Today, Scotiabank & Cineplex have launched their new joint Scene+ rewards program! It allows members to earn and redeem Scene+ points for entertainment, movies, travel, shopping, dining, and banking.
In this article, we’ll discuss and provide details about the various ways to earn & redeem your Scene+ points.
This new Scene+ program is actually a combination of the old Cineplex SCENE program with the old Scotia Rewards program.
For Cineplex SCENE members, your membership/card number stays the same. Also, your points will transfer 1:1 from the old SCENE program to the new Scene+ program.
For Scotia Rewards members who didn’t have a SCENE account, a new Scene+ membership has been created for you. Also, your Scotia Rewards points will transfer over at a 1:1 ratio to the new Scene+ program.
If you had both a SCENE & Scotia Rewards account, all your points will now pool into your new Scene+ account.
Visit the Scene+ website to learn more about these changes and access your account.
Now, let’s go through some of the details of the Scene+ program.
Highlights of Scene+ program
Here are some of the highlights of the new Scene+ rewards program.
- Earn Scene+ points on movies, travel, dining, shopping and Scotiabank credit cards.
- Redeem 100 Scene+ points for $1 off against travel purchases and movie tickets.
- Redeem Scene+ points for Cineplex movie tickets, dining, shopping or gift cards.
- Earn and redeem Scene+ points at select grocery stores like Sobeys!
- Points expire after 24 months of inactivity.
Scene+ points expiry
Your Scene+ points will expire after 24 consecutive months if there’s no activity (earning or redeeming points) on your account.
However, if you have a Scene+ Scotiabank product (like bank or credit card), your points will not expire as long as your card remains open.
How to earn Scene+ points
There are many ways to earn Scene+ points with various partners.
- Entertainment: Earn 5 points for every $1 spent on movie tickets, food and drinks at Cineplex Theatres, the Cineplex Store, The Rec Room, and Playdium.
- Travel: Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on hotel stays and car rentals when booked through Scene+ Travel.
- Shopping: Earn points when you shop online with Scene+ Rakuten, featuring new offers from different stores each week. Plus, earn up to 20% more cashback on your purchases through Rakuten.
- Groceries: Earn points when you shop at Empire Company grocery stores (Sobeys, FreshCo, Safeway, Foodland etc) since 2022.
- Dining: Earn 1 point for every $3 spent at 800+ restaurants, including Swiss Chalet®, Harvey’s®, Montana’s®, and more.
Earn Scene+ points with Scotiabank credit cards
Additionally, you can also earn Scene+ points with certain Scotiabank cards.
Scotiabank Scene+ debit card
If you have a Scotiabank Ultimate Package or Preferred Package chequing account, you can earn Scene+ points on your debit card purchases. You’ll earn points at the following rates:
- 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent at Cineplex.
- 1 Scene+ point per $5 spent on everyday purchases.
Without a doubt, you would want to use your Scotiabank debit card for movie ticket purchases as you earn 1 point per dollar spent at Cineplex. On all other purchases, you only earn 1 point for every $5 spend (or 0.2 point per dollar) which is a pretty weak earning rate.
If you want to really increase up your Scene+ account balance, consider applying for a Scotiabank credit card instead. Here’s a summary of the top Scene+ Scotia cards:
- Scene+ Visa Card – up to 5,000 Scene+ points and no annual fee.
- Passport Visa Infinite Card – up to 35,000 Scene+ points.
- Gold American Express Card – up to 40,000 Scene+ points and no annual fee for first year.
Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card
The no annual fee Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card is currently offering a welcome bonus of 5,000 Scene+ points until October 31, 2023. To unlock the full welcome bonus, complete the following 2 criteria:
- Earn 5,000 Scene+ points after spending $750 in in everyday eligible purchases within the first 3 months.
Also, this card has the following earning rates:
- 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at select grocery stores including Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op.
- 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at Cineplex™ theatres or at cineplex.com.
- Starting Aug 1, 2023: 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at Home Hardware, Home Hardware Building Centre, locations in Canada or at homehardware.ca.
- 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent on other purchases.
This no annual fee card is great as it earns 2x Scene+ points at Sobeys grocery stores since Oct 2022.
