bigguyinpasadena

Last year a couple of the airlines had end of year idine bonuses.I participated in one for United which gave me a 25%bonus on all of my Idines through 2004.
I have not seen any of these yet this year-are they going to appear soon?

Stefan Daystrom

Well, in the case of the United promo being end-of-year last year, I think that's just because that's when they started the 25% bonus program.

Now that the program's been running all year, you don't have to anything special at the end of the year, but I think you may need something like 12 or 16 UA dines a year to renew it for the next year.

Promos are not consistent from year to year most places. In particular, since Rewards Network (fka iDine) has been ramping up its hotel rewards this year, most of the short-term promos I've seen lately tie into hotels more than restaurants (for example, AA just ended one where you'd get 250 bonus miles for dines but 750 bonus miles for a dine and a Rewards Network hotel stay).

Meanwhile, since travel is up at many airlines, many of them (including UA I think) seem to be offering fewer bonuses that don't require flying (or spending lots on stuff like investments/mortgages) this year compared to last.

Also, more offers may be targeted this year than last, which makes them even harder to predict. Hilton HHonors just gave me (but targeted) double miles at hotel stays for the next months, noting in the email that they'd noticed my increased activity lately (in fact, the increased activity in that program was basically because I was a few stays short of requalifying elite for next year!). If you don't know what activity will trigger a promo (sometimes it's increased activity, but other times it's decreased activity!) there's not much you can do to bring a targeted promo on...

bigguyinpasadena

Hey Stefan!!!!Congrats on your 1000th post!

Mormik

I had never heard tell of this promo which combined a hotel stay with a dine... do you have any details about it?

bigguyinpasadena

Mormik-montreal is my favorite holiday city,wish they had some Idines.
I have emailed them and requested it-so far no response.

Mormik

I see they have some in Toronto now, however the mileage award is really weak... only 3 miles per $.
I guess it's better than nothing.
I too, would like to be able to dine in my own city (Montreal) and get some miles!
BTW, the AA.rewardsnetwork (Idine) nowe has several hotels in Montreal worth miles.

Stefan Daystrom

I think it may have been something like TWO dines for 250 and then a hotel stay for an extra 750. I'm Elite with AAdvantage so I'm always doing three dines a month for the regular 500 mile monthly bonus anyway, so I mostly paid attention because it looked like I could get 250 miles for doing nothing extra.

Sorry, I don't remember much more of the details, since I just signed up since I knew I'd be doing dines (so I figured maybe I'd get the 250 bonus points), but I didn't have any opportunities during the limited time period for doing hotel stays through Rewards Network to work for me. (If I do hotel stays through Rewards Network, I HAVE to pay in advance with no cancellation refunds, and the ONLY miles/points I get are the ones from Rewards Network, so it's not necessarily a better deal when I can earn about the same through bonus programs at hotel chains I frequent anyway, and there I don't lose all my money if my plans change with 24+ hours notice.)

I notice you're in Montreal. I would be this promo was limited to US residents only (as when it was announced, I don't think Rewards Network had officially expanded to Canada yet), that's probably why they didn't send you an email notifying you of the promo (like they did me).

tudorcity

My 250 bonus miles posted yesterday:

08/09/04 DINE 2X 250 BONUS MILES OFFER 0 250 250

Mormik

My 250 AA Miles and 750 AA mIles posted yesterday!