hotel

Aeroplan is once again running a points transfer promotion from many of the popular hotel loyalty programs, providing up to 5000 bonus miles. When transferring enough hotel points to receive 5000 Aeroplan miles you will receive a 1000 mile bonus. A transfer equalling 10000 Aeroplan miles, you will receive 2000 bonus miles. Transfer 25000 miles or more, and receive a 5000 mile bonus.

Available hotel programs to transfer from and their conversion rates, cover most of the major popular loyalty programs, including:

- Starwood Preferred Guest (1:1)
- Best Western Rewards (5:1)
- Marriott Rewards (10000:2000)
- Hilton Honours (10000:1000)
- Priority Club Rewards (10000:2000)
- Accor A|Club (up to 2:1)
- Club Carlson
- Choice Privileges (5:1)
- Coast Rewards (1:1)
- Hyatt Gold Passport (2.5:1)
- Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Wyndham Rewards (2.5:1)

Just remember, that the bonus is based on how many Aeroplan Miles your transfer will net, not the number of hotel points you have to transfer. And why would you do this? The only time I would make a conversion is if I absolutely needed the miles for an Aeroplan Reward Redemption, or had some points in a hotel program that were going to expire, or didn't have enough for a redemption.

• Darren Mak's blog

I have been anxiously checking the Priority Club PointBreaks page every day in hopes that new offers would be posted before my next few trips, where I am wanting to travel as cheaply as possible. Today the offers were updated!

Priority Club is the loyalty program for InterContinental Hotels Group which most people know more by some of the hotel brands in their portfolio, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Indigo, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels (IC) and others.

PointBreaks are the opportunity to redeem loyalty points to book a room for only 5000 points a night, regardless of brand or location. For the less expensive hotels like Holiday Inn Express, this is a point reduction from 10,000 points per night or 50% off all the way up to a discount of 35,000 points or a 87.5% discount for the most costly InterContinental Hotels, with the other brands landing somewhere in the middle. No matter where you book it is a fantastic deal, as Priority Club Points are pretty quick to earn when they have points promotions running (which is nearly always).

Last time around, I booked a Holiday Inn in Zurich Switzerland, and this time a Holiday Inn Express in Houston Texas. I may be booking a few more in the next few hours! Hurry and make your bookings, because most hotels have a limited number of rooms available at the PointBreaks rates.

Some Notable Hotels Available

• Darren Mak's blog