American Express Membership Rewards

Membership Rewards: the loyalty currency every Canadian should be utilizing

Patrick S Loyalty Programs, News

In the RWRDS Canada household we have half a dozen American Express Cards feeding our spending into several Membership Rewards accounts and there is good reason why. Earlier this year we re-released our 5 Best Travel Rewards Points Currencies for Canadians and the number one currency is American Express Membership Rewards points. Fact of the matter is, it’s not just number one for travel rewards, it is the number one loyalty rewards currency overall. Whether it is travel, cash back or merchandise, the Membership Rewards program provides it all and it provides it with incomparable value.

 

 

Value, convenience and flexibility are key to a reward program’s success and American Express Membership Rewards provides all of that, hence the fondness in our house to funnel a lot of spending into the program.

Hybrid credit cards are the safest bet

There’s no hiding the fact that here at RWRDS Canada we are huge fans of Hybrid or as some call them, Flexible points programs. That is, programs that give you options to redeem via the credit card’s proprietary program for travel or the ability to convert into other programs’ loyalty points.

American Express Cobalt Card
The American Express Cobalt Card is ranked as the #1 Hybrid Card in Canada

These hybrid credit cards are a points collector’s safest bet to earn points with since they can be utilized in so many ways and tend to be the least susceptible to devaluations of reward programs. They should be front and center for any points collector’s portfolio for just that reason. Concerned about lack of flight availability with a traditional frequent flyer program? Concerned that a proprietary credit card program isn’t giving you the best bang for your buck? Those concerns are alleviated with a hybrid program which of course, Membership Rewards is. And Membership Rewards does it well. It has some of the best earn to burn rates for a proprietary credit card program and likewise provides some of the best earning and redemption rates for its points conversion partners!

Membership Rewards points earning cards:

This is the current line up of publicly available American Express cards that earn Membership Rewards points:

Membership Rewards conversion partners

You can easily convert your Membership Rewards points to a total of eight frequent flyer and frequent guest programs:

  • Air Canada Aeroplan (1 to 1 transfer ratio)
  • Air France KLM Flying Blue (1 to 0.75 transfer ratio)
  • British Airways Executive Club (1 to 1 transfer ratio)
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1 to 0.75 transfer ratio)
  • Delta Skymiles (1 to 0.75 transfer ratio)
  • Etihad Guest (1 to 0.75 transfer ratio)
  • Hilton Honors (1 to 1 transfer ratio)
  • Marriott Bonvoy (1 to 1.2 transfer ratio)

This you gives you the option to redeem for those coveted business and first class awards or far flung luxury hotels which tend to provide outsized value when compared to other redemption options.

Flexible travel and cash back redemption options

What if you don’t want to deal with the quirks and intricacies of frequent flyer and frequent guest programs? You like to book the flights that are best for you, or your travel is all about cruises or all-inclusive resorts? Not to worry, Membership Rewards also covers this. Simply book that cheapest flight from an Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier or that once in a lifetime 180 day around the world cruise. Charge it to any Membership Rewards earning American Express Card and when the charge shows up redeem your points against it at a rate of 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit. You can choose to redeem as little as $10 towards the purchase or any amount above that right up to the total amount of the travel charge. American Express calls this option Use Points for Purchases.

It’s not only travel thought that you can utilize Use Points for Purchases as allows American Express Cardmembers to redeem points for almost anything they charge to their cards. You can use the same redemption to receive a statement credit towards purchases on card. Think of this as their cash back rewards option. The redemption rate is the same as if you use the points for travel at 1,000 for a $10 credit

Membership Rewards makes it very easy to redeem for these charges online by providing cardmembers with a handy slider to decide how many points they want to redeem against a charge.

To use this option it is as simple as clicking on “Use Points for Purchases” in your online account (or in the app)

Then you select a purchase you want to redeem your points towards (travel or any other):

 

The Use Points for Purchases slider makes it easy to select how many points you want redeem for a credit

Depending on which American Express Card you carry this means you are achieving a cash back rate of return from 1% all the way up to 5% with the eats & drinks accelerator category on the American Express Cobalt Card. There are very few rewards cards in Canada that provide a cash back amount of 5% on eats & drinks purchases!

The Membership Rewards program also has their Fixed Points for Travel redemption option which is a take on traditional reward flights from frequent flyer programs. That is, you use a set amount of points to travel within, or to, certain regions without typically worrying about the price.

Booking flights using fixed points can come handy, especially when market fares are quite high. Amex’s Fixed Points Travel Program doesn’t limit specific airlines you need to book with. You can literally fly any airline, any time to any destination!

This provides a lot more flexibility than your traditional reward program, where typically the biggest complaint is a lack of flight availability!

Here are the points grids from Amex’s Fixed Point Travel Program:

With Membership Rewards’ earn rates ranging from 1 point per dollar spent to up to 5 points per dollar you could be redeeming for travel with as little as $3,000 in spending via the Fixed Points program. Even business class to Europe is a great deal, only $28,000 in spending at 5x points gets you that round trip flight to Europe.

Wrapping it up

With these examples you should hopefully be seeing the value in this program and why we consider it the number one loyalty currency in Canada. Now the question you should be asking yourself is “Why am I not collecting Membership Rewards points yet?” Every Canadian should collecting Membership Rewards points just as we say every Canadian should have the American Express Cobalt Card in their wallet.

As someone who has been collecting Membership Rewards points for the better part of 15+ years, take it from me, you won’t be disappointed with the program. I have used the conversion option to transfer to partners like Aeroplan, British Airways and Marriott plus I have also used the Use Points for Purchases option as well. In the end I am reassured knowing that I will always be able to use Membership Rewards points for rewards that provide a great return on my spending – no matter if it is travel or cash back.

If you’re not an American Express Cardmember yet, we recommend you check out our American Express card reviews and listings to find the card that is right for you.