Barclays Is Considering Getting Back Into The Travel Card Market

Over the years, I’ve learned that a bank issuing a survey is the first step to launching a new product or revamping an existing card. Banks want to know what things are important to their customers because launching a new product is expensive. A new card with benefits no one wants is often dead on arrival. Smart people take advantage of the bonuses offered at the product launch and ditch the card as soon as possible.

Barclays has been burnt before when launching a proprietary travel card. In 2018 they hyped the Arrival Premier but the card wasn’t what anyone wanted. That card only lasted for one year before the bank pulled the plug. I’ve found it odd that it’s taken the bank so long to decide if it wanted to offer a card that could transfer points to its many co-brand card partners. I even pondered what a Barclays card that earned Barclays points would look like.

It appears that Barclays is ready to get back in the game based on a recent survey I received from the bank. The first question was rather generic, asking about our travel patterns. I found it interesting that they asked about events (concerts, sports events) and attractions (museums & theme parks), home/condo/cabin stays and cruises.

The next question focused more on how you book travel. Most importantly, if you book direct, use an OTA, travel agent or another bank portal.

They also wondered if you are mutually exclusive with your bookings or if you use multiple websites.

For more information, Barclays asked if there was a site you used for each form of travel.

They also wanted to know why you’d use a specific website to book travel.

Finally, Barclays got to the point. They asked if you’ve ever used a booking site offered by another bank.

When I answered yes, they asked “Which bank?”

I replied honestly saying I’ve used the portals of AMEX, Capital One, Chase and Citi.

Then the million-dollar question. If Barclays had its own portal where I could earn extra points or unlock special rates, would I use it?

I’d be interested depending on how good of a deal they offered…which was their next question.

Then the big question. What would get me to use a Barclays-branded booking site.

The next questions were about how interested I’d be in a financing program.

Finally, they asked which sites I’d use to book future travel.

I did think it interesting that when talking about travel providers, they used Delta and Hyatt as examples which have exclusive deals with AMEX and Chase respectively.

When it comes to OTA co-brand cards, Expedia, Booking.com and Travelocity do not have any current cards and Priceline is already partnered with Barclays.

Final Thought

Barclays is one of the only big banks which offers co-brand cards which doesn’t offer a card that earns proprietary credit card points. They tried in the past but missed the mark with the Arrival Premier card. They’ve kept the Arrival+ card alive but only as a 2% back card for travel expenses.

There’s a market to reach with their unique set of travel partners. Allowing transfers to cruise lines, international partners like Lufthansa, and Frontier for domestic flights, in addition to launching their own portal (possibly partnering with Priceline) could make the start of a new point currency like no other.

Watch this space for what moves Barclays makes.

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