Looking for recommendations for the best credit card for hotels and cars and travel. We are building a house and have lots to add to cards to get points. Looking for the best option with various uses

This is always the go-to each year for this info - http://www.moneysense.ca/.../canadas-best-credit-cards-2017/
MONEYSENSE.CA
Canada's Best Credit Cards of 2017 - MoneySense

Amex Gold is a charge card, but has hotel room insurance and double points for travel. There is more points if you use their travel booking, though I’ve never tried it.

I love the RBC Avion.

Check out www.thepointsguy.com
THEPOINTSGUY.COM
Watch Lightning Strike a klm 777 Just After Takeoff

westjet rbc mastercard World Elite is good but they just increased their annual fees by 20 percent.

Capital One Aspire MasterCard has worked very well for us. You have complete control on how you apply your credits

This one. I've gotten tons of free travel rewards. You get to 'erase' a charge. 2% back.

I second this!! Love the card.

I also have this card.

This is a great card. I recommend it

Yup! We have redeemed for flights to Vietnam, Thailand, Denmark and Toronto, all since 2014.

Also when my flight was cancelled out of YVR due to fog at destination the included insurance covered my night at the YVR Fairmont, meals etc.

Avion...you pick your own flights and book...

RBC avion

RBC Avion

Just beware that the RBC card does not pay for the taxes on a flight ticket which can amount to more than the cost of the flight to some destinations.

But if you have enough points, you can pay for the taxes with points. Have done this several times

rbc avion

alaska

I really like the TD Travel Visa. You get to book hotels, flights, etc in their own expedia portal - it looks exactly like expedia but, when logged into their portal, it display your credited dollar amount at the top of the page. When you go to pay, you simply select how much you want to use from your credit. Really easy, no blackout dates, etc. I have seen *some* hotels and flights don't appear when I use their portal but i'd say 90% is the same.

We love our TD travel visa but we just book through any site and just call the credit card company and they credit the purchase. And if you bank with TD and keep a minimum balance in your bank account they waive the annual fee.

You get more value for $ I think if you book through expedia vrs another place unless the booking is specific (like you couldn't be find the same flight or hotel on expedia). But I also second this card !! Not sure why it's not listed as a voting
Option

Rbc avion

I would consider the new TD Cashback card
6% cashback for your first three months.

That’s better than any travel rewards card... most equate to 2% value with a lot of restrictions

Yeah. I think there is a restriction of like $3500 total earned in that three month period. But still, If you're building a house you could earn that and then switch to something else.

Agree on BOTH!

Justin yes! Thanks

RBC avion

American express gold

I think it depends which airlines and destinations you fly to most frequently and how you want to use the points ie flights or other travel expenses. I like Alaska for the companion ticket and the fact that their extra fees on points tickets are very low however they are in the OneWorld Alliance, not Star Alliance. We also have an RBC Avion that has proven useful.

Rogers Fido. I only got it two months ago and I already have $300 I can put towards my credit card. Good for international. 4.5% back international and 1.5% back in Canada. Free first year and if you use it within three months you get $25 so essentially first two years you pay no annual fee. It’s $29/year. You don’t need to be a Rogers customer

“Rogers Fido” there is such a credit card?

John yup. I saw it was number 2 on a blog about best travel credit cards. I’ve been super happy with it.

https://www.rogersbank.com/en/25stndrd?utm_medium=Search&utm_source=SEM&utm_campaign=February-SEM-Campaign_17-8003&utm_content=EN_v1_&Promocode=&campaignsource=ROGSEM&gclid=Cj0KCQiAus_QBRDgARIsAIRGNGjMlkWFaZz1-CC36VwAdrThoXm9nHe3ssC3w2mYh09ZFAWompZ6b9kaArr3EALw_wcB
ROGERSBANK.COM
Earn cash back faster. | Rogers Bank

Amex Gold. Book your travel with the card and get travel medical insurance for 15 days. Rent a car and your collision waiver is covered. Points can be transferred one for one to aeroplan. My new cell phone was stolen in Brazil and because I paid for it with Amex, they reimbursed me for the cost.

Unfortunately many places don't accept Amex. P

Yes, but most travel related companies and large retailers do.

