Jan 7, 2018, 10:23 am
Last edit by: MasterGeek
Referrals and self-referrals are an important part of maximizing rewards from Canadian-issued American Express cards. It is appropriate to discuss how the referral process works in this thread. However, please do not offer or request referrals here. Use only this thread and do read the Wikipost carefully before posting: Referral Offers (post only in this thread, no referral links, read Wiki post first).
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2017). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2018.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year,FYF, 40K MR (by referral, else only 30K) after $5000 spending
(no longer FYF as of Jun 26, 2018)
Updated as of Jan 22, 2018
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year,FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2017). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2018.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year,
(no longer FYF as of Jun 26, 2018)
Updated as of Jan 22, 2018
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year,
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
- Jan 22, 2018, as of Sep 14, 2017 the Amex Gold MR is no longer FYF. $150/yr applies on first statement. Only another Gold or Cobalt card can refer to Gold (and vice versa) for a 5,000 MR bonus. The Personal Gold cannot refer to Business Gold, Personal Platinum nor Business Platinum.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
- Earn 2,500 Membership Tiered Rewards points for each month where you spend $500 (up to 30,000/year).
- Limited Time Offer: Apply by Jan 30, 2018 and you can earn a Welcome Bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3K in 3 months.
- See discussion thread for more details: 2017 American Express Cobalt (Canada)
American Express Canada application and reward strategies
Apr 18, 2018, 9:31 pm
#226
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Also for those who have AMEX Platinum. This is the time to get a status match to SPG Gold and link it to Mariott's Gold (much more valuable). Then the new merged program happen in August and you will automatically get SPG/Marriott Platinum status for the remaining of the year. This was confirmed with some VP of the SPG loyalty program from UK on the Starwood Forum.
Apr 19, 2018, 12:47 am
#227
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,519
I was commenting on the Mar 3rd event, when Amex changed the wording in the Business Platinum's referral, and this was creating plenty of speculation by some (
) that there would be a lowered referring bonus for the card. This prompted many people to ramp up their referring or self-referring, to the easy target Business Gold card. Why? Because it was (still is) FYF and so wouldn't 'cost' anything, even though they'd then be faced with the longtime requirement of $5K spending for 40K welcome points. But, even if people didn't think they could do the $5K spending they were going after the easy 25K referring bonus on an approved application, regardless of whether or not they even activated the new card to try and earn the 40K bonus.
) that there would be a lowered referring bonus for the card. This prompted many people to ramp up their referring or self-referring, to the easy target Business Gold card. Why? Because it was (still is) FYF and so wouldn't 'cost' anything, even though they'd then be faced with the longtime requirement of $5K spending for 40K welcome points. But, even if people didn't think they could do the $5K spending they were going after the easy 25K referring bonus on an approved application, regardless of whether or not they even activated the new card to try and earn the 40K bonus.
Apr 19, 2018, 1:35 am
#228
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,398
This is getting confusing. I was told that Marriott Gold would get Marriott Platinum from Aug to end of the year, but NOT if the Gold status was through a status match from attaining Gold from the Amex Platinum cards. I don't know what to believe, but I guess the dust will settle and we'll all know soon enough.
very conflicting, I wouldn't feel confident calling it one way or the other, especially as different people with different associations/roles at marriott keep saying different things from one day to the other...
Apr 19, 2018, 5:48 am
#229
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
This is getting confusing. I was told that Marriott Gold would get Marriott Platinum from Aug to end of the year, but NOT if the Gold status was through a status match from attaining Gold from the Amex Platinum cards. I don't know what to believe, but I guess the dust will settle and we'll all know soon enough.
Youre certainly not not the only one confused, JJJ. It’s been chaos and pandemonium down here in the lower 48 all week. Conflicting reports about status abound, but the prevailing view is that as long as your Marriott status has you listed as Gold on aug. 1, you’ll get bumped to Plat till the end of feb. 2019, with lounge access and brekky.
That creates an exciting window of opportunity for all of us hackers. B/w aug and early 2019, we can book and stay at high end, lux properties and resorts—esp in the Ritz/SPG group—for waaaay less points than now—plus get lounge access/breakfast! So amp up your travel plans, and get ready to burn your remaining Aeros: the end of this year is gonna be fun!
thats why I’ve been dumping hundreds of thousands of MR points into SPG for the past few months—and will keep on up until SPG stops in August.
