Many airline and hotel loyalty programs offer dining rewards programs as an additional way for members to earn points and miles. These programs, such as Marriott Bonvoy Eat Around Town, United MileagePlus Dining, and American AAdvantage Dining, allow members to earn rewards when they use an enrolled card to pay at participating restaurants, bars, and clubs.
Dining rewards programs work by partnering with Rewards Network, which administers the programs. Participating venues pay a commission to Rewards Network, and in turn, Rewards Network pays the airline or hotel loyalty program to reward its members with points or miles. On the customer side, members register for free and add at least one credit or debit card to their profile. They then use their registered card to pay at qualifying venues, earning rewards from both the dining rewards program and their credit card.
However, it is not possible to stack multiple dining rewards programs by adding the same credit card to multiple programs. When signing up for a dining rewards program, members can only link each card to a single program. Rewards Network automatically unregisters a card from any previous programs when it is registered with a second program. Therefore, members can only earn rewards from the program they linked their card to most recently.
While you can’t earn rewards from multiple dining rewards programs simultaneously, you can link different cards to different programs and earn bonuses based on which card you use. For example, you could link your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to United MileagePlus Dining and your American Express Gold Card to Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining.
If you want to earn more rewards on dining, credit cards are a great option. Cards like the American Express Gold Card earn 4 points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and others offer bonus points on dining. Additionally, you can link your credit cards to platforms like Dosh, which allows you to earn cash back at participating local favorites and national brands.
Furthermore, credit card issuers like American Express and Chase often run offers where you can earn bonus points or statement credits for qualifying purchases at specific restaurants. If you find an offer for a restaurant participating in a dining rewards program, you can double dip by linking the same card to both.
In conclusion, while you can’t stack multiple dining rewards programs with the same card, you can earn rewards from different programs by linking different cards. Additionally, there are other ways to maximize your rewards on dining, such as using credit cards that offer bonus points, utilizing credit card merchant offers, and linking cards to cash back platforms like Dosh. The key is to find the best strategy that works for you and your preferred loyalty programs.