WestJet and Skip (which isn’t called SkipTheDishes anymore, FYI) have teamed up. Sadly, it doesn’t involve food couriers delivering your next late-night A&W order via airplane.
What happened: The airline and the food delivery service are linking rewards programs. WestJet Rewards will soon offer a Skip gift card as one of its rewards for members, while Skip+ — the app’s new membership program — will offer WestJet travel rewards to users.
Big picture: It’s part of a broader trend in the Canadian rewards space where programs are teaming up to provide perks, specifically in the realms of dining and travel.
- For example, American Express has built up dominance in the restaurant reso rewards space by acquiring Resy in 2019 and Tock in 2024.
- This year, Visa started to fight back by teaming up with rival app OpenTable to offer exclusive reservations to cardholders.
Why it matters: With Canada addicted to rewards — Canadians have an average of 14.3 memberships in their wallet — these team-ups could build up walled ecosystems with complementary products, kinda like how tech companies lock in users with interoperability.
Bottom line: From now on, instead of asking someone if they’re a Mac or a PC, maybe we should be asking if they’re are WestJet-Skip person or an Air Canada-Uber Eats stan.—QH