by Sam Helmy
April 14, 2024
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Newsweek has released its 2024 results of its best loyalty programs in America. The survey covers a wide variety of sectors — from retail to airlines to fast food and car rentals. Every year, thousands of U.S. customers respond to determine the best and worst U.S. loyalty programs.
From the surprising winner to which travel companies ranked best, here's what they found.
Newsweek's Survey Methodology & Ranking Criteria
The survey collected evaluations from more than 4,000 U.S. customers from the various loyalty programs. In total, more than 17,900 evaluations were assessed during the survey period, which ran from October to November 2023.
The evaluations included the following weighted criteria for each program.
- Ease and Enjoyment: how valuable are the perks of each program? — 5% weighting.
- Benefit: Do customers perceive the program benefits as being worth being part of the program? — 20% weighting.
- Overall Satisfaction: How satisfied are customers with the program experience as a whole? — 25% weighting.
- Customer Support: How much assistance is provided when signing up or redeeming benefits? — 10% weighting.
- Trust: How much do customers trust the brand to use their personal data shared with the program? — 10% weighting.
- Recommendation: How likely are customers to recommend the program to friends and family? — 30% weighting.
Loyalty Program Rankings
If you are wondering which is America's best loyalty program, the answer is a bit of a surprise. It is the Victoria’s Secret Credit Card —with an imposing score of 9.8 out of 10. They are very closely followed by Amazon Rewards points, with an equally impressive score of 9.76 out of 10.
When it comes to the bottom of the pack, Abercrombie & Fitch has a lot of work to do since its program myAbercrombie scores a measly 5.52 out of 10. Sadly for Wings fans, Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Rewards is not doing much better, with a less-than-stellar score of 5.82 out of 10.
That said, none of these programs are in the travel niche. So, let's examine the best airline, hotel, and car rental loyalty programs.
Airlines: Allegiant leads the way
Typically, you would expect the top spots to be occupied by many of the major US carriers. This is not so, and Allegiant has scored a big win for the little guy. The 14th largest U.S. airline tops the results with its Always Rewards program.
American Airlines and United have some work to do to bring their programs up to par since they are languishing in eighth and ninth place, respectively. U.S. airline loyalty program ranks are as follows:
- Allegiant Always Rewards
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Delta SkyMiles
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Frontier Miles
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- United MileagePlus
- Spirit's Free Spirit
Hotels: World of Hyatt tops the pack
On the hotel front, it is no surprise that World of Hyatt tops the list. The program is excellent by any measure and has lots to offer its members. Big brands occupy the top five places, although it was a little surprise to see Wyndham ranked so low in fifth place.
- World Of Hyatt
- Choice Privileges
- Hilton Honors
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Wyndham Rewards
Individual booking sites
When it comes to none brand specific hotel loyalty programs, the list is less extensive, with only three entrants as follows:
- Booking.com
- Expedia Rewards
- OneKey: Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo
Car Rental: ACE Rent A Car
ACE Rent-A-Car Member Rewards claimed the top spot in terms of rental loyalty programs. The usual suspects occupy the rest of the spots, although Hertz is bringing up the rear with its Gold Plus Rewards program.
- ACE Rent-A-Car Member Rewards
- Alamo
- Enterprise
- Budget
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
Our Take
Newsweek is bold in trying to pit over 300 loyalty programs against each other in a single survey. Understandably, that led to some interesting and surprising results this year.
It's interesting to see a huge company like Amazon scoring so highly. On the other hand, the survey results show that legacy airlines like American Airlines, United, and Alaska clearly need to do better about rewarding their members.
No matter which loyalty program you participate in, make sure to track your rewards using AwardWallet. And yes, you can even track your Victoria's Secret PINK Rewards!
What do you make of the results of this year’s Newsweek survey? Let us know in the comments below.
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