There’s an amazing ramen place around the corner from our apartment that my boyfriend and I end up at probably once a week. For a while, we were just walking in for a table when we got hungry, which actually works most of the time. Then I realized they were on OpenTable.
With OpenTable, you can earn rewards points when you dine at a restaurant you’ve made a reservation at. For our moderately-priced ramen place, we earn 100 points each time we go. For more higher-end spots you can earn more. While we probably don’t “need” a reservation, now I make one almost every time we decide to head there for dinner for point-acquiring purposes.
The points are redeemable later for money off a meal. 2,000 points, for instance, is good for a $20 “Dining Cheque.” I think of it like a sub-card for nicer food. After 20 trips to ramen, we’ll end up getting one for free. Now those points are also good for discounts on hotels.
The best part? The points are actually worth double what they are in restaurants.
OpenTable recently announced a new partnership with Kayak that allows you to use your OpenTable points on the site to purchase hotel rooms.
Unlike with restaurants, where you need to have 2,000 points before you redeem your points for a gift card, for hotels you can start cashing in your points at just 1,000.
To redeem them, go to opentable.kayak.com and then perform a hotel search just as you might normally. Once you find a hotel you like, click on the number of points you’d like to use for the booking on the hotel’s profile page.
That’s it. Points have to be redeemed in increments of 1,000.
One wrinkle: bookings made with points are non-refundable and non-cancellable, so make sure those travel plans are set in stone before you book.