Updated January 6, 2024

What’s the best use of Scene+? Is Scene+ a useful program for travelling the world on miles and points? How does Scene+ work and what are the ways to use Scene+ points to reduce travel costs? How does it measure up against the former Scotia Rewards program? How does it compare to other fixed-point reward programs? These questions and more hopefully will be answered in this guide to Scene+.

Scene+ loyalty program

Scene+ is the result of a merger between two former programs: Scotiabank’s Scotia Rewards and Cineplex’s SCENE with an effective date of December 13, 2021. In June 2022, grocery giant Empire joined as a third partner with a plan to replace Air Miles with Scene+ as its loyalty program.

Scene+ is a third-party program operated by Scene Limited Partnership (owned by Scotia Loyalty Ltd., a subsidiary of The Bank of Nova Scotia), Galaxy Entertainment Inc. (a subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment LP), and Empire Company Ltd., the parent company of stores that include Sobeys, Safeway, Foodland, IGA, FreshCo, Needs,Thrifty, and Lawtons Drugs.

As such, Scotiabank no longer has an in-house loyalty program. This means that Scene+ points earned on Scotiabank credit cards reside in a third-party account. If the credit card that earned Scene+ points is cancelled, the points remain in the member’s Scene+ account, pooled with points earned on other Scotia banking products or a Scene+ Membership Card.

scene-points-balance

However, there are rules regarding activity. A Scene+ account may be closed, and points forfeited, without any earning or redeeming activity during any 24-consecutive-month period. But a member with a Scene+ Scotiabank product (a credit card or debit card in good standing) is exempt from account closure.

How to earn Scene+ points

The Scene+ program offers several earning opportunities. These include:

  • sign-up bonuses associated with credit cards that earn Scene+ points
  • everyday spending on a choice of seven credit cards earning Scene+ points
  • purchases using a debit card associated with Scotiabank’s banking packages (Preferred Package, Ultimate Package, Private Banking, Student Banking Advanced Plan, Getting There Savings Program for Youth)
  • purchases at partners such as *Empire stores (e.g., Sobeys and Safeway) and Home Hardware
  • movie and entertainment purchases at Cineplex theatres or online at the Cineplex store
  • cashback in points by shopping through the rebate portal, Rakuten
  • dining at partners that include East Side Mario’s, Harvey’s, Kelsey’s, Montana’s, and Swiss Chalet 
  • booking hotel stays and car rentals through Scene+ Travel (powered by Expedia)
  • purchases of games and eats at Playdium and The Rec Room

Another advantage of the merged program is that it’s possible to double-dip on earning at partner locations when using a Scene+ credit card and Scene+ Membership Card. Dining purchases at Swiss Chalet, for example, earn one point for every $3 spent and five points per dollar with the dining multiplier on the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. Special offers increase the earning power.

scene-plus-offers

It pays to check your Scene+ account on a regular basis for current offers from Scene+ partners.

scene-partner-offers

*Empire stores include Sobeys, Sobeys Liquor, IGA, Safeway, Safeway Liquor, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry, and Needs Convenience. In the Atlantic, Scene+ points can be earned at Lawtons Drugs that’s owned by Empire.

empire-atlantic-scene-plus-stores

And of course, Scotiabank customers using select Scotiabank credit cards can ‘double dip’ by paying for purchases with a Scotiabank credit card that earns Scene+ points. At Empire grocery stores, the multipliers are higher.

  • Scotiabank Gold American Express Card earns 6 points per dollar
  • Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card earns 3 points per dollar
  • Scotiabank American Express Card earns 3 points per dollar

Current Scene+ credit card offers

The latest promotion on the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card sees a return of an annual fee waiver in the first year (a saving of $150). The sign-up bonus is

  • an attractive 30,000 Scene+ on spending $1,000 in the first three months
  • an unattractive 10,000 Scene+ points on spending $40,000 each year

Besides having worldwide acceptance as a Visa card, attractive features of the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite include

  • an accelerated earning rate of x3 at Empire stores
  • accelerated earning rates of x2 on eligible grocery, transit, ride share, dining, and entertainment (applicable worldwide)
  • no foreign transaction fees (2.5%)
  • complimentary Visa Airport Companion membership and six lounge visits per year

The offer is available until July 1, 2024. Applying through the Great Canadian Rebates portal sweetens the deal with a $125 rebate.

The current promotion on the popular Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is in effect July 1, 2024. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an annual fee waiver in the first year. The annual fee is $120, or $79 for seniors, that can be offset by applying through a rebate portal. The current rebate at Great Canadian Rebates is $125.

