Hotels (Reward Programs)

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[INTERVIEW] Director of Loyalty for Marriott Canada about Partnership with PlacePass

ByMatt

Today, we feature Jennifer Bryl, Director of Loyalty for Canada, Marriott International, who would like to discuss its new partnership with PlacePass.

Jennifer Bryl, Director of Loyalty for Marriott Canada

1) Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

For Marriott International, I’m a loyalty driver who helps hotels understand the value of enrolling and recognizing new members so they can create exceptional and memorable experiences for our guests. Montreal is my favourite Canadian city (for the foodie in me) and I’m itching to visit Grand Okanagan!

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Comparing Canada and US Best Western Credit Card

ByMatt

Best Western Rewards is one of my favourite loyalty programs, even though it is not considered one of the more luxurious brands, so it may not be as popular in the frequent flyer community. I think the two main reasons why I like them is because of the no points expiry policy and the fact that they offer a very competitive co-branded credit card in Canada. Without a credit card option, they probably would not be so high on my list of favourite hotel programs.

Below is the highlights of a list of co-branded Best Western in Canada and the United States.

IHG PointsBreak (April 24, 2017 – July 31, 2017)

ByMatt

The IHG Rewards PointsBreak promotion is back!

Promotional Period

This new list runs from is valid from April 24, 2017 to July 31, 2017. I am always happy to see a new list come out. I just hope that they keep it going!

Value

I value IHG points at 0.7 cents a piece. With this promotion, you can potentially get a room that normally costs over $250 per night for only 5,000 points, which gives you over 5 cents per point in value.

Marriott Invests in PlacePass

ByMatt

In celebration of Marriott Rewards surpassing 100 million loyalty members (granted, it includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest members), they announced this week that it invested in PlacePass, an activity search and price comparison website that scans hundreds of travel and tour operators to find some of the best prices out there. There are over 100,000 customized travel experiences to choose from in 800 destinations in 177 countries.

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[INTERVIEW] ‎President of Marriott Canada – Don Cleary

ByMatt

Today, we feature Don Cleary of Marriott Hotels Canada. Last time, we did an audio interview with Vice President Global Loyalty Thom Kozik (Marriott) that you can find on YouTube.

This time around, I thought I’d go with a written interview instead. Due to a time sensitive schedule, I was unable to request questions from our readers. However, if you do have any questions, please let us know in the comment section and I will forward them directly to Marriott!

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Comparison of Canada and U.S. Chase Marriott Credit Cards

ByMatt

This idea came from a comment in my Top Credit Card Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses post. Thanks Jeff!

Both Canada and the United States offer their own versions of a co-branded Marriott Rewards credit card, each offered by the Chase Bank. In the U.S., there are currently 2 completely different offers to watch out for. Canada also has two offers, but I will only mention one of them, which I will explain below. Let’s start with the highlights of each credit card:

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Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express

ByMatt

The U.S. based Starwood Preferred Guest American Express personal and business cards have increased their sign up bonus from 25,000 to 35,000. The last time was about a year ago. My question is, when is it going to be Canada’s turn? Also, what about waiving the first year fee? Let’s take a quick look at the highlights of the four cards in question.