Getting the Most (Points) from Your Winter Vacation

A faithful blog reader recently gave me some feedback about my monthly posts of hotel and airline points and miles offers. Basically, she told me she found a long list of deals too daunting to be useful.

And that got me to thinking. So, look for January's roundup next week; today I'll offer some advice on how to find the best offers for your winter holiday.

Start your vacation planning by deciding where to go. And base your decision on your desire to go there. Our blog reader is correct: unless you're looking for a last-minute weekend getaway, it's too confusing to begin making travel plans based on this month's offers. For today, I'm going to ignore airlines and focus on hotels, mainly because airlines offer few incentives on flights to vacation hotspots during peak seasons.

Say you want to spend a week in the Orlando area. All the major hotel chains are represented there, so start by going to an online travel agency site like Expedia or Hotels.ca to see which hotels are available and what rates they are charging. These sites are also useful because they provide traveler ratings as well. All things being equal, the best price is your best deal.

However, sites like Expedia and Hotels.ca also have two major disadvantages: they don't list all hotels in an area, and you won't earn points if you book your hotel through them. No problem: you can always get the same rates at the hotel chains' websites. So earning points won't cost you extra and you'll also see all the properties the chains have in the area.

Once you've found a few hotels in the right location and price range, check this month's list of offers. An offer for bonus points, or a stay X nights, get Y nights free deal, could not only help you decide in favour of one hotel over another, but also earn points toward your next holiday.

Even if you don't think you'll ever use those hotel points, you can always elect to earn airline miles instead (if you belong to a frequent flyer plan). I explain how that works in this blog post.

And don't forget to double-dip by using a credit card that earns points or miles. Many cards even offer double points for travel-related charges, so check to see which of your cards offers you the biggest bang when you pay for your hotel, airfare, and car rental.

One final point: the major hotel chains have many brands in their portfolios. You may not know that you can earn Hilton HHonors points at a Hampton Inn or Doubletree, Wyndham Rewards at a Travelodge or Howard Johnson, Priority Club Rewards at a Crowne Plaza or Staybridge Suites. Check out your hotel's corporate website to see which chain and loyalty program it belongs to.

Next Thursday, I'll tell you about the offers the major hotel chains have for January-March, all specially geared to reward the winter leisure traveler.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Aeroplan Miles Expiration

Patrick Sojka, who produces the Rewards Canada blog, recently wrote in the Toronto Star (5 things loyalty card companies don't want you to know) that loyalty programs count on a certain proportion of points and miles going unclaimed. It's money in their pockets instead of yours. One way they have of ensuring this is by setting a date when points will expire.

Some hotel and most airline frequent flier plans have points expiry dates: if you have no activity in your account during a certain period of time, the points disappear. (Delta Airlines SkyMiles is an exception: points never expire.) That's why a points tracking service like AwardWallet, which tells you when your points will expire, is very useful. And it's also why you should learn how to earn miles in your plans without having to fly, such as through hotel stays, point swapping, and online shopping, searches, and surveys.

While points in most plans expire after 18 or 24 months of inactivity, Aeroplan is unusually harsh in snatching back your points after only 12 months. And Aeroplan is unique (to my knowledge) in adopting a policy, a few years back, of erasing points seven years after they've been earned, even if you're earning points every single day.

Imagine if you contributed to your savings account each week and your bank simply decreed it was going to take any money that had been in there for more than seven years.

And they call this a loyalty program?

Anyhoo, Aeroplan has taken a lot of flak over its policy, and deservedly so, but at least it is now notifying its members of the pending confiscation of their points. And I should stress, that no one has lost any points yet: the policy set the earned date of all previously held points as December 31, 2006. That means that Aeroplan won't take away points earned before then until December 21, 2013.

So you still have two years to redeem any points earned before 2007. And if you have redeemed points since 2007, you may have redeemed those at-risk points already.

How can you find out if your Aeroplan points are safe? Like me, you may have received an email recently with a statement of the points that will expire in 2013 and 2014. If not, you can check the status of your points by going to aeroplan.com, clicking on Your Account, Account Expiry Status, and Request Mileage Status.

When Aeroplan was simply the frequent flier program of Air Canada, maybe a seven year point expiration policy wasn't a big deal. Regular Air Canada customers earned miles from flying, hotel stays and car rentals, and were expected to "earn and burn".

But today Aeroplan is an independent loyalty program company: most members earn points mainly from affiliated credit card spending, and/or gas (Esso) and grocery (Sobeys) purchases. And since a pair of economy class seats to Europe requires at least 120,000 points and Australia 280,000, that dream vacation may require a decade of patiently accumulating one mile at a time. In other words, it's an impossibility for many members if their points are snatched back from them after seven years.

Simply put, Aeroplan's seven-year expiration policy is an abuse of its members' loyalty and a theft of their property.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

What’s a Point or Mile Worth?

It's a question I'm sometimes asked and it's a question I frequently ask myself. Because points and miles aren't really "free": you do pay for them, if only indirectly; and they do have value, which you want to maximize.

