Key global loyalty news in GLO weekly newsletter: Delta, Accor, Singapore Airlines, Marriott, Starbucks, M&S, Co-op, Currency Alliance, Mastercard, Kognitiv, Comarch, etc.
(Image Source)
GLOGlobal Loyalty News – New Programs, Campaigns, Partnerships & Features:
Airlines:
Delta (USA) to introduce fast free onboard Wifi from Feb 1st 2023 – The airline will offer the service on more than 700 Viasat-equipped aircraft by the end of 2023. Delta also announced plans to bring free Wi-Fi on international and regional aircraft by the end of 2024.
Delta (USA) plans for Delta Sync Exclusives hub in 2023 – In conjunction with Delta’s plans to introduce fast, free Wi-Fi for all by Feb. 1, Delta also announced its plans for Delta Sync Exclusives hub — a new SkyMiles-unlocked mobile platform coming this spring aimed at elevating the in-flight connectivity experience with exclusive offers & entertainment later this spring.
Delta (USA) is launching Sustainable Skies Lab – The Delta Sustainable Skies Lab, depicted in the vision concept above, will bridge the gap between fledgling ideas and proven innovation by focusing on clean fuel, efficient flying operations, revolutionary fleet concepts, and sustainable travel & business practices.
Delta (USA) imposes more limitations to SkyClub Access from February 2, 2023 – Passengers flying on non-revenue and travel passes, including employees flying on company business will no longer have access to SkyClub. The change won’t affect those flying on revenue and award tickets.
Southwest Airlines (USA) offers additional 25K Bonus Points to customers in apology for disruptions – Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is trying to untangle a mess it made after Christmas disruptions. The company has promised to refund “reasonable requests” for reimbursement for expenses incurred by passengers who dealt with flight delays. In addition to that CEO emailed on January 3rd offering additional goodwill with a code for 25,000 Rapids Rewards points for Southwest’s frequent flyer program.
Singapore Airlines and Marriott (Global) announce a new feature: convert Marriott points into KrisFlyer miles. – There is now a two-way conversion option between the KrisFlyer and Bonvoy frequent guest programmes offered by Singapore Airlines and Marriott.
Qantas (Australia) legal case: When a Qantas Club ‘lifetime’ membership card isn’t actually for life – A legal case brought by a Qantas customer Catriona Wilson, who received her Qantas Club card in the mail in 2018, after purchasing a Qantas Club partner membership with expiration date listing “LIFETIME”. When she was informed in 2021 that her card expired, she decided to fight it and eventually took Qantas to court.
Hotels & Cruises:
Accor (Global) Restructures Leadership for Two-Division Setup – “Premium, Midscale, Economy” and “Luxury & Lifestyle” – Accor Group deputy CEO Jean-Jacques Morin now heads the Premium, Midscale & Economy segment, which will be organised in four regions. Accor Group chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin heads up the Luxury & Lifestyle division, which is organised around four brand collections.
Accor (France) to launch the world’s largest megayacht – The 722 feet long Orient Express Silenseas – Planned to set sail in 2026, a 220-meter-long ocean treasure with a tonnage of 22,300 UMS, Orient Express Silenseas will feature 54 Suites measuring an average 70-square-meters, including a monumental 1,415-square-meter Presidential Suite (including a 530-square-meter private terrace), two swimming pools including a lap pool, two restaurants and a speakeasy bar. The singular cruise ship will celebrate the Art of Travel à la Orient Express: the quintessence of luxury, absolute comfort and dreams.
Accor Live Limitless (Global) launches a new bonus campaign for members to earn quadruple points for stays at selected hotels. – Accor Live Limitless (ALL) members can earn quadruple points at participating hotels globally between January and May 2023.
Hilton (USA) Unveils New Brand, Spark by Hilton, a Value‑Driven Offering That Proudly Delivers Reliable Essentials and Friendly Service – Hilton today announced the launch of Spark by Hilton, the newest addition to its portfolio of world-class brands. Following extensive research, the introduction of Spark by Hilton fills an open space in the industry by creating a new premium economy lodging option to meet the needs of even more guests and owners seeking value, quality and consistency.
Evolve (USA) partners with Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy To Offer Luxury and Premium Rental Properties – Evolve, luxury properties online rental platform has announced a partnership with Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy with access to Marriott Bonvoy™ loyalty program.
