For travel rewards guru Patrick Sojka, it is the question he hears the most: "What's the best travel reward card out there?"

The answer, unfortunately, is that there isn't one. Or, more accurately, there is isn't one single card that's right for everyone out of the 35 travel rewards cards available to Canadians.

Sojka is the Calgary-based founder of travel rewards websites rewardscanada.ca and frequentflyerbonuses.com. His main rewardscanada site has become a favourite destination of frequent travellers – those "highly educated, medium- to high-income people who are either looking for new credit cards or bonus offers" and tips on how to redeem miles.

Because cards have been designed to attract certain segments of the Canadian population, the best Sojka could do was create five card categories and pick the best two in each category for his first Top 10 list. "In my opinion, they are the best cards for what they offer," he says. "For the majority of consumers, these would be the best picks."

The five categories he came up with are: best airline credit card, top hybrid travel credit card, best (annual fee) travel points card, best (no fee) travel points card and top hotel points card.

Best airline card: CIBC AeroGold Visa/Aerogold Visa Infinite.

This card won out because it allows holders to earn 1.5 Aeroplan miles on grocery, drug store and gas station spending, "decent" redemption rates and Air Canada's vast domestic and international coverage. "People love to hate Air Canada but there is no airline within Canada that has the coverage it has so there is no better choice for an airline card," he says.

Also making the list was the American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum charge card. A favourite with "really frequent flyers" because of its "slew of benefits" and ability to earn 1.5 Aeroplan miles on all purchases. But its annual fee and lower merchant acceptance kept it out of the top spot.

Sojka says competition in the category will be tougher next year with the rollout of a WestJet-affiliated credit card.

Best hybrid travel card. Winner: Diners Club Club Rewards Mastercard.

A hybrid card collects points/miles per dollar spent that can be used either at a travel agency or converted to a frequent flyer program.

Sojka, who has watched travel rewards trends for eight years, picked the Diners Club Rewards MasterCard because of the ability to book with any provider, low annual fees and "a nice suite of benefits." The RBC Visa Platinum Avion/Visa Infinite Avion ranked second. "That was a real tough category because Diners Club is not issuing new cards to individual members, only companies," says Sojka. He concluded, however, there were enough card holders to warrant including Diners Club for consideration.

Best travel points card (annual fee). Capital One Miles Plus Platinum MasterCard.

A relative newcomer to Canada, it offers a 2 per cent return on all purchases that can be used toward travel through any provider and a "low" annual fee of $99. Second place went to the BMO Air Miles Gold MasterCard. "This category is really growing, that is why I split it into fee and no fee cards," says Sojka.

Best travel points card (no fee). American Express Blue Sky.

Just over a year old, the card gets high marks for travel booking flexibility and a 1.25 per cent earn rate on purchases. "I got (a Blue Sky card) just over a year ago and I have already used quite a few points off of it for car rentals, you name it because you can use it for any sort of travel."

Honourable mention went to the Capital One Miles Platinum MasterCard. Sojka liked the 1 per cent earn rate and no-fee Mastercard platinum benefits.

Best hotel points card. MBNA Starwood Preferred Guest MasterCard.

It has no annual fee, bonuses up to $30,000 of spending and ability to transfer points to more than 30 airlines. "Honestly, if this card gave out bonuses beyond the $30,000 mark, it would be the best card in Canada, period," Sojka says.

So what's in the travel rewards expert's wallet?

"I carry one of each. One MasterCard, one Visa, one Amex. If people can, I tell them, `Carry one of each.' The reason is you can have different promotions going on. With Air Canada right now, you can save 15 per cent on flights in Canada by using a Visa card."

 Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada

Purpose

The purpose of the Code is to demonstrate the industry's commitment to:

1. Ensuring that merchants are fully aware of the costs associated with accepting credit and debit card payments thereby allowing merchants to reasonably forecast their monthly costs related to accepting such payments. 
2. Providing merchants with increased pricing flexibility to encourage consumers to choose the lowest-cost payment option. 
3. Allowing merchants to freely choose which payment options they will accept.

Scope

The Code applies to credit and debit card networks, (referred to herein as payment card networks), and their participants (e.g. card issuers and acquirers).

The payment card networks that choose to adopt the Code will abide by the policies outlined below and ensure compliance by their participants.  The following policies will be incorporated into the payment card networks' contracts, governing rules and regulations.

