Multiply Your Miles Or Points With Hotel & Airline Dining Programs

Complete List Of Airline & Hotel Dining Programs 

Did you know that it is possible to multiply your miles & points with dining programs? Earning 1 point for every dollar you spend takes a long time to earn a free flight. The obvious way to get free flights is using welcome offers to earn a chunk of points from opening a credit card. The 2nd-most discussed is maximizing which card to use at restaurants, so that you can earn double or trip points at the type of business you’re using. It’s also possible to earn even more points by signing up for dining programs and using your card on file. Here is a complete list of airline & hotel dining programs.

What are dining programs? 

Dining programs are exactly what they sound like. They’re restaurant-focused and give you extra points for signing up for the program, putting a credit card on file, and then using it when you dine out. The large majority of these are managed by Rewards Network. With minimal exceptions, they only cover restaurants located in the U.S.

Dining programs all work in the same basic way: you sign up for the program, eat at a restaurant they cover, and use the credit card associated with your account. The programs are free, and most allow you to have more than 1 card on your account, as well. You’ll automatically receive the extra points, which can vary depending on the program, the restaurant, and any promotions. All of the programs have an option to search for locations near you using a variety of filters, such as type of food, bonus points earning, etc.

You will find most of the major programs on our list of airline & hotel dining programs.  And most of them come with a nice little welcome offer to get you started.

Can I double dip for more points & miles with dining programs?

No, because of the fact that these all have the same managing company. For example, if you eat at a restaurant that’s in the United and the Alaska programs, you can’t earn points at both of them. There are 2 things that make this impossible:

1. You must use the credit card on file to pay for your meal, or you won’t get the extra points.
2. When you add your credit card to an account, it becomes the default card of whichever account it was added to last. It stops functioning on any other accounts.

Essentially, this means you can’t add your American Express Gold Card (4x points at restaurants) to your United, Alaska, American, and Marriott dining accounts and earn at all of them PLUS earn the 4x points from the restaurant. Whichever one you added the card to most recently is the one that will give you bonus points. You’ll earn the restaurant points and points from one dining program only.

List Of Airline & Hotel Dining Programs – Airlines

There are 8 different airline programs that currently have dining programs. Multiple your airline points and miles with dining programs from any of them. You can change which program you’re using at any given time. If the restaurant you’re going to earns more points in one program than another, feel free to change.

American Airlines

American Airlines operates the AAdvantage Dining Program. There are currently 3 tiers: Basic, Select, and VIP. The higher your status, the more you earn. 

• Basic: earn 1 mile per dollar by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Select: earn 3 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from AAdvantage Dining.
• VIP: earn 5 points per dollar and earn points at restaurants where non-VIP members don’t earn points. Earn VIP status on your 12th qualifying transaction. VIP status lasts through the following year. Must agree to receive emails to have VIP status.

Current sign-up bonus: create an account, use the linked credit card for $25 or more at any participating restaurant in the first 30 days, and get 1,000 bonus AAdvantage miles.

Bonus extras: use your Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Card and earn an extra 2 miles per dollar when dining at participating restaurants.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska’s MileagePlan Dining also has 3 tiers: Member, Online, and VIP. The higher your status, the more you earn. 

• Member: earn 1 mile per $2 dollars spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Select: earn 3 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from MileagePlan Dining.
• VIP: earn 5 points per dollar by receiving emails and having more than 12 qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: create an account, use the linked credit card for $30 or more at any participating restaurant in the first 30 days, and get 1,000 bonus MileagePlan miles after writing a review.

Delta Airlines

Delta’s program is Skymiles Dining. Again, there are 3 tiers that earn at different rates.

• Member: earn 1 mile per $2 dollars spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Select: earn 3 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from SkyMiles Dining.
• VIP: earn 5 points per dollar by receiving emails and having 12 or more qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: create an account, use the linked credit card for $30 or more at any participating restaurant in the first 30 days, and earn up to 3 bonuses. The first $30 spend earns 500 bonus miles. The 2nd $30 at a participating restaurant earns 1,000 points, and the 3rd earns 1,500. That’s up to 3,000 miles of bonuses. If you’re a SkyMiles Medallion member, earn an extra 500 miles on that first visit.

Hawaiian Airlines

Different from the others, Hawaiian Airlines has 2 different ways to earn miles through dining. Neither of these is run by Rewards Network, so you may be able to stack or “double dip” these for even more points earning.

• Hawaiian Airlines Marketplace: Including restaurants, it’s a list of retailers where you can earn extra miles by using their marketplace and the registered credit card. Most restaurants earn 2.5 miles per dollar, but they’re not all the same. There are no tiers and no welcome offers.
• Mogl Dining Program: While not specific to Hawaiian Airlines, you can choose Hawaiian Miles as your preferred program. Sign up for Mogl and earn cash back from dining at participating restaurants. Each month, you’ll get 40 HawaiianMiles for every $1 of cash back you’ve earned.

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue’s dining program is TrueBlue Dining. It’s the simplest program to understand of any in this article:

• All members earn 3 TrueBlue points for $1 spent at a participating restaurant.

