The hotel was only supposed to run a pre-authorization of $100 on our cards but ended up charging the full amount of the stay. Our charge was refunded quite quickly but I know some parents still haven't received the full refund three weeks later.

Overall, I cannot recommend this hotel. To me it would seem there are much better options around. Even with renovated rooms, the noise level in the hotel is high and doesn't make for a comfortable stay.

We have stayed at other Best Western's before that are immaculate and provide a great experience so this stay was somewhat disheartening. However this is a BW issue they see around the globe. As all hotels are independently owned and operated there is a lot of variance in the level of comfort, service and attention in each location. One hotel is amazing and the next is sub-par. I know BW is trying to address this with their basic, Plus and Premier level of hotels so hopefully places that are being reno'd like the BW Cedar Park Inn can make their guests experience's more enjoyable.

Suffice to say the team has chosen a newer and higher up Best Western for the next Edmonton tournament in April! I'll be sure to post a review of that stay as well!

Best Western Cedar Park Inn Edmonton
Points required for a free night: 16,000 Best Western Rewards Points

Links:
Best Western Cedar Park Inn

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mbna Best Western Mastercard®
• Earn 1 Best Western Rewards® point for every $1 in eligible purchases‡
• Earn 5 Best Western Rewards® points for every $1 in eligible purchases at Best Western properties‡
• Earn 20,000 Best Western Rewards® points†† on your first purchase – enough for a free night stay
• You will be awarded "Gold Status" upon first use of your credit card and "Diamond Status" when you spend $10,000 in eligible purchases within one year◊◊
• No limit to the Best Western Rewards® points that can be earned using the credit card in a year
• Use your Best Western Rewards® points in many ways – hotel stays, dining, gift cards and more.
• You could get a 1.99% promotional annual interest rate† (AIR) on balance transfers✪ for the first 10 full months
Apply now for the Best Western Mastercard® Credit Card

March 21 Update: Marriott back on top for Starwood takeover, last day to book American AAdvantage awards at old rates, CIBC Cash Back card offer

News, Tips & Tricks
Wow the Starwood sale saga sure is exciting! News broke this weekend that Marriott made a counter offer to Anbang's offer that Starwood accepted last week and this new Marriott offer has now been accepted by Starwood! Now we wait to see if Anbang will coutner the counter offer! (Source Reuters)

Today is the last day to book American AAdvantage award tickets at lower ticket levels for most flight options for Canadians! As we detailed in our post back in November American Airlines announced a big change to the AAdvantage program in 2016 and the award ticket portion kicks in tomorrow. Here some excerpts from our post:

"The good news is that AAdvantage is keeping award charts like United and unlike Delta who no longer publishes award charts as their awards are dynamically priced. The other good news is that we have four months noticed for the effective changes to AAdvantage award flights. Those changes will come to be on March 22, 2016.

Keeping with the good news they are introducing new short haul awards, 7,500 miles one way for flights under 500 miles. This is inline with the new British Airways requirement of 7,500 miles for flights under 600 miles in North America.

Now onto the bad news for us Canucks, they are increasing the amount of miles required for travel between Canada and the U.S. over 500 miles.  The current chart has MileSAAver awards at the standard 25,000 miles round trip (12,500 one way) but on March 22 that moves to 30,000 miles or 15,000 one way for Economy Class. Business Class moves to 60,000 round trip or 30,000 one way....

....For Economy Class this is now more than Aeroplan, United and British Airways (in most cases) while in Business this now matches the Aeroplan requirement that kicks in on December 15th.

Some other major changes:
Canada to Europe moves from 50,000 miles each way in business class to 62,500!! This matches Air France KLM Flying Blue's requirement. Economy Class only sees a mild increase of 2,500 miles each way.

Canada to Asia 1 in First Class moves from 62,500 to 85,000 miles while Canada to Asia 2 jumps from 67,500 miles to 112,500 miles each way in first class!!

The move of AA to separate Canada from the typically seen US/Canada category in award charts hurts us up North here more so than those in the lower 48 whose increases are a hard pill to swallow but are less than what us Canadians will feel!"

