Earn Extra Rewards by Enrolling in Credit Card Dining Programs (2019)
Most people should use a credit card that earns bonus rewards on restaurant spending, to increase the points earned while dining out. The Sapphire Reserve Card, Citi Prestige Card, and Uber Credit Card are good options.
You can increase your rewards even further, by enrolling your credit card in a dining program that provides additional points when you dine at a participating restaurants.
For example, if you enroll your Sapphire Reserve card in the United MileagePlus Dining card program, and use it at a participating restaurant, you’ll earn 3x Ultimate Reward points directly from the card, and 3x or 5x United miles in additional dining program rewards.
For most programs, you don’t have to take any special action to earn your rewards, or do anything special at the restaurant. Once registered, the rewards just show up in your account, just by using your linked credit card to pay the restaurant bill. It is even possible to enroll your card in multiple different programs, and earn multiple different types of rewards on the same purchase.
Unfortunately, most of your regular spots and most highly rated and popular restaurants are not likely to participate in these dining programs.So, don't expect to earn extra rewards on most of your meals out.
Nevertheless, we still recommend taking a few minutes to register the credit card(s) you use for dining with all the fully-automatic dining programs. It only takes a few minutes, you are likely to occasionally wind up eating at a participating restaurant, and you'll wind up earning some free extra miles. We just wouldn't necessarily go out of your way to eat at participating restaurants just to earn the extra rewards, unless you need to earn a few extra miles to keep your frequent flyer account active.
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Reward Network dining programs
Most of the dining programs, that are promoted by airlines and hotels, are operated by a company called “Rewards Network”.
- Each of these programs works with the same set of 11,000 restaurants. The main difference is the type (and number of points) you earn. You can view the list of participating restaurants online, or in their app.
- Earning rewards is very simple—you don’t have to remember to do anything, and you don’t need to mention anything special to your server. You simply register your credit card(s) with the dining program operated by the rewards program of your choice. Then, when you use the linked credit card to pay the restaurant bill, you’ll automatically earn extra points with your chosen program.
- You can only register your credit card with one of the Reward Network programs—choose the one that is most valuable to you. You could register different cards with different programs, but it is usually simpler to link all the cards you might use to a single reward program. You’ll earn the base rate, if you agree to receive their marketing emails; a lower rate if you don’t; and an even higher “VIP” rate, if you earn rewards at a minimum of 12 (sometimes 11) restaurants each year. If you don’t want to see their emails, but still want the higher reward rate, you may be able to set up your mailbox to automatically send them to your junk mail.
- Earning points from dining is one of the best ways to create some activity in your account, to keep your points from expiring. If an account is in danger of becoming inactive, simply switch your credit card over to the dining program associated with the desired account, go out of your way to eat at one of the participating restaurants, earn a few points, and then re-register the card with your favorite dining program option.
| Program | Base | “VIP” | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 3 | 5 | ½ |
| American | 3 | 5 | ½ |
| Delta | 3 | 5 | ½ |
| JetBlue | 1 | 2* | 0 |
| Hilton | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| IHG | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| Southwest | 3 | - | ½ |
| Spirit | 3 | 5 | ½ |
| Total Rewards | 1 | - | 0 |
| United | 3 | 5 | ½ |
There are some other Reward Network options that pay out as a cash-back percentage, rather than as loyalty points. These include eScrip, Shell Fuel Rewards, idine, Club O Rewards, Orbitz, Plenti, Uber, and U promise.
Many people may be better off choosing to earn cash-back with idine, instead of with an airline program. You’ll receive a base rate of 5% back and a VIP rate of 10% back, as compared to 3 and 5 frequent flyer miles.
Visa Local Offers: Uber and Trim
- Visa operates a program that works in the same manner as Reward Network. You simply register your card, and automatically earn extra rewards, whenever you use your credit card to pay at one of the participating restaurants. They give you 10% cash-back, don’t require a marketing email opt-in, and work with a significantly better (but smaller) set of restaurants. It only works with Visa cards (naturally).