The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card earns:

  • 20,000 Scene+ on a $1,000 spend in the first three months
  • additional 20,000 Scene+ on a $7,500 spend in the first year
  • 6 Scene+ per dollar spent at Empire grocery stores
  • 5 Scene+ per dollar spent on groceries (at grocery stores other than Empire), dining, food delivery, and entertainment
  • 3 Scene+ per dollar spent on gas, transit, and select streaming services
  • 1 Scene+ per dollar spent on everything else  

There’s no FOREX (foreign transaction) fee on purchases in a foreign currency.

Like most banks, Scotia offers a banking package where the annual fee on a credit card can be waived every year. For more information see the Ultimate Package bank account.

Other Scene+ credit cards

In addition to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, the other Scene+ credit cards are:

  • Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
  • Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business Card
  • Scotiabank Platinum American Express Card
  • Scotiabank American Express Card
  • ScotiaGold Passport Visa Card
  • SCENE Visa Card
  • SCENE Visa Card for Students

What’s the best use Scene+ points?

What’s the value of a Scene+ point?

Scene+ can be redeemed for Apple and Best Buy merchandise and gift cards, dining, movie tickets, and Scotiabank credit card account credits. Unless there are special offers, these types of redemptions are at a lesser value than when redeemed for travel.

The exception is at participating grocery stores where 1,000 points can be redeemed for $10 off grocery purchases. This is a value of one cent per point.  

redeem-scene-plus-points

Travel redemptions are consistently valued at one cent per point (i.e., 10,000 points = $100). This applies to Scene+ Travel bookings, and those booked independently through other providers.

How to use Scene+ points to reduce travel costs

Much like the former Scotia Rewards Program, there are two ways to redeem points for travel. An advantage over the former program is that the minimum threshold of 5,000 points ($50) no longer exists.

1. Scene+ Travel

Scene+ Travel replaces the former in-house Scotia Rewards Travel Service. The new service under the auspices of Expedia operates in much the same way as ExpediaForTD, the portal for members of the TD Rewards program. Points can be redeemed against any travel booked via the portal.

scene-travel-service-hotel-search

Charge the full amount to your credit card, or against the points balance in your account. Or, use the part-points-part-charge option.

2. ‘Apply Points to Travel’

This operates much the same way as it did under the former Scotia Rewards Program. It’s for bookings with travel providers other than Scene+ Travel.  

Charge a purchase to your credit card and wait for it to post to your account. Points can then be redeemed against the purchase. This includes taxes, booking fees, airport fees, and travel insurance premiums.

A cardholder has 12 months from the posting date of the purchase to apply the points.

How to redeem using ‘Apply Points to Travel’

Log into your Scene+ account and navigate your way to > Rewards > Travel (under Spend your points) > Apply Points to Travel

A drop-down menu will list the credit cards attached to your Scene+ account. Clicking on each credit card will reveal any purchases coded as travel in the period you select.

For example, in my case, all travel purchases charged to my Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card in the last 90 days appear as a list. They include a visa for Turkey, airport bus, hostel accommodation, transit card purchase and initial load, train ticket, scooter account top-up, and a drink at a hotel. 

scotiabank travel purchases

I can redeem Scene+ points for specific charges by selecting each one. The Summary box to the right shows me my selected charges, the total number of points I’ve chosen to redeem, the monetary value of those points, and the remaining points in my Scene+ account.

redeeming-scene-pointsfor-travel

Clicking the Continue button takes me to a confirmation page, and the information that the monetary value of my redemption will be credited to my credit card account in two to three days. A confirmation email with the same information is received within seconds.

What qualifies as a travel purchase? 

To be eligible for redemption, the charge needs to be recognized as a travel purchase with merchant codes or identifiers set by the Visa network as:

  • airlines and air carriers, airports, flying fields, and airport terminals
  • lodgings, hotels, motels, resorts, trailer parks, and campgrounds
  • passenger railways, bus lines, steamship, and cruise lines
  • travel agencies and tour operators
  • automobile rental agencies, and motor home/recreational vehicle rentals

These were the same identifiers previously used by the Scotia Rewards Program.

Based on previous experience, I’ve found that charges for passenger railways, bus lines, and tour operators could be inconsistently included or excluded as candidates for redemption.

For example, Queensland Rail travel between Brisbane and Maryborough West in Australia was eligible as a travel redemption. A journey of a similar distance with Irish Rail between Dublin and Galway wasn’t.

