The Old Playbook is Broken

In Istanbul, on stage, I said something that made a few people shift in their seats:

“Loyalty as we know it is dead.”
Not dying. Not evolving. Dead.
And Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and whatever comes next aren’t waiting around to mourn it.

For decades, loyalty in retail and hospitality followed a predictable formula: collect points, get a reward, call it loyalty. It made sense in a world with fewer choices, slower feedback loops, and consumers who equated value with accumulation. Punch cards turned into plastic cards. Plastic cards turned into apps. But the thinking never really changed.

The problem? The customer did.

Points Don’t Create Belonging

Millennials began questioning transactional loyalty. Gen Z rejected it outright. Gen Alpha will barely understand why it existed in the first place.

Today’s consumers don’t wake up thinking, “How can I earn more points?” They wake up thinking, “How do I feel, what do I crave, and what fits my life right now?”

The  Yum! Brands 2026 Food Trends Report makes this painfully clear: consumers are no longer optimizing for deals; they’re optimizing for agency, emotion, and relevance. One stat should make every loyalty manager uncomfortable:

68% of solo diners do not take advantage of a deal offer, even when one is available.

This isn’t irrational behavior; it’s a signal. Value is no longer transactional. It’s emotional.

We Are in the Era of Emotional Economics

Yum! calls it "Vibe-Matching"—the idea that consumers now calculate value not through logic, but through feeling. People are constantly asking themselves:

• Does this feel worth it?
• Does this feel like me?
• Does this give me control, comfort, or a small dopamine hit?

That’s why:

• Personal-sized, customizable products  outperform mass offers among Gen Z.
• Build-your-own menus  drive higher spend and sentiment than convenience-led bundles.
• Specialty beverages and small indulgences  deliver an outsized emotional return.

None of this is about points. All of it is about control, identity, and self-expression.

The Loyalty Paradox: More Programs, Less Loyalty

Ironically, just as loyalty stops working, we see more of it everywhere. Malls are launching new apps, retailers are stacking tiers, and F&B brands are gamifying every transaction.

But “more” is not a strategy. More points, more tiers, and more notifications simply create more noise. Most loyalty programs today demand effort:  Scan this, track that, redeem later.

Modern consumers want effortless value. If redemption feels like work, it has already failed.

From Rewarding Frequency to Rewarding Meaning

The future of loyalty doesn’t live in transactions; it lives in context. Yum!’s research shows that consumers are willing to spend more when they feel:

• Recognized
• In control
• Emotionally rewarded

This is why personalization-driven, occasion-based ecosystems outperform generic programs. Not because they give more, but because they give what matters, when it matters.

True loyalty shifts from:

• Frequency  → Identity
  
• Accumulation  → Experience
  
• Rewards  → Recognition
  
• Programs  → Ecosystems
  

Or simply put: Loyalty should feel like life, not like homework.

Why Classic Loyalty Is Dead (And What Replaces It)

At Heartatwork Hospitality Consulting, we’ve seen this across markets—Europe, GCC, and Asia. Brands that cling to loyalty for loyalty’s sake lose relevance. Brands that design for emotional value creation win attention, spend, and advocacy.

• The customer wants to be retained.
  
• The brand owns the relationship.
  
• Incentives drive behavior.
  

• Customers "borrow" brands; they don’t belong to them.
  
• Relationships are fluid.
  
• Meaning beats mechanics.
  

The winners are not those who reward customers for coming back—but those who give customers a reason to  want to.