Hank Scorpio

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw a "Restaurants - DRINKING PLACES-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES" charge...I thought they added a category just for me after picking up on my alcoholic tendencies to only put beer charges on my credit card after 9pm every Friday and Saturday night.

I always put alcohol purchases at bars on a restaurant bonus earning card, but this past weekend was the first time I've seen one not coded as that. It was on my Citi Premier card at a place that definitely was a restaurant as well...strange.

jalm1

I've had a lot of issues with this in recent past. From what i have gathered there are effectively 3 dining categories that Citi classifies by:

5812 - Restaurants
5813 - Drinking Places
5815- Fast Food Restaurants

Based on my experience and discussions with Citi CS, the Premier and Prestige count all three as dining while the Forward is limited to just the Restaurants (5812) and Fast Food (5815). Anything coded as a drinking place (5183) is excluded from the forward bonus.

In practical experiences, i rarely found somewhere coded as a drinking place while living in DC or SFO or most of the places I traveled to (occasionally there would be one or two). However, in Seattle (maybe all of WA) the majority of restaurants are classified as a drinking (I have even found places like Chipotle to be). It may have something to with state laws and how businesses classified themselves which then get translated in the MCC, but i do not know. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other places in the US with this sort of classification.

From a personal perspective, the forward has moved to the sockdrawer.

neutralist

I use Forward 5X on those soda vending machines and it counts as restaurants, thus 5X.

swy

Semi-related question: how can I get the Visa supplier locator site (https://www.visa.com/supplierlocator/search/index.jsp) to return more than 50 search results? e.g., if you go there, enter a zip code, select 5812 in MCC, it would only give you 50 hits. How can I get the full list?

trouble747

Wow, I'm glad Chase doesn't do this.

snackboxes

I am certain that "Fast Food", "Restaurant - Eating Places" and "Bakeries" will get you 5x.

phant0m

I just received my statement and saw that they didn't count any of my "Restaurants DRINKING PLACES-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES" towards my 5x points. I'm opening up a ticket with Citi right now but if we don't get the bonus for it, that's a bust. Lost out on 10k points :/

Might have to just go back to using my Amex for all my drinking place purchases..

uscjeff

I spent an embarassing amount in Vegas over the weekend at places coded as "DRINKING PLACES - ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES." One charge was so bad I even got fingerprinted so I can't dispute - not that I would!

These were on Prestige so following this thread they should be 2x right? Fingers crossed (as well as the memory to never spend like that again!)

phant0m

My charges were at Encore Beach Club. None of those counted. Would have counted on my Amex or my Chase Sapphire Preferred.

uscjeff

Groan. The bad one was at Omnia. I also did some damage at Encore Beach Club (Doh) and Wet Republic (which was actually categorized as EATING PLACE, RESTAURANT). Strange

Oh well - was there for fun not points!

DaveInLA

I've been enjoying the 5x on dining with my legacy Forward for a few years now, but I've never used it internationally because of the FOREX fees. But come to think of it, I'd take 5 TYP minus 3% over anything else I have. Does the Forward get 5x on overseas restaurants too?

chenalex

It's been a while but were those charges ever treated as 2x? The terms for the Prestige defines restaurants as "dining establishments that primarily prepare food and drinks for immediate consumption by consumers, either on the merchant's premises or packaged for takeout, and include bars, cocktail lounges, discotheques, nightclubs, taverns and fast food restaurants."

Seems like Omnia, EBC, and Wet Republic would all fall into one of those categories.