In continuing with reviews and rundowns of customer loyalty programs for theater goers, today I’m discussing the Regal Crown Club Card. Unlike the AMC Stubs card, this card and program is entirely free, but its free ticket thresholds are further apart. The program is very simple but requires $150 in purchases before you receive your first free admissions ticket, but free soft drinks and popcorn thresholds are available at $50 marks.
Again, customer loyalty programs encourage you to return to those specific companies and use their products. Movie theaters mostly make their money from concessions, yet most concessions are of poor quality and have egregious price mark ups.
As a free card, using it is a passing thought and there is essentially nothing to lose. Rather than having to determine your spending habits to reach a positive ROI, but the Regal Crown Club card does have some stranger limitations. You do have to consider how the company explains how they your information in their privacy policy, and they do track your spending habits. However, during the online sign-up process you can opt-in or out of emails and notifications.
Regal Crown Club Rundown
- Must sign-up for an online account before points accumulate
- 1 credit for every $1 spent
- Rewards are offered after surpassing 50 points, and printed after the next transaction.
- Regal is transparent about their point level rewards
- Must earn 150 credits before you receive your first free admission ticket.
- After earning 150 credits you are given Star Status. Star Status allows you to finally earn free tickets:
- Free movie ticket after every 150 credits earned
- 5 extra credits with admission on Thursdays
- 2 extra credits on concessions
- After earning 10,000 credits, you might be invited to their Elite Status
- Credits never expire
- Maximum of 20 credits per day, per card
- Credit are not earned with gift card purchases, but purchases used with gift cards to earn credits
Regal Crown Club Card Analysis
One of the most apparent disadvantages is that you can only earn a maximum of 20 credits per day per card. For families, who can easily spent $40 on a family of four on tickets alone, only half of that purchase will go towards rewards. This can easily be remedied by acquiring a second card and splitting the purchase, but this is obviously very inconvenient.
Members who earn 10,000 credits may be invited to the special Elite Status, but the gifts and rewards are not explained. To explain that more carefully, when you spend $10,000 on admissions and concessions, you might be invited to be a part of their Elite Status, and you might be showered with gifts. If someone spent the same amount as I do per year on seeing movies and eating crappy food at the same theater chain, it would take roughly a decade to a decade and a half to earn that status. If someone does indeed spend that amount, a ticker tape parade at minimum should be provided to said user.
You do have to register the card online, otherwise the account does not accumulate credits. I found this out as I was researching this post. Again, as a smart consumer, save your receipts and ticket stubs, this way you can have those tickets applied retroactively.
Regal’s rules are much longer than others, but is rather simple to read.
Essentially, the Regal Crown Club rewards program is not family or group friendly because of the 20 credit per day limit. A night screening in the suburbs could cost over $20 for two easily. The Elite Status may be the program’s saving grace, but any company that has a customer spend $10,000 with them should be given high praise. Since the card is free, there is little room to complain about the thresholds, especially if you do enjoy free high-fructose syrup drinks and yesterday’s popcorn. In that case, $50 threshold may not be so terrible. You can also use Regal gift cards to use toward getting points.
Disclosure: This is not an advertisement, but a sincere review of the Regal Crown Club rewards program. I am not a Regal Theater employee or representative, I’m a film critic who writes insightful movie reviews. I cannot help you recover lost cards, help your retrieve your account information, and I do not have sympathy for you if you do not read the program’s terms and conditions, and therefore have your rewards or membership expire or revoked. I do care about your stories regarding this program, please leave a comment below.
