The Ph.D Guy-Doctor of Points and Travel: 2017

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Kaligo: miles on the go

牧羊博士 July 09, 2017 0

This post is about to introduce a very amazing OTA that you can earn miles booking via their website: Kaligo.（Register now）. There are a variety of miles you can earn by booking hotels through this website.

If you live in Canada (as I do), there are several options that I recommend: AC, UA, AS and BA.

I will give an example here by choosing earning Avios (British Airways miles). I am looking at one night this upcoming Friday in Toronto, and I want to stay with Fairmont:

The price is not surprisingly reasonable-240 CAD for one night stay, and you can earn 3500 Avios ! Remember, you only need 4500 Avios to redeem an one-way economy flight for selected routes:

Be advised that Kaligo tend to have higher prices than other OTA websites (although not always..). So here I recommend using HotelsCombined to double check if the deal is worth it:

The results indicate that actually I am lucky enough to not only be able to earn miles but also find lower price...If the price from Kaligo is indeed higher, you need to consider the worth of the miles that you earn through this difference in cash price.

Find the best deal with HotelsCombined.com

New Website Launched: Collect Miles and Smiles

牧羊博士 June 20, 2017 0

Travel can be a smile if you use miles, so the good news here: our new website: MilesCollection is ready to go.

For Canada and U.S residents...

www.milescollection.com

Great Deal You Don't Want to Miss: Up to 100% Bonus on Purchased Points from IHG

Offer

牧羊博士 June 14, 2017 0

IHG Rewards Club is offering their "Mysterious Bonus" promotion on purchased points. By that it means if you are lucky enough, you are entitled 100% bonus on the points you purchase, and this offer is valid until July 12.

Promotion Link：Click Here
(If you are new to IHG rewards program, please sign up first）

If you are wondering if it is worth it to buy points, here's an example to visualize how much you can save：

You are looking at 350 USD per night before tax for a night beside Hollywood, but if you are using points, it is 40000 points that you need to redeem:

And you actually just paid 250 USD for the points ：

Without doubt, you save at least 100 US dollars for just one night at Hollywood in L.A, would that be wonderful for you? Plus, you can keep your eye on IHG's Points Break promotion from time to time, when you just have to use 5000 points to redeem one night.

By the way, SPG is also having their points purchase promotion, which is a good deal, too:

Promotion Link: Click here.

Register for Paypal now and Get 2 US Dollar Cashback

Topcashback

牧羊博士 June 12, 2017 0

If you use Topcashback to register for a personal account and have one valid transaction，you are entitled to a 2 US dollar cashback.

【Hotel Review】Delta Hotels by Marriott Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort: Classic Outside, Modern Inside

Marriott

牧羊博士 June 10, 2017 0

Victoria is a beautiful and cozy city where I would love to have my escape from the busy and stressful city life for a few days. I have heard of the Butchart Gardens and the high-tea at Fairmont Empress before I really took the visit. Hesitating between Fairmont Empress and this lovely Delta hotel, I chose the latter-which turned out to be a surprise during this trip.

【Shopping Deals】Club Monaco Two Items 20% off

Shopping

牧羊博士 June 09, 2017 0

Club Monaco now has its promotion here: if you purchase two items online or in-store, you will have an extra 20% off. This is a very good promotion because there is no limitation on what to buy.

On top of that, if you go to Club Monaco online store through Great Canadian Rebates (GCR), you will have 3.25% cash back:

And of course, if you are new to GCR, you can use our referral link to register: http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/203630/
Just remember to copy and paste our email as your referee: qingyangliurick@gmail.com. You will get 2.5 dollars of sign-up bonus, and so will we, thanks very much for using our refer to sign up.

【Hilton】Bonus Miles or Points for Stay in Canada

Hilton

牧羊博士 June 08, 2017 0

Earn 1,500 Bonus Points & an additional bonus with your preferred airline or rail partner for every night you stay.

Promotion Link: Click to be redirected.

Earn 1,000 Kilometers per night with the following partners:AeroMexico
LATAM Airlines

Earn 500 Miles per night with the following partners:
Delta Air Lines®
Aeroplan/Air Canada
Alaska Airlines
Amtrak†
United Airlines
American Airlines

Earn 50 Air Miles per night with the following partner:AIR MILES Canada

【Hotel Review】Loews Hotel Vogue: Luxury Choice in Montreal

Hotel Review

牧羊博士 June 07, 2017 0

This hotel has been on the Top 10 list of the best luxury hotels in Montreal for quite a while with affordable price. If you want to stay luxury on a tight budget, Loews will not let you down.

