This article was originally on GET.com at: Most American Travelers Don’t Understand How Loyalty Programs Work.
Most Americans don’t understand airline loyalty programs. A survey released this week shows that 54 percent of Americans find loyalty programs offered by airlines utterly confusing. What’s more, travelers aren’t just confused when it comes to using programs to earn and use free miles when flying. Travelers are also nearly just as confused when it comes to hotel loyalty programs. The survey revealed that 47 percent of Americans find the loyalty programs offered by hotels difficult to understand.
All of this confusion means that American travelers are actually missing out on using all of the perks and benefits that they could be entitled to. What is most surprising is that 35 percent of the people surveyed who belonged to airline loyalty programs didn’t actually know how many miles they had in their accounts. A shocking 36 percent of them didn’t know how to redeem mileage rewards.
Members of hotel loyalty programs were also in the dark. A hefty 47 percent of people surveyed who belonged to hotel loyalty programs admitted to not knowing how many points they owned. In addition, 33 percent didn’t actually know how to redeem their points. The survey also revealed that many travelers have a hard time understanding how travel rewards are earned and redeemed through credit cards.
The most troubling thing revealed by the survey is that a large portion of travelers have actually allowed points and miles to simply expire because they didn’t know how or when to use them. What can travelers take away from the survey? It’s important to take a little time to become educated about all of the details of a loyalty program when signing up. A traveler who allows points to expire is potentially throwing away hundreds or thousands of dollars each year.
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