Turn dining into a 4 mpd opportunity, even without a dining card

If you own a dedicated dining card like the UOB Preferred Platinum AMEX (4 mpd, now capped) or the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature (3.2 mpd, min spend $300/month), then you’re pretty much set when it comes to eating out. However, if you don’t (or are close to the cap), it’s important to think of alternative ways in which you can earn 4 miles per dollar on the all important dining category.

A big part of building your miles balance is looking for ways to turn general spending into bonus category spend. For example, in the past I’ve opted to buy a PS4 from a department store instead of a gaming shop in order to earn 4 mpd on the Citibank Rewards card. I also actively look out for opportunities to buy things online to earn 4 mpd on the DBS Woman’s Card instead of the usual 1.2-1.4 mpd I’d get if I bought in a shop.

Here’s some ideas I have for how you can maximize your miles on dining.

Mobile Payments (Samsung/Apple/Android Pay) + OCBC Titanium Rewards

Mobile payments are an increasingly common accepted mode of payment at restaurants and if you see anywhere that has a contactless payment terminal it’s a good bet they accept mobile payments from Samsung, Apple or Android Pay too. For example, Pasta Mania, Salad Stop, Subway, Toast Box, Soup Spoon all take mobile payments.

I wrote about the Titanium Rewards card’s ongoing promotion with mobile payments that gives you 10X points on your first $12,000 of spending per card anniversary year until 31 December 2018, and given the proliferation of mobile payments this could easily take the place of a dining card. Remember that if you hit the cap of $12,000 for one card, you can always apply for the other color card to double your limit (both cards are exactly the same).

Chope Vouchers + DBS Woman’s World

Chope is a reservations app that lets you secure tables at restaurants in Singapore, Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Phuket and Shanghai. It awards you Chope Dollars for every successfully fulfilled reservation. I started covering Chope some time back because it now lets you convert your Chope Dollars into Krisflyer miles. 

In addition to helping you make reservations, Chope also has a Store that sells prepaid vouchers for an extensive selection of restaurants where the typical discount is 10%. That is, if I’m willing to commit to spending $50 at Marriott Cafe, for example, I can buy that voucher at $45. The other common denomination on offer is $100 of dining value for $90.

If you already know that you’ll be dining in a particular restaurant, it makes sense to buy a voucher beforehand. Chope is an online merchant so using your DBS Woman’s World Card will yield 10X points.

You can sign up for Chope here and get 300 bonus Chope Dollars upon your first fulfilled reservation.

Mileslife + UOB PPV

I’ve written extensively about Mileslife before, but it was only recently that it became possible to earn 10X points with Mileslife through the UOB PPV card.

Needless to say this is a fantastic opportunity, because it means stacking whatever miles Mileslife gives you for dining at a particular restaurant together with miles from your card, which thanks to the frequent Mileslife promos can be quite substantial. Mileslife is running a few Christmas promotions on its app now that give you bonus miles when dining, so it’s well worth checking out if you haven’t already done so.

If you don’t have a Mileslife account you can sign up for one via this link and get 1,000 bonus miles with your first spend of $49 or more.

Deliveroo/Ubereats/Foodpanda + DBS Woman’s World/UOB PPV

If you’re not fussy about dining in, then all four food delivery services allow you to earn 10X points when you pay with your UOB PPV or DBS Woman’s World card.

Deliveroo, UberEats and FoodPanda have been on the market for a while so referral credits have dropped, but in case you don’t already haven an account you can get $3 off your first UberEats order with the code eats-8p9a9. HonestBee is newer to the market and still aggressively pushing for customers, however. I have my personal code but I think it’s better for you to use JUST12 to get $12 off your first order of $24 or more.

Giftano + DBS Woman’s World

Giftano is trying to be Singapore’s version of a gift card portal, an idea that is really big in the States but for whatever reason has not caught on in Singapore. It’s funny because in the States you can get gift cards for just about anything, whereas here it’s more the exception than the rule.

The selection here is understandably limited, with 25 restaurants available when I counted. Also, they do not appear to offer bonus value gift cards the way Chope does, so I’d only look at this if I’ve exhausted all the other options I listed here.

Paying with your DBS Woman’s World Card will yield 10X points.

Fave + DBS Woman’s World/UOB PPV

Fave is the new name for Groupon, and, just as Groupon did, Fave offers a whole range of dining deals where you can buy discounted dining vouchers online.

A quick reminder that I’m not talking about Fave Pay here, but rather buying coupons via Fave’s website. FavePay is Fave’s mobile payments platform that I covered some time back, and people have since confirmed that UOB PPV does not earn 10X points with FavePay despite Fave being listed as a 10X merchant on the UOB site.

You can get $3 off your first Fave purchase of $6 or more by using this link.

Qoo10 + Citibank Rewards/DBS WWMC

Qoo10’s site has a dining voucher section where you can pick from a larger variety of restaurants in Singapore, some of which are sold at a significant discount to cost price.

This would have been even more sweet back when Citibank Rewards offered 20X points (8 mpd) on Qoo10, but for now you can get 4 mpd with both Citibank Rewards and DBS WWMC.

Thanks to KindSoul on the comments for this one.

GrabPay + DBS WWMC

GrabPay is a new cashless payment system that is being pushed by Grab. The list of merchants is small for now, but more intriguingly this may be your best chance of earning 4 mpd at hawker centres and places that otherwise would not have taken credit cards. The DBS WWMC (for now) gives 10X with GrabPay.

Thanks to Phil and JJ on the comments for this one.

Conclusion

I haven’t mentioned the UOB PPV as a solution in and of itself above, but that’s because my understanding is the card is no longer issued. If you do have one however you can use it at anywhere with a Paywave terminal to earn 10X points up to a maximum of $1K spend per month, assuming that place is not a SMART$ merchant. Many restaurants will not be SMART$ merchants but it’s always good to check.

You can see that there’s no shortage of ways to turn regular spend  on dining into 10X opportunities. I’m sure this isn’t a comprehensive list so if you’re aware of any others feel free to shout out and I’ll get them added.