iDine/Rewards Network - Rewards Network exits Canada 31 Dec 2011

I've noticed the number of participating restaurants steadily declining in Toronto. I think we had over 70 restaurants at one time. We are now down to 12 and every one of them is marked as leaving the program on Dec 31.

What is going on? :(

Bleagh! That's terrible.

At least OpenTable is still one option - no miles or points, but every bit saved helps.

I've noticed the number of participating restaurants steadily declining in Toronto. I think we had over 70 restaurants at one time. We are now down to 12 and every one of them is marked as leaving the program on Dec 31.

What is going on? :(

it is funny that you mention this since as i add my avion to my wife's aa account since the RBC program ends Dec. 31, i suspect this might have a lot to do with the same.

as much as this is OT on the AC forum, i would post over there too. i know that is why the JG is a go to for Do's in YYZ. i happen to be going there tonight for a few pints and will do five sep transactions to get VIP for the next year so at least i have it when i go on buz trips to the US.

http://rbcrewards.rewardsnetwork.com/faqs.htm

i wonder if restaurants that participated as of the end of this program have to re-enrol in each specific program with AA? in other words, I have no clue but only trying to figure out what the hell is going on also.

More data.

3 restaurants in Ottawa and all leaving Dec 31
9 restaurants in Montreal and all leaving Dec 31.
10 restaurants in Vancouver and 8 are leaving Dec 31.
Nothing in Edmonton or Calgary even though there used to be.
Nothing in Halifax, and I think there used to be some.

So looks like there are now 2 participating restaurants left in all of Canada as of Jan 1! :rolleyes:

I used to like AAdvantage Dining but I'm very disappointed that the number of restuarants has shrunk dramatically. At the beginning of the year there were ~40 restuarants to choose from in my city. Tonight there are only 9, including the out of towners -- and they are all leaving December 31! :mad:

Anyone know why this is the case? I've given many suggestions for restuarants over the years and none of them have been adopted.

More data.

3 restaurants in Ottawa and all leaving Dec 31
9 restaurants in Montreal and all leaving Dec 31.
10 restaurants in Vancouver and 8 are leaving Dec 31.
Nothing in Edmonton or Calgary even though there used to be.
Nothing in Halifax, and I think there used to be some.

So looks like there are now 2 participating restaurants left in all of Canada as of Jan 1! :rolleyes:
My guess is that the whole reason that RN started having restaurants in Canada was because (unbeknown to us?) it started having programs in Canada. (I've never seen anyone talk about programs like RBC here before, and so didn't even know that they existed.) And if that's the case, if all Canadian programs are winding down, presumably that's also why Canadian restaurants are winding down.

To have restaurants in the program, RN needs to have sales reps in the area. If there are no dining programs in Canada, what's the justification of having sales reps specifically for Canada?

(And I know nothing about how their rep system works, so I don't even know if it's practical for there to be cross-border reps.)

Recall that officially only RBC is "supposed to" exist in Canada; the others were piggybacking onto something that'll no longer exist.

Thread now retitled thanks to a member's "AMP" / suggestion, and alerting the mod this is apparently Canada-wide. /Moderator

Actually RN has been in Canada for a long time, at least since I've been a member which is at least 7-8 yrs. RBC Dining only joined about a year ago.

I sent an email to RN's AA division and will report back what they say.

If you recall, the RN rep was rather adamant that Canadians were only supposed to be eligible for RBC signup, nothing else! Sounds as though they've decided not to acknowledge that some Canadians are members of other plans anyway (though RN doesn't feel they "should be"), and have decided to take an official line that without RBC there's no reason to participate in Canada any longer (just for some U. S. visitors).

Vancouver, BC is now down to 2 restaurants - one in Gastown and one in Surrey. What is going on? I used to get a lot of my yearly miles on my trips to Vancouver, when I would have time to eat out more.

Maybe better discussed on this thread, as it appears to be the whole program: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/idine-rewards-network/1296398-rewards-network-dying-canada.html

But I don't want the fuss and bother of applying to Royal Bank for their credit card. I was very happy with the little dings on my AAdvantage account that keep my AA points alive.

Air Canada used to have something similar many years ago but again tied to a proprietary credit card.

Are there just too many of these "deal of the day" plans that have killed off long term promotions like this?

String of emails with RN.

MG
Are you withdrawing completely from Canada? It seems all restaurants across the country are no longer participating as of Dec 31!

RN
We appreciate your interest in our program!

We have participating restaurants in the United States and Canada. Due to circumstances beyond our control, establishments periodically drop from the program. There could be several reasons that these restaurants stopped participating in the program, the most common being their contract has ended with Rewards Network. If a particular establishment does not appear in the restaurant listing, it is no longer in the program. Please check the website for the restaurants available on the date you wish to dine.

If you have any recommendations you may have for restaurants in your area that do not currently participate in the program! Tell us your favorites or one that you have always wanted to try. Please include as much information as possible - including the name of the establishment, city, state and phone number (if known).

While we cannot guarantee that all restaurants will be added, we will certainly try our best.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions as I would be happy to assist you!

MG
Can you look into this further?

No Canadian cities are even listed in the search function anymore. It would appear as if you have withdrawn from Canada completely. I would appreciate a confirmation, and whether this is just a temporary situation.

RN
We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, we no longer have participating restaurants in Canada as of 12/31/11.

We appreciate your continued patience and look forward to rewarding you soon!