We canceled our Amex terminal. They charge way to much for fees and not many people use that anymore.

Capital One..gives cash back instead of of travel rewards if you prefer. No restriction on travel companies etc. Two cards for the price of one. And bonus points on the anniversary of the card.

Scotia amex gold - already at $500 in 4 months with the $300 welcome bonus. Id you eat out or do drinks or gas or groceries - you get 4x the points....
Marriott visa too - no 2.5% fee for foreign transactions or when abroad (and got 3 free nights as welcome bonus). Just enjoyed 3 nights in Baku Marriott earlier this week

Scotia amex you can also apply points to your purchase after. Rather than avion which you are more limited

Rbc Avalon is pretty great and fee ($120) is included in banking package I think we have enough for 2 short haul flights in about 8 months

RBC infinite is the best travel card I've found. Did an in depth search a couple years ago. Helps with flights, hotels, and cars

Is that an Avion card or something different? What is the annual fee?

Avion infinite, I believe the annual fee without any other banking is $120 although you get a discount if you are a VIP Banker

We have an Avion Infinite and have used it for some long haul expensive flights which ended up costing us nothing. But one has to do a big trip every year to be worth the annual fee unless it is being covered with your banking package.

Check out greedyrates for better comparisons. Don't go with RBC

Why not RBC?

CIBC Aventura World Elite Visa

Amazon.ca Visa... no "add-on" exchange charges, just the exchange rate at time of purchase, and you get cash back against future Amaon purchases.

I thought they took amazon visa away from canadians. Is it still through Chase? The Marriott chase visa is next best bet with the same no add on for fees
1-4 free nights at marriott as welxome bonus too

??? I just got mine a vfew months ago... used it for 2 months in UK... Yes through Chase...

Weird. I got mine about 4-5 months ago but that wasnt an option. I'd say either Chase card is great with these no 2.5% fees if you travel

Ya... it says it isno longer available..
https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon.../dp/B00AFGCPZ2/ref=sr_1_1...
Amazon.ca
AMAZON.CA Rewards Visa Card from Chase

Creaker oh no! I wonder if the ones who already have it will be closing down as well. This was the best card for foreign transactions since it has no annual fee and no foreign exchange tax. that sucks

Oh seriously? I didn't know it's no longer available. I currently use the Amazon credit card.

I think once you have the card you are ok... just not accepting any more applications.... seems Chase has moved to a different card with Marriot

If you have the card you're good. Marriott one also doesnt give a foreign exchange tax though. Marriott also gives you 3 free nights (i just got $750 in hotel costs free for my 3 days in Azerbaijan)!! They waive the first year annual fee too and give you a free nights stay each year which subsidizes the $99 annual fee. But they waive the first year annual fee (which equalled a $750 sign up bonus)!!!

Whichever one you choose, if you are renting cars the collision damage waiver may only good for a specific duration. Recently looked at renting car for 30 + days and found out the coverage was only good for 30 days, so had to do 2 rentals to get coverage for full trip

Also, if your travel is outside Canada, look for a card that has no extra rates for withdrawal in foreign currencies

I believe there are only 2 in Canada.....Marriot by Chase, and Rogers has one. We use the Marriot for foreign travel...NO transaction fees

You got it Dawn!

BMO World Elite. 2% back if used for travel. Free lounge passes every year. Good insurance.
You book through their site, but the prices seem to be the same as everywhere else and I've never had a problem booking. Covers everything, including taxes.
And with any of these cards, if you're racking up hefty annual spends, give them a call and ask them to remove your annual fee. I do it every year.

I know with westjet, what you see is what you get. No stupid points that fluctuate in value. You have $369 westjet dollars, it's good for a $369 off the next flight before taxes.

Love my TD First Class Infinite Visa. No annual fee if you have a certain acct. Cant remember name of it.

21 day free travel insurance too! the chequeing account is called all inclusive, have to put down $5000 to not pay monthly fee

Never pay annual fee on any card!

That's ridiculous. I get a $100 annual bonus on my Capital One Aspire Travel card (the old version with better bonuses) which offsets the $120 annual fee. In just over two years, I've paid for over $2500 in flights. If I'd never paid an annual fee, I'd save the $40 difference in annual fee/reward, and lose $2460. Sounds brilliant.

