If you’ve been in the Miles & Points space for a while, you may have been bombarded with a plethora of loyalty programs and currencies.
One question that often comes up is: are any of the bank points programs worth trying out? After all, it does require signing up for a credit card whose points value is dictated by the issuer and whose value can be modified at any point in time, and these programs are a bit different from the more traditional loyalty programs such as frequent flyer and hotel programs.
The good news is that while not all bank points programs are equal, some do provide excellent value to the savvy consumer. One of the best examples of this is the CIBC Aventura loyalty program, whose Shopping with Points program provides a great way to use Aventura points to fund your custom travel needs.
Let’s get into everything you need to know about the Shopping With Points redemption option when using your CIBC Aventura points.
What is CIBC Shopping With Points?
CIBC Shopping with Points simplifies the points redemption process by allowing you to redeem Aventura points on every single transaction that codes on Visa’s network as “travel” at a fixed rate of 8,000 Aventura points for a $80 statement credit towards your purchase. This makes the effective rate of redemption 1 cent per point (cpp).
That means whether you’re booking directly with an air carrier like Porter, a hotel chain like Hilton, going through an online travel agency such as Expedia, booking car rentals, or even pursuing some more unique merchants that code as travel, you can liquidate your CIBC Aventura points for 1 cpp.
While no minimum or maximum redemption amount is listed, the minimum amount of points redeemable seems to hover somewhere in the 8,000 Aventura points (or $100) range, as the option to redeem doesn’t even show up on CIBC’s website or app for trivial quantities.
For the Aventura whales: I will personally buy a beer for the reader who sends us at Frugal Flyer the largest screencap for a single Aventura points redemption.
Best Ways to Earn CIBC Aventura Points
CIBC offers a variety of Aventura credit cards that are appropriate for wallets of every size and income.
On the more basic end of the spectrum, there is the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card, which has an annual personal income requirement of $60,000 or a household income requirement of $100,000, and the CIBC Aventura Visa Gold card with an annual personal income requirement or household income requirement of $15,000.
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card offers benefits that include a $100 NEXUS statement credit and four annual airport lounge passes.
Check out our CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card review for more details.
35,000 Aventura
$3,000
$770+
$139 (FYF)
Yes
–
The CIBC Aventura Gold card offers benefits that include a $50 NEXUS credit and four annual airport lounge passes.
35,000 Aventura
$3,000
$770+
$139 (FYF)
Yes
–
Both of these credit cards earn 2x Aventura points on travel purchased through the CIBC Rewards Centre, 1.5x per dollar spent on gas, groceries, EV charging, and pharmacy, and 1x on everything else. They also offer four complimentary Dragonpass airport lounge passes, making them great entry-level credit cards to gain free airport lounge access.
The main difference is their insurance packages, with the Visa Infinite version having more powerful versions of the insurance coverages. The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite also offers a $100 NEXUS reimbursement, whereas the Gold version only receives a $50 NEXUS reimbursement.
Both also boast a $139 annual fee, usually waived in the first year as part of a welcome offer. While welcome offers fluctuate, both of these credit card products often come with a 35,000 to 45,000 Aventura welcome bonus, which provides an excellent kickstart to your Shopping with Points redemption journey.
On the upper end of the spectrum, there is the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege card, which was once endorsed by Edmonton Oilers legend Connor McDavid himself (I remember this because I am from Edmonton).
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege card offers benefits that include an annual $200 travel credit, $100 NEXUS credit, and six airport lounge passes.
80,000 Aventura
$25,000
$1,261+
$499
Yes
–
With an annual fee of $499 a year, this premium CIBC Aventura credit card offers 3x Aventura points on all travel purchases made via the CIBC Rewards Centre, 2x on dining, entertainment, transportation, gas, electric vehicle charging, and groceries, and 1.25x points on all other purchases.
To offset that annual fee, there’s also an annual $200 travel credit and 6 complimentary DragonPass airport lounge passes. There is also a $100 NEXUS membership reimbursement, which is well worth taking advantage of whether you are enrolling or renewing your NEXUS membership.
The card also does have a higher income requirement since it is a premium credit card, commanding an annual personal income requirement of $200,000 or a household income requirement of $200,000.
How to Redeem Aventura Points Using Shopping With Points
Once you’ve spent to your heart’s content and have a big enough CIBC Aventura points balance to redeem on an eligible travel transaction through Shopping with Points, the steps are rather simple: to start, charge something in the travel category to your Aventura-branded card.
This works best with travel services that charge you upfront, such as a third-party travel service, such as Expedia, that lets you pre-pay for hotels. The reason this is better is because when using Shopping With Points, you can only apply your Aventura points towards a purchase when the charge is still pending.
So if you’re using your Aventura credit card at a hotel and wish to use your points, make sure to apply them to the pending transaction before it posts to your account, as thereafter you won’t be able to complete a CIBC Shopping with Points redemption.
To make the Shopping with Points redemption, log into your CIBC online banking account or CIBC mobile banking app after you’ve made the charge to your card.
Once you have selected the Aventura credit card that you made the travel transaction with, your pending transaction should be visible. Click the “+” symbol, and click “Redeem With Points” to complete your redemption.
The redemption statement credit will be posted to your credit card account a few days after redeeming! It will look like this:
If you hold CIBC Aventura points on multiple credit cards in the same cardholder account, you can call CIBC Aventura customer service to combine your points balances. This makes it possible to pool all your Aventura into one transaction prior to redeeming, a handy feature that isn’t advertised but can maximize value.
Is Shopping With Points The Best CIBC Aventura Redemption?
