Interested in a Broadway backstage tour, hard-to-get sports tickets, or dinner at a fully booked Michelin-starred restaurant, but don't have deep pockets or contacts?
Now, how many airline miles or credit card points do you have?
Airlines, banks and hotels are changing traditional loyalty programs and allowing their members to redeem points or miles to brighten up their everyday lives with experiences that money can't always buy.
Members can snag coveted World Cup tickets with American Airlines miles, book backstage tours at sold-out Broadway shows with Delta Air Lines miles, or attend exclusive film festival parties with Chase points. You can partake in intimate, multi-course dinners prepared by Michelin-starred chefs and pay for them with Capital One points or United Airlines miles.
Experts say companies are betting big on experiences to attract increasingly fickle travelers in a dizzyingly complex loyalty landscape. Customers can now choose from a variety of programs and methods for earning points and book travel in more ways than ever before, including directly through credit card portals. At the same time, some programs are devaluing points and reducing benefits, which affects member loyalty.
Experiences can help attract new or churned members by engaging them and giving them a chance to feel like VIPs, while also giving them more ways to redeem their points along the way.
“Travel brands and banks are shifting toward lifestyle positioning,” said Erifili Gounari, CEO and founder of Z Link, a marketing agency focused on younger generations. “Not just 'Fly with us' or 'Bank with us', but 'Here's how we help you live well, explore more and access the world.'”
Courting travelers “on all fronts”
The chance to enjoy a high-end experience lured Jen Espinal, 41, to a roller skating party sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve in New York City in October. For less than 10,000 points, Ms. Espinal and other cardholders joined celebrities like Cher and the dance-pop duo Sofi Tukker at the Faena, a new hotel in the Meatpacking District.
“It brings you close to places that are not part of our everyday lives,” said Ms. Espinal, a New Jersey native, as she sipped champagne with a friend in the roped-off VIP area. “It helps you experience a city in a different way, even if you’re a local.”
Miles and points-based loyalty programs were introduced to airlines shortly after the industry was deregulated in the late 1970s. American Airlines launched AAdvantage, one of the first frequent flyer programs, in 1981. Rewards for members of the program, which was then invite-only, included a first-class ticket to any American Airlines destination. Hotels quickly followed suit; Holiday Inn launched the first hotel loyalty program in 1983, giving members points for stays.
Today, members can earn points for a variety of activities that have little to do with flights or hotel stays. For example, in addition to earning points for everyday credit card purchases, travelers can earn United miles for riding a Lyft, earn Marriott Bonvoy points for ordering Uber Eats, or earn additional rewards for drinking Starbucks on a Delta flight.
Loyalty has proven lucrative. Revenue from these programs represents an important source of profit for airlines that sell their miles to banks. American and Delta each received about $7 billion from frequent flyer programs in 2024, according to an analysis of financial filings by Jay Sorensen, head of IdeaWorksCompany, an airline consulting firm.
While companies can be cautious about their membership numbers, major loyalty programs have hundreds of millions of members worldwide. Marriott's Bonvoy program has nearly 260 million members, the company announced in its most recent financial results. Delta reported in 2023 that it had more than 130 million SkyMiles members.
With so much at stake, airlines, hotels, online travel agencies and banks are vying to stay ahead of the competition. “Travellers are being wooed on all fronts,” Mr. Sorensen said in a statement. “Competition is leading to better rewards, more lounges and new travel booking options, but it is also changing the balance of power in the travel industry.”
“Off the Charts” experiences
Loyalty programs have spawned a dazzling array of offerings, many of which focus on major sporting and cultural events such as Miami Art Week, the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Sundance Film Festival, the US Open tennis tournament and the Coachella music and arts festival.
“We need to operate in these premium, attention-grabbing environments,” said Elizabeth Rutledge, chief marketing officer of American Express, adding, “Gen Zers and Millennials cite things like entertainment and sports experiences as the real reason they want to join Amex.”
This trend is affecting the entire industry. Recent data shows that travelers are willing to spend more on experiences and let experiences influence their travel destination choices.
A common theme is offering experiences that money can't buy, like batting practice at Daikin Park, home of the Houston Astros, for 12,000 United miles. Or a Chase Sapphire Reserve-sponsored trip to Switzerland where you can hit the slopes with Olympic gold medalist Shaun White — this one's slightly more expensive at 1.5 million points (or $15,500 if you choose to pay cash) in addition to the card's $795 annual fee. Other loyalty programs create excitement by auctioning experiences.
Hutch Pegler, 53, flies to work almost every week and usually earns miles that he can use for family trips. But in May he jumped at the chance and bid on a two-day stay in Dallas, which included four hours in an American Airlines Boeing 787 simulator. He won the auction and spent more than a million miles.
“I love flying and I love the aviation business,” said Mr. Pegler, who lives in Connecticut. “This whole experience has been extraordinary,” he added.
While operating events and experiences is not a “for-profit business,” said Chris Reagan, president of Chase Branded Cards, it benefits both Chase and its customers.
“Delighting them in the long run is good for business. We want happy customers,” he said. “Satisfied customers stay longer and spend more.”
Fishing for Generation Z
Data shows that Gen Z travelers are less likely to participate in a loyalty program. Therefore, these programs work hard to integrate them into the circle of travelers. Social media-driven tactics like limited drops, sweepstakes, and scavenger hunts aim to capitalize on the fear of missing out, sometimes without the need for miles or points.
Delta recently launched a new Group Drop sweepstakes where SkyMiles members can win free travel with their friends. The airline announced the new program on Instagram for a few days before revealing the full details on the SkyMiles Experiences website.
Last summer, Alaska Airlines debuted Atmos Rewards Unlocked, its experiential platform that includes both auctions and instant purchase options like a behind-the-scenes tour of an Alaska aircraft hangar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (5,000 points). Brett Catlin, the airline's vice president, said the move was driven in part by a motivation to “build relevance with a younger cohort” and offer “more accessible and attainable redemptions” at different price points.
Companies are experimenting with other ways to capture Generation Z's attention. Marriott occasionally releases experiences that can be redeemed for one point; Members must follow the company's social media channels to receive notifications. In 2024, the hotel operator held a sweepstakes for tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour that attracted nearly a million new members, said Peggy Roe, Marriott's chief customer officer. And last fall, more than 150,000 people entered to win Delta's first group drop, a free trip to Costa Rica and a visit to a Starbucks coffee farm, an airline spokeswoman said, adding that 70 SkyMiles members were selected.
“Especially for Generation Z, experiences outweigh material perks, so offering one-time access” like Taylor Swift seats or backstage tours on Broadway “turns a loyalty program into a kind of cultural passport,” said Ms. Gounari of the Z Link agency.
In October, Ally Chiu, a 26-year-old from New York, raced through Manhattan on a scavenger hunt and waited an hour to snag $50 tickets to an Olivia Rodrigo concert put on by Amex for $895-a-year Platinum cardholders.
Finally, she saw Ms. Rodrigo, one of her favorite singers, performing just a few meters away.
“I realized that this is why we pay the amount we pay, so we can reap these benefits,” said Ms Chiu, who works in finance. “It was so worth it.”
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