New Loyalty Leaders: Banks Outrank Hotels and Airlines
Skift Research's Global Travel Insights survey reveals that 32% of travelers find credit card and bank loyalty programs most rewarding, surpassing hotels (26%), airlines (20%), and OTAs (8%). Travel distribution is fragmenting as banks, social platforms, and AI become new storefronts, with social commerce representing a $7B+ opportunity that travel has barely captured (under 1%). While travelers still trust direct booking most (49% net comfort), banks' superior rewards threaten to pull bookings into their ecosystems.
Impact and considerations
Hotels and airlines must rethink loyalty strategies against bank credit cards, which leverage the U.S. interchange fee model to offer superior rewards, potentially diverting bookings.
Key points
- 32% of travelers rank credit card/bank loyalty programs as most rewarding, above hotels (26%), airlines (20%), and OTAs (8%).
- Travel distribution is fragmenting: banks, social platforms, creators, and AI become storefronts; social commerce is a $7B+ opportunity with travel under 1% share.
- Direct booking remains most trusted (49% net comfort) while AI/chatbots score -7%.
- Banks' superior rewards threaten to pull bookings into their ecosystems, requiring supplier response before next co-brand cycle.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- Skift
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 5 Sept 2026, 00:07
- Page published
- 5 Sept 2026, 00:13
- Last updated
- 5 Sept 2026, 00:07
- Original links
- Skift Feed：The New Travel Loyalty Leaders Aren’t Hotels or Airlines — They’re Banks (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 5 Sept 2026, 00:07