A special segment of adventurous travelers will purposely book itineraries with long connections in layover cities just to leave the airport and explore for a few hours or days between flights.
02.04.2024 - 16:13 / thepointsguy.com
One of the best problems to have in the points world is trying to figure out which credit card bonus category will give you the most bang for your buck on a certain purchase.
When dining at a hotel, this can be especially tricky — should you use a card that earns bonus points on dining or hotel purchases?
Let's jump into questions that can guide you on which card you should use when dining at a hotel.
Bars and restaurants at hotels can be tricky because sometimes they code as hotel or travel purchases and sometimes as dining. For most issuers, if a restaurant or bar is located inside another business, such as a hotel, it will code as a hotel or travel purchase.
However, I recently popped into a bar attached to a hotel I was not staying at. I used my American Express® Gold Card and it coded as dining at a restaurant, so I earned 4 points per dollar spent.
So, each restaurant or bar attached to a hotel can code differently on a case-by-case basis. I have noticed that if the restaurant or bar is a chain, it tends to code as dining.
If you're unsure how the eatery will code, a safe bet is to use a card that earns bonus points on both dining and hotel purchases, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Related: The best credit cards for dining
If you are staying at the hotel and don't want to take a chance on how the restaurant will code, your best option is to charge your meal to your room. Then, your restaurant or bar bill will be added to your overall hotel bill, ensuring that it will code as a hotel expense.
If you have a card that earns bonus rewards on travel but not dining, like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, this is a good way to make sure you'll earn bonus rewards on your dining purchase.
And if you have a cobranded credit card with the hotel, you'll earn bonus points on the purchase and may even tap into additional perks like a dining discount. For example, using a Marriott cobranded card at a Bonvoy property could allow you to earn up to 23 points dollar.
While spending on cobranded credit cards doesn't always make sense, one of the best reasons to do so is to rack up large bonus multipliers on hotel stays.
Related: How to choose a hotel credit card?
If you have a card with great earning rates on dining, like the Amex Gold Card, it can be tempting to use it to pay at your hotel restaurant and earn valuable transferable rewards rather than hotel points. However, most cobranded cards have outstanding earning rates for purchases at their hotels, so you'll almost always come out ahead by charging the meal to your room and paying with your cobranded hotel card when you can.
For instance, if you take a chance that the restaurant will code as dining and use
A special segment of adventurous travelers will purposely book itineraries with long connections in layover cities just to leave the airport and explore for a few hours or days between flights.
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