Podcast Episode 65 – Coronavirus Update, Rogers Mastercard devaluation & Marriott Bonvoy Category Changes + MORE Feb 24th

Aeroplan’s Miles Madness promotion for online shopping via the Aeroplan eStore has returned. You can earn up to 10x miles for your online shopping until March 8. Some retailers offering 10x miles are Frank & Oak and Indigo while others like Sephora and Old Navy are 5x miles. As always be sure to use a mileage earning credit card for the purchases and also to log in to your account at the retailer to earn that’s retailer’s points like Indigo’s Plum Rewards, Sephora Beauty Insider etc.Find out more about Miles Madness here!Image via AeroplanTD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card

Episode 65 – February 24, 2020 Coronavirus Update, Rogers Mastercard devaluation & Marriott Bonvoy Category ChangesThis week we cover a range of topis. We discuss the Coronavirus and how it is affecting travel, what travel and credit card insurance covers or does not cover, airline and hotel waivers, hotels extending status and more. We then jump into the recently announced negative changes coming to the three Rogers/Fido Mastercards, the big hotel category changes from Marriott and also talk about their new hotels in Canada.Click Here to download the podcast (mp3) or Download/subscribe via: Links relating to this week’s topics:Government of Canada Travel AdvisoriesDevaluation coming to the popular Rogers World Elite Mastercard, Platinum Mastercard and Fido MastercardMarriott’s 2020 hotel category changes are here and they aren’t pretty globally – not as bad here in CanadaMarriott New Hotel Openings in Canada for 2020 – 14 hotels in the works including the W Toronto 

On the latest Rewards Canada family vacation we got to check out the new American Express Centurion and Escape Lounges in Phoenix. The lounges are located in Terminal 4 of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport and are very new – they just opened up during the second week of January. For most Canadian’s this means if you are flying WestJet you will be able to use the lounges if you have The Platinum Card from American Express or the Centurion Card. The Escape Lounge also has pay per use access should you not have either card. Unfortunately Air Canada changed terminals early in February so if you are flying AC you won’t be able to access the lounge without changing terminals and going through security multiple times.Lounge locationFor our trip the location of the lounges was perfect – right next to B23 which is where our WestJet flight back to YYC was departing from. We were flying home on President’s Day which meant the airport was insane with lots of people flying home from the long weekend but with TSA Pre-Check we cleared security in under 5 minutes…

Right now if you grab yourself two RBC credit cards you can come out with at least 700 WestJet dollars for as little as $240 in annual fees and purchases. The two cards are the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card.The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard currently has a 350 WestJet dollar welcome bonus until the end of March. That bonus is awarded on your first purchase which means you could choose to only spend $1 on the card in addition to the $119 annual fee to score the 350 WestJet dollars. This offer is set to end on March 31.WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCards Next up is the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card – it has a 35,000 RBC Rewards Point welcome bonus that is awarded upon approval. That’s right – no spend required. You do however have to pay the $120 annual fee on the card and you must apply be February 28. RBC Rewards Points convert to WestJet dollars at a rate of 100 points to 1 dollar which means this sign up bonus is worth 350 WestJet dollars…