mith

i posed this question here before, but it has been a while and maybe someone knows a place where you can order sth (gift cert or just "tip") online and receive idine points for this transaction...
If I were a restaurant owner, i would do it, just for "forgotten tips" or so, knowing that lots of mile-addicts in the whole country need some more dines...

rhwbullhead

http://www.alaturkachicago.com/giftcertifices.htm

I haven't tried it, but I saw this page while I was looking through there site. I'm going to go dine there tonight.

ZeppoX

Gift certs are not supposed to earn miles. But when purchased in the restaurant, it's not possible for idine to distinguish what was bought.
For some reason, I get the feeling that they'd have an easier time enforcing the T&C with an on-line purchase, since the db would contain info as to what was bought. Furthermore, the online CC might be processed by a third party, and thus never show up on your CC account as a purchase from the restaurant.

sdsearch

You're not thinking of why restaurant owners like gift certificates.

It's because people who use them invariably spend more than the amount on the gift certificate (because it's hard to spend exactly what's there, and they don't want to "waste" a whole bunch of unused certificate), and so the restaurant gets more income.

The restaurant is much more interested in picking up customers (the users of the gift certificates, when they're used in the "normal" way) who will hopefully return repeatedly (this time paying real money), than they are in a one-time sale of gift certificates to someone out of the area, on which they will see hardly any income anyway (becuase iDine will swallow it all).

Restaurants aren't interested in miles addicts! They're interested in diners, especially local diners who then talk up the restaurant to other local diners who aren't miles addicts. (Remember, the restaurant pays very heavily for those miles; they generallly don't turn a profit on those dines, unless those dines result in more non-miles-earning dines. So they prefer only a fraction of their business be miles-earning dines.)

... Meanwhile, I don't understand why you're so interested in a random restaurant's gift certificates (unless you're going to find a way to use them somehow). Even with, say, a "double miles" promo (for an elite/tier 1), you're paying 5c a mile (at 20 miles/$ spent). That's a pretty horrid rate to pay for miles, if you're not also getting the value of a meal out of it.

rhwbullhead

I remember a poster in another thread saying that they called Idine and asked about gift certificates and the reply was that gift certificates are not allowed.

If this is ineed true, why would they have this policy? As sdsearch explains in his post, gift certificates can often bring a restaurant extra business.

Also, where does it say this in the member agreement? I've read through the whole thing and found the section where they prohibit discounts, coupons, or special group pricing (see bottom), but I see no mention of gift certificates.

Has anyone had a gift certificate claim denied?





From
http://mpdining.rewardsnetwork.com/t...conditions.jsp :

Rewards are not available when used with other dining programs, coupons, discount cards, restaurant promotions or planned events such as large business functions, parties and/or any situation where a special pricing arrangement has been negotiated directly with the restaurant. Any Rewards that may have been granted to you may be reversed by Rewards Network if you do not have prior consent from the restaurant to receive your Rewards in addition to your negotiated arrangement. You may contact Rewards Network Member Services at 1-800-555-5116 for assistance with plans for large functions.

ZeppoX

rhwbullhead raises a good point.

That gift certs are not supposed to get rewards is read so often on these boards that I, for one, assumed it as Truth. Now, I'm wondering where this idea comes from? I checked airline T&C and the various info pages on rewardsnetwork.com, and come up empty.

Also, a search of this forum reveals plenty of experiences indicating that they post just fine. That has been my experience, too.
Example thread on certs

Chain restaurant/gift cert thread

One thought is that the T&C notes that an individual restaurant also can impose additional terms, that will be spelled out on the details page about that restaurant.

cactuspete

Plenty of reasons:

1. Easy mileage credit to keep a FF account alive.

2. Many of the iDine bonus promos are X dines = bonus miles.

3. Airline promos often give credit for dines, regardless of amount, as a "qualifying activity".

4. Easy way to get the 12 dines neeeded for elite status.

5. Not everybody lives or works near a participating iDine restaurant (or has the time to get to one).

BOGO

Additional reason:
6. One member of a chain is part of the IDINE program, but you live/work closer to a non-participating franchise that will accept gift cards from other locations in the chain.

rhwbullhead

The only reason I could think of for prohibiting gift cards/certificates is that you can use them to get around some of the restricitions listed above. We've all read threads here where people have bought gift cards and then went on a blacked out day, or used a coupon. This place near me has a 20% coupon in a mailer and it would be sweet to buy gift cards and then use the coupon (if that's even allowed by the restaurant.)

