Here’s how Chope’s new loyalty program will work

A couple of weeks ago, some Chope users reported seeing unexplained changes in their Chope Dollar (C$) balance. In my case, a few thousand C$ went AWOL. Subsequent emails to customer service revealed the following:

Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re so sorry for the confusion.

Recently, in preparation for our upcoming launch of the new Loyalty Program, we looked into revamping the display and recalculated the Chope-Dollars that each diner has in order to ensure accuracy before we move our diners over to the new program. Upon checking the database, it was flagged that a group of diners were affected by an inaccurate display of Chope-Dollars. Hence, this is the reason why you spotted the discrepancy of Chope-Dollars in your account

I still haven’t been able to reconcile the differences to my satisfaction, but it’s basically Chope’s word against mine now and I’ve given up pressing the matter.

In any case, customer service alluded to “the upcoming launch of the new loyalty program”. Yesterday, Chope unveiled its new loyalty program that will take effect “by” 5 November 2018 (not “from”).

Here are the highlights:

New Elite Tiers

Chope is adding elite member tiers to reward those who use the app more frequently. There are five tiers in total- Member, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. You unlock higher tiers by fulfilling more reservations. If your Chope account is registered in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bali, Bangkok, or Phuket, your reservations in any of these cities will count towards your membership status.

What’s the difference between a regular member and a Bronze member you ask? That is an excellent question. I imagine it is an warm, fuzzy sense of self-satisfaction and accomplishment, because the chart doesn’t tell us otherwise.

You move up tiers by fulfilling more reservations. It takes 55 reservations (presumably the team messed up the difference between ≥ and >) in a calendar year to hit Platinum, and your status in the following year depends on the number of reservations fulfilled in the current year. In other words, if I qualify for Gold in 2019, I’ll carry that status into 2020 and need to hit a minimum of 26 fulfilled reservations to carry Gold into 2021.

Members earn a C$ multiplier starting from Silver tier onwards. A standard Chope reservation is worth C$100 before any promo codes, so Silver, Gold and Platinum members will earn C$125, C$150 and C$175 respectively.

Your status for 2018 will be determined based on the number of reservations made in 2018- that’s 21 in my case, so I’ll be a Silver member (but should be able to hit Gold pretty easily with a small push).

Interaction of status with promo codes

If you’re earning only 100C$ per reservation, you’re doing something wrong. I was regularly pulling in 600C$ per reservation thanks to a combination of various Chope promo codes (+300C$) and LiveUp membership (+200C$ on the first 15 reservations per year).

The table below shows how that interaction between base C$ and promo codes will work going forward:

The multiplier bonus does not apply to promo codes- in the table above the member has used a promo code with an extra 200C$, so that stacks with his/her base points post multiplier bonus. In other words, for a Gold member who makes a booking with a 200C$ promo code, the math looks like this:

[1.5 x 100 C$] + 200 C$ = 350 C$

If you’re a Gold member who makes a booking with a 200C$ promo code and LiveUp membership, the math looks like this:

[1.5 x 100 C$] + 200 C$ + 200 C$ = 550 C$

Multipliers will be based on your status as on the date you made the reservation, not the dining date. In other words, if you’re getting Silver or higher status in the new program, it may make sense to cancel your old reservation (assuming it’s not some super popular joint where reservations are hard to come by) and make a new one after your account is upgraded. In the same way, if you’re dropping down a tier from 2019 to 2020, you might want to lock in some reservations with your higher status first.

New Expiry Policy

C$ currently expire 2 years from the date they are awarded to your account. The revised policy sees C$ having a 1-2 year expiry period, depending on when they’re earned. For example, C$ earned in 2019 will expire on 31 Dec 2020, regardless if they were earned on 1 Jan 2019 or 31 December 2019.

Conclusion

The full FAQ can be read here. There is no mention of C$ devaluation, so I’m going to assume that no news is good news (sorry Chope, but adjusting member account balances without warning creates a certain sense of paranoia in users).  As a reminder, your C$ can currently be redeemed for the following:

• 400C$ for S$10 dining voucher at a specific restaurant
• 700C$ for S$20 dining voucher at a specific restaurant
• 1,000C$ for S$30 dining voucher at a specific restaurant
• 1,000C$ for S$30 discount code that can be used in the Chope store
• 1,200C$ for 1,000 KrisFlyer miles

It’s important to note that C$ can only be earned when you make reservations through the Chope app or Chope website directly. I might not be remembering this correctly, but some restaurants have Chope applets built into the page. My guess is that if you complete the booking on the restaurant’s page without visiting the Chope site, you don’t get any credit.

If you’re not already a Chope member, you can earn a S$10 restaurant voucher on your first reservation by signing up through any of the links in this article.