The news: Visa’s renewed partnership with OpenTable will broaden Visa Dining Collection’s footprint across the US, Canada, and Mexico, per a press release.

Visa will gain access to both Michelin and local restaurants across major vacation locations such as Los Cabos, Cancun, Toronto, and Montreal.

Visa will also spearhead more exclusive pop-ups and chef collaborations like Friends on the Town and after-hours inspired dining experiences called Off the Clock. 

How we got here: While dining and travel rewards have historically been the remit of issuers, networks are pushing to become the brokers of exclusive experiences.

• Mastercard’s Priceless platform offers exclusive perks like curated African travel experiences.
• American Express acquired The Fork for a deeper presence in European dining alongside Resy.
• And Visa launched Visa Destinations to give cardholders exclusive experiences across 10 markets.

Why this matters: US cardholders have a hunger for exclusive dining events—and restaurants are delivering. OpenTable’s Experience events surged 46% YoY last year, per the most recently available OpenTable data.

Restaurant and payment providers can count on exclusivity to drive volume, as 48% of US adults said that they’re more likely to dine at a restaurant when it’s hosting a pop-up, collaboration, or special experience, per a separate OpenTable survey.

Implications for payment providers: Owning valuable experiences can boost both acquisitions and payment volume. 

The value cardholders get from exclusive experiences can’t be replicated by other rewards. While the scale of any one event may be capped to a few members, payment providers can ride the organic marketing of these events from their cardholders. 

Issuers hosting exclusive dining experiences should adopt tasteful on-site branding. As attendees post their experiences to social media, their followers will be able to track how their friends accessed the event and may be more likely to seek out a card for future opportunities.

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