I have yet to have a gift certifcate not post, but I'm still weary about getting a gift card to fulfill my $125 needed spending for the UA bonus. I've only bought cards to meet this promotion at places where I have no problems getting auto credit for the certs in the past.

sdsearch

Didn't you read what I said? I said (a) random gift certificates that you won't have a way to use, and (b) my example was 20 miles per $, which already included a iDine bonus!

Now, yes, if you combine 1 and 3 (aren't they the same?) and 5 and combine that with someone who rarely travels to somewhere where there's an iDine restaurant, then I guess occasionally buying the smallest gift certificate you can might make sense. But only as much sense, say, as buying some flowers from FTD (which also gives miles) that you don't need.

#4 makes no sense to me. If you need elite iDine status, it's only so that you can get to dines where you'll pay 10 cents a mile. Until you get there, you're paying about 33 cents a mile! Why in the world get random gift certficates from somewhere far across the country just to do that? If you don't have iDine restaurants near you (or near where you are in your travels oftens enough), why in the world do you care whether you're elite at iDine?!?

Again, if you can make use of the gift certificates, that's completely different.

I was just asking about gift cerficates you have no use for, and therefore you've done little else but pay for some miles at a very poor rate (in particular, at a much poorer rate than buying miles from the airline itself, which also counts as activity and therefore keeps your miles from expiring. But with rare exceptions, any iDine restaurant at a random place in the country that sells gift certificates online is going to give you gift certificates you have no use for, right? If you can't use iDine otherwise, I'm not clear on why iDine rather than, say, a mileage mall? If you can use iDine, why not actually dine and get some value out of it, or at least buy a local gift certificate (that you could at least give as a gift, if you don't want to use it yourself)?

Now, there would be an exception if, as stated by someone else, the gift certificates could be bought at a member of national restaurant chain, where that location of the chain participates but most other locations of the same chain don't (say, Denny's). But that's not what the OP asked for, just any restaurant anywhere...

cactuspete

No. I just made a random post.

No.

Your point?

<shrug> To each his own. If I'm going to load up on miles through an iDine promo, I want to make sure that those big dining transactions are at 10 miles/$. Cheapo online GCs would be easier than driving across town 12 times to buy a cup of coffee.

Convenience. And we're not talking about "buying" mass amounts of miles at these "rates".

sdsearch

You only have to drive across town 12 times if you only have one place there to do this and it's "one/month".

If it's "unlimited", you can get multiple cups of coffee within minutes of each other, each as a separate transaction, as long as you round the tip differently on each one so each is a different amount. (Otherwise iDine will think they're duplicates.)

And/or: In many areas iDine restaurants are "clumped" (because the iDine reps who signed them up didn't want to drive all the way across town to sign up a different one ). So once you get to the part of town where iDine restaurants are, there's often (but I can't speak for your city) several within easy walking distance of each other.

The other point is why collect miles if you're not an airline traveler? Now, perhaps you only travel internationally. But if you travel domestically, don't you find yourself closer to iDine restaurants during some of your travels? If so, you can just do your "coffee runs" then.

cactuspete

I've never intentionally sought out an iDine restaurant while traveling (although I've lucked into a few). If it's business travel, I don't have time. If it's pleasure, I've got better things to do.

It is apparent from your comments that the iDine participation in your locale is much different than in mine.

BOGO

I collect miles because I am a bargain hunter. I no longer travel for business, but still have miles piled up for myself and 5 family members. The dining keeps all our accounts active and slowing growing. On occasion we can use the miles for a vacation or trip to Grandma. I am trying to save some miles for that inevitable emergency trip home. I choose which Dining account to use based upon the current promotion. If I can save on time and gas milage to order a gift card for a chain that does not have a local participating outlet, I would do it if it would get me an extra 1000 miles. I would only do it if there were no extra costs involved and I could use the gift card or give it as a gift. I have enough places that I can make my "coffee runs" locally. The promotions that depend upon $25 minimun dines or high monthly totals, are the true reason for my need to have gift cards.

cactuspete

Maybe not - - see T&C from new AA promo: "Limit one qualified dine per participating restaurant per day per member."