Air Canada today announced it will offer satellite connectivity on international flights so customers can email, surf the internet and stream entertainment at broadband speeds while flying anywhere in the world. (Source Air Canada)

We were on the Informed Traveler radio show yesterday discussing the AIR MILES expiry topic. You can listen to the piece here. (Don't flame me yet as I have yet to listen to it!) You can read our piece on AIR MILES expiry here. One reader in our comments stands to lose 25,000+ miles later this year. Let's help them out to see where they can use the miles or should they get the Amex Reserve with Onyx status to save their miles!

The CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite Card is first year free right now and will award you with 4% cash back on all purchases (limited to $5,000 in spend or 180 days) if you apply by March 31! Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• N/A

Bonus Offers
AIR MILES (Canada)
- 40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles on Budget rentals of 3 or more days at participating Canada and U.S. locations. More... Until May 31, 16

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- 500 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles on rentals of 3 or more consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus LifeMiles when you earn LifeMiles from various non-airline partners. More... Until May 31, 16

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 15, 16

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 1,000 bonus HawaiianMiles on rentals of 5 or more days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. (including Hawaii) and Canada More... Until Sep 30, 16
- 500 Bonus HawaiianMiles on qualifying rentals of 3 or more days at participating Budget airport locations in the U.S. (including Hawaii) and Canada. More... Until Sep 30, 16
- Quadruple HawaiianMiles and save up to 35% on any rental at participating Hertz airport and off airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico & Mexico. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- Triple HawaiianMiles on rentals of a compact car or larger vehicle for two days or longer at all worldwide Thrifty Car Rental locations. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required at the Turnberry Isle Miami, Autograph Collection. More... Until May 15, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay including a Sunday night at the Courtyard Harrisburg West/Mechanicsburg. More... Until May 15, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at The Inn at Opryland, A Gaylord Hotel. More... Until May 15, 16
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay including any night Monday-Wednesday at the TownePlace Suites Seattle South/Renton. More... Until May 15, 16

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Triple Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at the San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice More... Apr 1 - May 31, 16
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at Kempiski Hotels Worldwide.More... Apr 1 - May 31, 16

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Double Flying Club Miles for stays at the Virgin Hotel Chicago. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays Apr 27 - Oct 31, 16

Today's Daily Update is brought to you by:


 
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March 18 Update: Starwood Hotels accepts Chinese firm's bid, Aeroplan Carlson Hotels Bonus, Earn a Free SPG award night with Design Hotels

News, Tips & Tricks
Starwood Hotels has decided to accept the new bid for them from the Chinese firm Anbang that we told you about not too long ago! This is huge news as for months we have been talking about Marriott's takeover of Starwood. It isn't over for Marriott however, they have 5 days to make a counter bid for Starwood and speculation is that they will come up with a new offer! Those loyal to Starwood and more importantly the Starwood Preferred Guest program will be keeping a close on this and keeping their fingers crossed that Starwood goes with Anbang as the beloved SPG would remain and not be integrated into Marriott Rewards, I know that's what I'm hoping for! (Source CNBC)

To further promote the integration of Design Hotels into Starwood and SPG, you can earn a Category 1-5 free night award for completing three nights at Design Hotels. The nights do not need to be consecutive and once achieved you'll get the free night award that you can use at any Category 1 to 5 hotel (try for 5 of course!) until September 30th. Find out more here

Posts since our last update:

• N/A

Bonus Offers
Aegean Miles&Bonus
- 30% Miles&Bonus Discount on select award tickets within Greece and between Greece and Europe, the Middle East or Africa. More... Until May 31, 16

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 5,000 Aeroplan Miles when you stay at participating Radisson, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, and Park Inn by Radisson hotels in Canada. More... Until May 31, 15

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 8x FlyerBonus Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Burasari Heritage Luang Prabang or the Burasari Phuket. More... Until Apr 30, 16

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club points when you stay at participating InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express® and Staybridge Suites® hotels and resorts across Asia Pacific (excluding China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Middle East and Africa. More... Targted offer - May not work for everyone Until Aug 31, 16

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays at the Midtown Shangri-La, Hangzhou. More... Until May 31, 16