AMEX Gold, it has won and placed 2nd in most of the "best credit card" awards in Canada on multiple sites. The only problem is AMEX isn't accepted everywhere. But if I'm traveling every other year, my flights are paid for and you can apply points to travel purchases (hotels, flights, ect) after. Plus you get x4 the points on grocery, entertainment, and gas.

http://www.moneysense.ca/.../canadas-best-travel-credit.../
MONEYSENSE.CA
Canada's Best Travel Credit Cards 2017 - MoneySense

I have the RBC Infinite Avion and the RBC westjet Mastercard. I use the MC for westjet flights (we fly to Nova Scotia a lot). The companion fare is seriously great, I had $167 WJ dollars and I just booked the two of us to NS for $725 total, all taxes in. The RBC Avion is also good, but takes a long time to build up points. If you're putting tons of $$ on it, then you will build them quickly. I think you also get 15,000 points as a welcom bonus. It takes 35,000 points for a flight to Europe, per person, just to give you an idea of the amount of money you need to spend to get a ticket (it's 1 point per dollar spent).

The bmo world elite gives the most points for dollars spent. TD allows you to apply points After travel which is handy when you're trying to book a sale flight. BMO doesn't show all flights on their website so you have to do your own search and then call them.

I like the alaska mastercard. They have won best points program and I find they are easily redeemable not like aeroplan.

Yes, used Alaska a lot in the past. Very good! Sticking to one card/ TD first class travel one at the mo. Alaska is one I would def switch back to in future if I wanted a change

The Save-on-Foods card is very good. You get Save-on-More points. It sounds hokey, but, you can redeem them for any airline, hotel etc and you do not have to pay the taxes extra. I redeemed about 400,000 points last year and two of us flew return to UK, then to Rome and back from Venice to London and we had enough for one night hotel in Venice - we paid absolutely nothing, the points paid for it all! I have an Alaska MasterCard, they can only be redeemed for Alaska or companion airlines for flights and you have to pay the taxes on top.

Just ordered the scotia bank more rewards card

Thanks for the tips! Looks amazing and love how there are no hidden taxes or fees and the card has no Annual fee

I would suggest this too. Awesome website to use as well and even if u only have a few points you can apply that cash toward travel.

Wow! How many points do you get per purchase? SND How Long Did It take You To Get that many points? Never thought of that card as anything but a deal on food at times.

It took me a while. If you use the card for groceries you get up to 6 times the points. Without the credit card I get about 1200 just on a regular grocery shop, the app always has coupons ‘spend $100 and get 1000 points.

Oh, I forgot. Our trip also included 2 flights to Edinburgh from London. In total 10 flights with Transat, british airways and Spanish airline I can’t remember what it was called. I just redeemed a bunch of Alaska points for two flights to Hawaii and it cost me $160US in tax.

Following

WestJet.

Marriot rewards as there is no tax when you redeem(shhh). I have enough Avion and aeroplan points figure it’s time to get hotel points.

If you're a traveller then the westjet, if you use it. The companion fares are excellent!!!

Scotiabank More Rewards has no annual fee and is awesome. You can use your points to book straight with More Rewards and they match prices!

Oh that’s food for thought!

Thanks Lucy I signed up for one today. So many options to use your points.

Did you get the 15,000 bonus points? That equals about $75.00 in travel. In one year I have racked up enough points for $1700 in travel!

BMO - very very hard to redeem points. You can usually get a better deal then their web page offers on your own, meaning you never get the redemption returns they promise.

BMO. MC Elite

Why?

Brett no blackout. Points equate to dollars. Grid for cheapest dates easily accessible for comparison

Lots of people posting. But please tell us why you like the card?

I have BMO elite. 300,000 points. They never have the flights I want on-line, and every time I try to book a hotel the web site craps out. Twenty minutes on hold on the phone, before I gave up. Email responses were canned and unhelpful. I’ve had RBC avion for 30 plus years and never had these problems. Made a health insurance claim on RBC and got paid out in 10 days. Anyone want to make suggestions on how to use up the useless BMO points? You’ll never see the 2% they promise on travel.

