For the rest of this month, Marriott Bonvoy members who eat at a participating Marriott restaurant or lounge in the UAE earn double points. From 15 to 31 October it is 10 points per US dollar, and no hotel stay is needed (More Cravings by Marriott Bonvoy). The normal rate is 5 points per dollar (More Cravings member FAQ).
This is not a one-off. It is the latest step in a steady push by the big hotel groups to win the everyday dining habit of UAE residents, not just their hotel stays. The same push is visible in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where the Marriott dining benefit also applies. If you run an independent restaurant, a beach club or a mid-sized group in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh or Doha, these programmes are now competing with you for the same Thursday night table.
I run TheLoyaltyCo from Dubai. We build loyalty programmes and guest apps for hospitality groups here, so I spend a lot of time looking at what the big programmes offer and what our clients’ guests actually do. My view is simple. You cannot win this on points, and you do not need to.
What the hotel groups are offering diners
Three programmes stand out right now.
Marriott Bonvoy, through More Cravings. Members earn and redeem points at participating hotel restaurants and lounges across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar without staying. When the More Cravings app launched here, Marriott said it would bring together over 300 restaurants and lounges from its UAE hotels (More Cravings). Points earned on a dinner can go towards more dining, free nights or room upgrades.
U by Emaar. Members earn 1 Upoint for every AED 2 spent at participating Emaar restaurants, and 10 Upoints are worth AED 1 (U by Emaar). That is roughly 5% back, and members also get 5% off dining from the day they join (U by Emaar tier benefits).
ALL Accor+ Explorer. This one is a paid membership, which came to the UAE in May and is currently listed at USD 255 a year. It gives 30% off food and 15% off drinks for up to ten people at participating Accor hotel restaurants and bars, and members do not need to be staying (ALL Accor+; The MileLion).
The pattern is the same in all three. A big portfolio, one app, and a reward that works across hundreds of venues in the Gulf and ends in a hotel night or a large discount. An independent cannot match that on value, and should not try.
Why outspending them on points does not work
Points are a currency. The groups above can fund theirs across rooms, spas, malls and hundreds of outlets. A single restaurant, or a group of six venues, funds every point out of food and beverage margin.
If you try to match 30% off food or double points, you end up paying your existing regulars more for visits many of them would have made anyway. You also teach your guests that the reason to choose you is the discount, and the next bigger offer takes them away again.
What the big programmes find hard is knowing the guest at your table. A points balance spread across 300 venues does not tell the host at a beach club that this guest always books the same daybed, brings the family on Saturdays and had the sea bass last time. You can know that, and act on it. That is the gap independents should be filling.
What our UAE data shows
Two of the programmes we run in the UAE are Mindset, for AlphaMind Group’s venues, and Solutions Rewards, for Solutions Leisure Group. Between them they have around 34,800 members. A few patterns from the aggregate data are worth sharing, because they show where the value sits.
Most members are new to you. At Mindset, 57% of members were not in any of the group’s existing guest databases before they joined. A programme is not only a way to reward people you already know. It is how you find out who your guests are in the first place.
Your floor team is your best recruiter. About 37% of Mindset sign-ups came through staff referrals, from 159 active staff promoters across 17 venues. That is not ad spend. It is people on the floor asking guests a simple question at the right moment.
Members spend more per visit. The average Mindset member bill is about AED 800, against about AED 650 across all bills in the same period. I would not claim the programme caused all of that difference, but it tells you who you are recognising: your better guests.
Your regulars live here. At Mindset, 76% of member visits came from UAE residents. These are people you can see every week, not visitors passing through for a few nights.
Most people come once, and a few carry the rest. At Solutions Rewards, 79% of members who have earned points have visited once. The 4.5% who came five times or more made 31% of all member visits. Turning even a small share of those one-visit members into second-visit members is worth more than any points promotion.
What I would do now
Make the first month count. Send a welcome reward that needs a second visit to use, and send it within days, not weeks. A points balance that just sits in an app does nothing.
Give your floor team the guest’s history. Name, last visit, usual order, any celebration coming up. Recognition at the table costs very little, and a hotel group’s app cannot do it for you.
Reward staff for sign-ups. In our data it is the cheapest and most reliable way to grow a membership base.
Find your five-plus visitors. Pull the guests who have visited five times or more this year and treat them differently: priority bookings, a note from the manager, first access to events. Recognition, not more points.
Check your real reward cost. Add up everything you gave away last quarter, including welcome bonuses and promotions, and divide it by member sales. If that number is creeping up, you are paying for visits rather than earning them.
The bottom line
The hotel groups will keep investing in dining loyalty, and their offers will keep getting louder. Double points ends on 31 October. Your regulars will still be here in November, and the venues that keep them will be the ones where somebody knows their name.
If you want to talk through how this could work across your venues, get in touch with us at TheLoyaltyCo.
Adam Purslow Founder, TheLoyaltyCo
Sources
- More Cravings by Marriott Bonvoy, “Make Every Meal More Rewarding” (double points 15 to 31 October 2026 at participating venues including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, no stay required)
- More Cravings, F&B Earn and Redeem Member FAQs (base earn rate 5 points per USD 1)
- More Cravings, “A single App to Dine and Save” (over 300 UAE restaurants and lounges)
- U by Emaar homepage (1 Upoint per AED 2 at participating restaurants; 10 Upoints = AED 1)
- U by Emaar tier benefits (5% savings on dining from joining)
- ALL Accor+ Explorer UAE (USD 255 a year; 30% off food, 15% off drinks; no stay needed)
- The MileLion, “ALL Accor+ Explorer expands to the UAE”, 18 May 2026
- TheLoyaltyCo internal aggregate data, Mindset (AlphaMind Group) and Solutions Rewards (Solutions Leisure Group), pulled 18 October 2026. Aggregate figures only.
