Scene+ Program Overview (How Do Scene Points Work?)

Heard about the new Scene Points program? Wondering how do Scene Points work? The Scene Points program went through a major ‘rebirth’ recently. Prior to the change, my Scene points just sat around for months to years waiting for a good movie to show up in theatres. With the new Scene+ Program, I will no longer will I “JUST” associate Scene points with a free Cineplex movie.

In fact, the Scene+ Points program is really all that and a bag of chips and becoming one of my favourite points programs in Canada because of the versatility of the program.

This post will go over how the new Scene+ Program works, how to earn points fast, how to check your Scene Points balance, and how to use your Scene+ Points on travel.

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Where Can I Redeem Scene Points?

What is the Scene points value?

How much is 10,000 Scene Points worth?

Basically 10,000 Scene points is worth $100 and 1000 Scene points is worth $10.

How many Scene Points for a free movie?

Basically, if the Cineplex movie you want to watch is $15 then it will cost 1500 Scene+ points for a free movie.

Here are some of the places you can redeem your Scene Points on- if you read this blog, you probably know my FAVOURITE way to spend the points is on travel.

Keep in mind, 1000 Scene+ points redeemed is $10 off.

• Participating grocery stores like Sobeys, FreshCo, IGA, Foodland, Safeway, Les Marches Tradition, Thrifty Foods
• Cineplex Store or Cineplex Theatres for movies, food and drink, or movie rentals
• Scene+ Travel through Expedia you can book through the portal with a mixture of cash and points or full points option
• Scene+ gift cards through Rakuten, or merchandise from the Scene+ Apple or Scene+ Best Buy online store
• 500 points for $5 off at participating restaurants like: Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, East Side Mario’s, Montana’s BBQ & Bar, Kelsey’s Original Roadhouse
• If you have a Scene+ Scotiabank credit card, you can use the Apply Points to Travel option. 100 points offsets $1 of your trip cost and you can apply your points up to 12 months after your purchase (this means you can book your trip and earn your points to offset your trip cost last minute!)

How to Earn Scene Points

Earning Scene+ Points is a bit different than redeeming Scene+ Points. Here are some places where you can earn Scene Points.

grocery stores (Safeway, Sobey’s, Freshco etc.)

If you have the Scene app, you can get personalized digital offers (similar to how PC Optimum points work) and weekly product offers. If you look at the flyers you can also see offers that are tied to earning extra Scene+ points.

For example, in this week’s Safeway flyer, there is an offer for 1000 Scene+ points if you spend $125 or more on groceries. It can sure help food inflation in Canada.

Cineplex Store and Theatres

You can earn 5 Scene+ points for every $1 spent on the Cineplex store or at the Cineplex movie theatres. So basically if you spent $30 at the movies, you would get 150 Scene+ Points.

Scene+ Travel (expedia)

You can earn 3 points for every $1 spent on hotel and car rentals when you purchase travel through the Scene+ Travel portal. You can also earn points even when you are booking with points.

Scene Points Restaurants

If you dine at Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, East Side Mario’s, Montana’s BBQ & Bar, Bier Markt, and Kelsey’s Original Roadhouse you can get 1 Scene point for every $3 spent. So if you spent $18 at Swiss Chalet, you would only get 6 Scene+ Points.

Unfortunately earning points at Scene Points restaurants is not as great since it’s not even 1 to 1. There are Scene+ points offers available too in the app if you load them, however.

How to Earn Scene Points Fast

Unlike Safeway’s predecessor, Air Miles (where sometimes it took 10 years of vigilant Air Miles points earning to get $10 off), you can earn Scene+ Points fast.

First, you should download the Scene+ App to get offers to earn points fast. The offers from grocery stores like Safeway and Frescho can add up fast.

You should also keep an eye out for Scene+ offers in your flyer.

