@Roxie wrote:
So, if I had a $200 check at High End Steak House, I could pay with the discounted gift cards, saving about $28, and still receive the full reimbursement from the company, if payment with gift cards is allowed.
Looking at the site scanman posted above, I see 2 high-end steakhouses that offer cards on it. One of them, who's shop reimburses close to $200, has a specific instruction that reads:
-You may use any coupons that you have, but do not pay with a gift card. We cannot reimburse for this.
Another, that reimburses far less, list the following:
-You are not permitted to use a coupon, Groupon, Living Social, Scout Mob etc. during this shop. However, gift certificates are permissible.
The question remains if gift cards and gift certificates are considered the same thing, as I would generally think of gift certificates as something bought directly from the restaurant at face value, but a lot of corporate chains will simply sell you a gift card these days.
The remainder of the steakhouses I have shopped (I actually shopped 3 this month, which is a lot of steak for me!) are not large enough ventures to offer location specific gift cards, and no cards were allowed on those shops anyway. Each of them also had a bar component that needed to be paid in cash.
That said, another thing to consider is the milage you can acquire using an airline-connected credit card. I use an American AAdvantage card. In addition to the miles that I earn for the credit card charges, I am also part of the dining program,:
[
aa.rewardsnetwork.com]
If you register the card with them and the restaurant is associated, you get an additional 5 miles for every dollar spent once you have a certain number if dines. It works transparently behind the scenes with your bank, and the restaurant or server is not even aware of the association when you pay. That means I can potentially earn over 1,000 miles for that steak dinner.