For example, the question of how much a point or mile is worth is part of the decision as to which credit card to choose, especially if you're paying an annual fee. And if you have more than one point-earning card in your wallet, which one you actually use depends not only on the number of points you'll receive for the transaction, but also the value of those points.

And then there's the question of those cards (like American Express Membership Rewards) that let you convert its points into points in other airline and hotel programs. Which conversion offers the best value?

Unfortunately, there's no clear, simple answer. For one thing, the points in different programs have different values. Hotel points, particularly, are all over the map. While it might take 7-10K points for a free stay at a Starwood property, an equivalent Priority Club hotel might require 15-25K, and Hilton 30-35K. And the points you earn per dollar spent on paid stays generally reflects their value. At Starwood it's 2, Priority Club 10, and Hilton 15 (with the bonus points double dip option).

While (most) airline miles are (roughly) equivalent in value (for example, 25K miles are required to fly within North America), what you redeem for affects the value of your miles. Since Aeroplan is the most popular airline loyalty program with Canadians, let's see what an Aeroplan mile is worth.

Say you want to redeem for merchandise, an Apple iPad2 WiFi 16GB. With tax, it's $586.47 at Apple stores in Ontario. It's 72,500 Aeroplan miles. So an Aeroplan mile is worth .8 cents.

What if you want a gift card instead? A $50 gift card from Home Hardware, the Bay, or Esso costs 6,500 miles, making a mile worth a little less, .77 cents each.

Maybe you want to actually take a flight. Now the value of your miles depends on where and when you want to fly. For example, a flight from Toronto to San Diego, leaving on March 1 and returning on March 8 is 25K points. Expedia charges $684.78, meaning a mile is worth a little more than 2.7 cents. But wait: Aeroplan charges an additional $105.66 in taxes, fees, and surcharges, meaning the 25K miles covers only $579.12, making a mile worth actually just over 2.3 cents. That's still pretty good. And I'm sure there are even better values out there.

One reason I like to redeem for travel rewards, rather than cash back or merchandise, is the greater value. Considering that many cards offer two points or miles for spending on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel, and taking advantage of double-dipping opportunities (see this post on the topic), a return on credit card spending approaching 10% is possible.

Getting the best value from your points and miles requires a little work. Pay for a hotel room or flight if it's cheap (and earn points and miles!) and save your points and miles to use when rooms and flights are expensive, in order to maximize their value.

One final point to consider: hotel points have an advantage over airline miles that affects the calculation of their value. A free hotel night redemption has no extra fees: there's nothing else to pay, even the taxes are included.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Early Summer Points and Travel Deals

Given the cool, wet weather here in Southern Ontario this spring, it may seem premature to be thinking about summer getaways, but the airlines and hotel chains have sent some tempting offers my way recently than you might want to factor into your coming vacation planning.

Choice Hotels is offering enough bonus points after two stays to provide you with a free night at over 1,500 of their lower tier properties. Registration is required, and be sure to read the terms and conditions. Stays between May 19 and August 11, 2011 qualify. Click here for details.

Like most hotel points programs, Choice Privileges points can be traded for airline miles, generally at a rate of 5:1; that is, 5K Choice points for 1K airline miles. But until June 6, 2011, if you transfer Choice points to United Mileage Plus, you get twice the miles. Here's a link.

So if you signed up for that no-fee Choice Privileges MasterCard I told you about last month, you could not only be turning your credit card spending into free hotel nights, but faster free flights as well. And since United is a Star Alliance partner with Air Canada, you can credit flights on Air Canada to Mileage Plus (and vice-versa) and use Mileage Plus miles to fly on Air Canada or any other Star Alliance partner airline.

Country Inn and Suites has extended its Spring Getaway Offer until May 31. Stay twice and be rewarded with a $30 Amazon.com or Amazon.ca gift card as well as 3,000 bonus Club Carlson points. U.S. hotels also throw in a $5 T.G.I. Friday's coupon. Country Inn and Suites offer reasonably priced accommodation and include free wireless and buffet breakfast. Most locations are in the U.S. To book this offer, click here.

From May 16 through August 15, 2011, Priority Club (Holiday Inn and associated brands) lets you earn double points starting with your second stay. You can register for this offer here.

Priority Club Insider maintains an extensive list of other bonus codes here. Registering for multiple offers has sometimes meant that I have earned almost enough points for a free night with just one paid stay at a Holiday Inn. It's always worth the effort.

And Priority Club also offers some "Pointsbreaks" properties at only 5K points, one-third the usual 15K points required for a free night. You can find the list here. Bookmark the site, because the eligible properties change every month or so.

The excellent Rewards Canada website has made its "Choosing a Travel Rewards Credit Card" comparison chart more extensive and much easier to use by splitting it up into five separate charts based on the type of card. If you're a Canadian looking for the best travel reward credit card for you, you need to start your shopping here.

Finally, did you know that you can earn Aeroplan miles for subscribing to your favourite magazines? Rogers Magazine Service offers 250 Aeroplan miles for each subscription if you go through their portal. The prices seem to be in line with other offers, but for comparison purposes, I value Aeroplan miles at about 1.5 cents each.