Apr 19, 2018, 7:12 am
#230
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
What am I missing here? Why will it be way less points? I'll admit that I haven't been following this too closely, but I didn't see anything about this.
Apr 19, 2018, 8:48 am
#231
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
Narrow window for great redemptions.
Apr 19, 2018, 9:03 am
#232
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
b/c on aug 1, all ritz and spg properties will be merged into the Marriott category system, even the uber-lux properties that currently charge a ton of points. Since Marriott properties max out at 60K ppn, this will be awesome, until early 2019 when they revise their charts for peak and off-peak pricing, maxing out at 100K ppn. Plus, you should be able to book those up to a year in advance, even speculatively. But your Marriott Gold/Plat bennies from the Amex Plat card will go away in 02/19.
Narrow window for great redemptions.
Apr 19, 2018, 9:38 am
#233
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YVR
Posts: 625
Youre certainly not not the only one confused, JJJ. It’s been chaos and pandemonium down here in the lower 48 all week. Conflicting reports about status abound, but the prevailing view is that as long as your Marriott status has you listed as Gold on aug. 1, you’ll get bumped to Plat till the end of feb. 2019, with lounge access and brekky.
That creates an exciting window of opportunity for all of us hackers. B/w aug and early 2019, we can book and stay at high end, lux properties and resorts—esp in the Ritz/SPG group—for waaaay less points than now—plus get lounge access/breakfast! So amp up your travel plans, and get ready to burn your remaining Aeros: the end of this year is gonna be fun!
thats why I’ve been dumping hundreds of thousands of MR points into SPG for the past few months—and will keep on up until SPG stops in August.
- "Breakfast is being expanded to Courtyards and to resorts, and the only brands that won’t offer free breakfast are EDITION, Gaylord, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Executive Apartments, and Marriott Vacation Club".
Apr 19, 2018, 3:28 pm
#234
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Hi JJJ, just thought to say thanks to this post, I was reminded that Biz Gold is still FYF. Also, I noticed they added supp card FYF too, which I don't recalled they used do that. Will applied it for my wife later this week. It will be 1st time for her, hence no risk of not getting the welcome points. It will setup well later this year once I decided if I will get the Biz Plat or the Personal Plat for myself. Thanks again.
Like you, I remember when the Business Gold supplementary cards were NOT free, but that was 3 or 4 churns ago, so the exact time of when Amex made it FYF is lost in my faded past. For me, adding my wife (and vice versa) as an additional cardholder was often helpful to facilitate the chore of getting our $5K spending done.
If opening as a new card, I find it difficult now to justify applying for the Business Platinum over the Personal Platinum card. They have the same lounge privileges now, as of Feb 14, 2018. But, the annual fee increased from $399 to $499/yr, as well as the minimum spending requirement was bumped up from $5K to $7K. Whereas it's (still) only $3K for the Personal Platinum's minimum spend.
The Personal Platinum card is $699/yr comes with the annual travel credit of $200, so it makes the effective annual fee the same at $499, And, if you can get the second $200 calendar year's travel credit to stick, the AF comes down to $299.
One scenario that might favour the Business Platinum over the Personal Platinum is if you're NOT going to be churning this card, and plan on keeping one of these cards for the long run. In which case the Personal Platinum is basically the same $499/yr fee, but you'd have to 'work' to get that annual $200 travel credit, each and every year. Whereas with the Business Platinum it's simply $499/yr with no silly shenanigans (i.e., when you can't find a way to make reservations for actual required bookings at the Amex Travel Site).
Apr 19, 2018, 3:36 pm
#235
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Youre certainly not not the only one confused, JJJ. It’s been chaos and pandemonium down here in the lower 48 all week. Conflicting reports about status abound, but the prevailing view is that as long as your Marriott status has you listed as Gold on aug. 1, you’ll get bumped to Plat till the end of feb. 2019, with lounge access and brekky.
That creates an exciting window of opportunity for all of us hackers. B/w aug and early 2019, we can book and stay at high end, lux properties and resorts—esp in the Ritz/SPG group—for waaaay less points than now—plus get lounge access/breakfast! So amp up your travel plans, and get ready to burn your remaining Aeros: the end of this year is gonna be fun!
thats why I’ve been dumping hundreds of thousands of MR points into SPG for the past few months—and will keep on up until SPG stops in August.