Also, for those that watch movies regularly, this card is a good choice as it lets you earn 2x points on your Cineplex purchases. Plus, remember to add or scan your Scene+ member number to earn an additional 5x points on your movie tickets!
Learn more and apply for the Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
The Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite card is currently offering a very generous welcome bonus of 35,000 Scene+ points until October 31, 2023. To unlock the full welcome bonus, complete the following 2 criteria:
- Earn 25,000 Scene+ points after spending $1,000 in in everyday eligible purchases within the first 3 months.
- Earn an additional 10,000 Scene+ points after spending $40,000 in eligible purchases annually.
Note that this card does have an annual fee of $150. But, you can offset this fee by applying for the card via Great Canadian Rebates which is offering $150 cash back until July 31, 2023!!
In regards to daily spending, here are the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card’s earning rates:
- 3 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op grocery stores.
- 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent on other grocery stores, restaurants, fast food, entertainment and transit purchases in Canada.
- 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent on other purchases.
Plus, the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card comes with 6 free airport lounge passes per year. These passes provide you with access to 1,200+ airport lounges globally with the Visa Airport Companion Program which includes Plaza Premium airport lounges. This benefit alone is worth over $200!!
Learn more and apply today for the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite card.
Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
The Scotiabank Gold American Express card is currently offering a very generous welcome bonus of 40,000 Scene+ points until October 31, 2023. To unlock the full welcome bonus, complete the following 2 criteria:
- Earn 20,000 Scene+ points after spending $1,000 in in everyday eligible purchases within the first 3 months.
- Earn an additional 20,000 Scene+ points after spending $7,500 in eligible purchases in the first year.
Note that this card does have an annual fee of $120. But, you can offset this fee by applying for the card via Great Canadian Rebates which is offering $100 cash back!!
Each supplementary card costs $29.
In regards to daily spending, here are the Scotia Gold American Express card’s earning rates:
- 6 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op grocery stores.
- 5 Scene+ points for every $1 spent on eligible restaurants, fast food, bars, other grocery stores, Cineplex & entertainment purchases in Canada. This also includes popular food delivery services.
- 3 Scene+ points for every $1 spent on eligible transit, rideshare, gasoline purchases & select streaming services (like Netflix) in Canada.
- 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent on other purchases.
The earning rates on the Scotiabank Gold American Express card are quite phenomenal! As of October 2022, you can now earn 6x points at select Sobeys grocery stores like Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo. This is the highest grocery earning rate on any credit card in Canada and is simply extraordinary!
Plus, the Scotia Gold Amex card also earns 5x points on many other categories like groceries, restaurants, food delivery services and Cineplex movie tickets!
So, this is the card to get if you want to earn lots of Scene+ points on all your everyday purchases!
Learn more and apply today for the Scotiabank Gold American Express card.
How to redeem your Scene+ points
Once you’ve logged into the Scene+ website, your total amount of points will be indicated in the top right corner.
Overall, there are lots of options to redeem your Scene+ points.
- Travel: Redeem points for travel by booking through Scene+ Travel or use the Apply Points to Travel feature.
- Shopping & gift cards: Redeem points through the Apple and Best Buy Catalogues, and for gift cards at more than 60 national retailers.
- Points for statement credit: Redeem your points for an account credit on eligible Scotiabank debit and credit cards.
- Dining: Redeem 500 points for $5 off at over 800+ restaurants, including Swiss Chalet®, Harvey’s®, Montana’s®, and more.
- Entertainment: Redeem points at Cineplex Theatres, the Cineplex Store, The Rec Room, and Playdium.
- Grocery stores: Redeem 1000 Scene+ Points for $10 towards your purchase at participating grocery and pharmacy stores like Sobeys, Safeway & FreshCo.
Overall, the most popular options are redeeming points for free movies and also for travel purchases which are discussed below.
Redeem points for free movies at Cineplex
Like before with the SCENE program, Scene+ members can redeem their points for movie tickets and concession stand purchases at Cineplex Theatres.
Previously, the number of Scene+ points required for a free movie depends on the type of ticket purchased. A general admission ticket cost 1,250 points, an enhanced ticket (IMAX) cost 2,000 points and a VIP movie ticket cost 2,500 points.