Spirit Airlines Free Spirit (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 750 Bonus Free Spirit Miles at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn a Free Night Award (up to Category 5) when you stay 3 nights at participating Design Hotels Worldwide. More... Register by May 16 for stays until May 31, 16

Follow Rewards Canada:

March 17 Update: Diners Club Club Rewards Tailored Travel Credit devaluation, Accor Hotels Canada stay bonus and more

News, Tips & Tricks
Ouch, one of the cards that has been in my wallet the longest and one of my favourites is about to get devalued! The tailored travel credit for the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard is getting cut back. This is the book any travel and redeem points against the charge feature of the card. Granted to start with the rate was a 1.7% return which is lower than other cards out there with 2% however the card comes with an awesome airline lounge programs, costs less then those other cards and has one of the best CDW insurance coverages of any card out there as they don't put a dollar limit on cars (just types of cars like all others) so when we were in Maui last month our free upgrade to fully loaded Infiniti QX80 didn't concern me as Diners doesn't max out at $65,000 like other cards.

So what is the new tailored travel credit value? 1.5%. Not bad, kind of like the old TD First Class rate but now its a full half percent lower than major competitors. I need to decide whether it is worth it to keep this card after the change. Chances are I will as I can covert Club Rewards points to Alaska Airlines or British Airways or any one of their large list of airline and hotel programs plus the Diners Airport Lounge program has lounges not found with The Platinum Card from American Express or Priority Pass. This change takes effect on April 6th. So if you hold this card (there are still tens of thousands of you out there according to BMO) and wanted to redeem points for a travel charge do so by April 6th to get full value. Even if the charge was long ago as Diners gives you up to 12 months prior to redeem against so you can get the better value out now. Sad to see this change, how about the rest of you DC cardholders? What are your thoughts and are you going to keep the card after this?

In the bonus offers section we added a new Le Club accorhotels offer for up to triple points for stays in Canada and the U.S.. Remember Accor is the French hotel chain that is buying Canada's Fairmont Hotels. That integration hasn't happened yet so you can't earn this bonus at Fairmont Hotels but you can at any Accor Hotels in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Find out more here

Remember as well today is the last day to earn bonus Aeroplan miles for online bookings at AirCanada.com. You'll earn your share of 10 million Aeroplan miles (min. 500 awarded)

Posts since our last update:

• Earn up to 5,000 bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays at Carlson Rezidor hotels in Canada (Radisson, Country Inns, Park Inn)
  Offer Details Earn up to 5,000 Aeroplan Miles when you stay three times  at participating Radisson, Country Inns &…
• The Ultimate Cash Back Credit Card Portfolio
  In this feature of Rewards Canada' Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for earning cash back.…
• Reminder - AIR MILES Reward Miles start expiring at the end of this year, here's how you can find out just how many you stand to lose
  Over the past couple of days I have completed several media interviews about the AIR MILES Expiry rule and…

Travel Deals
Air Canada St. Patrick's day sale is on! Book by 11:59pm tonight to save on flights throughout most of this year. Find out more here

 


Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Triple AAdvantage Miles for stays at La Quinta Inns and Suites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico More... Until Jun 30, 16

Emirates Skywards
- 50% Skywards Miles Discount on Economy Saver awards between select destinations Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for flights Apr 13 - Jun 23, 16
- 25% Skywards Miles Discount on Business Class Saver awards from Europe and Dubai to selected destinations Worldwide More... Book by Mar 31 for flights Apr 13 - Jun 23, 16

Eurowings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Boomerang Miles when you fly between to/from Stockholm. More... Book by Mar 31 for travel until Apr 30, 16

Hilton HHonors
- Quadruple HHonors Points when you shop at Chic Outlet Shopping Villages in Europe. More... Until Apr 30, 16

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple TrueBlue Points for stays at La Quinta Inns and Suites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.More... Until Jun 30, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the U.S. or Canada. More... Book by May 15 for stays until May 31, 16
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Le Club accorhotels points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in France. More... Book by Jun 9 for stays Jun 10 - Jul 10, 16

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- 50% GC Award Points Discount on all standard room award night redemptions for stays at Shangri-La Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays Apr 1 - May 31, 16

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