(Photo from Internet)

【Hotel Review】Calgary Marriott Downtown Hotel

Marriott

牧羊博士 June 06, 2017 0

Introduction

Marriott has redesigned and renovated many of its hotels since last year, and Calgary Marriott Downtown is a great example. This hotel is located in the heart of the city: right across the Calgary tower and by the Stephen Avenue, you are literally within walking distance to many great restaurants, shopping centers. And if you are lucky enough, there would be some parades near that area on weekends if a major event is held.

You can find a list of redesigned Marriott Hotels here.

FREE Coffee is Within Touch: How to Share Your Offers On Drop

Offer

牧羊博士 June 06, 2017 0

There are lots of to say about this unique and amazing app: it's totally free for registration, and can help you accumulate points with your everyday purchase by just a few steps. More details on how this app works can be found here.

SPG Buy or Gift Points Promotion: 35% off of up to 30,000 Points

SPG

牧羊博士 June 01, 2017 0

For those who travel a lot on your own expenses, this promotion is worth your consideration: between June 1st and June 30th, you will be entitled 35% off on your purchase of Starwood Points (up o 30,000 points per account).

For the promotion, simply go to this link and login in your account.

Alternatively, you can apply for Amex SPG credit cards (personal & business version) to earn 20,000 welcome bonus each.

【Drop Deal】Save Extra 2 Dollars On Amazon

Drop

牧羊博士 May 30, 2017 0

I have previously mentioned Drop, an app that can help you accumulate points to redeem many free stuff through spending on your linked cards.

There is a deal recently that may be of interest to many of you: Spend 50 dollars on Amazon and get 2000 extra points, that's equal to a 4% cash back!

If you haven't used Drop yet, you can download it using our link to get a 1,000 sign-up bonus (worth 1 dollar): https://b.ewd.io/custom-code?c=phdguy

Alternatively you can enter the refer code: phdguy

If you don't see this offer on your Drop, try this link:http://b.ewd.io/agtq/UksjSgAbAD

Hyatt Gift Cards 23% off at CardCash (One Day ONLY)

Offer

牧羊博士 May 30, 2017 0

If you have plans to put your future stays with Hyatt, you definitely should go for this deal: for today only, you have have 23% off purchasing Hyatt gift cards at CardCash.

Purchase Link: Click Here.

16 Billion Dollars of Loyalty Program Points Unused in North America

牧羊博士 May 25, 2017 0

I read this article on Money Sense today (read news first), and according to my personal experience, it is very true that lots of Canadians don't bother use their points.

Save an Extra 8% with Swagbucks When You Book Marriott Hotels

Swagbucks

牧羊博士 May 23, 2017 0

There are lots of cashback websites out there with which we can save a lot of money making purchases online. From my personal perspective, Swagbucks is one of the best when you want to make reservations with Marriott, and there is a trick here you can make use of:

If you are using Google Chrome, search "Swagbucks" and you will find SwagButton in the results. Simply install it and log into your Swagbucks account. Next time when you are on Marriott.com official website, you will be reminded to activate Swagbucks for extra cashback-and that has been at 8% !

If you don't have Swagbucks account, you can register using our referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=21979409 You will get extra 500 Swagbucks (worth of 5 dollars) as a sign up bonus, and so will we.

Last Day to Register: Save up to 5 Dollars or Earn 50 Air Miles with Shell

Offer

Unknown May 23, 2017 0

This is a limited-time offer by Airmiles and Shell：send a text message SHELL to 111222, and reply accordingly to choose your offer. You will be asked to provide your Airmiles collector number.

Check the promotion link for more details.

Marriott Q2 MegaBonus is Here!

Offer

牧羊博士 May 16, 2017 0

After the long wait, Marriott has launched their 2017 Q2 MegaBonus Promotion here, and you have the chance to earn an additional of 4,000 points for your stay.

More details are enclosed below.

Register Now.

Updates on AC Oversale Issue

news

牧羊博士 May 15, 2017 0

There are a few things to clarify:

1. I asked for compensation at YWG when I had my changed flight. I did not feel like taking the red-eye flight so paid the hotel myself, and I did not ask to be compensated for that.