Also, when a purchase is coded as entertainment, it’s excluded from the list of travel charges. This has an impact on tours. For example, tours of Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol and Belfast Titanic were coded as entertainment. As a result, they didn’t appear on the list of eligible travel redemptions. Admission to Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral for a self-guided tour wasn’t coded as entertainment, but it appeared on the list of possible travel redemptions.

Another observation concerned dining purchases if they were purchased at a hotel or while travelling by train. They appeared as travel purchases on my account and were therefore eligible as a travel redemption. 

Ten attractive features of the Scene+ program

When combined with Scotiabank’s best features, the Scene+ program offers several advantages.

1. Several ways to earn Scene+

In addition to opportunities to earn points with Scene+ partners, Scotiabank has seven credit cards in the Scene+ family. Several of them offer points multipliers for various types of category spending.

The best points multiplier is on spending using the popular Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. It earns 5 points per dollar on groceries, dining, and entertainment and 3 points on gas, daily transit, and select streaming services. (The multiplier increases to 6 points per dollar at Empire grocery stores.)

Only purchases in Canadian funds are eligible for the points multiplier, but there have been reports of cases where the multiplier has been applied while travelling abroad. In my view, the best use of the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is to use it exclusively for the x5 multiplier (x6 at Empire grocery stores). Even for gas, purchase gas gift cards at a grocery store for the x5 or x6 multiplier, and gift cards of other merchants you support. 

For moviegoers, the Scene Visa Card (or the Scene Visa Card for Students) may be useful as a no-fee ‘forever card’ to build and anchor a person’s credit history. It earns x5 on purchases at Cineplex theatres or at cineplex.com, but its value to someone without a lengthy credit history is that it could help elevate a credit score and a person’s credit worthiness. 

2. Enhanced earning on travel purchases

Scene+ credit cards earn 3 points per dollar (pre-taxes and fees) on hotel and car rental bookings at Scene+ Travel. The occasional offer such as x10 points on hotel bookings in the fall of 2022 boost earning efforts. This is in addition to the points earned on the respective credit card.

3. Convenient system to cancel refundable bookings

Refundable bookings at Scene+ Travel are conveniently and efficiently processed by Expedia’s Virtual Agent. Clicking on the Customer Support link at the bottom of the confirmation email takes you to your Scene+ account login and then to the Virtual Agent where you’ll be prompted to enter your itinerary number or the last four digits of the credit card used for the booking. Once the Virtual Agent locates the booking, one click cancels it and an email arrives within seconds confirming the cancellation. 

scene-travel-virtual-agent

4. Discounted annual fee

Scotiabank offers discounted annual fees for seniors. The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card has a fee of $79 (as opposed to $120). The ScotiaGold Passport Visa Card’s fee is $65 (compared to $110).  

5. No FOREX fee

Scotiabank is to be applauded for being the first of the big-five banks to offer a no-FOREX-fee credit card to its Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card. I suspect that dropping the 2.5% fee cuts into a lucrative profit margin but clearly it’s been worth it. Otherwise, Scotia wouldn’t have added this feature to the popular Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. Needless to say, it came with an annual fee increase from $99 to $120 and the downgrading of several benefits.

 

To help you decide if a no-FOREX-fee credit card is the best credit card to have while travelling abroad, see Is a no-FOREX-fee credit card always the best choice for international travel?

 

6. One-tier redemption value

Unlike other programs (e.g., TD Rewards), there’s no loss of value between using Scene+ Travel and other travel providers. The flexibility to book travel with any provider without any devaluation of points means cardholders can search for the best deal and use a vendor of their choice.

Dealing directly with a provider can be beneficial. In the case of flight delays and overbooked or cancelled flights, it’s my experience that service is better if the booking was made directly with the airline. For hotel bookings, it’s usually necessary to have booked directly with the hotel’s booking service to earn loyalty points and other loyalty program benefits.

(For AirBnB bookings, if you’re chasing Avios points, consider booking through the British Airways Executive Club portal to earn x3 Avios points on each pre-tax £1/€1/$1 spend on accommodation or experiences, plus what you earn on your credit card of choice.)  

7. Twelve months to redeem points

Having 12 months to use the ‘Apply Points to Travel’ route means you don’t need to have the points when you book. You can accumulate the necessary points using the welcome bonus and points multipliers with your Scene+ credit card, and then redeem them when it’s to your advantage.

8. Excellent online redemption process

The online system for post-purchase redemptions is user-friendly and efficient.

9. Access to rebates on credit card applications

Scotiabank regularly uses affiliate partners that offer rebates on approved credit card applications. For example, the Great Canadian Rebates (GCR) rebate of $150 on the popular Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is very appealing.