Like most bank-issued points currencies, CIBC Aventura points can be redeemed on fixed-cost flights according to their in-house fixed price rates.
No single, easy-to-use chart is provided on CIBC’s website, making the process of memorizing the flight paths frustrating. Realistically, the best option for understanding how to use your Aventura points for flights is by playing around with the Aventura Points Flight Finder.
However, just know that there is a maximum cash ticket price for points redemptions, thus hamstringing most international trips to economy class only. We have summarized the entire chart in our definite Aventura Guide, plus explored other CIBC Aventura points redemption options if you want to understand the full range of what your Aventura points can get you.
While value can be extracted from this method of redemption, it does require doing your homework. Not only must you remember CIBC’s terms and conditions of what fare maximums/distance bands/locations you can redeem points on, but you must also have an idea of what comparable airfare prices are in order to get your proverbial Aventura’s worth.
CIBC Shopping with Points, on the other hand, allows you to get a fixed cash fare value out of your Aventura points and requires no finicky memorization of destinations or comparisons with local prices. Instead, you can use them at a great fixed redemption on any travel products, anywhere. Therefore, I feel that CIBC Shopping with Points is the best use of Aventura points for regular Canadians.
How Does Shopping With Points Compare to Other Programs?
The closest points of comparison on the market are with the loyalty programs of two of CIBC’s rivals: the TD Rewards program from TD Bank, and Scene+ Rewards, which is an independent rewards program heavily linked to Scotiabank and their credit cards.
CIBC Shopping with Points vs. TD Rewards Redemptions
Aventura is most similar to TD Rewards because they’re both issued and controlled in-house by their parent banks. However, I feel that Aventura is a superior choice. This is because Aventura can be used via CIBC Shopping with Points on any travel transaction from any merchant.
TD Rewards, on the other hand, can only be redeemed for maximum value through TD’s partners: Expedia, Amazon, or Starbucks (and in this final case, the points can only be transferred to Starbucks’ stars rewards currency).
When redeeming for travel purchases, booking with Expedia for TD will let cardholders redeem at a rate of 0.5 cents per point. While you can choose to use TD’s Book Any Way program to redeem against travel purchases similar to Aventura, this redemption option only offers 0.4 cents per point, so, you won’t get a monetary value comparable to 1 cent per point on all redemptions the way you will with Aventura.
Of course, TD Rewards points would usually be considered easier to earn large amounts of, including from the TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite card, which offsets the lower cent per point redemption rate.
The TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* card earns 8x TD Rewards on purchases at Expedia for TD, plus a $100 Expedia for TD credit and TD Rewards birthday bonus.
Check out our TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite card review for more information.
135,000 TD Rewards
$5,000
$675+
$139 (FYF)
Yes
–
Either way, it’s nice to be able to get the full value out of my CIBC Aventura points without needing to book through a third-party portal, as is required with TD Rewards.
CIBC Shopping With Points vs. Scene+ Rewards Travel Redemptions
On the other end of the spectrum, there is Scene+ Rewards. Redemptions for travel via Scene+ are capped at a hard 1 cent per point on all travel redemptions, and redemptions can submitted for any travel purchase made on the eligible Scotiabank credit card in the last 12 months.
However, Scene+ points are significantly easier to earn through your daily spending than Aventura points, with credit cards like the Scotiabank Gold American Express card offering up to 6x Scene+ Rewards points on purchases at partnered grocery stores, and 5x on non-partnered grocery stores.
The Scotiabank Gold American Express card earns up to 6x Scene+ points at Empire grocery stores and charges no foreign exchange fees on purchases made in foreign currencies.
In 2025, we awarded this card as the Best Fixed Value Points Credit Card.
Check out our Scotiabank Gold American Express card review for more details.
40,000 Scene+
$7,500
$280+
$120
No
Jul 1, 2025
Therefore, while the redemption rate per point is lower, those same points are much easier to earn on the acquisition side because CIBC doesn’t offer any credit card products that even come close to a consistent 3x or even 5x spending category multiplier.
I think CIBC has made a competitive product and program, but feel that maybe it could learn to take a page out of Scene+’s playbook when it comes to rewards.
Conclusion
It can be complicated to navigate Canada’s different banks and their respective points programs. CIBC has decided to take some of the onus off their loyal customers by providing the Shopping with Points programming to allow cardholders to redeem Aventura points with greater freedom.
The value that has been provided by this program is indisputable, and while we wish that maybe it was easier to come by CIBC Aventura points in large quantities, it is hard to see the program as anything but competitive. If you use Shopping with Points, you are guaranteed to get a decent value exactly the way you want, which is something that can’t be said for every method of redemption out there.
Until next time, don’t pay out of pocket for your independently owned and operated hotels.
Kirin Tsang
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Does this also work for purchasing flights?
Hey RR,
Yes, you can redeem Aventura points against flights through the Shopping with Points redemption option. Just remember to apply them while the charge is pending on your card, else you won’t be able to redeem points against the charge if you miss this period.
So if i have 50k Aventura points. @ 1.25 cpp = $625. i can then book a hotel value up to $625. And then after i redeem for points, i can refund and get a $625 statement credit?
Is that how it works? if its 1CPP then i can redeem/refund for $500 statement credit?
thanks folks!
That is correct. See our article on the refundable hotel trick for reference.
CIBC annual $200 travel credit appears to have vanished with the new changes…
It very recently dropped from 1.25 > 1.
Hey Dana,
You are right, looks like it just changed on October 2nd (after this article was written). We will get it updated, glad to see Shopping with Points still remains a good opportunity though.
Agreed, it’s still a good option and Aventura points can be a nice complement to more valuable points’ currencies.