2. Some people (or competitors? who also run a blog) post my link on the website indicating I am trying to "self promote my website through this experience", which sounds really ridiculous: if I need to promote my website, why didn't I go to the forum and post this myself? And what is the point of leading "fire" to my personal website here?

3. News coverage is focused on attracting readers' eyes. I did not write out the story and try to make "emotional thing" the leading angle there. If you read my post, I am calm and recapping the facts here.

Buy Alaska Miles, Get up to 50% Bonus

Offer

牧羊博士 May 15, 2017 0

This is the best deal ever to buy Alaska Miles:

10,000 – 19,000 = 20% bonus

20,000 – 39,000 = 35% bonus

40,000 – 60,000 = 50% bonus

Note that the deadline is July 1, 2017.

The purchase link: https://storefront.points.com/mileage-plan/en-US/buy

Air Canada Being Arrogant about Denying Boarding

exclusive

牧羊博士 May 14, 2017 0

CBC has the exclusive news on my experience here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/air-canada-passenger-bumped-wants-compensation-1.4114718

I have reported the "overbooking" story of United Airline on my Simplified Chinese version of website before, but have never thought of that I would personally encounter overbooking myself. Here is a brief recap of what I have witnessed and experienced myself:

My girl friend and I were supposed to take the Air Canada (AC8297) from Winnipeg to Saskatoon on May 13, 2017. We were at the airport an hour or so before departure time: and it proved to be plenty of time ahead given the fact that YWG was not busy at all on Saturday morning. When we were checking in, I was told that since I used United Airline Silver Status, they need to clear my identity before giving me the boarding pass. So I waited for around 20 minutes until they finally managed to get the phone call through and "clear my identity".

Ebates.ca 15% Cash Back on Selected Retailers !

Offer

牧羊博士 May 11, 2017 0

This is probably the biggest saving day since 2017 from Ebates here, and if you sign up your account now through our referral link, you will be entitled another 5 dollar cash back as a welcome bonus!

Ebates is one of the oldest and most popular cashback website in North America, and has its specific site for Canada as ebates.ca.

If you like to shop online, Ebates is definitely a good choice to boost your savings. The cash back you earned will be issued by ebates on a quarter basis, and you can choose either Cheque or paypal as a payment method.

New and Big Changes to Air Canada Frequent Flyer Program

news

牧羊博士 May 11, 2017 0

Many people may be confused by the relationship between Aeroplan and Air Canada, but now it seems that this confusion will be cleared in the near future: since 2020, Air Canada will end its contract with Aimia, which has operated Aeroplan for a decade.

Official announcement: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/frequent-flyer/home.html

The Ph.D guy thinks that this will not only bring about major changes to Air Canada, but also exert influence on credit card points system, especially American Express. As we know, Membership Reward Points can be converted to Aeroplan miles by 1:1, but what will happen since 2010? Let's wait and see.

CIBC Smart Account Offer is Back: It is the Time to Enroll!

Offer

牧羊博士 May 08, 2017 0

It doesn't seem difficult to meet the eligibility of this new account offer with CIBC:

Terms and conditions can be found here: https://www.cibc.com/content/dam/personal_banking/bank_accounts/pdfs/cibc-smart-account-offer-terms-and-conditions-may-to-jun2017-en.pdf

Maximize Your Amex Platinum Card: Fairmont Benefits

Guide

牧羊博士 May 07, 2017 0

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has been merged with Le Club Accor Hotels and provides status match since late last year. But no public link pages were found for the status match: members can only match their accounts by registering through invitation emails.

Now the good news is that these invitation emails are back: check you inbox to find out the email and follow the steps, your status with another program is within reach.

Once you match your status, you can see this:

In Canada, if you have the Platinum card with American Express, you can make use of their Fairmont benefits: if you charge five nights in a calendar year using your Platinum card, you will be upgraded to platinum status with Fairmont. Be aware that you have to contact Amex for the enrollment of this offer and reaffirm with Fairmont customer service once you have five nights.

Although the annual fee for the Platinum card is 699 CAD per year, the accompanying benefits and privileges are well worth it. Take Fairmont as an example: if you get upgraded into platinum status, you will have a free night certificate (at least 300 CAD value, I used it at Fairmont Peace Hotel this year), two suite upgrade certificates, four room upgrade certificates and 100 USD dining and SPA credit. And you will get welcome gifts upon check-in.