Depends where you plan to travel. Have used Alaska since 2008 - $75 annual fee (nothing for second card), annual companion fare for $99 plus tax-use in US incl. Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica & Cuba: also great partner network - we've used points on cathay pacific as well as qantas - will fly premium economy to Australia for second time in Feb. Bonus: if you book points tickets you can change your booking at no charge as long as you do so 60 days prior to original departure date, can also have stopovers on multicity route at no extra cost. Consistently rated excellent service & on-time - their agents have always been super helpful

I've had the BMO card for 4 years.......easy booking every time....no blackouts.....good for any form of travel. However they are just about to raise the points needed for a $1.00 travel from 100 to 140 pts. 2 pts for every dollar spent and 3 points for every dollar spent on travel

Someone I knew could book a trip -- hotel room, etc. - and then get the bill reimbursed with the points in their card. I think that was TD, but not Aeroplan.

If you have Scotia Gold Amex - you can book your own travel. Hence if you have a YVR deal you book it direct and apply your points directly to your statement. Something that neither RBC TD or BMO do...
Try to beat having $480 in 4 months of use! I could book Japan right now for $240 with this YVR deal and I've only used the card for 4 months!

Rbc allows you to as well in a different way, can't speak to the others though

Love westjet, everything goes on it. If your into World wide travel somewhat limited. But they have Europe routes and supposedly Asia is coming. Companion fare is a good deal,
The WJ dollars are exactly that 1 for 1. No billion air miles = a trip to Calgary.
No blackouts or any of that nonsense .

^^ You can now also earn/redeem westjet dollars on klm & air france (announced last week) and delta flights which potentially opens up quite a few routes in Europe, Asia, etc. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/rewards/partners/index
WestJet.com
Our partners - westjet Rewards | WestJet.com

You made my day chris

Is there an annual fee on the WJ card?

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BMO air miles, we have the world elite ones. Used our miles to go to Hawaii this year and next year used them for both airfare and hotel in New York. Plus you can buy merchandise too. We don't have westjet at our nearest airport and we can use the same amount of air miles for flying out of it or from Vancouver or Calgary.

Air miles
. It’s ending.

Save on more visa .
Best no fee card on the market. Easy to redeem , earn extra points buying groceries . This year I have earned $1300 worth of travel

I use the Scotiabank Gold Passport Visa combined with the Scotiabank Amex Gold. Love them and you can combine the points from them with the Amex having some higher earning items. Just on regular spending we average $2000-2500 a year in points which you can use for whatever travel you want (flights, hotels, tours, camping, rentals etc) and there are no restrictions about when you travel or how you book!
Also the easiest system to redeem, just book whatever you are wanting, wait until it shows on your card then just apply the points and get your refund!

Finally someone with sense...all these people pushing Avion. Branch out from your own bank people!!
I want to give you 10 likes hahaha

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I recommend this site as every person's situation is different - how much you travel, how much you spend, what perks/insurance you want, your salary, etc. http://www.rewardscanada.ca/topcc2017/

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.greedyrates.ca/blog/aeroplan-credit-card-comparison-2014/&ved=0ahUKEwiDspCLyNHXAhUs6YMKHfjaAYMQFggmMAA&usg=AOvVaw0QdP9jvYAGizx1MtNUFFtZ

We just went to Vegas with our RBC Avion points , paid for hotel and flights , takes three flights from where I live but I don't recommend it , we had been saving points for years ! We do travel often with our BMO Airmiles card tho , like 3x a years ! Love it !

Hi, where do you live? We fly two people across Canada every year Kamloops-Charlottetown on avion. They cover up to $750 and we can always get flights for that or less. Have to pay taxes, but for international travel seek out airlines (like copa) that includes the taxes in their flights.

The BMO airmiles card is great if you like airmiles - but they can be limiting (ie. it can be hard to find the flights you want with airmiles). The TD rewards card is terrific because you can use the points to reimburse any travel purchases (I like that). If you don't have a BMO world elite card their special right now (fees waived for 1st year, 3000 bonus airmiles and a free companion flight) make it very attractive - even if it's not the one you do all your big purchases on.

