How credit card issuers are building ecosystems to win loyalty

We’re used to airlines and hotels influencing how and where you book travel. But the trend is set to spread in 2026—and now, credit card issuers want in on the action. They are using increasingly innovative methods to keep you in their ecosystem.

Let’s say you added American Express Platinum Card® Deposit into your wallet and enjoy lounge access and travel perks. With an $895 annual fee (see Rates and Fees), you may want to find ways to offset it by maximizing its statement credit or increasing your yield.

You may find yourself spending more frequently on your card issuer’s portal to trigger credits or higher yields, or spending at new merchants just to recoup the annual fee. Getting the most out of a premium travel card requires a high level of loyalty, which requires organization, planning and thoughtful spending.

It’s not always easy, and it can quickly become overwhelming – especially if you carry multiple cards between issuers, like many of us at TPG. This is because these benefits can (and often do) overlap, leaving the perceived value behind.

The emergence of these credit card ecosystems and overlapping offers on premium cards creates new challenges for rewards travelers looking to maximize their setup.

Choose your brand ecosystem

While banks have long indeed issued their own rewards cards for earning cash back or travel points and miles, it’s clear they are now working harder than ever to keep cardholders within their unique ecosystems from start to finish.

In a card issuer’s ideal world, you would use your card to book travel through its own portal, earn its loyalty currency, and then use that currency within the portal for free or discounted travel.

Combine this cycle with the statement points that many premium cards offer for booking through the card issuer portal, and in many cases, you don’t have to leave the card issuer’s portal.

For example, after refreshing Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See Rates & Fees) A ​​variety of incentives are available to get you all-in on Ultimate Rewards and the Chase Travel℠ portal.

• Get up to $500 in statement credit annually (up to $250 every six months) for bookings of two nights or more through The Edit, Chase’s luxury hotel portfolio
• Earn 8 points for every $1 you spend with Chase Travel
• Redeem travel points through Chase Travel, up to 2 cents per point, depending on card and specific redemption (see Rewards Program Agreement for complete details)

Chase isn’t the only issuer encouraging this behavior. American Express’s Premium Travel Card offers higher earn rates when booking hotels through American Express Travel, as well as statement points and premium benefits when booking through Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection (direct competitors to Chase’s The Edit).

Partners are also part of these ecosystems

This also goes beyond the publisher’s travel portal. Card issuers want you to transact with their partners, and many premium cards offer similar benefits on everything from dining and groceries to ride-hailing and fitness.

All of this combines to create a closed ecosystem where the most reasonable way for you to offset the annual fee is to spend with the issuer’s preferred merchants.

For example, here are some of the preferred platforms and partners for certain categories within the American Express and Chase ecosystems.

*This does not cover all issuer interests or partnerships.

American Express and Chase are at the forefront of this trend, but they’re not alone.

For example, Bilt has partnered with gyms like SoulCycle and pharmacies like Walgreens to build a loyalty ecosystem based on earning Bilt points near cardholders.

We expect Capital One and Citi to also continue to build their own ecosystems to compete with leaders in the space. Capital One continues to expand its lounge network and enhance offers for booking through its travel booking site, while Citi is all-in on a partnership with American Airlines that is likely to expand in the coming years.

Disadvantages of Overlapping Credit Card Offers

For years, the value proposition behind premium credit cards has been simple: Pay an annual fee, and you’ll receive exclusive benefits that make paying the annual fee easy. But by 2025, this trend has changed. What was once rare is now ubiquitous.

Today, multiple cards from various card issuers offer nearly the same benefits, such as streaming points, TSA PreCheck and Global Entry reimbursement, Priority Pass lounge memberships, and general travel statement points.

At first glance, doubling down on these benefits might seem like a good thing. But in reality, this overlap in benefits often creates redundant benefits for travelers that they may not be able to maximize. Rather than providing more value, it adds complexity and, in many cases, results in unused credits. Suddenly, the annual fee isn’t so easy to recoup, especially for travelers with multiple credit cards.

The biggest pain point isn’t just layoffs; the mental burden of managing all these overlapping points has evolved into the modern “coupon book.” Many cards are issued in small monthly installments, and each card has strict merchant restrictions. This means that cardholders not only have to remember which card covers which merchant, but also actively use the credit card before it expires.

Recently announced updates to three of the most popular premium travel cards – American Express Platinum Card, American Express Business Platinum Card® and Chase Sapphire Reserve – Many new travel and lifestyle benefits have been added, but each has its own complex set of rules and restrictions to remember.

Just how much overlap is there in 2025?

Consider: The following cards all offer the same Clear Plus statement credit, up to $209 per calendar year (registration required; auto-renewable). So if you already have one of these cards, you’re unlikely to benefit from any of the others:

*Information for these cards was independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

A Clear Plus line of credit goes a long way toward recouping the cost of the annual fee on many of these cards. Without it, you may have to decide whether holding multiple cards on your list is worth your investment.

Likewise, if you’re looking for airport lounge access, a Priority Pass Select membership might be valuable if you own a card. But all of these cards offer the same benefits, and you may find yourself overlapping:

*Information for these cards was independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

When it comes to streaming, dining and food delivery points, the trends are different. The production crew is not identical, which seems like good news to avoid overlap or redundancy.

However, these differences create a complex set of administrative rules and restrictions that can exacerbate troubles with popular cards. Some credits are monthly, while others are quarterly or annually; some also require activation and are distributed as statement credits, while others are one-time subscriptions.

bottom line

Holding more premium cards doesn’t always equal more value. Instead, it often means more benefits to track, more calendars to manage, and more pressure to spend strategically in order to break even on annual fees.

This creates a paradox. The benefits are real and can offset high fees, but as issuers attract cardholders into their ecosystems, their complexity can prevent cardholders from fully utilizing them. After all, if another card you hold already offers a benefit, or is too complicated to remember how to use, is it any good?

In 2026, the winning strategy may not be holding the most premium hands; it may be thinning your wallet based on the perks you actually use.

For American Express Platinum Card rates and fees, click here.