My Thanksgiving wish(bone) list (issue #8) stirred up a lot of opinions. The most agreed upon wishbones were ‘discounts are not loyalty’ and ‘our industry needs to take more risk’. The one you disagreed with the most? My suggestion to kill birthday rewards. Even those close to me were like “why are you trying to take birthday freebies away from us” 😆. So I stand corrected…long live 🎂!
I thought my last issue of 2025 should end on a positive. Hence, my pick for great industry moments from the year. I’m sure I missed a bunch, so please shout out those who you feel deserve recognition.
So Many Points will take an end-of-year break and be back after the New Year. Thanks again for all your support this year on my little side project.
In this Issue:
👉🏻The Big Point: Cool Loyalty moments from 2025
🔎 Points Worth Reading: Articles and reports worth your time
⚡Quick Points: Scannable to know, clickable to learn more
↕ Points Up/Points Down: Good & bad year end summary emails
THE BIG POINT
My Picks for Cool Moments in Loyalty: 2025
I wouldn’t call 2025 revolutionary for our industry by any stretch of the imagination. Despite AI being named Time's Person of the Year, there were no meaningful or obvious examples of AI truly impacting the loyalty industry (for good or bad) and I thought we would!
Yes, many providers are incorporating AI into MarTech stacks to make program management and marketing planning more efficient. But Loyalty + AI from a consumer-facing perspective? Nothing.
That said, we did get some genuinely cool initiatives from brands across sectors. Some were small and simple, and that’s okay. Sometimes those are the things that resonate most. Not everything has to be flashy or revolutionary. Just keep innovating, whether it’s 1% or 20% better than yesterday.
Cool Moments in Travel ✈
Atmos Rewards (Alaska + Hawaiian)
The launch of Atmos Rewards, the combined program for Alaska and Hawaiian, stood out this year. It’s one of the first programs to let travelers choose how they earn: by miles flown, segments, or spend.
This flexibility is set to go live next year, so it remains to be seen whether consumers will find it empowering or confusing. Still, kudos to the program team for trying something new to appeal to a broader range of travelers. Also, bonus points for the original name, and you know how I love original names.
United x JetBlue Partnership
This is more than a simple codeshare. It’s a true partnership, with reciprocal status benefits, earn and burn opportunities, and booking (including redemptions) directly within each other’s sites.
It’s hard to find fault here, other than the boarding line getting even more crowded with elites. Is there anyone left boarding JetBlue in Boston who doesn’t have status?
Cool Moments in Restaurants 🍔 🌯
Chipotle U Rewards
Chipotle launched a college-specific loyalty layer, Chipotle U Rewards, on top of its existing Chipotle Rewards program. College students get access to more points, free food drops, and exclusive perks.
This is a smart move to win with a critical demographic early, and surprisingly, no other restaurant brands are copying it (yet). The only potential downside? The disappointment that comes with graduation, when those special benefits disappear.
McDonald’s Expanded Redemptions
McDonald’s opened up its redemption ecosystem beyond the Golden Arches, allowing members to redeem points for PacSun merch, Snapchat+ subscriptions, and even Expedia discounts (partners can vary by country).
Cross-brand redemption isn’t new (travel brands practically beg members to transfer points elsewhere), but it is new in QSR. And I like it.
Cool Moments in Retail 🛍
PetSmart Adoption Perk
PetSmart now grants top-tier status to members who adopt a pet through PetSmart Charities. This is so on-brand, so simple, and so effective.
Finally, a way to reach the top of a loyalty program that isn’t just about dollars and cents.
Selfridges Unlocked
Selfridges’ (of UK department store fame) Unlocked program allows members to earn digital “keys” just for spending time in the store. No purchase required. Members scan their app at in-store check-in devices to collect keys, with additional rewards for shopping.
Earning simply for showing up is a concept U.S. retailers should seriously consider testing.
Other Cool Moments 👏
Bilt and Mortgage Point Earning
Bilt seemed to launch a new earn-or-burn partner every week this year (what’s the saying? ‘Kris Jenner works hard, but the Bilt team works harder’? 😂 )
Their partnership with United Wholesale Mortgage, which allows members to earn points on mortgage payments, is a true industry first and takes the program to another level. I still don’t fully understand how Bilt makes money, but I’ll keep things positive today.
Google Loyalty Ad Capability
Google finally rolled out ad capability targeted to loyalty members. It feels about 20 years late, but brands can now surface member-exclusive pricing, points, and perks directly in Shopping ads and listings.
Your List?
What do you think are other cool loyaltys of 2025? Drop them in the comments.
POINTS WORTH READING
QUICK POINTS
✈️ TRAVEL & TRANSPORTATION
Paid loyalty gone bad! Budget Irish airline Ryanair closed it’s membership program after just 9 months, citing giving away too many discounts as the problem. Thankfully, the existing 55k members keep their benefits through October 2026.
On the flip side of Ryanair, American Airlines has launched AAdvantage Pass for (no, not a misprint) $5,000 🤯. Gary Leff’s A View From a Wing site says it best: this makes no sense.
Marriott is all in on K-Pop as part of it’s loyalty machine. With upgrades and free rooms becoming rare benefits, this is a smart move.
Starwood’s (the new one, not the old one) 1 Hotels launched a loyalty program called Mission Membership. No points, just benefits for joining. With very few hotels, this feels premature.
Delta is trying to bring back kindness to the skies, and rewarding customers for it.
🍴RESTAURANTS
Gen Z retailer Hollister and Taco Bell teamed up for a merch collab billed as taking your outfits from “mild to fire”. Cute…if Taco Bell sauce packets on your jean pockets are your thing.
CAVA launched a sweepstakes, ‘12 Days of Delight’, where daily winners can earn merch, points, or even a year of CAVA. There’s only a few winners a day. I would have liked to see members earn something just for entering, like points.
Subway launched SubClub, where every 4th footlong is free. This stamp-like program also has a birthday reward, and point earnings for products that converts to Subway Cash. Kudo’s to Subway for going the super-simple route.
🛍 RETAIL
Subscriptions keep on comin’! AMC launched Popcorn Pass, where for $29.99+ tax, the consumer gets 50% off a large Popcorn everyday. You’d have to buy more than 6 popcorns a year to have this pay for itself, but for their big movie goers this is not a bad deal.
💳 FINANCIAL
WSJ wrote an article about how consumers have to keep spreadsheets to ensure they take advantage (and justify the fee) of their reward credit cards.
Debit cards now have rewards and many brands— such as Southwest— are getting into the game.
🙃 RANDOM
Proton outed the brands that were a tad spammy with their emails over the holiday.
POINTS UP/POINTS DOWN
⬆ Kudos to my former peeps at Dunkin’ for another great Year-End recap email. Simple layout that is easy to digest, plus loyalty stats and total savings.
⬇ I was so excited to open up my Sephora Year-End email, thinking it would give a deep recap of my year of beauty. Instead, all it had was my points earned and a mention that I’m into haircare, with a weird cross-promotion for Spotify 🤔. It did come with a 30% off coupon, so it’s not all bad! But from a brand that has some of the best 1:1 marketing in the industry, I wanted more.
