Royal Bank of Canada came away as the big winner in the third annual ‘Canada Choice’ travel reward credit card study. RBC claimed top marks in three of the top five travel reward categories.
Here are the winners in each category:
Travel Points (with no annual fee): RBC Rewards Visa Gold Card
Hybrid: RBC Visa Infinite Avion
Airline: WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard
Travel Points (with annual fee): American Express Air Miles Platinum Credit Card
Hotel: The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
From September to October 2013, RewardsCanada.ca polled more than 17,000 users to find the answers as part of its third annual ‘Canada Choice’ travel reward credit card study.
Patrick Sojka, Founder and CEO of the FFB Group – which comprises (www.frequentflyerbonuses.com), (www.rewardscanada.ca), www.frequentflyerbonuses.co.uk), and (www.vielfliegerpraemien.com) – told Loyalty 360 the common traits among the top five cards as voted by the Canadian public are:
The cards all offer a great deal of flexibility when it comes to redeeming for a wide variety of rewards
Four out of five are very popular in their own right within the Canadian market and hence have a natural tendency to come out higher in the rankings
Sojka said his biggest surprise came in the Top Travel Points Credit Card with No Annual fee category because the RBC Rewards Visa Gold card “really came out of nowhere in the rankings” and “quite frankly it didn't even factor in the rankings we put out earlier in the year.”
Sojka said RBC did a “very good job” of reaching out to its membership base to have them come out and vote. He cited some of the things the winning cards do well.
The RBC Visa Infinite Avion “does really well because it is a hybrid card (travel points + the option to convert those points to several frequent flyer programs) that provides a really great value on the redemption side,” he said.
The Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express “always does well in the Hotel category based moreso on the strength of the SPG program itself,” Sojka explained.
The American Express Air Miles Platinum “has the largest Canadian Coalition program behind it with many earning and burning opportunities while the RBC WestJet cards came out ahead in the airline category as many Canadians are still confused as to what is happening in the whole Aeroplan-TD-CIBC triangle and many thought why should we vote for the CIBC Aerogold Aeroplan cards if they won’t even be in their wallets in the New Year,” he said.
Sojka said one missed opportunity for many of the cards is the Foreign Exchange transaction fee.
“Only Chase Bank Canada offers it on several cards in Canada, otherwise no other cards have it,” he said. “That being said, the revenue from the Forex Fee makes up a much larger portion of the pie than it does in the U.S. as many Canadians online shop in the U.S. and also tend to travel more outside of Canada hence more foreign transactions per capita. I also believe many cards are missing out on added travel features on their cards and they should follow in the footsteps of The Platinum Card from American Express, which offers the best travel perks out of any card in Canada.”
Sojka offered five tips from Rewards Canada for selecting the right travel reward credit card:
1. Check under the hood -- make sure you understand how the earning and redemption mechanics of the card work including expiring policies for programs that issue miles or points
2. Set a travel goal -- knowing when and where you want travel will go a long way in helping you narrow down the appropriate card
3. Hey Big Spender -- Do the math and have a realistic idea of how much spending you’ll put through your card each year
4. Pick a card and stick to it -- once you identified your card it’s critical you put all your spending through the card -- splitting you spend among several cards only delays your time to redemption
5. Fee or Free -- Most annual fee card pay for themselves with a one-week car rental when you decline the rental car company’s insurance and use the coverage from your credit card