How to earn IHG One Rewards points with OpenTable restaurant bookings

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If you’re booking a restaurant – even a casual dining one – soon, remember that you can earn IHG One Rewards points when you book restaurants online.

I have used this myself a few times, and find it an easy 150 points.

The IHG service is a white label version of OpenTable and most of the restaurants which appears there should be bookable.

earn IHG One Rewards points with OpenTable

However, it appears that restaurants which require a credit card deposit, or the submission of a credit card number, in order to book are not available.

Via this page of the IHG website, you can make restaurant reservations globally.

The majority of restaurants offer 150 IHG Rewards Club points per booking, but you get 500 points if it is the first time you have used the service.

This clearly isn’t the deal of the century – I would value 150 IHG One Rewards points at around 60p! The ‘first user’ deal is more worthwhile with the 500 points being worth around £2.

If you have multiple people with IHG accounts in your household, you can change the lead name on the booking each time to get multiple ‘first user’ bonuses between you.

One upside is that the points count towards IHG One Rewards status unless something has changed since the new scheme launched this month. I can also say, from my own previous experience, that they post promptly.

You can book here.

PS. One interesting quirk is that many hotel restaurants, IHG and non-IHG, appear on OpenTable. If you have a hotel stay lined up and know you will be eating in the hotel, why not book your table via OpenTable in advance?

Category

IHG One Rewards

Blair Waldorf Salad says:

13 Jun13 June 03:42

For in-house restaurants within IHG properties, it’s 300 points. I regularly make a reservation while walking to a restaurant. Those couple of hundred points can be the difference between securing a points stay and not. I like to bulk out room reservations with a few nights leeway in case I’m able to stay longer depending what’s happening at work.

Tariq says:

13 Jun13 June 04:53

Note that I’ve found different table availability before – if you only see very limited seating times on the IHG site, check the OpenTable site directly and you may see a greater range of times.

- Stephen says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 07:43
  
  But do you get points if you book directly on the OpenTable site? I assumed you didn’t.
  
  - Alex Sm says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 12:54
    
    You will get OpenTable points, they are quite valuable too, give you cashback on future bookings
    
- CamFlyer says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 07:53
  
  +1 – I rarely find restaurants to have availability on the IHG platform, even when they are on the public OpenTable site.
  
Peggerz says:

13 Jun13 June 08:22

I had given up on Opentable through the IHG link around Sept/Oct last year as it regularly showed no availability at chosen restaurants at IHG hotels and elsewhere. A simple call to the resto and it appears they have plenty of availability.
I may give it another bash but am not overly hopeful.

RussellH says:

13 Jun13 June 09:50

I booked a Holiday Inn restaurant last November, only to find that I had booked the wrong night. I rebooked for the correct night.
Both bookings posted 150 points.

Phil H says:

13 Jun13 June 10:55

Just got back from New York, used this service to book Gallagher’s Steakhouse for last Thursday night, 500 points posted the next day.