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Since 2015, we’ve written a lot of articles on milesopedia about points & miles: how to earn them and most importantly… how to use them the best way! We are always happy when readers take a few minutes to tell us about their experience!
Melanie L. has been a milesopedia reader for years, and is a regular contributor to the“Travel for free (or almost free…!) with your points & miles” Facebook group.
Here is her “postcard” that she sent us:
As is often the case, our readers find us after having browsed many English-speaking sites – mostly American – and are very happy to discover the only serious French-speaking source of information on loyalty programs, adapted to Canadians!
Melanie decided to focus on hotel points.
When you see the savings you can make with points, especially on hotel stays… you can’t do without them!
Melanie has done her lessons: she has set a clear goal and is sticking to it! And his strategy is perfect: it is often said that a hotel room can accommodate 1,2,3 – 4 people… while an airplane seat cannot!
It was therefore relevant here to focus on the accumulation of hotel points in the various chains easily accessible to Canadians: Marriott Bonvoy and Best Western Rewards.
Melanie and her friend already had cards that they were able to take advantage of the last benefits they had to offer:
Next, Melanie and her friend tackled the subscriptions for several cards.
The Best Western Rewards MasterCard is probably the easiest credit card to obtain in Canada and the bonus is easily unlocked: only one purchase is required!
What’s more, this card is free! This is how Melanie and her friend were able to accumulate many Best Western points… for free!
Next, Melanie and her friend tackled the accumulation of starpoints (now Marriott Bonvoy points) via American Express Marriott Bonvoy cards.
Melanie made perfect use of the sponsorship system then present on these cards. Now, sponsorship is made a bit complicated on the American Express side which requires spending $3,000 for the same welcome bonus unlike the offer we are proposing which only requires spending $1,500.
Melanie and her friend then chose to set their sights on the American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ Card:
Since then, American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to Marriott Bonvoy points at a 1:1.2 (or 5:6) rate.
The American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ Card is particularly interesting for those who do their grocery shopping in stores that accept American Express (such as Metro / Super C in Quebec) or make good use of gift cards obtained in grocery or convenience stores (Couche-Tard) to accumulate 5 points / dollar.
Let’s get to the interesting part: Melanie and her friend’s trip!
A very nice multi-destination course! After all, why not combine several trips into one?
Here is the itinerary booked with direct flights:
And Melanie adds details about her road trip in the American West:
After booking her flights and planning her itinerary, Melanie moves on to booking her hotels:
Good strategy to save 20% in points! Read the full strategy for this benefit in this article to find out how to get the fifth night free at Marriott Bonvoy.
Here is the list of hotels reserved by Melanie and her friend:
After planning the hotels, Melanie looked for a way to save money on her car rentals:
Here are the two rentals made by Melanie:
It’s easy to forget: but it can be helpful to call BMO Rewards to make a reservation:
I have done the same thing in the past and regarding car rentals, BMO Rewards deals with several wholesalers such as Auto Europe, who are known to offer the best rates on the market.
To find out how to apply Scotia Rewards points to your travel purchases, read this article!
To learn how to apply American Express Membership Rewards points to your travel purchases, you can read this article!
Let’s make a detailed point by recalling:
Melanie and her friend were therefore able to take a beautiful trip to the American West and Honolulu thanks to their points & miles!
This trip will have cost them CA$ 985.56 (in credit card fees + car rental balance) when its value was 10 123$!
The points & miles will have allowed them to save …. 90 %! Hats off to Melanie!
If you too have a travel project and would like help, go to the facebook group “Travel for free (or almost…!) with your points & miles – milesopedia”!
Savings this way:
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