I need to get better at loyalty.
Let me be more specific: I need to get better at travel-brand loyalty. It's honestly shocking how poor I am at "working the system" of hotel and airline loyalty programs. I belong to all of them but I'm passive about collecting points. I let the points come to me; I don't seek them out. I don't even have an airline credit card!
Sure, I know plenty of points warriors. My former boss knew the United Airlines fare class chart by heart. I have friends who get free flights all the time thanks to their credit cards. And yes, I know those people who take roundtrip flights in December all in one day just to meet their threshold to keep status for the following year.
I think I've redeemed hotel loyalty points for stays maybe three times in my entire life.
It's OK, you can be shocked by this. I travel a lot, but my home airport isn't a hub and the events I attend are all over the place, meaning I really can't go out of my way to insist upon one airline and one hotel. I'd much rather have the convenience of the right time and the right price. So I'm a free-agent traveler. If I get points, great. If I don't, oh well.
Honestly, I have loyalty anxiety. I think it's because hotel and travel loyalty have become such behemoths that I'm sure there's a catch. And of course, more than that, I know there are catches! Nothing is free, right? I don't need to tell hoteliers that massive brand loyalty programs deliver more guests to you but come with their own headaches for owners and guests.
Massive loyalty programs have become a game and it's a game I'm not interested in playing. I hate complicated card or board games with a million rules and restrictions, because they're only ever fun for the obnoxious people who delight in stiffing everyone else who can't keep track of the rules.
I really dislike that feeling. It's anxiety that I'm somehow not doing something correctly.
"Am I leaving points on the table if I book this on the app versus in the browser?"
"Will I get more points if I wait until 2:37 p.m. on a Tuesday to book, and book with that one credit card that's offering a double points promotion for three days starting next week?"
"Why do I somehow feel less-than because my colleague got two free waters when we checked into this Hampton Inn and I got none?"
So I opt out because I hate the complicated card games. There is no way I'm going to book some insane flight time with a 20-minute layover four states in the wrong direction just so I can book on my airline of choice. And there's also no way I'm going to hike to your conference in 90 degrees, sweating in a business suit, because I just had to stay at a Hilton a mile away to get my points instead of at the Marriott hosting the event.
I'll revise my opening statement now: I don't need to get better at loyalty. I've realized that I am loyal when it comes to travel — it's just that I'm loyal to convenience and my own peace of mind.
And I'm happy keeping it that way, at least until United Airlines bundles their loyalty program with Dunkin' Donuts, or HiltonHonors teams up with Jersey Mike's. Coffee and sandwich punch cards are the real way to earn loyalty in my book.
Wish me luck because — and I buried the lede here — I'm heading on vacation next week, where I booked rooms at two different hotels using loyalty points, and my anxiety looms. I'm convinced I'll show up and my reservation will be lost, or there will be some hidden fee.
Or maybe, just maybe, I'll be the person who gets the free waters when I check in this time.
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