Travel and hospitality are two industries I consider to be joined at the hip. Each sector both supports and builds on the successes of the other. Considering their symbiotic relationship, it’s not surprising these industries helped pioneer the first modern loyalty programs.
Also not surprising is that thirty-plus years after the programs’ birth, both industries face similar challenges. Whether it’s re-invigorating existing brand loyalty, dealing with travelers or guests eager to switch brands (despite appearances of high loyalty program activity) or members’ frustration with irrelevant offers, the travel and hospitality industries are likely to continue their rise (or fall) together.
The good news is that loyalty programs within these sectors know there are challenges to address. How they’re doing this is the focus of the next Kobie Quarterly Review: Travel Edition. In this edition, we look at how brands can improve their loyalty programs by recognizing the importance of big data and coalition loyalty as well as adopting an omnichannel loyalty strategy, tiering and the rebirth of SoLoMo:
- The importance of big bata and coalition loyalty programs: As smart mobile devices become commonplace, the amount of data collected in real time has exploded. Such granular insights have helped airlines cut costs and improve efficiency. Meanwhile, coalition loyalty, which brings multiple programs together, only adds to big data’s significance as pooling enlarges the dataset.
- The need for hotels and airlines to adopt tiered loyalty and an omnichannel strategy: Tiers are helping re-invigorate guest loyalty by dividing existing programs into different levels, segmented by the rewards offered and the level of engagement. Omnichannel efforts, like those of American Airlines, allow members to give away miles as gifts or to charity and to redeem them with partner companies.
- SoLoMo gets its mojo back: Hotels rediscover that the ‘Lo’ in SoLoMo is all about locals. As hotels cater to their neighborhood residents, a new type of brand loyalty is gaining popularity.
Download your copy of the Kobie Quarterly Review: Travel Edition here. How else can travel brands improve their loyalty programs and better integrate or expand upon the above trends? Share your views in the comments below or by emailing us at info@kobie.com.