Some elements of the Code will apply immediately.For other elements, a transition period will be provided in order to facilitate operational and contractual changes. As such, the Code will be implemented within a period to be determined after the payment card networks sign onto the Code.

Stakeholders are invited to provide comments with respect to implementation timelines for different measures (e.g. elements of the code requiring changes to existing points of sale terminals) and whether grandfathering should be considered.

Recommended Policy Elements

1. Increased Transparency and Disclosure by Debit and Credit Card Networks and Acquirers to Merchants

The payment card networks and their participants will work with merchants, either directly or through merchant associations, to ensure that merchant – acquirer agreements and monthly statements include a sufficient level of detail and are easy to understand. Payment card networks will make all applicable interchange rates easily available on their websites. In addition, payment card networks will post any upcoming changes to these fees once they have been provided to acquirers.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on specific improvements regarding transparency and disclosure in order to ensure that the information is clear and meaningful (e.g. fees disclosed on merchant statements will use wording consistent with the payment card networks' interchange rate schedule, if applicable, and will include the effective merchant discount rate, the number and volume of transactions and the total amount of fees according to each rate). Such information will be taken into consideration when developing more specific criteria for improving transparency and disclosure.

Stakeholders are also invited to provide input as to whether this provision should only apply to small and medium-sized merchants, and, if so, how such merchants would be defined (e.g. with payment card transactions value of $5 million annually or less).

2.  Merchants will receive a minimum of 90 days notice of any fee changes related to any credit or debit card transactions.

Payment card networks will provide acquirers with sufficient notice of any changes to their interchange rates and structure, as well as any other fees. Acquirers will provide merchants with at least 90 days notice of changes to merchant fees.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on minimum amount of prior notice that payment card networks should give to acquirers of any changes in rates and fees.

3.  Following notification of a fee change, merchants will be allowed to cancel their contracts without penalty.

By signing a contract with an acquirer, a merchant will have the right to cost certainty over the course of their contract.  As a result, in the event of a fee change, merchants will be allowed to opt out of their contracts, without facing any form of penalty within 90 days following notification.

4.  Merchants who accept credit card payments will not be obligated to accept debit card payments from the same payment network, and vice versa.

Payment card networks will not require merchants to accept both credit and debit payments from their payment network.  A merchant can choose to accept only credit or debit payments from a network without having to accept both.

5.  Merchants will be allowed to provide discounts for different methods of payment (e.g. cash, debit card, credit card). Merchants will also be allowed to provide differential discounts among different brands.

Discounts will be allowed for any payment method. As well, differential discounting will be permitted between payment methods and brands. The advertised price must be available for all payment methods. Any discounts must be clearly marked at the point-of-sale.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on how to enable differential discounting on co-badged debit cards.¹

6.  Merchants can decide whether they will accept multiple forms of debit card payment. In such a case, merchants can choose the lowest-cost option on transactions involving co-badged debit cards.
When a consumer uses a co-badged debit card with a merchant who accepts both debit products on the card, the merchant will decide which debit payment option is used for the transaction.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on the amount of time required to implement this proposal.

7.  Co-badged debit cards shall be fairly branded.

Issuers of co-badged debit cards should clearly indicate which payment options are available on that card and not give preferential branding to one network over another.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on what would constitute fair branding.

8. Debit and credit card functions shall not co-reside on the same payment card.

Debit and credit cards have very distinct characteristics, such as providing access to a deposit account or a credit card account. These accounts have specific provisions and fees attached to them. Given the specific features associated with debit and credit cards, and their corresponding accounts, such cards shall be issued as separate payment cards.  

9.  Premium credit cards may only be given to consumers who apply for or consent to such cards. In addition, premium cards shall only be given to a well-defined group of cardholders.

Premium cards were created with the intention of appealing to a specific clientele who meet specific spending and income thresholds. This intention shall be fulfilled by the credit card issuers.

¹ Co-badged debit cards are debit cards that can have access to multiple debit card networks (e.g. Interac and Visa Debit on one debit card). Note that Visa Debit and Maestro are not allowed to co-exist on the same card, as per Visa and MasterCard rules. However, both Visa and Maestro are allowed to co-exist with Interac on a debit card.