CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card Review

The CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card is a mid-level travel rewards credit card that is nearly identical to the premium CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card. The difference comes the income requirements, the Gold Card only requires $15,000 of annual income to apply for it versus the Infinite Cards $60,000 personal or $100,000 household income requirement. The trade off for the lower income requirement is relatively minor. The Gold Card does not offer Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption Insurance nor does it receive Visa Infinite benefits like concierge service.

The review of the CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card is broken down into the following sections:

Overview

The CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card is a relatively strong travel rewards credit card. It has decent accelerated point earning categories for everyday spend and if you combine those strategically with the Aventura Airline Rewards Chart you can extract some good value out of this card. It also has a great airport lounge access benefit and other notable features that keep this an very good mid-level rewards card.

Costs & Sign up Features

The CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card has an annual fee of $139 which is now considered the standard for premium cards like this one. Many competing cards also charge $139 annually however others in this same category range from $120 to $150. Additional or supplementary cards are $50 annually per card.

The standard welcome bonus on the card offers 20,000 Aventura Points however the card frequently has limited time increased welcome bonus offers.

Right now the CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card has an increased welcome bonus offer of up to 35,000 Aventura points! The bonus is awarded as 15,000 points when you make your first purchase with the card and 20,000 Aventura Points when you spend $3,000 or more in the first 4 monthly statement periods. On top of the bonus points there is a first year annual fee rebate for the primary cardholder and up to three authorized users.

The interest rate on the card is 20.99% and annual income requirements are $15,000 household.

Earning

The card earns Aventura Points as follows:

• 2 Points per dollar spent on travel purchased through the CIBC Rewards Centre†
• 2 Points per dollar spent on purchases made on Apple.ca (select products are excluded)
• 1.5 Points per dollar spent at eligible gas stations, grocery stores and drug stores†
• 1 Point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
  

Point Valuation Chart

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Rate of return when booking via the Aventura Airline Rewards Chart	Rate of return when booking any travel via CIBC Rewards	Rate of return Cash Back
CIBC Travel & Apple.ca Purchases	2	Up to 4.58%	2%	1.25%
Gas, Grocery, Drug Store	1.5	Up to 3.44%	1.5%	0.938%
All other spending	1	Up to 2.29%	1%	0.625%

Redeeming

The CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card participates in the CIBC Rewards program which provides numerous avenues of redemption. The most popular of all those options is the Aventura Airline Rewards chart. You can also redeem points for any travel you book via CIBC Rewards plus you can redeem points for any purchase you make on the card, CIBC financial products, merchandise and gift cards.

We'll start off by looking at the Aventura Airline Rewards chart which is the most popular redemption feature for this card. In basic terms this chart is just like your traditional frequent flyer program award chart. You redeem a set number of points for a flight within a specific region or from one region to another. The only difference between this chart and traditional frequent flyer programs is that CIBC does have a maximum ticket price for each award level.

Here are the number of points required per category and the maximum ticket price for each round trip ticket:

CIBC has varying amounts per category and when CIBC launched this we discussed it with them and while there isn't a set number you can expect cheaper tickets in the category to be charged at the lower points value and more expensive tickets at the higher points value. Thus if you buy a $200 short haul ticket chances are you'll be redeeming 10,000 points for it and if the ticket is $400 you'll be redeeming 20,000 points for it. In no way would ever see a $400 ticket go for 10,000 points unless CIBC is running a special promotion.

As you can see from the chart you have a range of set points requirements for the various travel regions. For example you can redeem for a short haul flight with only 10,000 to 20,000 points. The maximum ticket value for that short haul flights is $400 before taxes and fees. How many points you'll need to redeem will depend on the base ticket cost and while there isn't a set number you can expect cheaper tickets in the category to be charged at the lower points value and more expensive tickets at the higher points value. Thus if you buy a $200 short haul ticket chances are you'll be redeeming 10,000 points for it and if the ticket is $400 you'll be redeeming 20,000 points for it. In no way would ever see a $400 ticket go for 10,000 points unless CIBC is running a special promotion.

For the fees and taxes portion you can chose to just charge it to your card (basically paying cash for it) or you can choose to redeem points at a rate of 100 points to $1 towards those fees.

If the ticket you are purchasing has a base value higher than the set maximum you can still use a combination of points or points and cash to buy the ticket. Let's take the short haul example, if the base ticket price is $430 before taxes and fees you can redeem the 20,000 points to cover $400 of the ticket and the additional $30 (plus all the taxes and fees) can be paid with cash or points at that 100 points to $1 ratio.

The next travel redemption option is being able to redeem points for any travel you book via CIBC Rewards. That is you don't have to use the above chart to book flights. You can simply go online or call up CIBC Rewards travel and book flights, hotels, car rentals and other travel and simply redeem towards that travel at a rate of 100 points to $1. This is a good option for flights that may be coming in super cheap where it wouldn't make sense to use the reward chart and of course for any non-air travel requirements.

