The demand for experiences is growing—and shows no signs of slowing down. From luxury getaways to live music festivals, Gen Z and Millennials are leaning hard into a life philosophy that prioritizes memories over materials. According to research from MERGE, 86% of Gen Zers say they overspend at live events due to the allure and atmosphere of the experience.
Whether it’s booking a Michelin-starred dinner in Kyoto, scoring Taylor Swift tickets in Paris, or chasing an off-grid surfing retreat in Costa Rica, today’s consumers are increasingly using their credit cards as passports to the life they want.
This experience-first mindset has major implications—not only for travel and live event brands, but for the financial institutions that enable and often power these moments. Credit card companies have quietly become essential players in the experience economy. But now, they’re aiming for center stage.
Why? Because facilitating the experience is only half the game. If they can own the booking, offer curated access, and deepen loyalty through perks and partnerships, they gain something more valuable than transaction fees—they gain relevance and customer intimacy.
Adam Rossbach, President at TFL and an expert in the experience economy and technology trends commented, “The real competition isn’t about who issues the card—it’s about who owns the moment. Gen Z doesn’t want points. Zers want proof that their loyalty unlocks experiences worth remembering.”
Travel and Live Events: A Multi-Trillion-Dollar Opportunity
Let’s follow the money. In 2024, consumers spent over $10 trillion via major credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), and a large chunk of that—estimated at $1.6 to $2.0 trillion—went toward travel and live entertainment.
American Express alone reported $376 billion in travel spending in 2025, with 54% of total Amex cardholder spend falling into the T&E category. Visa and Mastercard, while more diversified, still clocked in with massive figures: Visa saw between $920 billion and $1.2 trillion in estimated T&E spend, and Mastercard tracked hundreds of billions more, fueled by a 15% rise in cross-border transactions and strong live event demand.
Gen Z and Millennials are the engines behind much of this growth. They not only spend more on experiences, they expect frictionless digital interfaces, curated options, and purpose-driven perks—think carbon offsets, last-minute festival access, or the ability to split payments with friends. “The next era of loyalty will be defined by anticipation. The excitement of what’s coming is just as powerful as the reward itself,” said TFL’s Rossbach.
The more seamless and surprise-filled the journey, the more likely these consumers are to stick with a card—and tell their friends about it.
Why Chase and Capital One Are Built to Win
As competition heats up, Chase and Capital One are making bold plays to lead the future of travel and entertainment.
Chase, long dominant in premium cards with its Sapphire Reserve, has invested heavily in its Chase Travel platform, offering portal-only deals, VIP access, and flexible redemption models. The company recently announced that bookings through its portal are up over 50% year-over-year, signaling strong demand for integrated experiences.
Capital One, once a challenger, has become a serious contender through strategic investments like its Capital One Travel platform (powered by travel powerhouse Hopper) and branded venues like the Capital One Arena and Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage. These aren’t just sponsorships—they’re pipelines for customer loyalty and cardholder-exclusive benefits.
Capital One’s Venture X card, launched in late 2021, quickly gained traction among Gen Z travelers with its luxury-lite positioning and easy-to-use rewards ecosystem. The company is clearly betting that consumers don’t just want points—they want meaningful, story-worthy experiences. That means skip-the-line, VIP soundcheck, and curated culinary partnerships, not just cash-back gimmicks.
Owning the End-to-End Journey
The future of travel and live entertainment spending won’t just be about where consumers go—it will be about how they book, who they trust, and what experiences are bundled in.
“Brands must prioritize physical and digital touchpoints that strengthen loyalty and emotional resonance,” Greg Ng EVP at MERGE remarked. “For Gen Z, the ‘experience economy’ is thriving, and credit card perks like VIP access or exclusive event invites are becoming more and more valuable. The brands that get ahead are those that can deliver on experiences that feel personal, memorable, and undeniably human.”
That gives card issuers an incentive to go beyond financing and into full-stack ownership of the experience: from discovery to booking, from perks to post-trip loyalty.
In short, the credit card becomes less about spending and more about sponsoring your best life.
Will Chase and Capital One dominate this space? They just might. But Amex remains the sentimental favorite for affluent experience seekers, while Visa and Mastercard are likely to keep innovating across a broader base.
The only guarantee? Experience-led consumers will keep swiping, tapping, and booking. And the brands that deliver access—not just credit—will win the next generation of loyalty.