Traveloka Points
Led and grew the company's first loyalty program into a business that paid for itself, across four markets.
The problem
Most loyalty programs are a discount line: you spend margin to rent retention. The crux here was the opposite, build loyalty that pays for itself, so we could afford to be ambitious with it.
Traveloka served 40M+ travelers across Southeast Asia with no loyalty program, and retention and repeat were the biggest unowned levers in the business. The first version of Points was launched by my senior PM, who handed it to me a few months in. From there I led and grew it, and the real question was never "how do we give points away" but "how does this become a business."
Decisions
Make the program a P&L, not a cost center
Most loyalty programs are run as a discount line: spend to retain. I went the other way and built banking partnerships with BRI, Mandiri, and Citibank (points exchange and credit-card benefits) so Points generated its own revenue while it drove retention. Loyalty that pays for itself can be far more ambitious.
Earn moments inside the journey, not on a separate page
Points only change behavior if they show up where the decision happens. We surfaced earning and redemption inside search and checkout, at the moment a traveler weighs price, rather than hiding them in a rewards tab. The lift came from placement and clarity, not from richer rewards.
Open the program beyond Traveloka
A loyalty currency is only as valuable as the places you can use it. I extended Points past our own walls: a redemption catalogue to spend points outside Traveloka, and exchange and earning so members could earn and convert points beyond the ecosystem. It turned a closed rewards balance into something that felt like money.
Launch narrow, then expand on evidence
We launched in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia first, learned what drove repeat behavior in each market, then widened into Vietnam. Restraint at launch made the growth legible.
Outcome
Points grew into a meaningful business for Traveloka, a platform that today serves more than 50 million monthly users. I turned a closed rewards balance into a currency that earned its own revenue through partnerships with banks like BRI, Mandiri, and Citibank, paid for its own generosity, and reached beyond Traveloka.
Loyalty, payments, and growth have been the thread of my career since. Points is where the three first came together.