Shanescape

travel better, travel smarter

Tag: Dining

  • OCBC VOYAGE offers 2.5mpd on dining in August

    OCBC VOYAGE offers 2.5mpd on dining in August

    This is a 1.2 additional mpd on top of its usual 1.3mpd

    OCBC VOYAGE cardholders finally have something to shout about: the bank will offer 2.5 miles per dollar spent on dining spending in August 2020, capped at S$1,000.

    This enhanced earn rate applies to all versions of the VOYAGE card and the enhanced rate of 2.5mpd holds same, regardless of what’s your base earn rate (either 1.3 or 1.6 mpd).

    These versions of VOYAGE card will also earn 2.5 mpd on dining in Aug 2020

    Registration for this promotion is not required and all cardholders are automatically included in the promotion.

    For any reason you are dining overseas (perhaps you are just based in UK and decides to use your Singapore credit card anyway), you will still earn only 2.5 mpd on dining spend.

    Bonus miles will be awarded by October

    According to OCBC’s terms and conditions, the bonus miles will be awarded two months after the end of the promotional period, i.e. by 31 Oct.

    Note that OCBC has moved to a S$5 block for the award of miles, so that means that you will earn a total of 25 miles per S$5 spent effectively.

    What qualifies as dining spend?

    Based on the terms and conditions, dining spend refer to any of the following MCCs:

    Dining transactions are defined as those with the following MCCs, whether online or offline:

    • MCC 5811: Caterers
    • MCC 5812: Eating Places, Restaurants
    • MCC 5814: Fast Food Restaurants

    Note that there are some eating places such as food kiosks, cafes (including coffee places such as Starbucks), restaurants in hotels that may not fall under the above categories, so you ought to be careful if you frequently spend in those places.

    Final thoughts

    Given that travel credit cards are pretty much useless while Covid-19 effectively grounds all travel, it’s good to see banks offering bonus earn rates on other categories.

    OCBC has earned killed its 1.6 mpd earn rate on dining, so this promotion is definitely very welcomed, even if it’s only for a month and with a spending cap. That said, S$1,000 is still a fair amount to get through, so be sure to charge your OCBC VOYAGE cards for your meals.

    Even after you run out the cap, there are plenty of other cards that you can still use to clock up at least 4 mpd, such as the UOB Lady’s Card, UOB Preferred Platinum and more.

  • Earn up to 2 Accor rewards points per S$1 spent at Accor restaurants until 4 May

    Earn up to 2 Accor rewards points per S$1 spent at Accor restaurants until 4 May

    1 point per S$1 spent via delivery; double the points if you buy directly from the restaurant and pick up yourself.

    Accor is offering bonus points for all takeaway and delivery orders from its restaurants during Singapore’s ‘circuit breaker’ month between 7 Apr and 4 May.

    The offer

    Accor will award 1 point per S$1 spent via delivery service partners (i.e. Deliveroo, GrabFood & Food Panda), or 2 points per S$1 spent if you order directly from the restaurant and pick it up yourself.

    Given that the normal earn rate is 1 point per EUR1 (which translates to 0.65 points per S$1), this translates to a roughly 50% or 200% bonus points respectively.

    Note that there’s a minimum spend of S$10 per receipt, not that it matters because I’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone spending under that amount if you were to order from a hotel’s restaurant anyway.

    How to register for the promotion

    Unfortunately the promotion is a little backwards in terms of mechanism – first you collect all the receipts, then you slowly fill up this Google Doc by 5 May 2020.

    All points will be credited by June 2020.

    Which restaurants qualify?

    The promotion page does provide a short list of restaurants that are open for delivery and takeaway, including:

    • Prego, Fairmont Singapore (menu)
    • Racines, Sofitel Singapore City Centre (menu)
    • Kwee Zen, Sofitel Sentosa Spa & Resort (menu)
    • The Cliff, Sofitel Sentosa Spa & Resort (menu)
    • Royale, Mercure Singapore Bugis (menu)
    • 藝 yì by Jereme Leung, Raffles Hotel (menu)
    • The Grand Lobby, Raffles Hotel (menu)
    • Butcher’s Block, Raffles Hotel (menu)
    • Tiffin Room, Raffles Hotel (menu)
    Enjoy delicacies from Racines, Sofitel Singapore City Centre in the comfort of your home

    Under the terms and conditions, all restaurants that earn points for dining normally would be considered a participating restaurant, but it seems like many restaurants are closed during this period of time.