Fairmont Peach Hotel in Shanghai, China

You can apply for this card using our referral link here, and have the chance to get 60,000 membership points (instead of 40,000 points with non-referral links)if you spend 3000 dollars in the first three months: apply now. You can also apply for the Business version of this card, which has a lower annual fee of 399 CAD: apply now.

Ebay.ca: Sephora Gift Card 50 for 45, and Some Additional Tips

Offer

牧羊博士 May 05, 2017 0

Mother's day is around the corner, and have you figured out what to put into your gift cart? Good news is that on Ebay.ca Sephora gift card is now on sale:

Here are a few tips for the purchase：

1. If you have never hear of Great Canadian Rebates (GCR), we strongly recommend you register an account with them:

You may use our referral link and fill in our email to get a 2.5 CAD bonus when signing up:

https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/register/203630/

(‘I was referred by’ qingyangliurick@gmail.com)

2. On GCR, you can find their Ebay.ca portal here:

https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/register.php?r=203630&p=eBay.ca-Bid

3. By clicking on the link in step two from GCR, you will be redirected to ebay.ca, and every purchase you make will earn you extra cash back (and that's GCR's job).

4. Unfortunately, the gift card you purchased can only be redeemed in store.

Terms and conditions:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/50-Sephora-Gift-Card-for-45-/192176793716

If you are a regular customer to Sephora and do a lot of online shopping, we recommend you sign up with Topcashback：Sign Up Here, Topcashback usually has a 5% cashback with Sephora, and at least 10 USD for signing up with our link.

Make 3 Purchases Using Your TD Aeroplan Visa Card with Apple Pay to Win 1000 Aeroplan Miles

Offer

牧羊博士 May 03, 2017 0

This is definitely an easy way to boost your aeroplan miles: 1000 aeroplan miles is worth around 15 dollars, and if you buy coffee three times, they are actually on the house considering the miles you could earn:

Click to view the details of this promotion

Use Offers at 5 Partners to Get 1250 Bonus Miles

Offer

牧羊博士 May 02, 2017 0

This offer is valid between May 1 and May 31, 2017.
Click here for Details. The detailed available offers may vary across different provinces.

Exclusive News: Apple Watch Offer Starts Tomorrow for Banking with RBC

Offer

牧羊博士 May 02, 2017 0

We have the exclusive news that form tomorrow, if you open a new account with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and meet the certain requirements, you will be able to get a free Apple Watch (Series1).

The official terms&conditions regarding this offer:

Beginner's Guide to Canadian Credit Cards: Basics You Should Know

Guide

牧羊博士 May 01, 2017 0

As beginners to the world of credit cards, we must grasp the basic principle of using credit cards: to maximize our spending and privileges in the most secure way. We must realize that, using credit cards wherever and whenever you need to make payments should be a routine for you.

Credit cards payments are gradually taking over debit card and cash payments (https://www.payments.ca/sites/default/files/cpmt_report_english_0.pdf)

There are lots of benefits if you use your credit cards, and here are some of the major ones:

1. Easy way to build up your credit rating.

Every Canadian resident has his or her own credit profile kept by the credit bureaus (i.e., Trans Union and Equifax). Using credit cards and paying off the bills on time can help you build up a solid credit-rating, which will benefit you a lot if you are leasing a car or having some bank loans.

2. Sign-up bonuses = free money.

Many of the issuing credit cards in Canada have the so called "sign-up bonus": a welcome incentive for the approval (and usually achieving the spending requirements) of a certain credit cards. Those welcome bonuses usually come in the form of points or frequent flyer miles. If you know well about how to maximize the points value, you will find it easy to use the sign-up bonus to cover lots of your travel-related fees.

3. Great package of insurance and protection.

Credit cards have "zero liability" which means all of your transactions must be authorized by you to be validated. You don't have to worry about fraud purchase using your credit card information because you can always claim it by just making a phone call.

There are also different types of insurance coverage depending on which card you get, including the awesome travel insurance benefits and retail coverage.

4. Easy access to lots of privileges

You may be envy of those upscale people who walk in and out of the guest lounges in the airports and always have the priority check-in and reserve the business class seats. These may not be so difficult if you can make the most of your credit cards: some the high-end credit cards can offer you free access to those lounges, faster way to redeem your business class flight with ease, and instant upgrade to high tier membership tiers with lots of hotel loyalty programs. If you travel a lot each year, those FREE privileges can win you a huge deal!

