Why cardmember incentives always deliver vs delivery apps and why we should above all else put loyalty first
Delivery solutions have become a default revenue source for the Hospitality sector they aren't going anywhere but convenience comes at a steep price. With commissions reportedly in the region of 20–35% per order, brands are handing over huge chunks of revenue to third parties, often without seeing genuine loyalty in return or in many cases increasing prices to mitigate these commissions that don’t go unnoticed with the consumer. By contrast, Card-Linked Offers (CLO) incentives linked directly to a customer’s payment card are proving a far smarter, margin-friendly solution for the hospitality sector.
Driving incremental first-time diners
CLO works by rewarding cardmembers when they dine, not at home on the sofa. This means brands are incentivising the exact behaviour they want: more people walking through their doors. Across our campaigns, 80% of redemptions are from first-time diners, and we’re also able to target lapsed cardmembers to bring them back.
Cardmember incentives that scale
With partners like American Express, Revolut, Airtime and BA Rewards, CLO incentives are seamlessly integrated into the way customers already spend. There’s no voucher code, no QR code, no FOH staff training just a seamless reward automatically triggered when the card is used. That frictionless experience is why cardmembers redeem at higher rates and spend more per visit.
Protecting margins
While delivery apps eat into profitability and margins, CLO is lean. Brands only fund a reward after a verified transaction, meaning the spend is quantifiable and tied directly to incremental revenue. It’s not a blanket Incentive; it’s a precise and clean payment targeting the right customer segments and at a fraction of the cost of delivery commissions.
Loyalty beyond the transaction
When a cardmember is rewarded for dining, the loyalty sits with the brand not the delivery platform at Krowd we can pipe directly into your CRM platform. This gives our brands the chance to enhance the guest experience in person, capture repeat visits, and grow customer lifetime value. Delivery apps can’t deliver that; they own the relationship, not the brand.
The bottom line
Hospitality doesn’t need more ‘reach’ at the expense of profit. It needs smarter, measurable tools that protect margins and create loyalty. Card-Linked Offers deliver exactly that: a scalable, cardmember incentive that drives incremental diners and repeat visits, without handing over a third of revenue.
Delivery apps sell convenience. CLO drives loyalty. And for hospitality, loyalty is the currency that really counts.
