Rewards Points In Canada: Everything You Need To Know About The Major Loyalty Programs

Retailers love rewards points programs. Not only do they get you coming back again and again, but they give retailers the opportunity to build detailed profiles of their customers, with the ultimate goal of getting you to buy more.

But for shoppers, if used correctly, they are an opportunity to take a small bite out of the cost of living.

So which loyalty programs are right for you? That’s actually sort of obvious: They’re the ones at the stores where you spend the most money. 

Watch: All the Canadian stores that closed this year. Story continues below.

“If you’re a movie lover, you should be collecting Scene points. If you shop from Air Miles partner stores, it’s worth becoming an Air Miles member,” says Kayla Shaw, senior business unit manager, credit cards, at Ratehub.ca .

“The program should always align with your spending habits – you shouldn’t be overspending to get rewards.”

There is also the the possibility that rewards points will expire, a seemingly perennial risk for loyalty program customers. “You should make plans for your points, not hoard them,” Shaw wrote in an email to HuffPost Canada. 

Ratehub put together an infographic of the country’s various major loyalty programs, including a new arrival on the scene this year, Marriott Bonvoy. Also below is a rundown of some of the recent changes to Canada’s most popular programs.

Here’s a rundown of the most recent changes to popular loyalty programs, provided to HuffPost Canada by Ratehub.

• Air Canada acquired Aeroplan in January of this year. The Aeroplan program will be rolled into Air Canada’s new loyalty program in 2020. While they’ve confirmed that Aeroplan miles will be honoured on a one-to-one basis in the new program, no other information has been made available in regards to mile values.
• SCENE updated their program in April of this year. The updates were specific to earn and redeem rates. The changes impacted redemption values for those who carried a points balance, but moving forward members continue to earn a free movie for every 10 that they see with the program.
• Marriott Bonvoy launched in February of this year – merging the Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz Carlton Rewards programs. One of the more positive changes is that members now have access to even more hotels.