iDine/Rewards Network - Can any restaurant be an RN participant? ... even airport eateries?

I have searched about a dozen U.S. airports and can not find a single one with a rewards network participant actually on airport property itself. No terminal restaurants or hotel restaurants seem to exist. Are airport properties procluded from joining the network? Are these properties only accessible to elite members?

Are any of the following valid reasons or is this just conicidence?

Due to being an airport location, eateries are not allowed to be a member of RN (Y/N?)
Competition is so soft there is no need to offer incentive programs (Y/N?)
Rents are so high that it is cost prohibitive to offer incentive programs (Y/N?)
Because I am not a VIP I do not have access to these locations (Y/N?)
The search engine at RN is buggy (Y/N?)
I am only seeing the DL SkyMiles RN participants and this somehow limits the restaurant choices (Y/N?)
Tenants are wary of miles/points being awarded to patrons who did not actively seek out the location BECAUSE it was an RN participant but rather it was just by chance. (thus meaning the patron would have dined there even in the absence of loyalty incentives) (Y/N?)


I can't help but look at an airport like PIT and wonder why there are no RN participants on site. The airport is a sad, almost ghost-town, shell of its former self. The shops and restaurants MUST be suffering since US downsized there. If I were a restaurant tenant there I would most likely try any means possible to get travelers to choose my business over the eatery next door.

Burger Joint in SFO international terminal used to participate.

'Nuff said.

P.S. PIT isn't "almost a ghost town", it IS a ghost town.

{edit}: disregard this entry -- off the program 10/08 :(

When passing thru DTW (NWA Terminal) .. the OnLine Cafe (http://nwa.rewardsnetwork.com/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=67495) - search on zipcode 48242.

Seems there's been others mentioned here .. don't know how current.
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* Due to being an airport location, eateries are not allowed to be a member of RN (Y/N?)

No, but there is no reason to promote it, as you already have a captive audience.

* Competition is so soft there is no need to offer incentive programs (Y/N?)

Correct.

* Rents are so high that it is cost prohibitive to offer incentive programs (Y/N?)

Correct.

* Because I am not a VIP I do not have access to these locations (Y/N?)
No.

* The search engine at RN is buggy (Y/N?)

Yes, it is buggy, but this will not stop you.
* I am only seeing the DL SkyMiles RN participants and this somehow limits the restaurant choices (Y/N?)
Possibly.

* Tenants are wary of miles/points being awarded to patrons who did not actively seek out the location BECAUSE it was an RN participant but rather it was just by chance. (thus meaning the patron would have dined there even in the absence of loyalty incentives) (Y/N?)

This is a very realistic answer to the question. RN takes about 20% return from the total bill, so it makes sense to not passively give miles to people who are a captive audience.

Some of the Chinese fast-food places at DFW *were* on iDine. No longer.

The sandwich place (Subway?) at SAT was once part of the iDine program; the address didn't indicate its airport location. It's also no longer part of the program. :(

* * Because I am not a VIP I do not have access to these locations (Y/N?)
No.
I thought some restaurants were only available to VIP members? I was certain this had been noticed before.... few and far between, but I believe they do exist. It doesn't apply to airport locations specifically, but they could be available to only elite/VIP. For some reason I'm thinking it was dstan who noticed it between dstand and mrs. dstan's accounts

Edit: wow, I was right... what a memory I have :p
Some restaurants credit only Elite / VIP or Engaged members (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=772709)

and atxtraveler even contributed personal experiences

Those were the days - a really tasty burger with Niman Ranch beef, and a fairly good shake, in the International terminal. I never was sure why they were iDine, but alas, they are no longer (nor are their downtown SF locations.)


Burger Joint in SFO international terminal used to participate.

'Nuff said.

P.S. PIT isn't "almost a ghost town", it IS a ghost town.

The thread title asks the question ("any restaurant?") as if an airport restaurant were the least likely.

And we find out it's not that unlikely (but not very common either).

But I think there's one even less likely: A hotel restaurant (because RN would proably have a hard time telling the restaurant apart from the hotel -- but then again they have relationships with some hotels).

Anyone know of a hotel restaurant where you can earn RN miles when dining not as part of a hotel stay?

I don't know if this shows up on other RN programs but AA shows Mrs Fields in Terminal 1 - B concourse - at ORD as a participant (everyday benefits!).

I don't know if this shows up on other RN programs but AA shows Mrs Fields in Terminal 1 - B concourse - at ORD as a participant (everyday benefits!).

Heading to ORD tomorrow, and when I did a search on Ohare area, this did not come up. 2 restaurants did, but neither at ORD. How did you find this?

"How did you find this?"

RN's search is often useless .. too many times, maps & neighborhood descriptions are *completely* wrong; see my post #3 above ~ DTW = 'downriver' ?? ~ at least they got the :-: on airport property.

Compounding the problem: I found an airport joint (not iDine) that operates as a satellite of a 'big name' restaurant in another county ~ but they use the same cc-merchant account ID. :rolleyes:

@:-) Suggestion for posters: whereas the RN 'merchantID' numbers appear to be common across all programs, that'd be handy information to include, eh ?
ie.( xxx.rewardsnetwork.com/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=67495 )

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"How did you find this?"


@:-) Suggestion for posters: whereas the RN 'merchantID' numbers appear to be common across all programs, that'd be handy information to include, eh ?
ie.( xxx.rewardsnetwork.com/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=67495 )

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How would that help? You can't do a search by merchant ID, can you? I just wanted to confirm (and print out the page) showing that Mrs Fields is indeed a participant for May 19th.

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Actually, I did find it by selecting all Chicago neighborhoods and entering Fields in the restaurant name field.

However, even though it says O'Hare airport in the address, if you look at the map, this location is not IN the airport. (It is actually in the Chicago Suburban South neighborhood.)

Just tried calling the phone number, and there's no answer!

How would that help? Well ... the location you found is merchantId=87791, eh?

Hence, from my previous suggestion, anybody else can find the same joint directly by appending the 'phrase' "/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=87791" to the the generic URL www.rewardsnetwork.com, or the 'home' URL of their own program (see this thread) (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9717467&postcount=2). No 'search' required.

In your AA-specific case:
aa.rewardsnetwork.com/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=87791 (http://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/diningsearchdetails.jsp?merchantId=87791)

Your report of the address & map being FUBAR comes as NO surprise :D
{edit} Better yet... even the www.mrsfields.com (http://www.mrsfields.com) website doesn't find that location !
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Aah .... thanks for the clarification.