Much like its personal variant, the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card provides all of the same perks, just targeted at the business market. It has a similar welcome bonus and an annual Free Night Award worth up to 35,000 Bonvoy points.The cards have three key differences: the business card has a higher annual fee at $150, a higher minimum spend of $5,000 in the first three months to unlock the full bonus, and it earns 3 points per dollar spent on gas, dining, and travel expenses. These are very good earn rates across the board, and all on spending categories that many businesses will be able to expense.It’s worth noting that 3 points per dollar spent on the American Express Business Edge Card (on gas and dining) would be worth 3.6 Bonvoy points after transferring them to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1.2 ratio. Still, the Amex Bonvoy Business card has a leg up, thanks to its higher base earn rate on uncategorized spending, plus the Free Night Award which can easily offset the annual fee.

The American Express Cobalt Card earns Membership Rewards, a flexible points currency which can be transferred to the Marriott Bonvoy program.MR points convert to Bonvoy points at a rate of 1:1.2. That means that when you spend at grocery stores or restaurants for a high-powered 5x points, you’re effectively earning 6x Bonvoy points on those purchases!There have also been transfer bonuses in the past, offering bonuses of up to 30%, equivalent to a 1:1.56 transfer rate. If you choose to convert your points at this rate, you could be earning up to 7.8x Bonvoy points. That’s an incredible rate that you won’t find anywhere else for everyday purchases.You can also transfer MR points to Hilton Honors at a rate of 1:1. Rooms at Hilton hotels tend to cost more points than those in the Marriott portfolio, but this transfer might still be handy if you’ve run out of other ways to earn Hilton points.

Oddly enough, the best credit card in Canada for hotel elite status isn’t actually a hotel co-branded card. Indeed, the two Marriott Bonvoy cards only grant entry-level Silver Elite status to cardholders.Instead, the American Express Platinum Card is the cream of the crop. It gives automatic Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status and Hilton Honors Gold status as an instant benefit upon signing up.However, it’s worth noting that these fast-tracked status matches won’t accelerate your progress towards the next level up. If you’re gunning for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite, for example, you’d still have to earn 50 nights the old-fashioned way, even if you earned Gold Elite automatically through the Platinum Card.Still, for occasional hotel stays or if you’re not especially loyal to one particular brand, mid-tier status from the Platinum Card can be quite useful. Depending on the hotel chain, you’ll see perks like late checkout, complimentary room upgrades, welcome gifts, and even free breakfast in the case of Hilton Gold status.As an added perk of the Platinum Card, you’ll also get access to the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program, which provides additional benefits at many luxury hotels around the world.These benefits include early check-in or late checkout, room upgrades, daily breakfast for two, etc., so they’re virtually on par with, if not better than, holding mid-tier elite status – even if you’re staying at an independent hotel!

The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is an incredible card for daily spending, with sky-high earn rates on groceries, dining, and entertainment, as well as strong rates on gas and transit. It's ideal for people who earn a lot of points by spending on non-travel purchases, and use those points to book hotels.The best feature of Scene+ points is how easy they are to redeem. You don’t have to book through the bank’s travel portal, or wait on hold with the call centre for hours. You can simply cash them out yourself against any travel expense on the card, at a fixed rate of 1 cent per point.Scene+ points are a great choice for independent hotels that don't participate in a loyalty program. You could also use them for flights, but there are many other ways to book flights on points at excellent value, so the Scotiabank cards are comparatively a better choice for hotels.

The TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card earns 4% back on travel bookings via Expedia for TD. This is by far the highest travel earn rate on any credit card.The card fully embraces its role as a travel card, doubling down on the points redemption side as well. To obtain the full maximum value of your rewards, you have to use them on the Expedia for TD travel portal. This makes the TD First Class a “buy travel to earn more travel” card, a unique position amongst its peers.It’s hard to cover all of your hotel stays with points and vouchers, and no matter how hard you try, most travellers will have to pay some cash out of pocket. In those cases, this is a great card for maximizing your rewards on those bookings. You can then use those points on Expedia’s wide-ranging platform to start scoring some free nights.

If you’d like to use points for hotel stays, but don’t want to pay annual fees for a credit card, consider the Scotiabank American Express Card.Like its more premium Gold counterpart, this no-fee red card earns flexible Scene+ points, which can be used for any hotel redemption. You can book via Scene+ Travel or use your points as statement credit for any travel expense.As for earning points, the card is a workhorse as far as no-fee cards go. You'll earn 3 points per dollar spent at Empire grocery stores (including Sobeys brands), 2 points per dollar spent on other lifestyle categories, and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else.

The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card is one of the only credit cards in Canada that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. This makes it an excellent choice for your day-to-day spending abroad.That includes any travel arrangements you need to pay for. Most hotels around the world charge in the local currency, so you'd be dinged a surcharge on the exchange when settling your hotel bill with a different Canadian credit card.Plus, this card earns Scene+ points on all purchases, including those denominated in foreign currencies, which you can use to offset the cost of your trip.

A handful of travel credit cards offer protection in the event that your hotel room is burglarized. As long as there are signs of forced entry, the value of your damaged and stolen possessions (with some exceptions) is insured up to a specified maximum.When comparing hotel burglary policies, it all comes down to which cards cover you for the highest losses. Also, for coverage to kick in, you have to pay for the hotel room in full with the credit card or its rewards program, so ideally you’d want to use a card whose rewards you’d use for a hotel stay.A few top-tier credit cards offer coverage up to losses of $2,500, but the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card stands above the rest for two reasons.First, the card gives you a $200 annual travel credit. This reduces your annual fee to a net cost of $299, half the price of the premium Aeroplan cards that offer the same hotel insurance. Also, you can use the travel credit by booking a hotel through CIBC Rewards, and the card’s hotel insurance would subsequently cover your stay.Second, Aventura points are low in the pecking order when it comes to flight rewards. It’s easy enough to get your airfare covered by other programs, but hotel points are harder to come by. Since it’s a bit tricky to find outsized value with CIBC Rewards, you may as well focus on hotels with them – a fixed-value program for a fixed-value booking.The RBC Avion Visa Infinite generously offers the same coverage of up to $2,500 but with a much lower annual fee of only $120, and a lower income requirement. However, your credit card insurance won’t cover bookings made with Hotels.com gift cards, a popular way to use Avion points for hotels.Since Avion points are more valuable for discounted gift cards or business class flights, it’s better not to rely on their credit cards for hotel insurance unless you’re paying the cash rate.