That creates an exciting window of opportunity for all of us hackers. B/w aug and early 2019, we can book and stay at high end, lux properties and resorts—esp in the Ritz/SPG group—for waaaay less points than now—plus get lounge access/breakfast! So amp up your travel plans, and get ready to burn your remaining Aeros: the end of this year is gonna be fun!
thats why I’ve been dumping hundreds of thousands of MR points into SPG for the past few months—and will keep on up until SPG stops in August.
I know all this talk lately about Marriott in this Amex thread might seem off-topic but as it's directly tied to an Amex Platinum card's current benefits, it's still on-topic. Thanks to those who are bringing Marriott news back to this thread that relates and informs. ^
Apr 19, 2018, 3:55 pm
#236
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,398
FWIW I just got this email that basically says nothing:
"Starting in August, SPG®*, Marriott Rewards®* and Ritz-Carlton Rewards®* will come together as one powerful program. And as a Starwood Preferred Guest®* Credit Card from American Express Cardmember and loyalty program member, you will have the exciting opportunity to take advantage of easier access than ever before. In the meantime, rest assured that we will be providing you with more information soon."
"Starting in August, SPG®*, Marriott Rewards®* and Ritz-Carlton Rewards®* will come together as one powerful program. And as a Starwood Preferred Guest®* Credit Card from American Express Cardmember and loyalty program member, you will have the exciting opportunity to take advantage of easier access than ever before. In the meantime, rest assured that we will be providing you with more information soon."
Apr 19, 2018, 4:41 pm
#237
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 576
Amex Canada Plat - anyone know when the second AF hits? Is it on the 12th or 13 statement? I'm debating cancelling the card and need to know how much longer I have (included the time needed to use the $200 travel credit before the fee posts). Thanks!
Apr 19, 2018, 8:49 pm
#238
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
On the 13th statement. So if you applied in August 2017, and got your first statement Sept 2017, then your AF will post on your Sept 2018 statement date.
Apr 20, 2018, 8:34 am
#239
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere between YXU and YYZ
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium Hilton Diamond AC*75K
Posts: 618
Youre certainly not not the only one confused, JJJ. It’s been chaos and pandemonium down here in the lower 48 all week. Conflicting reports about status abound, but the prevailing view is that as long as your Marriott status has you listed as Gold on aug. 1, you’ll get bumped to Plat till the end of feb. 2019, with lounge access and brekky.
That creates an exciting window of opportunity for all of us hackers. B/w aug and early 2019, we can book and stay at high end, lux properties and resorts—esp in the Ritz/SPG group—for waaaay less points than now—plus get lounge access/breakfast! So amp up your travel plans, and get ready to burn your remaining Aeros: the end of this year is gonna be fun!
thats why I’ve been dumping hundreds of thousands of MR points into SPG for the past few months—and will keep on up until SPG stops in August.
Unless it is renewed with Marriott.
Have you heard anything about this?
I was about to do a self referral to the Business Plat from Personal Plat. My main motivation for doing so would be the close to 50K in SPG points that would be the end result after transfer.
It will take at least 3 months I assume before I see all of those points and the transfer ability could be gone by the time they show up.
If they do renew a agreement with the new Marriott, I hope it won't be 1:1 because that would be a deval. If its 2:3 then that would match the current ratio.
Apr 20, 2018, 1:23 pm
#240
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,519
We all know SPG is going away in Aug, and since it's SPG that has the transfer agreement with Amex, that will go away as well. (that is the logical assumption)
Unless it is renewed with Marriott.
Have you heard anything about this?
I was about to do a self referral to the Business Plat from Personal Plat. My main motivation for doing so would be the close to 50K in SPG points that would be the end result after transfer.
It will take at least 3 months I assume before I see all of those points and the transfer ability could be gone by the time they show up.
If they do renew a agreement with the new Marriott, I hope it won't be 1:1 because that would be a deval. If its 2:3 then that would match the current ratio.
Unless it is renewed with Marriott.
Have you heard anything about this?
I was about to do a self referral to the Business Plat from Personal Plat. My main motivation for doing so would be the close to 50K in SPG points that would be the end result after transfer.
It will take at least 3 months I assume before I see all of those points and the transfer ability could be gone by the time they show up.
If they do renew a agreement with the new Marriott, I hope it won't be 1:1 because that would be a deval. If its 2:3 then that would match the current ratio.