Choice Hotels (USA) launches new points sale campaign offering up to a 25% discount for Choice Privileges members. – Choice Privileges members have the opportunity to purchase up to 180,000 points at a 25% discount until 3 February 2023.
Marriott Bonvoy (Hong Kong) Triple Points, F&B Credit & Discount Through March 31, 2023 – For stays in Hong Kong through March 31, 2023, Marriott has introduced a new rate offer that includes triple points as well as F&B credit and a discount.
Retail, Entertainment & Mobility:
Starbucks (USA) launches Web3 Odyssey experience – On Dec. 8 the Starbucks® Odyssey Beta experience, Web3 technology, launched to a small group of waitlist customers and Starbucks partners (employees) in the U.S. They will be able to engage in Starbucks Odyssey ‘Journeys’ which are a series of entertaining, interactive activities to earn collectable ‘Journey Stamps’ (NFTs) and Odyssey Points that will unlock access to exciting new benefits and experiences. Starbucks will collaborate with partners to co-create the future of the experience.
Salesfloor (Canada), leading customer engagement platform, reached $3bn revenue – Salesfloor, the industry-leading customer engagement platform that combines immersive virtual shopping, clienteling and sales automation, announced today its continued momentum into 2023 with total transaction volumes surpassing the $3 Billion USD milestone.
M&S (UK) ‘resets’ senior digital team to accelerate growth plans & improve customer experience – M&S co-CEO Katie Bickerstaffe reshapes her senior team to accelerate the retailer’s growth plans. Bank and services director Kirsty Ward will head up the new M&S Connect team as director.
Amazon UK to hike minimum order value for certain same-day grocery deliveries in selected UK areas – Amazon Prime members will from 3 February need to spend more than £60 on groceries to qualify for free same-day delivery, as well as free click & collect order pick-up
Brakes (UK) launches new personalised MyBrakes rewards – The new rewards are personalised to customers and enable them to make savings, earn cash back, receive gifts and donate to charity. In addition, when customers redeem their cashback, up to 5 trees are planted on their behalf in partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects, supporting worldwide communities impacted by deforestation.
MiL.K (SKorea) blockchain-based loyalty platform, joins Rewards2NoEnd campaign by Boost (Malaysia) to accelerate its global expansion in Malaysia – Blockchain-based rewards integration platform, MiL.k has accelerated its global expansion in Malaysia through Southeast Asia’s leading fintech player, Boost. Boost is the full spectrum fintech arm of Axiata, which its all-in-one fintech app has over 10 million users. MiL.k will collaborate with Boost by joining ‘Boost’s Rewards 2 No End’ campaign that offers Malaysian users exclusive prizes and offers. This year, MiL.k will continuously expand its partnerships and ecosystem in the SEA.
Kyte (USA) car-on-demand, launches subscription service in the USA main cities – Kyte previously launched a Tesla subscription, which was only available in New York and San Francisco. Its new model expands access and includes registration, maintenance, and roadside assistance.
Banks & Payments:
Capital One (USA) card holders can now transfer miles to 18 airlines and hotel loyalty programs – Capital One improves the transfer ratio for its partners and adds Choice Privileges and Virgin Red.
Atoa Payments (UK) to help UK merchants cut down on card processing fees as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard – Atoa Payments wants to provide a cheaper alternative to Visa and Mastercard with lower processing fees that is still easy for customers to use. The London-based fintech announced today that it has raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding.
Loyalty & CX technology and solutions:
Kore.ai (USA) Launches RetailAssist at NRF 2023 – Conversational AI leader announces an enterprise solution to deliver omnichannel shopping experiences, personalize offerings and increase customer loyalty
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (UAE) launches ADIB Pay – region’s first tokenised contactless payment wearable – Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading financial institution, announced today the launch of the region’s first tokenised, contactless payment methods through the options of clasp and ring ‘ADIB PAY’, in partnership with token enablement service provider Tappy Technologies and global digital payments leader, Visa.
RING (India) and Perx Partner (Singapore) to Revolutionize India’s Mobile-First Consumer Financing Experience – RING to leverage Perx for driving financial inclusion across the community. Perx Lifestyle Marketing Platform to deploy intelligent loyalty engagement solution to strengthen RING’s in-app customer experience strategy.
