Travel Tips

Capital One (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Travel tips:

I thought I knew about all the deals, discounts but realized I am still learning. Things I learnt last week. I can get rebates for travel booking in via hotel.com, priceline.com or booking.com, expedia.ca etc.  if I click through Great Canadian Rebates.  I could have earned around $50 rebates on previous booking. But good thing is that I know and I want all of you to know as well.

I also learnt that I can use the   Capital One® Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard® points to cover my Presto Card purchase for the  Go Train. I added $350 to Presto Card and then redeemed the points to cover $350.  With this card, I had to pay $120 fees but Great Canadian Rebates credit covered $75 of that.

Don't lose reward points to inactivity

Here is an interesting article on Moneyville by Ellen Roseman -- Don't lose reward points to inactivity

Yes you can lose value of hard earned points if you don't follow the rules. I have personal experience with Sears Club points. I did not lose a lot but lost few points. But when I called they were able to reinstate the points expired in the last 3 months.

Some times there are easy ways to keep your points active.

1. Buy small purchase to keep the account active

For example Aeroplan Miles, you can just buy Quacker or Tropicana products with Miles code and use that to keep your Aeroplan points active.

2. Transfer to different reward points. For examples Sears Club points can be transferred to Petro-Points.

How to reduce your vacation costs- Part 2

There are many airline points programs and  I have provided description of the most popular Canadian program - Aeroplan

You can earn Aeroplan points in many ways. Here are some of the popular ways to collect Aeroplan points.

• traveling in Air Canada
• using CIBC Aero Gold or CIBC Aero Gold Visa Infinity Card
• pumping gas at Esso
• hotel stays (Most of the hotel will give an option either to collect hotels points or specific airlines points).
• shopping at Sobeys in Ontario (converting Club Sobeys points points)                                         

                                                                                                                                                                        

There is an annual fee of $120 / year for CIBC Aeroplan credit cards. But you will earn 15,000 bonus when you the card for the first time. Here is the list of ways to earn Aeroplan points.

You can redeem points to buy air travel tickets, hotel booking, car rental, merchandise or gift cards. You can even earn points by buying some Quacker or Nestle products Here is the list of ways to use the points.

Points to note  about the program:

1. You need to have atleast one transaction in every 12 months to keep the account active. Buy a Tropicana orange juice  or any other product with Aeroplan code and that will keep your account active for another 12 months.

2. Aeroplan points expire in 7 years.

Related links

Air Canada forum in Flyer Talk

Rewards Canada 

Related articles

• In a competitive landscape, Aeroplan takes the gold (theglobeandmail.com)
• Best Frequent Flyer And Frequent Guest Programs Chosen In The Frequent Traveler Awards (prweb.com)

• Moneyville: How to choose the best travel reward card (thestar.com)
• Best Frequent Flyer And Frequent Guest Programs Chosen In The Frequent Traveler Awards (prweb.com)

How to reduce the cost of the vacation - Part 1

Who does not like cheap vacations?Especially a winter getaway.  

This post explains ways to book cheap vacations. I will do a second part about airline points, hotels points and travel rewards in another post.

Check online for deals:

I have used beatmyquote.ca and SellOffVacations. Beatmyquote.ca will always beat the price of any other online providers and they provided great service as well. Only concern I have is that they are based in Alberta and not registered with TICO. If I am booking a last minute all-inclusive vacation I will book with them.

I have also price matched online deals with Flight Centre as well. They will provide a $10 discount for all-inclusive package and $5 discount for flights.

Here is a list of some of the online travel sites
Redtag.ca
Beatmyquote.ca
Exitnow.ca
SellOffVacations
Tripcentral
Travelocity

Freebies or discounts:
Ask about any freebies. Once our travel agent gave us a free parking for a week at the airport. If you are booking more than eight tickets then some travel agents will give you a group rate or discount.

Use frequent flyer or hotel points to book flights and hotels (points collected through prior travels, credit card use, conversion of other points, sign up bonus etc).

I have booked airplane tickets using Aeroplan points and you can use your points to book tickets to your family members as well. You need to pay taxes and some misc charges. I have stayed in hotels without paying a single cent. I have stayed in Sheraton and Westin Hotels in Toronto, Whistler and India for absolutely free by using my SPG (starwood preferred guest) points. Some of these hotels are 5 star great hotels and offered free breakfast or other perks as well.

Review travel review sites:
Check Tripadvisor,ca Debbies Caribbean Resort Reviews, Fodor’s Travel Guides etc before the travel. During our recent trip to Mexico, we were able to save 50% excursions fare by booking it in the near by town rather than in the hotel we stayed. Thanks to the tips provided by previous tripadvisor posters.

Check the forums to see anyone else traveling at the same time, you may be able to get better group discount rates for excursions. You will find on site experts who can give lot of good tips. Some times you will even find a hotel contact and they can suggest and book the room with great view and other facilities before you arrive at the hotel.

Another great travel forum is flyertalk. There are experts who would advise how to get best use of hotel points and airline points.