After travel you have several other redemption options via CIBC Rewards. You can choose to pay your credit card with points (Basically a cash back option) which requires 4,000 points for a $25 statement credit. This option is available as Payment with Points or Shopping with Points. The latter can only be used towards pending transactions. You can also redeem points for CIBC Financial Products such as RRSP contributions, TFSA contributions or other financial options

You can also redeem points for merchandise via CIBC Rewards' merchandise catalog or you can redeem for over 100 different gift card options.

Features and Benefits

The card comes with a good amount of features and benefits for a mid level rewards card. The primary benefit is excellent airport lounge access with four annual passes. Along with the lounge access it also has a NEXUS statement credit benefit and a decent insurance package. There are also partner benefits that are exclusive to CIBC which are outlined below.

Airport Lounge Access

The CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card provides free membership in Visa Airport Companion (powered by DragonPass). The membership provides discounted access to over 1,200 lounges worldwide.

The card also provides four (4) complimentary visits per calendar year to any of the lounges in the program. This is a rare benefit as this card is only one of three non-Infinite Privilege cards to offer free lounge passes.

NEXUS Statement Credit

Pioneered by CIBC, the NEXUS Statement credit that we now see on more cards is another benefit you'll find on the CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card. You can receive up to $50 CAD/USD in statement credits every four years when NEXUS application or renewal fees are charged to your card.

Partner Benefits

Save on gas with CIBC and Journie Rewards

Link and use your CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card with Journie Rewards to automatically save up to 10 cents per litre† at participating Pioneer, Fas Gas, Ultramar and Chevron gas stations.†

More Rewards

To earn simply use your CIBC credit or debit card and More Rewards cards to earn 2x More Rewards points at Save-On Foods, Urban Fare and PriceSmart Foods.

Insurance

The CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card comes with a very good insurance package that includes the following:

• Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (15 days under age 65, 3 days for 65+)
• Flight Delay Insurance
• Baggage Delay Insurance
• Lost or Stolen Baggage Insurance
• Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance
• Hotel Burglary Insurance
• $500,000 Travel Accident Insurance
• Purchase Security Insurance
• Extended Warranty Insurance
• Mobile Device Insurance

What is good about this card

The card has a better earn to burn ratio than the its primary competitor, the RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card. The higher earn rates seen on the CIBC card in combination with the Airline Rewards Chart make it better since you can achieve up to a 4.58% return in comparison to RBC's up to 2.33%.

The lounge access is one of the best things about the Aventura Gold Visa Card. Unlike many of this card's direct competitors and even higher end cards that only provide the annual membership, CIBC goes beyond just providing the annual membership to also include four lounge passes annually. Those passes alone are worth US$128.

The partner benefits with JOURNIE Rewards is a nice added bonus if you utilize those other reward programs.

What is not so good about this card

The amount you have to spend to be rewarded. While it may not be as bad as RBC's Avion Rewards program there are still other cards out there that earn points faster (such as 5 or 6 points per dollar) which means those other cards require less spend to get the same level of travel or cash back rewards.

The limited flexibility of the Airline Rewards Chart is another potential drawback with this card. While you can virtually book any flight, you can lose value if the price goes over the maximum ticket price. You also only have the ability to book round trip flights - the closest competitor, the RBC Avion card again, has recently added one way flight options. Then you also have the issue of taxes and fees as you can only redeem points at a 100 to $1 ratio thus eroding value again when compared to the competition.

No option to go book travel yourself and redeem points against the charge without losing value. Technically speaking you can book any travel you like outside of CIBC Rewards but then you have to redeem with the Payment with Points ratio of 4,000 points to $25. That's a big reduction in the value of your points as there are competing cards that allow you to do this with no reduction in the value of your points.

Who should get this card

• Consumers who bank at CIBC and want to keep all financial products with one bank (especially if your accounts give you a discount on your annual fee)
• Consumers who want an excellent travel rewards card but do not meet the income requirements to apply for a Visa Infinite Card or a World Elite Mastercard.
• Consumers who like having multiple redemption options with their points
• Consumers who want a card that provides airport lounge access with annual passes but are unable to apply for the higher end cards that offer the same benefit.
  

Conclusion

The CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card tends to be over shadowed by it's Visa Infinite sibling but the fact that it is almost identical makes it a hidden gem! The only difference between the cards are that trip cancellation, trip interruption insurance and the Visa Infinite benefits like concierge and the Visa Infinite Hotel program are absent on the Gold Card. Everything else is the same and I'll be honest those are not huge losses for the Gold Card. It has the same earn-burn ratios as the Visa Infinite Card, retains most of the travel insurance and offers the same airport lounge access benefits.

All in all this is a very good and well rounded travel rewards card for those Canadians who do not meet the income requirements to be able to apply for Visa Infinite cards or World Elite Mastercards.

Latest card details:

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:

• American Express Cobalt® Card
• Desjardins Odyssey Gold Visa
• RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card
• Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
  
  This review was first posted on August 28, 2023 and is updated as required.
  

Talk to us!

Tell us what you think of this feature in the comments section below or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!