Travel brands have had a long reputation for being highly transactional with their customers. From rewarding loyalty points that inspire repeat purchases, to an increasing focus on ancillary revenue, today’s customers are continuously presented with an abundance of transactions from the travel brands they interact with most.
As more digitally-driven companies join the travel sector, bringing with them a new focus on customer centricity and engagement, customers’ expectations have risen in response. Today’s travel brands have been challenged to remain relevant in the face of industry change, and thus, I’ve seen many begin to offer a collection of ‘softer,’ more experience-based rewards and benefits.
Experience-based rewards and benefits
From beating long lines to providing exclusive insider knowledge of a destination, experience-enhancing benefits and rewards can leave positive and memorable impressions on a brand’s customers without breaking the bank. However, in order for these rewards and benefits to succeed, travel brands must first have a deep and holistic understanding of their customer base.
To be successful, rewards programs must be present in customers’ everyday lives, not just when they are traveling. A travel organization’s end goal must ultimately be to foster close relationships between its brand and its customers. This can be done through the provision of customized services, using all available tools – skills, data and even technology.
British Airways is an example of an early mover in this respect. The company’s ‘Know Me’ customer service program allows flight attendants to identify passengers via Google images, providing more personal and engaging on-board experiences. While this program launched several years ago, this initiative still continues to evolve, demonstrating BA’s sustained approach to customer centricity. Similar approaches have also been implemented by other airlines, including American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, that empower flight attendants to identify and recognize high-value customers, with the ability to resolve common service issues using in-flight digital devices. Furthermore, airlines are turning to technology to enhance the overall travel experience for their customers. This year, Lufthansa began using facial recognition technology to enable biometric boarding for passengers at Miami International Airport. With just the click of a camera, Lufthansa was able to quickly and efficiently confirm passengers’ identities and their authorization, streamlining the often hectic boarding process.
It’s also the delivery of these extra rewards that is key to a brand’s success. For example, the Hilton Honors App delivers what are considered to be baseline services – check-in, communication with hotel staff and digital keys – but in a modern and streamlined manner. While this progress in reward delivery in the travel sector is encouraging, the levels of customer understanding and connection permitted by platforms such as Airbnb and Uber are a stark reminder that traditional travel brands still have work to do to catch up when it comes to the customer experience.
Infiltrating the customer lifestyle
The success of any brand in today’s digital-heavy economy is ultimately dictated by not only its access to data, but its ability to interpret it. There is no question that brands need to leverage their own customer data. Yet, they must be able to go further if they want to reap the benefits of true customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty. Ultimately, loyalty programs need to resonate within customers’ everyday lifestyles. To achieve this, brands need to understand what makes their customers tick. Marriot Bonvoy’s Moments is an example of this – it offers customers the chance to bid and redeem points for tickets and VIP access to world-class events like dining at a Michelin starred restaurant, premium seats at a concert, or attending a sporting event which allows customers to customize their option based on preference.
When third-party data is applied with first or second-party customer data, it helps to build a clearer picture of a brand’s customer base and their preferences, enabling them to offer more personalized experiences throughout the customer journey. As companies seek to cut through the noise of their competitors, the industry can expect to see more partnerships between travel brands to acquire this business-critical, second-party data.
Beyond transactional programs
It is evident that the success of the travel industry relies on consistant transactions between brands and their customers. And while the industry is likely to remain like this for a long time, there is clearly demand for more customer-centric innovation. Travel rewards and benefits are not feasible in the long term if they only focus on acquiring loyalty currency or offer random excursions that lack context, thought, and relevance to the individual. Instead, travel organizations must implement rewards and benefits programs that truly recognize, meet and surpass customers’ expectations.
A successful relationship between a brand and its customers is one that is built upon a constant value exchange – one that is reciprocal in nature. This can only be achieved when a company truly analyzes what its customer data is saying and then effectively harmonizing ‘softer’ experience-based benefits with more transactional offers. A brand that is able to get this right will demonstrate to its customers that it understands and cares about them, and also set the company on the path to a deeper customer loyalty and, ultimately, a healthier bottom line.
Phil Seward is the senior vice president of loyalty strategy for the Americas at Collinson, a global loyalty and benefits company. Combining agency and client-side experience, he is responsible for driving devoted customer relationships for Collinson’s clients across the U.S. and Latin America.
