FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Premier Rewards Gold refresh: 4x USA dining, groceries, $10/mon dining credit. $250.
Old Apr 11, 2019, 3:20 am
  #1373  
GundamWing01
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
Originally Posted by lax01
I was being generic...I was just surprised by the amount of places that coded as 4x. For example, drinks at the Omnia club coded as 4x - same at Tao. Bought a couple rounds at the Venetian Sports Book and those all coded at 4x.

I expected the restaurants inside the casinos to code properly...just basically didn't expect bar-only type places to code as a restaurant (based on brewery experiences
yea. i see what youre saying. originally, i was concerned as well because its very clear within the amex TC that you wouldnt get bonus pts for restaurants within a hotel or bars within a casino. but in reality, its very different as you know.

TC Excerpt:
"You may not earn additional points for purchases at a restaurant located within another establishment (e.g. a restaurant inside a hotel, casino, or event venue). For example, purchases made at a restaurant located within a hotel may be recognized as a purchase at a hotel, not a restaurant. You also will NOT earn additional points for purchases at nightclubs and convenience stores."

Originally Posted by gengar
Omnia (bottle service) didn't get me 4X, and was refused on review (but AMEX refused me everything, so it might be me). Interesting that buying from the bar might make a difference. Also tagging @GundamWing01

Just for the record, my experience with Vegas clubs (all bottle service):

4X: Tao, Lavo, Drai's, Hyde, Hakkasan

No: Omnia, Marquee

Stuff like Tao, Lavo, and Hakkasan make sense since they just bill through the venue restaurant. Hyde, Drai's not so much. Guess I never tested Wynncore clubs. I'm canceling the card so will be unable to provide further data points.

BTW, all get 3x on CSR, and even Marquee got bonus points on my old Surpass. Just shows how AMEX is playing games with the Gold.
appreciate the DP. its a shame your Omnia bottle service didnt code as 4x and amex refused. thats huge spend, but im not surprised. nightclubs have no bonus (see above). amex 4x dining has had issues as reported on blogs like Doc and ive been told the MR team is constantly updating the MCC list to include more merchants. since visa and MC have a wider network, its not surprising many things code as dining. but amex controls their own payment network so its likely theyre much better about filtering out non-bonus categories.

ever since prestige went 5x dining, ive been using that for all dining in hotels including clubs/bars (Hakk, Tao, Jewel, 1OAK) whenever i pay direct, but never bottle service and no Omnia. but maybe theres a difference between bar and bottle service. thought it would be the same POS used. and because the prestige is 5x dining and 3x hotel, i have a back-up bonus cat for some properties like starriott, IHG, hyatt hilton when the restaurant codes as hotel. and before the prestige, its been PRG 4x or CSR 3x. but my DPs are very limited because almost all charges go to my room. only in certain situations i pay direct via CC. sometimes I even get a cheap room simply to charge non-bonus spend like event tickets or cabanas, including bottle service.

since you are elite in both mlife and TR, you already know room charges has many strategic benefits - paying the final folio with multiple CC to hit spend/promo bonus or amex offers or host comps and other hotel promos (e.g. amex FHR, virtuoso). i even buy GCs with cat bonus with certain cards and use it to pay off my vegas bill (ie Ink 5x office) of course, i wish there was a CC w/ 5x hotel bonus, but 3x hotel UR or TYP is OK with me since there are other benefits and no worries about 5x or 4x or 3x dining not coding correctly.

Last edited by GundamWing01; Apr 11, 2019 at 3:28 am
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