I use online transportation a lot, like A LOT.
I’ve ridden over 108 trips with Gojek, 135 with Grab and 244 with Uber in the last 6 months, that comes to right under 500 trips. I didn’t really bother about who I used, all that mattered was who gave me the best price. You could say I was moreso loyal to the money than to the company.
However, a few weeks ago I looked at my GrabRewards and learned that apparently I was a Platinum member with over 9000 GrabPoints. This didn’t really mean anything to me, I thought it was just another number. What caught my attention though was that I saw that I could redeem 2000 KrisFlyer miles for 11000 GrabPoints?! And you know that I’m a sucker for free miles!
Thus began my research into the world of Online transportation rewards, well except for Uber, they don’t have any rewards to offer, which makes me wonder why I rode with them the most.
Anyways, below you can see a brief comparison between GrabRewards and GoPoints.
| GrabRewards | GoPoint | |
| How to get them? | Using any Grab service with any method of payment (Cash, Credit, Debit and GrabPay) This will provide you with a fixed rate of GrabReward points which scales with service and amount used. Different methods provide higher reward per monetary amount value than others:GrabCar>GrabBikeGrabPay>Cash |
Using any GoJek (service with payments only through GoPay. This will provide you with a spin token which you can use to spin the machine in the app and get a random number of points. The number of points you receive more so resembles gambling as it is based on luck, not on amount paid or service used. |
| Number value of usage | 1 point per Rp 10.000 spentGrabCar: Receives (point amuont)x14 with Cash x28 with GrabPay
GrabBike/Express/Food: |
Major Con:It is pretty difficult to calculate an average as the reward amounts differ every time you use a token. However from my experience, I received an average of 25 points per token used. |
| Number of Reward channels | 4 Channels: GrabBike, GrabCar, GrabExpress, GrabFood |
16 Channels: Go-Ride, Go-Car, Go-Bluebird, Go-Food, Go-Send, Go-Pulsa, Go-Shop, Go-Mart, Go-Tix, Go-Box, Go-Massage,Go-Clean, Go-Glam, Go-Auto, Go-Med, Go-Busway |
| Catalogue of Rewards | Major Con: Very limited variety and it is more so used for ride discounts. GrabRewards provides discounts of Rp 40.000 for 1500 points. Therefore you would need to spend Rp 536.000 (GrabCar) on trips with GrabPay and Rp 1.072.000 (GrabCar) with cash to get the Rp 40.000 discount. |
Major Pro: Very wide variety, from a Royal Enfield motorcycle, a PS4, plane tickets, a free ride worth Rp 50.000, a Yeezy Boost and A LOT of restaurant deals for super low, such as 800 points for Rp 100.000 vouchers! |
| Prices of rides | Prices may vary depending on different circumstances however from my experience Grab is better for longer destination. A Pro is that Grab frequently has discounts worth Rp 10-20.000 with or without the use of GrabPay |
Prices may vary depending on different circumstances. A Con is that the prices are usually around the same level only if paid using GoPay, as there is a fixed reduction rate with GoPay transactions. However, since the only way to receive the rewards is through GoPay transactions, the conditions are set that all transactions are done through GoPay |
| How to top up Grab/GoPay | Online banking, Mini Mart, GrabDrivers , Credit/Debit Card, ATM, DOKU | Online Banking, GoDrivers , ATM |
Winner
GoPoint
The highlight of GoPoint is the rewards it provides.The vast variety in its rewards catalogue makes being loyal to it so worth it. Although Grab may have frequent discounts, a wider variety of top-up methods, a fixed reward system and more payment methods to earn rewards which doesn’t require the extra work to top-up its currency (even though it takes a maximum of 5 minutes), with the limited reward catalogue then what’s the point. It’s like buying a McLaren but only having dirt roads everywhere around you.
GoPoints wins not only because of its list of rewards, which is A LOT (Sorry we’re repeating, it’s really just that vast), but also by just how often you’d be able to use its services. Grab has 4 services, GoJek has 16. It’s a conglomerate which basically has every service you may need on a regular basis. You need to send a document? There’s a token, a massage? Another token. The scope of using the product is just so much more than Grab that the frequency of receiving tokens outweighs the value of having an actual fixed reward system!