I've had aeroplan for 10 years. I have trouble finding good flights, but my friend does not. With the points, you can purchase gift cards for stores, airlines, whatever.

I have had the Alaska air MasterCard for years and have loved it, but mainly because I travel to Hawaii every year and they have fantastic flights out of Bellingham. They give a companion ticket every year and the flights are easy to book using the voucher.

This one is the best for Hawaii travellers for sure however it’s in USD dollars

It's a fabulous card if you don't mind a layover in or leaving from Seattle. I've flown to Thailand through their partners, Hawaii several times and Vegas.

Not good for canadian travel though

that’s true can’t fly without leaving Canada on Alaskan

Debbie Hollett

https://rogersbank.com/en/compare_cards
ROGERSBANK.COM
Compare Credit Cards | Rogers Bank

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Love my TD first class travel card because you use points to book directly on expedia. Any flight, any hotel, any car rental or adventures available on expedia, I can use my points for.

How much is the annual fee for that card?

Sue $129. I’ve heard some people do get it waived by the bank (for maintaining a min. Balance in account?)

anyone who maintains 5K at all times do get the annual fee waived and get all the benefits if the card...choice of 3 different rewards!

120.00/yr same as avion

I love love my TD aeroplane accumulates faster than any other travel card and allows any flight available no black outs and international flying. Provides free baggage for every flight and a one time pass to the lounge.

But I never find descent flight. Mostly they are 2 stops. How do you find good flights? Can I take a guest to the lounge?

Sue ..yes guest to lounge so long as that guest is also paid and flying with the booked flight. You can use market fare flights or use more miles for any flight. The key with this card is to book well in advance not last minute. Mikes accumulate very quickly if you charge everything to the card.

The same spend on an infinite card don’t come close to how many miles accumulated but it is all air canada and affiliates...I just don’t care who I fly with I just care that it’s cheap or free. I am a planner though and will book travel up to a year ahead.

Hands down avion!
No black outs
Travel
Insurance
Any airline
Online booking or personal assistance booking
We run our business through two of these cards and accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars for our yearly travel.
One dollar= one air mile

TD infinite trumps avion same card but triple points available when booking on expedia. Almost equivalent cards.

westjet rbc m/c

between RBC infinite avion and the RBC Westjet.

RBC Infinite Avion. We’ve done the research and found this to be the best. No restrictions, no blackouts.

But they don't cover tax and you have to book through them. Seems pretty restrictive. Chexk out the Scotia amex gold. Way richer rewards and sign up bonus and you book what you want and apply points fully

Capital One Aspire card

Annual fee tough to get waived with RBC...possible but not done easily for all clients.

Funny you asked that, I just met up with a friend yesterday who is a complete credit card geek (who did months of studies and analysis as a hobby), as I want to get a card that earns me most points for travels. He recommends AMEX SPG and Scotiabank Gold Amex. PM me and I can send you a referral link that you can get more welcome bonus points than signing up directly with the bank.

I'd like the bonus info too.

Sue cool, please PM me with your email address.

Amazon.ca rewards visa by chase, no annual fee, no currency exchange fee, good if not better market rate exchange and 1% cashback on top, cash is king

This one is no longer offered in Canada.

i see! The rogers platinum mastercard is similar with 4% cashback on foreign purchases (-2.5% foreign exch fee net 1.5% cashback)

Yew, I found it to be the best credit card for travelling however, I understand that the cash back needs to be spent on Rogers products.

I have both these cards which I used on our trip to Europe earlier this year. I prefer the Amazon because they credit your cash back almost immediately whereas Rogers limits your cash back to Rogers products OR you have to provide them with instructions annually if you want your cash back applied to you credit card balance. It's too bad the Amazon chase is no longer available in Canada.

Depends on what hotels you want to stay in and what countries. Although Starwood (SPG) has joined uk with Marriott, getting free hotel rooms or points and pay gets you better value than paying for hotel rooms with straight cash. Most of the described you pay market and seasonal rates. SPG and now Marriott were easy to book and I have almost never boy got the room I wanted in 12 yrs. you get a room for the same points or points and cash regardless of the seasonal or high occupancy rate and the number of points required for SPG was amazing in great hotels

Td is best bang per buck iny experiencr

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