The problem
Loyalty rarely stays simple. A business starts with its own points scheme, then a bank, a mobile network and a group-wide programme each want their customers to earn and spend with you too. Add a monthly subscription and a members’ discount, and the customer is looking at five schemes with five sets of rules, all trying to apply to the same basket.
Every one of them has to be checked in real time, at the moment of booking, against the ticketing system’s own rules. If it’s slow or wrong, the customer pays full price or gets a discount they shouldn’t have, and either way they notice.
VOX Cinemas: six schemes, one booking flow
VOX Cinemas runs its own loyalty alongside the Majid Al Futtaim group scheme and several partner programmes. We have added them to the live platform one by one since 2017:
- Vista Loyalty for VOX’s own scheme (2017)
- MAF SHARE in the UAE (2019), then in Saudi Arabia (2022), with pay by points at checkout (2022)
- Al Rajhi Mokafa’a (2021), ADCB Touchpoints and STC Qitaf (2023), and Mobily Neqaty (2024)
Points from these schemes can be spent alongside cash in the same payment, and SHARE data drives targeted offers by customer segment. Each new scheme was a new integration behind the same booking flow, not a new checkout. See Payments and Personalisation.
Cineworld Unlimited: a subscription inside the booking
Cineworld Unlimited lets members see as many films as they like for a monthly fee. We built the engine that made it work online:
- Real-time membership validation in the booking flow, so members book in advance online instead of queueing at the box office with a physical card
- Automated billing cycles and subscription payments through ATOS, in the same checkout as card payments and gift cards
- Discount rules applied consistently across every touchpoint
- Vista Loyalty for online Unlimited advance booking (2012)
It ran at the same scale as the rest of the platform: 99.9% uptime through peak launches, and 1M-ticket weekends with no double-bookings.
Everyman: memberships, and the cost of no-shows
For Everyman we built a membership hub in the app for managing a subscription and holding digital passes, with member discounts applied at the seat when ordering food and drink.
Memberships have a hidden cost: members book at no extra cost, so some don’t turn up, and the cinema still pays film hire on those seats. We built an attendance checker that lets staff verify attendance at the door and releases uncollected seats through Vista Connect before film-hire reconciliation. For the first time, no-show patterns were visible in Power BI.
A tiered scheme with Yotpo
For a UK marketplace, we integrated a Yotpo loyalty programme into the customer’s account, giving its most engaged customers a single customer view of their loyalty rewards, VIP tier progress and exclusive early-access opportunities.
How it works
- One loyalty layer. The booking flow talks to a single loyalty layer, and each scheme plugs into it. Adding a partner is a new integration, not a change to checkout.
- Checked in real time. Membership, balances and eligibility are checked live, at the moment of booking, against Vista or the scheme’s own API.
- Points as payment. Points can pay for part of a basket, alongside a card or a gift card.
- A single customer view. Loyalty data joins CRM, analytics and customer engagement tools (Movio, Microsoft Dynamics, Braze), so offers can be targeted.
Beyond cinema
The same parts work for gyms and leisure clubs, theme parks, theatres, venues and retailers: anywhere with members, a subscription or a points scheme, and partners who want their customers to benefit. We’ve written about it in Gym member retention and The park ecosystem.
Related
- Services: Vista Cinema Integrators, Software Development, Mobile App Development
- Solutions: Payments, Gift cards, vouchers and partner offers, Personalisation
- Case studies: VOX Cinemas, Cineworld, Everyman Cinemas, Everyman attendance checker
- Specialist site: Can Factory Cinema
Frequently asked questions
Can we add a partner loyalty scheme to our existing booking flow?
Yes. At VOX, bank, telecoms and group schemes have been added one at a time to the live platform since 2017, each without changing the checkout.
Does this work with Vista Loyalty?
Yes. We have integrated Vista Loyalty for VOX’s own scheme and for Cineworld Unlimited online booking.
Can members spend points as part of a payment?
Yes. At VOX, SHARE points and partner points are spent alongside cash in the same transaction.
