Are restaurant certificates worth it?
 

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this tread and have a few questions.

1. I have 15,000 FF miles with United which I will not be using for flying.
My daughter suggested I purchase Rest. cert. with my miles. Is it better to
purchase the ind. cert to a certain rest or buy the ones you can use like a
credit card ?

2. When I read the rules it's hard to figure out if they are worth it by the
time you purchase the min. amount ex. 25.00 cert but your bill has to be
35.00 or more. Then you have to add the tip on top of that which could be
15% or more.

3. If I have read it right the cert. expire 1 year after purchase of the cert.
Since they will all exp. in 1 year is it better to purchase them all at one time
or just when you need them?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
jachot:)

Are you sure there are restaurants near you where they can be used?

Check out this thread for a variety of opinions: http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=813033

I personally love restaurant.com certificates, but as they can be gotten pretty darn cheaply with coupons (see linked thread), I don't feel that they are worth spending miles on, for me. But YMMV, if you have no other use for your miles.

I considered doing the same thing with MR points until I discovered how little a cert cost. Are magazines an option?

First, WELCOME!

Now, to your questions....

I use Restaurant.com certificates all the time..... love them!

I would never use miles to purchase the certificates. Considering you can get the $25 certificates for $2 -$5 depending on the codes available, there is no reason to use miles to purchase what you can buy for $2 - $5.

I would not buy all the certificates at once... you are right they expire after a year.... so unless you visit a particular restaurant alot, you could end up with a few expired certificates.

Also, some restaurants enforce the one certificate per month per person rule.

I am not sure why you think it would not be worth it. You are getting free cash... you get $25 and all you pay for that is $2 to $5. Assuming you normally order the minimum, oftentimes $35, not sure why it is an issue. And I assume you normally tip... so that is not additional.

My concern would also be whether there were participating restaurants accessible to the OP. Caledonia, MS ain't NYC. If Columbus, MS is a short drive, looks like 30 miles or so, there are 3 participating restaurants there. I'd keep my first purchase small.

First thanks for the information. We live about 13 miles from Columbus and there are 3 rest. that accept the cert. I'm not sure what is meant by Entertainment books. Are they the books you can by for $50.00 or so and contain coupons for merch, car repair that kind of stuff? If so they usually do not have many things in our area to offer. Also when you talk about Rest.com sales do I just look up Rest.com to check for the sales and use my miles (If I choice to) or do you pay cash for them?

My daughter used one of the cert. and by the time she paid the tip, tax and meal ( she said the meal was expensive ) they did not feel they got a good deal. I figure if you save 25.00 you get a good deal but wanted to see what others had to say

jachot

Hi Everyone

My husband and I used our first cert. last night and got a really good meal and a bargain. We had Steak and Salmon, Spinach and Art. Dip and chips,and a dessert. The bill was 47.00 of which we paid 26.00. We'll be going back for more.

I have also figured out what you all have been talking about when you said I could get the cert for a much lower price. I'll be getting my cert. like that from now on.

THANKS
jachot