Points 9: The End of the Trail

I'm concluding my series of posts on travel rewards with a recap and a look at some of the best sites and blogs where you can go to learn more.

I was remiss in not including the Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum points program when I discussed Canadians' favourite points programs. Remiss, because it's my wife's favourite program. She likes the store and MBNA has a MasterCard that earns her Optimum points on all her purchases, extra when she uses it at Shoppers. Shoppers also has frequent bonus points days, usually on Saturdays. You redeem for discounts on purchases.

I mentioned Rewards Canada previously, but it's worth reiterating: this is the single best travel rewards site for Canadians. Especially useful are the charts and reviews comparing travel reward credit cards, and the comprehensive listings of bonus offers for airlines, hotels, and rental cars. Both are accessible from the right side of the home page.

A faithful blog reader reminded me that a nice feature of Priority Club was the ability to redeem for hotel rooms with a combination of points and cash. The same is true for Starwood Preferred Guest, though in practice, I've found that most Starwood properties don't offer this option. It can be a valuable way to both stretch your points and save you money, but you need to do the math to determine whether cash, points, or a combination is the best value. That brings us to the question of what is the value of a point? Fortunately, there's a blog that is dedicated to hotel loyalty programs called Loyalty Traveler, written by an American called Ric Garrido. He is extremely knowledgeable, and his analysis of the value of hotel programs and bonus offers is rigourous and complete. Not always applicable to Canadians, but there are none better at what he does.

There are a lot of aspects of point collecting that I haven't touched on, including mileage running. That involves finding the cheapest flight that offers the most points, usually through a combination of bonus offers and convoluted routing. Earning points is not the only goal of a mileage run, though. So is gaining elite status. Those who fly many thousands of miles a year enjoy perks such as upgrades and special treatment that frequent fliers find worthwhile. If you're interested in that aspect of travel rewards, there are two blogs, One Mile at a Time and View from the Wing, that cover the subject well. And I've also mentioned flyertalk before. This is a forum by and for frequent fliers and points junkies. You can find your airline or hotel program by jumping to the forum on Miles & Points.

Finally, on Thursday, October 7, the Toronto Star published a special section on travel rewards. In the search field, type "travel rewards" to find a list of the articles that appeared in the print version.

That concludes the series on points and miles. I'll keep my eye out for good deals and from time to time pull together the best ones in a post. Safe travels.

Points 1: Canada's Favourite Points Programs

A couple of conversations with friends lately about my points and miles collecting hobby (obsession?) led to requests for me to post on the subject. So over the next few weeks, I'll try to cover the basics of how to get the most out of loyalty programs. Keep in mind, these are my preferences; they may not always be suitable for you, but I hope you'll find something of use here.

For starters, many points experts advise that you focus on one program so you can achieve rewards quickly. I take the opposite view. I believe in signing up for almost any program, focusing on several, and taking a patient, long-term approach. There are a number of reasons why, but one is that I collect with the goal of travel rewards (hotels stays and flights), rather than merchandise or cash-back rewards. That takes a lot of points and that takes time. I find the dream of travel to be more inspiring than cash-back, and the value of travel rewards greater than merchandise.

I'll begin by discussing three of the programs most popular with Canadians.

PC points are earned through a variety of activities with President's Choice Financial, chiefly through the use of its credit and debit cards. Points can also be earned through bonus offers at supermarkets that sell President's Choice products. Rewards come in the form of groceries and other products sold in the stores and are redeemed right at the checkout, using your credit or debit card. No separate membership card is required. Ease of earning and redeeming makes this program the right one for many people.

I do have a PC Financial chequing account, but not a credit card, so my point earning is minuscule. The reason I don't focus on this program is because $20 off groceries doesn't inspire me (see paragraph 2, above), and because I can use a different credit card at the supermarket to earn points in another program that has more value to me.

Air Miles can be earned through a variety of retailers and affiliated credit cards offered by the Bank of Montreal and American Express. It is perhaps the most popular loyalty card in Canada. It seems almost everyone has one. Except me.

The main reason Air Miles has little value to me is that few of their partners are located in my town, so I have little chance to earn. But if you're a BMO customer and can shop at Air Miles retail partners, this program can be valuable to you, especially if you like merchandise or grocery certificate rewards.

That brings me to Aeroplan. Though a separate company, Aeroplan is essentially Air Canada's frequent flier plan and offers reward flights not only on Air Canada, but also on its partners in the Star Alliance, such as United, US Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore, Air New Zealand, and many others. As well, points can be redeemed for hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, and merchandise.

Aeroplan miles can be earned through flights, retail and travel partners, and affiliated credit cards and other products at a range of financial institutions. Aeroplan's gas and grocery partners (Esso and Sobeys) are located in my town, and that's a big reason why I collect Aeroplan miles.

Next time, in Points 201, I'll take a look at points-earning credit cards, with the emphasis on earning points and miles without having to pay an annual fee.