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100% CREDIT CARD REWARDS: 100% credit card rewards is the new claim from the Dynamics ePlate Card. According to the press release:

Dynamics also introduces a “no annual fee” version of the ePlate^® Visa card — the Dynamics ePlate^EZ Visa card.  Consumers now have a choice between the “no annual fee” ePlate^EZ card and the $99 annual fee ePlate^® card. The ePlate^® card earns double rewards on nearly all Experience™ rewards compared to the no fee ePlate^EZ card .

With the ePlate^® card(with fee), cardholders can now earn rewards valued as high as 50 percent or more. For example, cardholders can redeem a day at the Skip Barber Racing School (a $700 value) just by spending $1,250 (a 56 percent reward). With a traditional 1 percent rewards credit card, a consumer would need to spend $70,000 to earn an equivalent reward.

ePlate^® Experience™ rewards can even reach 100 percent in value.  With JetLimo, a cardholder can earn a seat on a private jet flight worth $1250 after spending only $1,250.  With a traditional 1 percent rewards card, a consumer would need to spend over$125,000 to earn an equivalent reward.

How, you may ask, can the card, offered by UMB, be so generous?

The ePlate^®  business model is at the heart of why Dynamics can give cardholders 50 percent or more of their purchase value in rewards while other credit cards struggle to achieve 1 percent. Traditional co-brand reward credit cards rely on one major reward partner and all customer acquisition originates from that partner.  The Dynamics ePlate^® card, however, flips the model on its head by letting cardholders change the primary reward provider at any time. The ePlate^® card does not have one primary reward provider – there are multiple reward providers with new ones being added all the time. In so doing, ePlate^® reward providers can actually acquire customers from the ePlate^® customer base – not the other way around.  Reward partners can then add value to the rewards in order to attract more customers.

“With the ePlate^® card, cardholders are making an active choice of picking a reward provider for a particular purchase,” says Mullen.  “Because of this pre-purchase commitment to the reward provider by the cardholder, the reward provider can make a commitment back to the cardholder in the form of higher value rewards.”

The value proposition here seems to be a rewards program that’s even more confusing than PNC’s. I guess this is good news if you’re a fan of JetLimo or the Skip Barber racing school, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of mass appeal.

On the positive side, the card lights up, which is kind of cool:

I don’t understand why this company is peddling a confusing rewards program when they have a totally awesome card that lights up. Most people don’t put too much thought into maximizing credit card rewards. People who do, like yours truly, are the oddballs. If you market a card that lights up–and I’m sure Dynamics could get more than the single light they currently have onto the card, I’m looking for something akin to a string of Christmas lights–there are plenty of people, possibly including me, who would say “OMG! IT LIGHTS UP! I WANT ONE!”

HOTEL LOYALTY PROGRAM SURVEY: Over at Hotel Chatter, we have the results of a survey done by Club Carlson:

.The study revealed that the ease and frequency with which one can earn free nights is the main motivator when it comes to joining a loyalty program

Stop the presses! But more interestingly:

Other insights: One in five Americans belong to a hotel brand’s loyalty program; Almost 60 percent are members of more than one; Men are 33 percent more likely to be a member of hotel loyalty programs than women; Three in five would rather consolidate points to redeem one longer vacation as opposed to several quick trips; Ninety-four percent of hotel loyalty program members would be willing to spend money to buy more points if they do not currently have enough for a free stay, especially for a room at a quality hotel or if it entails a specific date, location or property; Americans ages 18-64 are much more likely to join compared to those older than 64; And, lastly, the study said that it takes about 43 days to cash in on complimentary stays and 88 percent of members earned an average of four free nights in the past year.

I see two interesting things: first, as Hotel Chatter mentioned, I never would have guessed that 94% of loyalty program members would be willing to spend money to buy more points. Second, given that this is a Club Carlson survey, it’s interesting that 60% of the respondents prefer to redeem on a single long trip to short trips.

Why is that interesting? You may recall that holders of the Club Carlson Visa get an extra night free on any redemption. So if you do two-night stays on points, you effectively cut your point redemption costs in half, and this is the sweet spot for the Club Carlson program. Perhaps this feature was added to the card knowing that most people prefer long stays? Perhaps it’s a marketing hook for Club Carlson that doesn’t cost too much, and it’s also something that can be used to the advantage of those in the know. Win-win!