According to the research, 84% of leisure travellers engaged in at least one form of loyalty “gaming” behaviour during the past 12 months, highlighting the extent to which strategic optimisation of points, miles and status programmes has become mainstream.
The study shows that travellers increasingly prioritise value, convenience and personal fit over long-term brand commitment. Loyalty optimisation behaviours include booking specific trips or properties to retain elite status, as well as using credit cards, gift cards and third-party purchases to maximise rewards.
Phocuswright found that one in five airline loyalty programme users took a flight they would not otherwise have booked in order to maintain status. Similarly, one in four active hotel loyalty members stayed at a property they would not have selected if status benefits were not a factor.
More intensive optimisation practices were also identified. According to the data, 39% of travellers charged gift cards to earn points for future personal use, 27% opened credit cards with the intention of reducing spend or closing the account after receiving a welcome bonus, and 16% generated additional spend by purchasing on behalf of others to earn rewards.
Despite this high engagement, consistent brand usage remains limited. Across airlines, hotels and online travel agencies, between 57% and 68% of travellers who identified one or more “go-to” brands still booked outside those brands in the past year. This pattern was also evident among travellers holding elite status, who frequently chose alternative providers when pricing, schedules or availability were more attractive.
“When we talk about loyalty in travel, the conversation often gets reduced to points and miles, but that misses the bigger picture,” said Madeline List, Manager, Research & Special Projects at Phocuswright. “Travelers are highly engaged with these programs and they are gaming them in very intentional ways, yet engagement alone does not equal loyalty. True loyalty is the result of consistently delivering value, reliable experiences and fair pricing over time.”
The analysis indicates that loyalty programmes tend to reinforce brand preference rather than create it. In the research Playing Favorites: What Makes a Go-To Brand in Travel, and Why Do Customers Stray?, factors such as value for money, perceived pricing fairness, reliability and ease of use consistently ranked higher than loyalty programmes as drivers of brand choice.
Economic conditions are also influencing behaviour. As budgets tighten, travellers increasingly use points and miles to make travel more affordable, frequent and comfortable. Phocuswright found that half of travellers who redeemed rewards on a recent leisure trip were visiting a destination for the first time, underscoring the importance of flexible redemption options beyond established markets.
Generational differences were also highlighted. Approximately half of Gen Z and millennial travellers stated that variety matters more than consistently using the same brand. For younger travellers, experimentation and novelty were identified as deliberate components of the travel experience rather than indicators of dissatisfaction.
“If there’s one thing I would emphasize, it’s that loyalty is not the product of an interaction with a program,” List added. “It’s the totality of all brand interactions over the customer lifetime. Points and perks can reinforce that relationship, but without strong product quality, fair pricing and experiences that work well, there’s no reason to expect a loyalty program to move behavior in a meaningful way.”
Tags: Madeline List, Phocuswright
