Dine Your Way to Airline and Hotel Rewards

Dining is one of the easiest ways to earn airline reward miles and hotel reward points!

With over 11,000 restaurants to choose from and regular bonus offers, it’s easy to earn airline reward miles on Alaska, American, Delta and United or hotel reward points with Hilton HHonors and IHG Rewards Club! Unfortunately Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood do not have dining programs at this time.

Simply sign up, register the credit cards you use most often and dine at participating restaurants. You will earn airline reward miles or hotel reward points when you dine-in, take-out or order delivery. And you even earn points on the tax and tip!

The three earning levels and how to qualify:

• Elite – 5 bonus airline miles or 8 bonus hotel points for each dollar spent
  • Elect to receive emails
  • Complete 12 or more qualified dining transactions in the calendar year

• Online Member – 3 bonus airline miles or 5 bonus hotel points for each dollar spent
  • Elect to receive emails

• Member – 1 bonus mile for American for each dollar spent and 1 bonus mile for Alaska, Delta and United for each $2 spent or 1 IHG bonus point for each dollar spent and 2 Hilton bonus points for each dollar spent
  • Elect not to receive program emails

Sign up bonuses are common and typically range from 500 to 3,500 bonus miles or points. The steps to qualify usually require you to:

• Register for the dining program prior to the expiration date of the bonus offer (you must opt-in to receive emails)

• Within 30 days of registration, dine at a participating restaurant, bar or nightclub, spend at least $30 including tax and tip and complete a review of the dining experience within 30 days of dining (you will receive an email link)

When bonus offers expire they are typically extended – We’ve listed the typical bonus offers below. Click each of the links to review the current bonuses (which may be better than those listed below), as well as the expiration dates:

• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Dining – Register, complete your first dine within 30 days of signing up and complete the review within 30 days of dining for 500 bonus miles

• American Airlines AAdvantage Dining – Register, complete your first dine within 30 days of signing up and complete the review within 30 days of dining for 1,000 bonus miles

• Delta Airlines SkyMiles Dining – Register, dine and then review within 30 days to earn up to 3,500 bonus miles; complete the 1st dine for 500, the 2nd for 1,000 and the 3rd for 1, 500 bonus miles

• United Airlines MileagPlus Dining – Register, complete your first dine within 30 days of signing up and complete the review within 30 days of dining for 1,500 bonus miles

• Hilton HHonors Dining – Register, dine and then review within 30 days to earn up to 2,000 bonus points – complete the 1st dine for 1,000, the 2nd for 500 and the 3rd for 500 bonus points

• IHG Rewards Club– Register, complete your first dine within 30 days of signing up and complete the review within 30 days of dining for 1,000 bonus points

Bonus trvlvip Tip:

Given the choice between earning airline miles or hotel points from these dining programs, we believe the airline programs have better earning potential.

Airline reward miles are typically worth two to four times (1.5-2 cents per mile) what we believe a Hilton HHonors point (0.5 cents) or an IHG Rewards Club point (0.7 cents) are worth. To learn about how trvlvip values the miles and points across the loyalty programs, see our great Tip on the topic.

The airline dining programs earn fewer reward credits than do the hotel programs at the Elite and Member dining levels, but because of the much higher value of those earned airline miles, it’s a better earning opportunity. Because all of these programs are managed by the same company, you can only pick one program per credit card – so choose wisely.

If you are loyal to Alaska, American, Delta or United, we suggest joining their dining programs instead of the Hilton or IHG programs. If you aren’t loyal to an airline, you will still enjoy great rewards with one of the hotel dining programs so sign up today!

The Wrap-Up:

Get out there and dine! With over 11,000 restaurants on the list, dining is one of the easiest ways to earn airline reward miles and hotel reward points and to keep your miles and points from expiring! Simply register the credit cards you use most often to dine and chow your way toward great rewards!

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Want another simple way to earn extra rewards without flying or staying in a hotel? Go shopping!

Happy Loyalty, Happy Travels!

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