In addition, opting for cash back through Scene+ points is helpful if you use Rakuten as you can get a 20% cash back boost if you get ‘cash back’ from Scene+ Points rather than cash, however, the cash back when you purchase online through Rakuten is minimal anyway unless you are buying big ticket items or do a lot of shopping online.

Finally, another way to earn Scene+ Points fast is through credit cards and their generous welcome bonuses.

Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite. This card has an annual fee of $150 but it is First Year Free if you have a Scotiabank Preferred Package and it is free every year for the account holder if you have a Scotiabank Ultimate Package. The promotion is 30,000 Scene+ points when you spend $1000 in purchases within the first three months, that’s $300 worth in points. The Scene+ points bonus is uploaded to your Scene+ account very quickly, within 2-3 business days of you completing the task of spending $1000 within the first three months.

In addition to the welcome bonus you can earn 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent in grocery or entertainment purchases.

Here’s my review of the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite.

Scotiabank American Express Gold Card. It is currently First Year Free (meaning you don’t have to pay an annual fee for this for the first year), and you can get 25,000 Scene+ points when you make $1000 in purchases within the first three months. That’s about $250 worth. Just like with the Passport Visa Infinite, the Scene+ points bonus is uploaded to your Scene+ account very quickly, within 2-3 business days of you completing the task.

In addition to the welcome bonus, you can earn 5 Scene+ points for every $1 spent in grocery, restaurants and more.

In my opinion, the only downside is that American Express cards are not as widely accepted in Canada as Mastercard or Visa.n Here’s my review on the Scotiabank American Express Gold Card.

How to Check Your Scene Points Balance

Now that you’ve earned all the Scene+ Points humanly possible, here’s how to admire your balance.

If you have a Scotiabank bank account you can check your Scene Points balance easily just by logging into your online banking as long as you have connected your Scene Points to your bank account and clicking on “Scene+”

Otherwise, you can also check by logging in directly to the Scene+ website to check your balance.

Finally, the other way to check is to download the Scene+ app on:

• Apple
• Google Play

Scene+ Travel

Similar to using your TD Rewards points through the Expedia portal, there is a Scene+ Travel portal powered by Expedia.

100 Scene points is equal to $1 off your next vacation.

You could pay by 100% points or a mixture of points with any payment card.

Alternatively, if you have a Scene+ credit card, you could use your Scene+ points to offset the cost of your travel that you paid for using your Scene+ credit card.

For example, we paid for a Carribbean cruise with our Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite which has zero foreign exchange fees and it cost $1500. We have around 60,000 Scene+ Points.

You could use the 60,000 Scene+ points up to 12 months after the Caribbean cruise purchase and save $600 off your $1500 cruise, making your cruise only $900!

The amazing thing about this is that you don’t have to have the points READY before you book your vacation. It is very flexible.

I personally prefer the latter option (paying with a Scotia card first) rather than the Scene+ Travel Expedia option, since the points redemption are equal.

Do Scene+ POints Expire?

Unfortunately, Scene+ Points do expire.

They expire if there are 24 months of zero activity on your Scene+ account.

One way to prevent this from happening is to have a Scotiabank linked Scene+ account open.

For example, your Scotiabank chequing account can be linked to the Scene+ account and your points will not expire as long as you have your bank account open.

We have a Scotiabank Preferred Package and upgraded to the Scotiabank Ultimate Package. I can conveniently see my current Scene+ points balance when I log into my online banking.

Scene Card Customer Service

With a new program and the revamping of the Scene card there are bound to be hiccups. For example, I received another Scene card which ended up being a spouse card associated with the joint credit card my husband signed up for. I didn’t understand why I had another Scene card so the friendly folks at Scene customer service helped clarify it for me.

The Scene Card customer service number is:

1-866-586-2805

The Scene Card customer service phone lines are open from 7:00am to 11:00pm EST.

I have called them before and they answer quickly and are quite knowledgable.

Hope you found this post helpful, and I hope this helps answer your question on how do Scene points work.

What are you planning to use your Scene+ points for?

What is your Scene+ Points program review?