- If they have good coverage in your city, this is a better program for most people.
- But, there is no reason you can’t use both programs, at the same time. If the restaurant participates with both programs, you will receive loyalty points from Reward Network, cash back from Visa, and reward points from your credit card on the same purchase.
- Visa doesn't directly offer the service to consumers, you'll need to work with one of their partners. The easiest way to access this program is through Uber. If you have at least one Visa card set up with your Uber account, you can click a button to join the program., and then use any Visa cards registered with your Uber account to earn extra rewards when you dine. You can also browse participating restaurants and merchants within the Uber app. Visa Local Offers can also be accessed through a program called Trim.
Along with extra rewards at restaurants, the Visa Local program provides extra rewards at a few major retailers, such as Staples (5%), Petco (5%), Whole Foods (5%), and Williams-Sonoma (10%).
Yelp Cash Back and other Empyr-operated programs
Yelp operates its own cash-back program, that works similarly to Reward Network and Visa Local Offers. You simply link your credit card, and you’ll get cash back on your credit statement, whenever you eat in one of the participating restaurants (or shop at a participating store). Each restaurant has its own cash-back rate, but it is typically 5-10% back. It is easy to see which restaurants participate, because their cash-back rate is shown directly in the Yelp app, and you can “filter” to see only the cash-back restaurants near a given location.
The good news is that if a restaurant participates with multiple programs, you can earn the cash-back from Yelp, as well as the reward points from Reward Network and/or Visa, and your credit card.
Yelp’s program is powered by a company called “Empyr”. The same program is available through websites other than Yelp, including Dosh, Mogl, Swagbucks, Spent, and Coupons.com. All the Empyr-powered programs have the same set of participating restaurants, and the same reward rates. As with Reward Networks, you can only sign each card up with one. Choose Yelp for the integration with the most-used restaurant app, choose Dosh if you want the option if taking advantage of good hotel deals, or choose another partner that you’d prefer to receive a cut of the money.
You also can't use the same card for any of these services, and also use the card with Spent, which is a service that automatically earns you extra rewards with major retailers like Amazon and Starbucks. Ideally, you'd link your "restaurant" card to Yelp, Dosh or one of its sibling cards, and then other cards with the Spent service. Earn Extra Rewards by Enrolling in Credit Card Shopping Programs.
Groupon+ Dining
Groupon has a lot of restaurant deals on its website. These work like typical Groupon offers. You pay for the deal on Groupon, show you voucher to your server, and get a discount off your meal. But, they also offer a credit-card linked dining program, called Groupon+, that works somewhat similarly to Reward Network’s, Visa’s, and Yelp’s program.
Groupon+ takes considerably more effort to use, than the programs describe above. To earn rewards, you need to visit Groupon first, and “claim” the reward with the participating restaurants. Since you don’t pay anything to Groupon up-front, you can click to claim a bunch of restaurants at a time, where you might possibly eat later Then, when you pay at the restaurant, with your linked credit card, you’ll get cash-back on your credit card statement. Each restaurant has its own cash-back rate, ranging from 5-40%. Groupon operates the program in a few dozen cities, but there are currently fewer restaurants per city, compared to some of the other networks.
Mastercard business credit cards
Any business credit card from Mastercard can be enrolled in Mastercard’s Easy Savings program. You’ll earn 4% back, when you use the registered card to pay at any of the participating restaurants. They have a large network, which is concentrated in chain restaurants like Pizza Hut, Outback, Potbelly, and Red Lobster; but includes many good local options as well.
Spring for Chicago and Nashville restaurants
A company called Spring, operates its own simple to use restaurant reward program that operates like Reward Network and Yelp, and that can be used alongside those other programs. It currently has a good selection of restaurants in Chicago and Nashville, but not much outside of those areas.
Thanks Again for airport restaurants
Thanks Again runs yet another simple to use rewaraurant reward program, but it focuses on restaurants and shops in US airports. Participation is still fairly sparse, but there is no reason not to sign up with them as well.
