The main reason I use a credit card that earns transferrable points is to eventually transfer those points to one of their partner programs. For example, I transferred Capital One points to KLM/Air France Flying Blue to book a flight to London from Orlando on Virgin Atlantic. I also transferred points from several programs to Singapore KrisFlyer to book our flights to Southeast Asia.
So while most of my point redemptions are to book award flights there are other ways to use your points. I used some of my Chase Ultimate Rewards points to purchase an Apple Watch. I also used my Citi ThankYou points to book flights on Icelandair through the Citi Travel Portal. But there are even more ways to use your points, which include paying for exclusive events.
Many programs have event portal sites that allow you to use points to book “exclusive” experiences. Some of the more popular programs for these events are:
- Marriott Bonvoy Moments
- Hilton Honors Experiences
- American Express Experiences
- Citi Entertainment
- Chase Experiences
- Capital One Entertainment
Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines offered their co-brand credit cardholders the opportunity to attend a dinner and private concert with country music star Lainey Wilson. The offer sold out within hours.
I’m always interested in these offers as they are a different way for programs to engage with their members. I received an email from Capital One yesterday with the chance for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They were selling exclusive packages to the 20th Anniversary shows of Wicked on Broadway. While based on The Wizard of Oz, Wicked has taken on a life of its own. From the New York Theater Guide:
Wicked may be based on The Wizard of Oz and the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked, but the musical has become its own cultural phenomenon due to its moving portrayal of female friendship and its memorable songs, from “Defying Gravity” to “For Good.” Not to mention the special effects, from Glinda’s descent from the sky in a sea of bubbles, to Elphaba flying on her broomstick. Wicked is not just a fresh story about two well-known characters, it’s also a spectacular megamusical.
While it’s become a Broadway fixture, Wicked did not win the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2004, as the award was given to the underdog entrant, Avenue Q. While that show is no longer playing on Broadway, I was able to use points to fly us to New York to see its closing night on Broadway and to see a show towards the end of its off-Broadway iteration, as well.
Wicked, however, is still going strong. There’s going to be a celebration of its 20th Anniversary on Broadway and Capital One offered exclusive tickets to cardholders.
While I thought it was doubtful we’d be able to make it to New York to see one of these shows as it’s so close to Halloween (Halloween is a big deal at our house), I clicked the link to see how expensive tickets would be. Less than 12 hours after receiving the email, all of the ticket packages were sold out.
In fact, I checked other Capital One events and all of them were sold out. When I checked into a dinner with Thomas Keller and Neil Patrick Harris, here’s the page I was forwarded to.
Every Capital One exclusive entertainment and dining event was already sold out. The only options on the Capital One Entertainment site were to purchase tickets to events that were widely available on Ticketmaster. You could use Capital One points to buy tickets at a value of less than 1 cent per point, which is a terrible value.
With only a handful of special events, it’s no surprise that they sell out almost instantly. Remember it was Capital One who offered “exclusive” access to tickets for Taylor Swift’s tour earlier this year, resulting in many Swifties signing up for their first credit card.
Programs like American Express, Chase and Marriott (and earlier Starwood) have experience in offering exclusive events to members. While each of those programs seems to have figured out the supply and demand equation for these events, Capital One still seems to be figuring it out. My advice is that if you see a Capital One event you’re interested in, drop everything and book it ASAP as it probably won’t be available if you go back to look later that day.
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