5. Universal acceptance and much greater spending power.

Lots of debit cards are not accepted if you are travelling abroad: does it mean you have to carry lots of cash with you? No, you just need your credit cards to deal with this.

The spending power of credit cards is much higher than that of debit cards: you can boost your credit limit if you keep good records paying off your statement balance. You don't have to worry about transferring money from your savings account to your chequing account before large purchases.

6. Much better rewards.

Whether it is a cash back card or a points card, credit card can help you accumulate your rewards: you can usually have at least 2% return on your purchases if you know how to choose which card to pay.

Earn 15 USD Worth of Sign-Up Bonus for TopCashBack: Now It Is the Time!

Enrollment

牧羊博士 April 27, 2017 0

If you a fan of online shopping, you definitely should be aware of the concept here: Cashback Website. These websites have their affiliate links for the online merchants and can track your order if you use their links to visit those merchants' websites for your shopping. As a reward, they will pay you part of the commission they earned from those merchants.

TopCashBack was originally created in the UK,but now it also has the website for the north America (Canada&USA). Now you will get 10 USD plus 5 USD Amazon.com gift card credit if you sign up with our referral link (this sign-up promotion varies from time to time, be sure to double check on what you will get):

Register Now

Earn 50 dollars and at least 2.4% interest rate with Tangerine!

Enrollment

牧羊博士 April 25, 2017 0

If you want to put some money into savings account, you will be shocked by the low rate provided by the five banks: take TD as an example, the best deal you could possibly get is a 2.25% interest rate, and this lasts for a limited time only:

However, if you take a look at Tangerine, which may not be as competitive in other aspects (such as number of branches, the choice of credit cards, etc), it actually offers you at least 2.4% interest rate:

If you open both savings and chequing accounts with Tangerine, you will get $50 welcome bonus (you can use our referral code: 47651893S1 in order to get $50) with just at least $100 of initial deposit (into either account), and by April 28, you can get a chance to get another $75 if you set your payroll with Tangerine.

Plus, Tangerine has some awesome benefits that you may like:

1. Complimentary 50 pages of cheque for each account holder.

2. Free Email money transfer.

3. No service charge and daily fees.

Tangerine actually has close relationship with Scotia Bank and aims at offering low fee service. They don't have a lot (actually just a few) branches, so that they don't pay a lot to the employers...

NEW page initiated with GOOD Credit Cards

牧羊博士 April 24, 2017 0

A NEW page has been added to the website: you can select "Credit Cards" now to browse the best credit cards from each bank in Canada, and get a glimpse of the card benefits, features, and latest offers in a few minutes!

Don't hesitate to leave any comments if you feel like: Click here to be redirected.

Unlock the Secrets of Saving Money on Starbucks

Guide

牧羊博士 April 20, 2017 0

Recently, the limited-time drink Unicorn Frappucino has become a must-have for Starbucks fans. For those who think that Starbucks are too expensive comparing to Tim Horton's, I have something here that want to share with you, and guarantee you can make it even cheaper and affordable.

As a gold member since 2014, I witnessed the changes to the Starbucks loyalty program: in the past, you can redeem free drinks based on how many drinks you have paid for; now, it really depends on how much you paid for. This is definitely a bad news: you can have 12 dark roast to get a free Venti Fracppucino in the past, but probably nothing as of now.

However, there are a few ways that we can boost our rewards:

1. I found this app half an year ago: Drop. And the nice thing is, once you link your credit cards that you use for daily purchases, you can accumulate extra points, which means an extra 1% cashback on your Starbucks purchases. For a limited time only, once you register and use our promo code 1mqwn, you will get 2000 sign up bonus points (worth of 2CAD). For more information, click here．

2. If you are with Virgin for your cell phone plan, you will have a chance to use 10 CAD for a 15 CAD credit each month. That means you have an extra 30% off towards your purchase.

3. From time to time, Paypal has some offers for Starbucks as well, and it is unsurprising to expect some extra bonus if you purchase Starbucks gift cards. Moreover, Imessage now has some awesome deals with Starbucks to make this even more appealing. Just stay tuned for your Paypal email alerts， we will also post those good deals.

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