10. User-friendly Scene+ app

Offers are loaded on the app and the Scene+ membership card is within easy reach to take advantage of earning opportunities. Tapping on an account holder’s points total reveals points-earning activity by date and credit card, with multipliers. A quick glance reveals if points and multipliers have been correctly applied.

The Scene+ app mirrors essential account information available at the Scene+ site.

scene-plus-points-statement

 Five shortcomings of the Scene+ program

1. No way to extract greater value

Unlike CIBC Aventura, RBC Avion Rewards, and American Express Membership Rewards, at the present time, Scene+ doesn’t have a flight reward chart where it’s possible to extract a value greater than one cent per point.

 

For more information on the CIBC Rewards (Aventura) program, see When travelling the world on miles and points, is the CIBC Aventura program worth it?

 

2. Limited number of travel expenses

The system of merchant codes and travel identifiers is mostly restricted to flights, accommodation, transit, car rentals, cruises, and travel packages. Attractions, tours, and sundry travel purchases are mostly excluded. In this respect, TD Rewards can be redeemed for a broader range of travel expenses.

 

For more information on the TD Rewards program, see: When travelling the world on miles and points, is the TD Rewards program worth it?

 

3. Points can’t be transferred to airline or hotel loyalty programs

There are no conversion partners where it might be possible to extract a greater value than one cent per point on travel redemptions.

4. A rocky transition to the new program

Based on the comments in various miles-and-points forums, far too many people had negative experiences with the transition to the Scene+ program. Missing points, missing multipliers, and other anomalies have resulted in reports of people who, in frustration, stopped using Scene+ credit cards until such time as the glitches were resolved. While some issues have been addressed, not all problems have been resolved. Thankfully, Scene+ has a callback system based on a caller’s place in the callback queue.

Also, Scene+ is yet to expand its two-factor authentication to include email. Members with a physical SIM card and local number (or eSIM data-only package) while travelling abroad cannot receive a text or call to a Canadian number that temporarily doesn’t exist or is not in service. Unlike Aeroplan, I can receive an email to confirm my identity and log into my account to manage bookings. This isn’t possible with Scene+ and renders it less useful while travelling.   

5. Cineplex booking fee

In June 2022, Cineplex undermined the convenience of online bookings by introducing a non-refundable booking fee $1.50 per movie ticket. The fee is discounted for Scene+ members (to $1.00 per ticket), and waived for CineClub members enrolled in Cineplex’s monthly subscription service. It doesn’t apply to movie tickets purchased at the theatre.

Final verdict

1. The x5 points multiplier on groceries, dining, and entertainment (x6 at Empire grocery stores) helps make the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card a useful keeper card for many cardholders, and a strong earner of Scene+ points.

2. The addition of Empire is exciting news for Scene+ members who find value in the Scene+ program and now earn points on grocery and drug store purchases at stores under the Empire umbrella. The points boost from x5 to x6 on purchases at Empire grocery stores on the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is welcome news indeed.  

3. The flexibility in redeeming Scene+ for purchases from any travel provider with no loss in value makes it a very attractive fixed value program. In this respect, it has the edge on the TD Rewards Program that has a two-tier redemption structure.

4. The ease of redeeming points online is a welcome user-friendly feature. Having 12 months to do so adds to the appeal.

5. Scene+ points are handy for a variety of travel expenses such as budget flights or those that aren’t part of a primary airline alliance/frequent flyer program. They’re useful for ground transportation, ferries, and miscellaneous accommodation that are outside existing airline and hotel loyalty programs. When used strategically, they can play a beneficial role in reducing out-of-pocket travel expenses.

6. The program has excellent potential as one of several secondary programs in a diversified miles-and-points portfolio. As such, it can be used to complement frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs that are capable of generating a much greater value than one cent per point.

As far as I can see, the new Scene+ program is greater than the sum of its former parts. With no obvious signs of devaluation, it replaces Scotia Rewards as my favourite fixed-point program.

 

If you found this post helpful, please share it by selecting one or more social media buttons. Do you collect Scene+ points? If so, what’s your experience with the program? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Thank you.

 

Might you be interested in my other miles-and-points posts?

 

Care to pin for later?

use-scene+-points-to-reduce-travel-costs

 

(Visited 43,572 times, 12 visits today)

If you find this information useful, subscribe to the newsletter and free access to packing lists, checklists, and other tools in Packing Light Travel's Resource Library.

Your email address will never be shared. Guaranteed.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest