We’re used to airlines and hotels influencing how and where you book travel. But that trend is going to spread in 2026 — now, credit card issuers want in too. And they’re using increasingly innovative methods to keep you in their ecosystem.

Let’s say you add the American Express Platinum Card® to your wallet for lounge access and travel benefits. With that $895 annual fee (see rates and fees), you likely want to find ways to offset it by maximizing its statement credits or elevated earning rates.

You may find yourself spending more often in an issuer’s portal to trigger a credit or higher earning rate, or spending with new merchants just to recoup your annual fee. The high level of loyalty required to fully maximize the perks of a premium travel card requires organization, planning and thoughtful spending.

It’s not always straightforward, and it can quickly become overwhelming — especially if you carry multiple cards across issuers, like many of us here at TPG. That’s because these benefits can (and often do) overlap, leaving perceived value on the table.

The emergence of these credit card ecosystems and overlapping benefits on premium cards creates new challenges for award travelers looking to maximize their setups.

Choose your brand ecosystem

While it’s true that banks have long issued their own rewards cards to earn cash back or points and miles for travel, it’s evident that they’re now working harder than ever to keep cardholders in their unique ecosystem from start to finish.

In the issuer’s ideal world, you’ll use your card to book travel through its owned portal, earn its loyalty currency and then use that currency in the portal for free or discounted travel.

Couple this cycle with the addition of statement credits that many premium cards provide for booking through the issuer’s portal, and, in many instances, you shouldn’t ever have to leave the issuer’s portal.

For example, the refreshed Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) provides multiple incentives to keep you all-in on Ultimate Rewards and the Chase Travel℠ portal.

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• Receive up to $500 annually in statement credits (up to $250 biannually) to use for reservations of two nights or more through The Edit, Chase’s portfolio of luxury properties
• Earn 8 points per dollar spent on purchases made through Chase Travel
• Redeem points for travel through Chase Travel at a value of up to 2 cents per point, depending on the card and the specific redemption (see your rewards program agreement for full details)

Chase isn’t the only issuer encouraging this behavior. American Express’s premium travel cards provide higher earning rates when booking hotels through American Express Travel, as well as statement credits and premium benefits when booking through Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection — direct competitors to Chase’s The Edit.

Partners are part of these ecosystems, too

This extends beyond issuer travel portals, too. Issuers want you to transact with their partners — and many premium cards provide similar benefits for everything from dining and groceries to ride-hailing and fitness.

It all comes together to create a closed ecosystem of sorts, wherein the most logical way for you to offset your annual fee is by spending with merchants preferred by the issuer.

For example, here are some of the preferred platforms and partners across certain categories within the Amex and Chase ecosystems.

*This is not comprehensive of all issuer benefits or partnerships.

American Express and Chase sit at the forefront of this trend, but they’re not alone.

For instance, Bilt has built a loyalty ecosystem based around earning Bilt Points in a cardholder’s neighborhood, partnering with gyms like SoulCycle and pharmacies such as Walgreens.

We anticipate that Capital One and Citi will continue building out their own ecosystems to compete with leaders in this space as well. Capital One continues to expand its lounge network and enhance benefits for making reservations through its travel booking site, while Citi has gone all-in with its American Airlines partnership, which will likely expand in the coming years.

The downside of overlapping credit card perks

For years, the value proposition behind premium credit cards was straightforward: pay an annual fee, and you’ll unlock exclusive perks that can easily cover the cost of the annual fee. But in 2025, that trend has changed. What was once rare is now everywhere.

Today, multiple cards across issuers offer near-identical benefits, such as streaming credits, TSA PreCheck and Global Entry reimbursement, Priority Pass lounge memberships, and general travel statement credits.

At first glance, doubling up on these perks may seem like a good thing. But in reality, this benefit overlap often leaves travelers with redundant perks they might not maximize. Instead of delivering more value, it adds complexity — and, in many cases, results in unused credits. Suddenly, that annual fee isn’t so easy to recoup, especially for travelers with multiple credit cards.

The biggest pain point isn’t just redundancy; it’s the mental load of managing all these overlapping credits that have morphed into modern-day “coupon books.” Many are issued as small monthly installments, with strict merchant restrictions that can differ from card to card. That means cardholders must remember not only which card covers which merchant, but also actively use the credit before it expires.

The recently announced refreshes of three of the most popular premium travel cards — the American Express Platinum Card, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and the Chase Sapphire Reserve — added numerous new travel and lifestyle perks, but each with its own individual set of complex rules and restrictions to remember.

Just how much overlap has emerged in 2025?

Consider: the following cards all offer the same Clear Plus statement credit of up to $209 per calendar year (enrollment required; subject to auto-renewal). So, if you already have one of these cards, you’re unlikely to benefit from this same perk with any other:

*The information for these cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

That Clear Plus credit goes a long way toward recuperating the cost of many of these cards’ annual fees; without it, you may have to decide if holding multiple cards from the list is worth your investment.

In a similar vein, if you’re looking for airport lounge access, a Priority Pass Select membership can be valuable if you have one card. But with all these cards offering the same benefit, you may find yourself overlapping:

*The information for these cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

When it comes to streaming, dining and food delivery credits, the trend differs. Credits are not identical, which might seem like great news to avoid overlap or redundancy.

However, the differences create a series of complex rules and restrictions to manage, which can compound headaches caused by popular cards. Some credits are monthly, while others are quarterly or yearly; some also require activation and are distributed in the form of a statement credit, while others are a one-time subscription.

Bottom line

Holding more premium cards doesn’t always equal more value. Instead, it often means more benefits to track, more calendars to manage, and more pressure to spend strategically just to break even on annual fees.

This creates a paradox. The benefits are real and can offset high fees, but as card issuers entice cardholders to their ecosystems, the complexity may discourage cardholders from fully using them. After all, if a benefit is either already offered by another card you hold — or too complicated to remember how to use — is it any benefit at all?

In 2026, the winning strategy may not be holding the most premium cards; it may be streamlining your wallet to the perks you’ll actually use.

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum, click here.