As of August 11, 2022 Scene+ members no longer need to redeem a set number of points per ticket type. Instead, members can redeem 100 Scene+ points for $1 towards Cineplex movie tickets. Plus, you now have the flexibility to cover all or part of the ticket purchase with points!
Additionally, members can also use their points for the following:
- Redeem 500 Scene+ points for $5 towards food and drinks at Cineplex concession stands.
- Redeem 100 Scene+ points for $1 off movie rentals or purchases at the Cineplex Store.
Overall, this new Cineplex redemption rate is much simpler and easier to understand with 100 points = $1 off your movie ticket. Plus, the ability to partially pay your ticket with Scene+ points is a great new feature.
Redeem points against travel purchases
One of your best bets for redeeming your Scene+ points is with the “Apply Points to Travel” option. It allows you to redeem your Scene+ points to offset any type of travel purchase charged to your card within the past 12 months! This includes flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals but also train tickets, Airbnb’s and more.
The flexibility of this option allows you to redeem 100 Scene+ points for $1 off any travel purchase on your card. Note that you need to redeem a minimum of 5,000 Scene+ points towards an Apply Points to Travel redemption.
To use the “Apply Points to Travel” option, follow these steps:
- First log into your Scene+ account and click on “Rewards”.
- Next, select the “travel” option and then the “Apply Points to Travel” section.
- From there, select your Scotiabank card (if you have more than one) and you should now see all your travel purchases for a select time period.
- Select which travel transaction you want to redeem your points against and this will show a summary on the side of the screen.
- Finally, click “Continue” to finish the process.
Lastly, it should take 2-3 business days for your redemption to appear as a credit on your Scotiabank card.
Redeem or earn points with the Scene+ Travel booking portal
Also, members can book travel through the new Scene+ Travel booking portal (powered by Expedia). Like the “Apply Points to Travel” option, members can redeem 100 points for $1 off for travel including flights, hotels & car rentals. Plus, if you don’t have enough points to cover your travel expense, Scene+ offers flexibility to pay for travel with points, a payment card or a mix of both!
Additionally, you can earn 3 Scene+ points for every $1 you spend on hotel and car rentals booked via the Scene+ Travel portal!
For example, here are some Toronto area hotels found on the Scene+ Travel portal.
Each hotel shows the total price and the number of Scene+ points required to offset the cost. Also, it shows the number of points you can earn with the booking.
Taking the One King West Hotel & Residence, it costs $204.54/night and you can earn 614 Scene+ points. Or, you can choose to redeem 20,454 points to have a free hotel night!
To complete the booking, choose your desired hotel and then select your room type (Premium, suite, etc). Next, choose the refundable or non-refundable rate and provide your personal info & payment details.
Overall, it’s great that Scene+ points can be used for a variety of items like movie tickets, travel purchases, gift cards, merchandise, and more.
Summary
The new Scene+ rewards program was launched today and provide members with more earning & redemption options.
Members can earn Scene+ points through the Scene+ Travel booking portal, with Cineplex movie ticket purchases, dining at select restaurants and online shopping. Also, members can earn Scene+ points when they shop at Empire Company stores (the parent company of grocery chains such as Sobeys, FreshCo, and Safeway) since 2022.
Plus, it’s easy to accumulate lots of Scene+ points with the following Scotiabank credit cards:
- Scene+ Visa Card – up to 5,000 bonus Scene+ points until October 31, 2023.
- Passport™ Visa Infinite card – up to 35,000 bonus Scene+ points until October 31, 2023.
- Gold American Express card – up to 40,000 bonus Scene+ points until October 31, 2023.
There also many ways to redeem Scene+ points. Popular options members can redeem their points for include travel purchases and Cineplex movie tickets (100 points = $1 off). Plus, you can redeem points for a statement credit on Scotiabank cards, dining options and shopping & gift cards.
With a generous 24-month points expiry, Scene+ members now have lots of flexibility when it comes to redeeming their points for the rewards they want!
How are you earning & redeeming your Scene+ points? Let me know in the comments below.
Disclosure: Scotiabank & Scene+ are not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information, please visit the Scotiabank or Scene+ website.
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