Marriott Bonvoy ‘Eat Around Town’
Marriott Bonvoy has launched Eat Around Town by Marriott Bonvoy, a delicious new way to earn points when dining in the United States. Members can redeem Marriott Bonvoy points earned at over 11,000 restaurants participating in Eat Around Town towards free nights at more than 7,000 participating properties in 132 countries and territories and experiences through Marriott Bonvoy Moments.
Marriott Bonvoy members who have enrolled in the program will earn points faster both when they dine at participating Eat Around Town restaurants while traveling and in their daily lives. Beginning today through November 11, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy members will receive eight points for every dollar spent at participating restaurants as part of an introductory offer. Thereafter, Marriott Bonvoy Elite members will earn six points per dollar spent and members four points per dollar spent. So
Members who are U.S. residents can start earning by simply visiting EatAroundTown.Marriott.com, creating a dining profile, and linking a credit or debit card. From there, their points will automatically be tracked when they dine at participating restaurants, allowing them to earn every time they use their linked card. Check out the Chase and American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit cards here.
There’s also a 1,000 points bonus if you sign up, spend at least $30 and complete a review online.
Guru’s Wrap-up
There’s many other programs out there that reward you for dining out. This is probably not the best option, but it could be for those who prefer Marriott points, especially during the promotional period when you earn 8x.
I’m glad to see that people on this thread are able to be critical without having their comments removed. Here’s what you can expect when you sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy Eat Around Town program, because it’s what happened to me:
You’ll join the program online and add a linked credit card. You search the Marriott EAT web site for a “current participating” restaurant using city, state or zip code before you join because you’re looking for a specific restaurant in a specific city. The “current participating” restaurants on the EAT website will be listed. You’ll be excited to see a that the restaurant you enjoy is on the EAT list of “current participating” places. You’ll recheck the site a week before – and then again just TWO HOURS before – you dine there. The restaurant will STILL be on the Marriott EAT web site as a “current participating” business. Again, the participating restaurant *will be listed* on the Marriott Bonvoy EAT website each time you check – even two hours before you dine there.
When you patron the restaurant, you’ll use your linked credit card. A week later, you’ll look in your account at the Marriott Bonvoy EAT website for a record of your dining experience, but it won’t be there. (The lure of joining the program is that you’ll receive 1000 bonus points if you spend $35+ at a “participating” restaurant listed on their site within 30 days of joining). When you see you did not receive credit for the dining experience, you’ll look at the EAT web site to see if somehow you were mistaken about the restaurant’s participation status (even though you KNOW the restaurant was on the list). You’ll find the restaurant STILL on the EAT website’s list of “current participating” businesses.
Next, you will fill out a “Where are my missing rewards?” form on the Marriott EAT web site. Three days later, you’ll receive an email from the Marriott Bonvoy EAT program’s “help desk”. The email will state that the restaurant you dined in is not a “current participating” restaurant. You’ll be condescended to and will be told that you must not have checked to see which venues are “current” participants with the EAT program. The tone of the email will make you feel as if the “help desk” employee thinks you’re too dumb to confirm which restaurants are on their partnering list before you dine.
You’ll write back to the Marriott Bonvoy EAT “help desk”, explaining that the restaurant you patronized was indeed listed on THEIR website as “current” and “participating” in the EAT program. You’ll say that you saw the restaurant on the EAT website upon joining the program, again a week before, again two hours before, and finally a week after your dining experience. You’ll ask the help desk if Marriott has pulled a “bait and switch” or if the EAT webmasters are incapable of maintaining accurate info on the website. You’ll indicate that you wouldn’t have bothered to fill out a missing rewards form if you weren’t 100% certain the restaurant you chose was on their partnership list.
A day or so later, you’ll receive a Marriott Bonvoy EAT program “help desk” email response from the same person. She will tell you that she painstakingly searched through all of the current and former “participating” restaurants throughout the EAT program’s extensive database and that she learned that the restaurant you patronized had *NEVER* participated in the Marriott Bonvoy EAT program!
You will go back to the EAT web site again to do a search of restaurants. You will see that now, three or four days *after* you filled out a form looking for your missing rewards, the restaurant in which you dined is suddenly no longer on the list of “current participating” restaurants! How convenient.
I am neither delusional nor do I have dementia. I only wish I’d taken a screen shot of the restaurant listed when I saw it on the EAT web site just 2 hours before dining there. Now I have no proof that it ever appeared on the EAT web site.
So, you will not get your rewards. You will be condescended to, will be made to feel like an inconvenience, and will be treated as if you fabricated everything you experienced.
Wow that’s terrible customer service. Would have been a good idea to take a screenshot, but again I would have expected rep to easily see restaurant in the list and issue points.
Did you reply to them to say restaurant has been removed?
Poor choice of restaurants!!!!!!!!!!!