Jailer

Searching today, the results were inundated with online only options and circling back to an email there's this:


A new way to earn miles by Ordering Online

That's right, we've added 15,000 more restaurants to the program where you can now order your next meal for takeout or delivery directly on the AAdvantage Dining site and earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

There are two new ways to Order Online and earn. Place an order wherever you see "Online Ordering Available" or "Online Ordering Only" on the AAdvantage Dining site. You'll then earn at the same rate as you would when dining in at a participating restaurant (excluding tax, tip, and any delivery fees).



We don't generally do delivery, but this would have been a very nice option during the height of the pandemic and pick up is an option. I haven't set up a ChowNow account, but will as this is a nice expansion even without tip/tax/delivery being grossed up. If this hasn't hit other airline partners yet, I am sure it will in short order.

Perversely, I could not help taking a peek at RN-poor Maui, from where we just returned, and had this started a week earlier we would have definitely given it a try.

hhdl

It hit Hilton Honors Dining about a week ago.

Jailer

On Thursday I experimented�because who doesn�t love science�by using the same credit card for a dine-in and a ChowNow. Both hit my RN account today: surprisingly no third-party lag but I suppose it�s merely when the cc charge hits.

It will be interesting to see if the fairly extensive ChowNow network continues intact. Pity that RN didn�t roll this out when we were all quarantined. My small whine is there doesn�t seem to (yet) be a way to filter for dine-in only places so the map gets overpopulated with restaurants that�if traveling�are not really pertinent.

SanDiego1K

Are many of these ghost kitchens?

Jailer

Not to the best of my knowledge. I know most of our neighborhood ChowNows and the trial run was from our local go-to Thai place, the only difference from the dozen+ other times that I've picked up was the ordering platform.

I have been intrigued by RN's business model, and it's a good move for them to hitch their wagon to ChowNow, radically increasing RN's footprint in one fell swoop. When I enrolled, ChowNow's welcoming email made me realize that this isn't a commission-based service and merely a shallow dive revealed that restaurants pay a $99 yearly subscription fee:


Hi Jailer,

It's Chris with ChowNow, the online ordering system used by **** Thai Cuisine. Glad to see you just placed an order!

What you may not know is that your order made an impact. By ordering directly from the **** Thai Cuisine website, all proceeds went directly to the restaurant. Believe it or not, most third party online ordering companies take a hefty percentage from each order (even for repeat customers). Those savings can be used on things that make your experience even better � like quality ingredients and stellar service.

Come back and see us again soon, and keep supporting restaurants like **** that make your community awesome.

Very Best,


Chris Webb
CEO, CHOWNOW



Maybe this is an introductory period where RN is picking up the costs, but at some point ChowNow's clients are going to have to pay for these miles and will either continue or opt out. Finally, there is a ChowNow App which I'd love to use but I'm betting that miles are only given if porting via RN.

KathyWdrf

....

The ChowNow subscription fee (that the restaurants pay) of $99 isn't yearly, it's monthly. And that's if the restaurant signs up for a two-year plan (vs. annual or monthly plans, which have higher fees). There's also a one-time setup fee.

ChowNow Pricing | Commission-Free Online Ordering | ChowNow

Jailer

Thanks for the correction...I guess I should have gone a little deeper. What I am curious about is if the RN commission is passed along to the restaurants or is eaten by ChowNow: if so, that $99 per month could be gobbled up pretty darn quick. If RN/ChowNow eateries start dropping like flies it will suggest some kind of introductory period.

hhdl

I would suspect that ChowNow is eating the commission, given that at most of these restaurants, the RN points are only on the ChowNow order. They're in the burn through venture money to acquire and keep clients mode.

sdsearch

I had an interesting situation. I ordered on Memorial Day from a ChowNow restaurant which confirmed the order but turned out to be closed. I had to chat with ChowNow to get it figured out, and they refunded my money an hour or two later (the refund by that point was a separate transaction). But the dine posted over at RN! Which is guess is fitting, since I wasted time waiting for my order to be supposedly ready, and then driving to the restaurant to find it dark, closed, and locked up. So my RN posting is I guess my compensation for the wasted time (the refund was only compensation for the order itself).

But at least there was live chat customer service at ChowNow to deal with this issue even on Memorial Day. That's a lot better than waiting days for a customer service response from RN.