Watch for blackout dates on some of the restaurants.

Southwest Airlines

Rapid Rewards dining from Southwest Airlines has 2 tiers, instead of 3. You can earn points & miles from their dining program in these earning structures:

• If you accept email promotions, you’ll earn 3 points per $1 spent. 
• If you don’t accept email promotions, you’ll earn 1 point per $2 spent.

Current sign-up bonus: new members can sign up here, link a credit card, and spend $25 at a participating restaurant. After writing a review of it on the Rapid Rewards dining site, earn an extra 300 points.

Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines has Free Spirit Dining. Again, it has the 3 tiers like many of the other programs:

• Member: earn 1 mile per $2 dollars spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Online: earn 3 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from Free Spirit Dining.
• VIP: earn 5 points per dollar by receiving emails and having 12 or more qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: sign up, link a credit card, and spend $30 at a participating restaurant. After writing a review of it on the Free Spirit Dining site, earn an extra 1000 Free Spirit miles.

United Airlines

United Airlines’ MileagePlus Dining is similar to many others: 3 tiers with different earning structures. They are as follows:

• Member: earn 1 mile per $2 dollars spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Online: earn 3 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from MileagePlus Dining.
• VIP: earn 5 points per dollar by receiving emails and having 12 or more qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: this bonus offer is for new members who sign up, link a credit card, and spend $25 at a participating restaurant. After writing a review of it on the MileagePlus Dining site, earn an extra 1,000 United miles. PLUS you can earn another 500 miles for visiting & reviewing a participating restaurant, up to 3 times. This all must be done within 30 days, and there’s a maximum of 2,500 miles you can earn.

List Of Airline & Hotel Dining Programs – Hotels

Numerous hotel chains have their own dining programs for earning points. They follow the same main idea as the airline dining programs: sign up for a free account, link a credit card to your account, and automatically earn points when you use it at a participating restaurant.

Caesar’s Rewards

The Caesars Rewards Dining has only 2 tiers. These are based on whether or not you have their credit card.

• Non-credit card members earn one Reward Credit for every $1 spent at participating restaurants.
• Register your Caesars Rewards Visa credit card and then earn 3 points per $1 in Reward Credits at participating restaurants.

Hilton Honors

Hilton’s Honors Dining program is very similar to the airline programs:

• Basic: earn 1 mile per $2 dollars spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Select: earn 5 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails from Hilton Honors Dining.
• VIP: earn 8 points per dollar by receiving emails and having more than 12 qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: the current bonus offer is for new members who sign up, link a credit card, and spend $25 at a participating restaurant. After writing a review of it on the Honors Dining site, earn an extra 1,000 Hilton points. I’ve seen higher bonuses from them in the past, including 2,000 points for the same $25.

IHG

IHG has another 3-tier program with Rewards Club Dining:

• Member: earn 1 mile per $1 dollar spent by having an account but not letting them send you any emails.
• Online: earn 5 points per dollar by agreeing to receive emails.
• Elite: earn 8 points per dollar by receiving emails and having more than 12 qualifying transactions in a year. Receive VIP-only benefits and offers.

Current sign-up bonus: sign up, link your credit card, and spend $30 at a participating restaurant. Afterwards, write a review on the site. Do all of this in 30 days to earn 1,000 IHG points as a bonus, on top of the points from your meal.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott’s dining program is called Eat Around Town. The program is divided into 2 tiers, based on your status level with Marriott:

• Members receive 4 Marriott points per $1 spent at participating restaurants.
• Those with any level of status (Silver and above!) receive 6 points / $1 at participating restaurants.

Current sign-up bonus: sign up, link your credit card, and spend $30 at a participating restaurant. Afterwards, write a review on the site. Do all of this in 30 days to earn 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points as a bonus, plus the points from your meal.

List Of Airline & Hotel Dining Programs – Fuel Programs

Shell Fuel Rewards

Maybe fuel discounts are your thing. Shell Fuel Rewards offers a different way to maximize points and miles with dining programs. Earn up to 10 cents per gallon of discount, but there’s a maximum of 20 gallons. Earn the discount from every $50 spent in their dining program. 10 cents x 20 gallons = $2 of discount from spending $50 in the program’s restaurants. Earn 50% more rewards (15 cents discount now) if you attain Gold status. 

The good news is that you get a trial run of Gold status just from signing up for Shell Fuel Rewards, and you only need to buy gas at Shell 6 times every 3 months to maintain Gold status. Maximize value even further by using one of the best credit cards for gas purchases.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to multiply your points and miles with dining programs every time you go out. This is a ‘set it and forget it’ option, unless you want to be a hawk on it to extract every point possible. It’s possible to constantly scour the apps before going out to eat, seeing if you can earn extra points in one program against another. The amount of effort you want to put into it can be none or a ton. It also depends on your preferred program, which one has the most restaurants near you, and if there are any bonuses you could earn. It really takes a lot of effort to only earn 1 point per dollar when dining out. With dining programs and the right credit card, you should be earning above 4 points per dollar. You’ll have the points for your next free trip that much sooner.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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