Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
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.
That's actually a misreading of the T&Cs - there is a clear
may in front of the "not", and the next sentence makes it obvious that they are referring to venues inside larger properties that charge via a central system and therefore might use the central MCC. For example, for a long time in Las Vegas casinos,
all venues in the casinos would charge through the hotel, so the MCC would be a hotel and not a restaurant and no CC would give the restaurant bonus because the MCC was not for a restaurant.
Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
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).
The issue is that every single one of these nightclubs MCCs as a restaurant, and even despite the disclaimer in the T&Cs, AMEX nevertheless gives the 4x restaurant bonus to some of them. The unpredictability is the problem. After Marquee failed, I tested at each venue with only one bottle and then swapped to my CSR, so no huge loss. But it's a huge pain - to the point that I'd rather just use the CSR and forget the extra potential MR point.
I don't have time to MS/churn, but as far as room charges, the big bonus is actually getting hotel loyalty points when available. That's the big win through mLife - WoH points and credit, although capped at $5k per stay.