Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards for 2012

Canada's Choice - Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards for 2012

Posted November 7, 2012

We asked and you responded! What a turn out this year for the Canada's Choice portion of Rewards Canada's Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Card feature! Back in June, the Rewards Canada picks were released and then from September 17th to October 17th I asked you, the Canadian public to vote for your favourite cards. We had over 3,364 votes for this year's Canada's Choice, which is a huge improvement over last year's 743 votes!

Related: Rewards Canada's Picks for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards 2012

The large turn out changed the rankings of a few cards from last year but ultimately the results were once again dominated by American Express and Aeroplan. Cards from the American Express suite of offerings took 4 out of the 5 categories and Aeroplan taking the airline category once again. The only difference this time in the airline category is that it was the Aeroplan mile earning CIBC Aerogold Infinite Visa card nudging out the American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum card!

As is always seen we break down the large contingent of over 70 travel rewards credit cards in Canada into five main categories:
1. Top Travel Points Credit Card (with annual fee)
2. Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)
3. Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card (with annual fee)
4. Top Airline Credit Card
5. Top Hotel Points Credit Card

It is interesting to see how these rankings compare to Rewards Canada's. The power of large coalition programs (Air Miles and Aeroplan) and social media presence (American Express) definitely affected the outcome of the rankings as people voted for the cards they have in their wallet even if there may be other cards that are better. But as I always state on Rewards Canada and despite my rankings each year, the best credit card out there is the one that is best for you individually whether or not others look better on paper or if more people voted for another card.

Care to comment on what Canada chose as the best travel rewards credit cards? Want to voice your opinion on the good and the bad of all the Travel Rewards Credit Cards in Canada. Share you views and experiences on our accompanying Blog post or on Facebook and Twitter for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards 2012!

You can find each individual card's 2011 ranking in parentheses.

Share Canada's Choice with your friends!

Canada's Choice for Travel Points Credit Card (with annual fee)

1. American Express Air Miles Platinum Card (1)
2. TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
3. Capital One® Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard® (2)
4. BMO Gold Air Miles MasterCard (5)
5. RBC Signature Rewards Visa Card
6. BMO World Elite MasterCard (8)
7. TD Platinum Travel Visa Card
8. TD Classic Travel Visa Card (6)
9. National Bank of Canada Platinum MasterCard
10. Desjardins Odyssey Gold Visa

Click here to view all the Travel Points Credit Cards (with annual fee) that were considered

Canada's Choice for Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)

1. American Express Air Miles Credit Card (1)
2. RBC Rewards Visa Gold (4)
3. BMO Air Miles MasterCard (5)
4. American Express Blue Sky Credit Card (2)
5. Capital One® Aspire Travel™ Platinum MasterCard® (3)
6. MBNA Rewards MasterCard (7)
7. HSBC Premier MasterCard (6)
8. Capital One® Fusion™ Platinum MasterCard®
9. Desjardins Classic Visa
9. Vancity enviro Classic Visa (9)

Cllick here to view all the Travel Points Credit Cards (with no annual fee) that were considered

Canada's Choice for Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card (with annual fee)

1. American Express Gold Rewards Card (1)
2. CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card (5)
3. RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card (4)
4. The Platinum Card from American Express (2)
5. RBC Visa Platinum Avion Card (8)
6. CIBC Aventura World MasterCard (7)
7. Diners Club Club rewards MasterCard (6)
(there were only 7 cards in this category at the time of voting)

Click here to view all the Hybrid Travel Credit Cards that were considered

Canada's Choice for Top Airline Credit Card

1. CIBC Aerogold Infinite Visa Card (2)
2. American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Card (1)
3. CIBC Aerogold Visa Card (4)
4. America Express AeroplanPlus Gold Card (3)
5. WestJet RBC World MasterCard (9)
6. Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One® (6)
7. WestJet RBC MasterCard
8. RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card (9)
9. CIBC Aero Classic Visa
10. Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus MasterCard (7)

Click here to view all the Airline Credit Cards that were considered

Canada's Choice for Top Hotel Credit Card

1. The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
2. Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa
3. Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One®
4. MBNA Best Western MasterCard
5. Priority Club® Platinum MasterCard® from Capital One®
6. MBNA Chice Privileges MasterCard
(there were only 6 cards in this category at the time of voting)

Click here to view all the Hotel Points Credit Cards that were considered

Canada's Choice was brought to you by the number 9 and the letters A & M