MG
Yes, I'm aware there are no longer participating restaurants in Canada. That is why I emailed you.

In the spring of 2010, I was in contact with Elizabeth W. from RN (because I was considering a position with you), and she said RN was looking at expanding in Canada.

I guess I'd like to know if you are withdrawing completely or if this is just a temporary situation.

RN
Unfortunately, there seem to be no changes in the future and we will no longer have participating restaurants in Canada. There will be no restaurants participating in the program outside of the United States. We are currently working hard to expand our network of participating restaurants throughout the US.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We appreciate your continued patience and look forward to rewarding you soon!

It's dying everywhere.

5 miles per dollar is hardly worth searching for the restaurants and I am more inclined to try other restaurants with other sorts of promotions --

1). Restaurant.com restaurants where you save cash,

2). Delivery.com restaurants where you earn points which can be redeemed for prizes (takes a long time) as well as a $5 cash back on 10 orders, as well as other promotions.

R/N is a shadow of its former self. :td:

MG, was the post that you were applying for Communications Director? RN appears that they might profit from one.

I just assumed this program was dying everywhere.

I remember 10 years ago or so...I liked RN enough that I was a paid member for a couple years, earning cash back instead of miles. Then that watered down enough that I dropped out of the paid subscription but still earned a lot of AA miles.

Finally the mileage programs became so gutted that I don't even pay attention anymore. Every year I earn a few thousand AA miles through RN by accident. I don't go looking for restaurants anymore because I know good restaurants either stay away or don't stay in for long.

I do, however, hope RN limps along and exists in some form. It's a nice way to tweak a dormant mileage account. And once in a while there's something like the US Airways Grand Slam where a single dine is actually worth something.

It's dying everywhere.

5 miles per dollar is hardly worth searching for the restaurants

I just assumed this program was dying everywhere.

Oh, gosh, here we go again, another thread that's getting hijacked because people jump on the word "dying" in the revised title. This thread is about "dying" as in the disappearance of participating restaurants in Canada, not "dying" in the sense of whether you think RN is worth using! :td::td:

Moderator, now that we have official confirmation from RN (in margarita girl's Jan 9 post above), can we please get this thread retitled one last time to something like "no more participating restaurants in Canada, 2012 onward"? Thanks.

Good day, fellow members,

The thread has been retitled, thanks to margarita girl's posting of her e-comm with RN. Now that we know RN has exited Canada as of the end of 2011, let's keep this thread on topic (assuming there's anything left to say about RN / iDine and Canada).

Thanks, and wishes for a healthy, happy and rewarding 2012.

JDiver, Moderator

Such a disappointment! Even though there were only three participating restaurants in Ottawa, I enjoyed the mileage earning opportunities. At least I was able to get the AAdvantage bonus miles in Dec. It's unfortunate that RBC didn't see value in continuing with Rewards Network. I agree that the proliferation of daily deal sites is no doubt a large factor. Back to Groupon et al. dines for me.

i am disappointed with the end of the program. being fortunate enough to take people out on my company's dime to local places added many miles to the kitty for my spouse who collected with AA...i got the miles i wanted with my preferred CC and she got her AA miles..

Just went to the RN site to see if there had been any additions of Toronto restaurants only to find out there was nothing, nada...anywhere in Canada. I go back years to when they were called IDine, and you'd think they would at the very least send out an email to say Canada doesn't exist anymore. Maybe they gave up on us because Air Canada didn't join. Still...there are a lot of USA RN members travelling to Canada. RN had several crap places downtown Toronto, but something must have happened for them to cancel them all at the end of 2011.

I wonder if Canadians exist anymore for RN. If we are at a USA member restaurant I assume we can still earn some points, but it will be hard for me to qualify for both AA and UA now. They haven't communicated anything.

Nothing happens until someone sells something. It was obvious over the past couple of years that RN was falling off badly with restaurants, not just in Canada. I go to Ft. Laud every year for 4 weeks and that was usually where I qualified as they had a pretty good selection...but now there's mostly little restaurants and snack bars. Terrible.

Williamsburg, VA is another US destination I go to every year and fortunately they still have some good restaurants on the list...but it is going down fast.

See post #13 for my email exchange with RN.

Royal Bank participated in RN with their RBC Rewards program, so there was at least 1 participating Cdn company. I got an email from them on Sept 8 telling me they were exiting the program on Dec 31st. Had no idea all the restaurants in Cda were exiting simultaneously!

There may be a solution for Vancouver residents, even if RN has closed all its restaurants in Canada: RN should sign up (or you Vancouver residents should lobby) restaurants in Point Roberts, WA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington).

Does anyone know of any good candidate restaurants there?

Anyone taking bets on how long RN is going to survive...they've left Canada without explanation and US restaurants are dropping hard.

Anyone taking bets on how long RN is going to survive...they've left Canada without explanation and US restaurants are dropping hard.
Huh??? :confused:

US restaurants are not dropping anywhere around me (SoCal), even though they may be dropping in some specific (usually smaller) cities here or there.

Keep in mind that it takes a rep in an area to keep servicing RN restaurants.

So perhaps in your area (you didn't mention where that is) they lost a rep or consolidated one rep to cover a larger area (where there used to be more reps)?

I don't think it makes sense to take a restaurant drop in one area of the US and assume that the whole US is the same way.

I don't score any significant miles from AAdvantage. It's just a way to keep my AA miles from expiring. Since AA service gets crappier and crappier, I rarely get to fly AA. So something to keep my miles alive is useful.