O’Neil Digital Solutions’ (USA) ONEsuite Platform Named a Global Leader on the Aspire CCM-CXM Leaderboard™ – ONEsuite Platform continues to augment CCM/CXM operations, cost-savings, employee and customer experiences, and more
TTEC Digital (USA) announces strategic CX partnership with Google Cloud – TTEC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), one of the largest global customer experience (CX) technology and services innovators for end-to-end digital CX solutions, today announced the expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud that will allow customers to use Google’s AI-powered Contact Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) capabilities to strengthen the real-time interactions with customers across digital and live channels.
Flycoin (USA), a crypto-based rewards program, integrates Fireblocks to Further Protect FLY – Fireblocks is an easy-to-use platform to help developers create innovative products on the blockchain and to support any business — from financial institutions to NFT platforms — in the management of their day-to-day crypto operations.
Loyalty Reports & Rankings:
The Lacek Group (USA): 2023 Loyalty & CRM Trends Report – US-based Lacek Group issued the 2023 Trends report: Let the Loyalty and CRM Experts Help You Get Ahead of Consumer Expectations: 1. Consumers will focus on value. 2. Brands to delight consumers with phygital experiences. 3. Consumers will continue to demand social responsibility. 4. Employee engagement will yield results. 5. Data privacy will get real.
Comarch (Poland) on “The Dos and Don’ts of Loyalty Programs” – DOs: interaction, social responsibility, variety, fun… DONTs: complicated rules, obsolete technologies…
Mastercard report: 4 tech trends that defined 2022 – EVs, Metaverse, Crypto and NFTs
Physical wallets in decline as smartphone payments accelerate – Half (51%) of people in the UK think physical wallets will become less relevant as digital ways to pay become more popular, according to new research from Mastercard.
Opinion:
Opinion: Charles Ehredt, Currency Alliance on “AI In Loyalty Marketing” – Charles Ehredt covers the key opportunities for AI in loyalty largely in four key areas: 1/ Inventory, pricing & promotions; 2/ Customer insight and personalization; 3/ Making loyalty mechanics more efficient and effective; 4/ Problem solving & prevention.
Dynamic Yield CEO: Mass personalization is not an oxymoron. It’s the future – Ori Bauer, CEO of Dynamic Yield interview on digital personalisation and AI-driven personalization engine. Founded in Tel Aviv in 2012, and acquired by Mastercard later, Dynamic Yield is a SAAS company that uses tools including A/B testing and AI to customize all kinds of interactions — through a company’s website, on social media, via email, text and chat apps and, increasingly in real life. The company now helps 400+ brands simply, quickly and seamlessly personalize experiences.
People:
Co-op (UK) appoints Kenyatte Nelson as Chief Membership and Customer Officer. – Kenyatte Nelson, non-executive director at the British Retail Consortium and former chief brand officer at N Brown Group, will join the Co-op this month as chief membership and customer officer.
Kognitiv Corp (Canada) appoints Tim Sullivan as CEO – Kognitiv Corporation (“Kognitiv”), a global leader in driving customer loyalty through data insights and multi-enterprise collaboration, is pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Sullivan as Chief Executive Officer.
Podcasts:
Podcast by Steve Dennis / Remarkable Retail: The Hybridization of Retail – How so many aspects of retail–stores, supply chains, brand distribution strategies and more–are moving from roles that are largely singular in purpose to becoming (or needing to become) hybrid in nature. This shift is profound, requires potentially massive changes over time and, we argue, not yet getting the attention it deserves.
Weekend Read / Film:
2’500’000 points for single transaction? Yes, if you buy a $2.5mn Roy Lichtenstein painting on AMEX! – Eli Broad, US billionaire, bought $2.5 million “I … I’m Sorry!” painting by Roy Lichtenstein at Sotheby’s and has put it on … his American Express Platinum card! Regardless of whose idea it was – it is a brilliant marketing win for AMEX. Possibly they learnt from the 1968 Sotheby’s event, which gained free worldwide publicity when Richard Burton’s purchased the Krupp diamond for Liz Taylor. Noble was Eli Broad’s next step – donating 2.5mn Amex points to students of California’s Institute for the Arts.
Talks @ Google: Yves Morieux | The Social Economics of Productivity – Brilliant discussion with Yves Director of Boston Consulting Group’s Institute for Organization and one of the best global minds on corporate structure & transformation – challenges & solutions for competitiveness, launching a new product, team coordination, etc. Yves works with CEOs and leadership teams of the most prominent companies around the world on their transformation efforts.
