NJUPINTHEAIR

Now would be a good time to do so.

As of 8/1/07, there will be two bonus promotions that you can work towards in one shot.

The first is the 1,500 points for a $15 dine once you enroll in the program (this continues until 12/31/07).

Here is the link courtesy of prior posters in the Share IDINE BONUS PROMOTION thread:

https://priorityclub.rewardsnetwork....us.jsp?id=PC14

Now, starting on 8/1/07 - 9/30/07 is the Round the Bases promotion, whose first award bonus occurs at $300, and presumably, a dine of $15 on 8/1 and afterwards, within both of the promotion periods, will satisfy the first and the amount of that dine (of $15 or more) will contribute towards the latter promotion.

I recently earned some PC points due to the MyCokeRewards program, and PC points are essentially worthless until you accumulate your first 4,000 or 5,000 points.

In addition, with the current DL bonus fairly easy to satisfy -- both for my wife and myself -- and the AA promotion not slated to start until 8/27 onwards, and no other promotion as yet on the horizon, this may be a good time during this interegnum, to start earning PC points via IDINE!

Points Scrounger

The first 11 dines earn 8 points/dollar (increases to 16 [8 + 8] for the 12th and beyond), so you want to make those as small as possible - don't be shy about charging drink(s) separately, etc. Also, with PC Dining, be sure your net, after-tip amount is a multiple of 25 cents to squeeze out the exact mile!

Beckles

I've recently started using Priority Club as my primary earning option for iDine, I have plenty of airline miles and I end up using cheap fares a lot of times when I'm not traveling for free, so I'm starting to find hotel points more useful. A few notes on PC:

1) You earn elite status from all points earned, so you can earn Gold status (not that it's worth a ton, but it is something) for just 20,000 points, which would be $1,250.00 of iDining at the elite level (easily done in a year's time).

2) Priority Club offers some interesting "Point Break" options from time-to-time where you can get a free room for just 5,000 points, which is just $312.50 of iDining at the elite level ... a pretty good deal. As an example, the brand new Holiday Inn Aladdin that just opened here in Kansas City is currently available for Point Break redemption.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Thanks good to know! I will hold off until after I achieve that, but, I believe I must charge $15 within 30 days (today) of my initially setting up the account to earn the 15000 bonus points.

I might use it in conjunction with another IDINE card promotion -- Delta -- and then charge at $5 a pop, just to be safe, though.

I have it linked to my AA Bronze (no fee) MC card earning 1 AA mile per $2 charged.

I will soon have my Citi AA AMEX card that I will then link to my AAdvantage IDINE account.

NJUPINTHEAIR

I have always been a hotel point person, but with MyCokeRewards and the rumblings that Priority Club is a worthwhile program, I have taken the plunge. In addition, Priority Club participates on Points.com so you can switch the points after you have achieved a certain threshold -- not sure if this is worth it to do, but it can be done.

I saw that there was a 5,000 pointer in Blois in the Loire valley of France, and inasmuch as there are still many areas in Europe that do not have a Marriott or Hilton property (let alone Hyatt!), this is probably a good choice if I ever wish to stay in a chain type property while there.

I doubt that I will earn Gold status as IDINE is a great way for me to earn airline FF miles, but for the odd bonus here and there, as well as a way to dabble in this program, this is not a bad way to go.

Also, USA Today had a recent article on HI in that they are cutting out the really older properties with the outside corridors, etc., so as to re-enegize and modernize the brand, etc.

So, perhaps in a year or two, it may be an interesting chain to consider spending more than an itinerant night or two, while on a personal vacation!

Stefan Daystrom

That may be, but keep in mind that Priority Club dining earns you a lot less points per dine than most airline programs earn you miles per dine.

For example, normal Priority Club earning (once you reach elite) is 16 points per $, while normal airline earning is 10 miles per $. However, if you want to convert PC points to miles (I know you don't, but this is one way to compare their value) 16 points is only worth a bit over 3 miles.

But the other problem is that Priority Club Dining promos are rare and paltry compared to most airlines (tho British Airways' Executive Club Dining is perhaps even worse with promos), to the point that I (without it being my primary or even secondary dining program) have a hard time finding a time in the year to requalify for elite at PC Dining while getting some bonus points! It's almost August, and so far they've only had a promo for new members, and finally their first promo for existing members in the year and it requires THOUSANDS of dollars of dining spending to get to a reasonable (not fantastic) bonus level (that anyone who reads FT can get after just 5 PC nights each quarter).

In fact, you may want to do the math and see if AA wouldn't work better for you, considering that AA is the one airline program that you can transfer miles out of into several hotel programs including Priorty Club either directly:

https://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantag...eemMiles.jhtml

or via points.com (free) or via Diners Club (annual fee). I know you lose some value doing this, but the question is, since you earn so much less in PC Dining than in AAdvantage Dining, even with the lossy AA->hotel conversion, might it still make more sense to earn AA miles just for the purpose of converting them to hotel points?