DOMAIN-MAP-02 · Loyalty

MTK for Loyalty

Loyalty programmes issue points, benefits, and tier-gated rewards to members. They track earning and spending, manage tier qualification, settle with partners, and support pooled family accounts. MTK maps naturally here: the account is a container, points and benefits are entitlements, and spending is the domain translation of the consume primitive.

From airline miles to retail points, from coalition programmes to co-branded cards, the structural pattern is consistent: an issuing programme, a member who holds or earns rights, tier and partner rules that govern use, an authorisation decision before redemption, and settlement to resolve partner obligations. MTK tracks this across the full member lifecycle.

Primitive Mapping

How loyalty concepts map to MTK

The protocol verb is always consume (PSL-002) — spend and redeem are domain translations of it.

MTK Primitive	Loyalty Equivalent
Issuer	Programme Operator
Holder	Member
Beneficiary	Member / Household Member
Container	Account
Entitlement	Points / Benefit
Constraint	Tier Rules / Earning Rules / Expiry / Partner Restrictions
Verification	Member Identity Check / Tier Verification
Authorisation	Redemption Approval / Tier Validation Decision
Consume / Domain Action	Spend / Redeem
Mutation	Points Reduced / Benefit Used / Balance Updated
Delegation	Family Points / Pooled Account Transfer
Settlement	Partner Settlement
Reconciliation	Partner Ledger Matching / Accrual Reconciliation
Revocation / Suspension	Suspend Account / Forfeit Points / Freeze Benefit

Protocol Flow

How it works

A canonical loyalty spend flow, expressed in protocol-safe language.

01 A programme operator (issuer) creates a member account (container) and issues points or benefit entitlements — earned through purchases, tier qualification, or partner activity.

02 The member requests to spend points or redeem a benefit. MTK checks the entitlement's lifecycle_state_canonical and verifies member identity and tier eligibility.

03 MTK evaluates constraints: tier thresholds, earning vs spending rules, expiry, partner participation, and any usage caps. If all constraints pass, the authorisation decision is issued.

04 If authorised, the entitlement is consumed (consume primitive). The point balance is reduced or the benefit is marked used (mutation). Remaining balance is tracked as an updated entitlement state.

05 Partner settlement resolves the downstream obligation. Reconciliation aligns the redemption event against partner ledger records and accrual data.

Protocol Safety

Account vs points: container vs entitlement

In loyalty, the account and its point balance are often displayed together — but MTK treats them as structurally distinct.

Container vs Entitlement — Loyalty

An account is a container. It presents the aggregated point balance, tier status, and benefit history. It is not authoritative protocol truth.

Points and benefits are entitlements. MTK evaluates each entitlement — not the account — before consumption. An account showing a balance does not guarantee the points are unredeemed, unexpired, or eligible for a given redemption. Tier constraints and partner eligibility rules are evaluated at the entitlement level.

Family points and pooled accounts are delegation patterns: one member's entitlement is delegated for use by another. The discrete entitlement truth is preserved; what changes is the actor authorised to consume it.

Domain Considerations

Loyalty-specific patterns

Tier Constraints

Tier rules (Gold, Platinum, Elite) determine which redemption options are available and at what rates. In MTK terms, tier eligibility is a constraint on the entitlement. If a member's tier drops, constraints may block previously available redemptions — without modifying the underlying entitlement record.

Earning vs Spending

Loyalty entitlements are issued through earning events (purchases, bonus campaigns, partner accrual) and consumed through spending events (reward redemptions, cashback). These are distinct protocol operations. Earning is issuance; spending is consumption. A single account may hold multiple point entitlements from different earning events, each with its own expiry and eligibility rules.

Pooled Accounts and Family Points

Family pooling allows one member's points to be used by another household member. In MTK, this is a delegation pattern: the holder delegates consumption rights to a beneficiary. The discrete entitlement truth is preserved under the original issuer and holder; delegation grants the beneficiary the authority to consume. This is not a loss of entitlement integrity — it is a controlled extension of it.

Partner Settlement

In coalition or co-branded programmes, redemption events trigger settlement obligations to partner operators. MTK's settlement primitive records the downstream resolution — which partner is owed what, and when. Reconciliation aligns the programme's ledger against partner-reported accrual and redemption data.

Illustrative Scope

These examples are illustrative translations, not a complete legal or operational model for loyalty programmes. MTK's entitlement model can represent these patterns. Vertical-specific productisation — including regulatory compliance, accounting treatment of points liability, and partner contractual obligations — is a separate implementation concern.