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
Jul 20, 2018, 5:54 pm
#361
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
News on the MR -> SPG transfer rate from my platinum online account:
- As of August 4th, the current transfer option of Membership Rewards points to Starpoints will end. The new transfer option will be Membership Rewards points to “points” under the new Starwood Preferred Guest Program. The new transfer rate will be 1000 Membership Rewards points = 1200 points.
- Due to Membership Rewards website maintenance, we will not be able to facilitate points transfer requests from the Membership Rewards Program to the Starwood Preferred Guest Program from July 27 - August 9, 2018, inclusive.
Jul 20, 2018, 7:25 pm
#363
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
Jul 20, 2018, 10:25 pm
#364
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BC, Canada
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium Elite, VSE/MVC Chairman's Club
Posts: 547
Going from 1000:500 to 1000:1200 is a 20% devaluation, as that's the same as 1000:400 in current points.
Jul 23, 2018, 9:28 am
#365
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
Since website maintenance is starting on the Amex rewards site at 7pm EST on Wed the 25th - that means people should transfer by tomorrow. I wonder if they have this cutoff to make sure they can complete all the pending transfers by Aug 1?
Jul 23, 2018, 4:38 pm
#366
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: Top Tier Flyertalk Member
Posts: 687
Anyone have a good summary of how much the Marriott Packages cost?
https://onemileatatime-wpengine.netd...MR-Package.png
I'm looking at this chart, and it seems to say 270,000 Points for 7 nights + 120,000 Airline miles
https://www.pointsnerd.ca/wp-content...s-1024x295.png
5 nights package seem to be 235,000 points and 120k of airline miles.
So the difference is only 35,000 Marriott Points for 2 additional nights?
I know a lot of us find it hard to stay at the same location for 7 nights. But this works out to only < 6000 SPG each for the 6th and 7th night.
According to the first chart.
It's 200k Marriott Points for the 7 nights + 50,000 Airline
220k Marriott Points for the 70,000 Airline, and so on.
So it's only a difference of 20,000 Marriott / 6,666 SPG for additional 20,000 Airline Mileages.
Does that mean we should always go for the 120,000 airline miles pkg?
https://onemileatatime-wpengine.netd...MR-Package.png
I'm looking at this chart, and it seems to say 270,000 Points for 7 nights + 120,000 Airline miles
https://www.pointsnerd.ca/wp-content...s-1024x295.png
5 nights package seem to be 235,000 points and 120k of airline miles.
So the difference is only 35,000 Marriott Points for 2 additional nights?
I know a lot of us find it hard to stay at the same location for 7 nights. But this works out to only < 6000 SPG each for the 6th and 7th night.
According to the first chart.
It's 200k Marriott Points for the 7 nights + 50,000 Airline
220k Marriott Points for the 70,000 Airline, and so on.
So it's only a difference of 20,000 Marriott / 6,666 SPG for additional 20,000 Airline Mileages.
Does that mean we should always go for the 120,000 airline miles pkg?
Jul 23, 2018, 7:31 pm
#367
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
airline miles
Good luck getting a Marriott rep selling you a 5 night package...
Also, yeah, always go for the 120K package, or 132K United miles
Also, yeah, always go for the 120K package, or 132K United miles
Last edited by Preacher7; Jul 23, 2018 at 7:32 pm Reason: change in info
Jul 24, 2018, 4:15 pm
#368
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
So, the Cobalt will earn more Marriott points on dining, groceries than the refreshed SPG cards.
6 Marriott points per dollar spent on eating,bars,groceries, etc.. with the Cobalt vs 2 points for the SPG personal vs 3 points for the SPG Business card.
Way to go to promote the SPG card
AMEX should offer better Marriott points earning on the SPG than the Cobalt
6 Marriott points per dollar spent on eating,bars,groceries, etc.. with the Cobalt vs 2 points for the SPG personal vs 3 points for the SPG Business card.
Way to go to promote the SPG card
AMEX should offer better Marriott points earning on the SPG than the Cobalt
Jul 25, 2018, 7:53 am
#369
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: AC
Posts: 2,167
So, the Cobalt will earn more Marriott points on dining, groceries than the refreshed SPG cards.
6 Marriott points per dollar spent on eating,bars,groceries, etc.. with the Cobalt vs 2 points for the SPG personal vs 3 points for the SPG Business card.
Way to go to promote the SPG card AMEX should offer better Marriott points earning on the SPG than the Cobalt
6 Marriott points per dollar spent on eating,bars,groceries, etc.. with the Cobalt vs 2 points for the SPG personal vs 3 points for the SPG Business card.
Way to go to promote the SPG card
AMEX should offer better Marriott points earning on the SPG than the Cobalt
Jul 28, 2018, 1:58 pm
#370
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
Jul 28, 2018, 2:26 pm
#371
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canadia
Programs: A loyal Amerisuites customer... oh wait
Posts: 2,033
They are offering 5,000 bonus points now for a supplemental platinum card. I got a pop-up offer when I logged in to my personal platinum account today. Here's the link:https://www.americanexpress.com/cana...CPID=100318632
Jul 28, 2018, 9:23 pm
#373
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
I accidentally thought the re-vamped American SPG cards were the re-vamped Canadian SPG cards the other day when I was surfing around...and got all excited when I saw there were no foreign transaction fees and a $95 AF.. DOH!
Seems like this is what SPG Amex *should* be doing to stay on par with the Cobalt card though here in Canada - don't you think?!
Seems like this is what SPG Amex *should* be doing to stay on par with the Cobalt card though here in Canada - don't you think?!
Jul 29, 2018, 3:01 am
#374
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YYZ / FRA
Programs: IHG RA; Avis First
Posts: 1,444
They are offering 5,000 bonus points now for a supplemental platinum card. I got a pop-up offer when I logged in to my personal platinum account today. Here's the link:https://www.americanexpress.com/cana...CPID=100318632
$175 isn't that bad, especially if you think that you're already spending $700 (or $500 with the travel credit $200) as the primary card holder. A lot of CC company's supplementary card are usually 50%.
If you think about the benefits of the Plat supplementary card such as Lounge access, hotel programs, car rental and dining. Then it's worth it but if using it only for supplementary points then its not really worth it. You have to be able to utilize it.
That being said they also have the supplementary Gold with 2500 points for $50, which is much better bonus points per fee.
Last edited by BRAISKI; Jul 29, 2018 at 4:13 am
Jul 31, 2018, 5:12 pm
#375
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 787
I didn't get a notification, and called 2 - 3 weeks ago to confirm the transfer ration, and they told me more than once that it would not be changing after the merger. Logged in to day and saw that it was blocked...definitely not impressed, especially with today being the last day for USA to transfer MR to SPG.
Last edited by tylerc; Jul 31, 2018 at 5:20 pm