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Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#71

Post by pimlottc »

timqin wrote: post #27
asdev wrote: post #14

are you working directly with airlines? what are you going to do to avoid situations like this: https://awardwallet.com/blog/air-canada-sues-seats-aero/

So we are focused on consumers and helping points beginners. We actually provide tons of value especially to non-US airlines who would like to gain access to the US consumer. Normally, a US consumer would never create an Air Canada loyalty account, but we show them the value. We are open working with any airline that approaches us on better serving their customers and acquiring new loyalty members. With regards to th…

You're "open [to] working" with airlines... sounds like all the current data is being scraped without direct agreements, then.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#72

Post by xyst »

Products like this only support more wasteful air travel. Not a fan of min-maxing “credit card points” either.

These points programs are funded largely due to various fees imposed on the merchants that are often forced to accept the credit cards.

Note: the airline and “signature” cards often impose “premium” card fees in addition to the bevy of other fees (bank, network, transaction, …) associated with accepting debit/credit cards.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#74

Post by ec109685 »

timqin wrote: post #39
toomuchtodo wrote: post #32

If credit card rewards affiliate programs sunset, what is your business model? https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_credit-ca... https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/183...

Right now card affiliate programs are a really small portion of our business and we make the vast majority of revenue via subscription access to advanced toolset. Our focus is to help the average consumer book their first business/first class flight. There are a lot of points sitting in everyone's accounts, but most people do not know how to redeem them for the best value. Some data on the Americans with points: - Se…

That legislation isn’t about referral fees but instead about lowering the commissions on credit card transactions, which would decimate the reward points industry.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#75

Post by moneywoes »

misterbwong wrote: post #28

Congrats on the launch! Been using your free product for a little while. As a fellow traffic hacker, some random comments: - I've been in the points game for a long time so I may not be your target customer. Take feedback with a grain of salt, I guess. - Commissions & Trust: You should disclose (more clearly?) that you're getting commissions from the CC signups and, ideally, that those may not be the best offers avai…

what have you learnt overtime

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#76

Post by mauz »

> While most people redeem their credit card points through the Chase or American Express travel portals at about 1-1.5 cents per point, transferring to an airline partner can yield 3-8 cents per point for business class or 12-20 cents per point for first class.

Are there any indicators on your website of how many cents per point a particular booking would be for?

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#77

Post by timqin »

moneywoes wrote: post #75
misterbwong wrote: post #28

Congrats on the launch! Been using your free product for a little while. As a fellow traffic hacker, some random comments: - I've been in the points game for a long time so I may not be your target customer. Take feedback with a grain of salt, I guess. - Commissions & Trust: You should disclose (more clearly?) that you're getting commissions from the CC signups and, ideally, that those may not be the best offers avai…

what have you learnt overtime

The biggest lesson is that design and UX is everything for a consumer product in a new category. There is already a lot of education needed with points redemptions, so any small changes to the design including just the color or placement of text, can have a big impact on the user experience.

We get a ton of support tickets when we move something around or make small tweaks to functionality

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#78

Post by timqin »

mauz wrote: post #76

> While most people redeem their credit card points through the Chase or American Express travel portals at about 1-1.5 cents per point, transferring to an airline partner can yield 3-8 cents per point for business class or 12-20 cents per point for first class. Are there any indicators on your website of how many cents per point a particular booking would be for?

We have that on our list to add! Would require also pulling in the matched cash fares

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#80

Post by timqin »

MattGaiser wrote: post #33

I’m a pro subscriber already. Very nice product. However, do you have a strategy to at least mollify the airlines? As the reason I am a Roame subscriber is that: 1: Air Canada brought the hammer down on one of your predecessors. 2. Air Canada implemented a bunch of anti scraping tech, breaking my custom version of this tool and it’s been easier to pay for yours. The last few attempts at this caused enormous problems…

Thank you!

We believe that we are ultimately beneficial to the airlines because we increase the value of points and bring airlines, especially non-US airlines more US customers.

When more people find good redemptions for their points, they value their points more, and in turn will be more likely spend money using points earning cards.

Airlines benefit by selling billions of dollars worth of points a year to credit card companies.

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