The shift of consumers' expectations in loyalty programs

The future of travel loyalty programs

 http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/the_future_of_loyalty_programs

This article publishes the results of a survey led by Loylogic, a provider of loyalty technology solutions, which reveals the expectations of consumers about travel loyalty programs.

Firstly, the article points out that consumers mainly prefer to deal with their points got thanks to loyalty programs on the Internet. It means that hoteliers and travels’ providers should not underestimate the importance of the Internet in their clients’ way of consuming products. It also proves that hoteliers and travel agents should even more interact with their clients online and get information on their profile and expectations via the Internet.

Nonetheless, Facebook appears as the last medium through which consumers are used to run their points related to travel loyalty programs. It reveals that even if customers like to deal with their points online, they are not ready however to do it on social media but rather on sites which are specifically dedicated to it and on which consumers can have their own private account.

Secondly, the survey reveals that, among non-bare essential products, travels represent the most preferred reward of consumers. Therefore, hotels and travel agencies should take advantage of their position of strength in terms of loyalty rewards to their clients.

Thirdly, the article also stresses the occuring shift in consumers’ expectations since clients would like to benefit from rewards meeting their willings rather than rewards whose conditions are imposed by companies. This part of the survey is very relevant as it proves that consumers are fed up with rewards offering a unique option and would prefer to get the travel they want or, at least, different choices as rewards of their loyalty toward brandnames. It is true that travel rewards are often defined according to specific destinations and dates that do not necessarily meet customers’ availability and taste so much so that they can hardly consider they are actually regarded as valuable clients who deserve rewards for their loyalty towards brandnames. Given the increasing competition in travel industry and the ability of  consumers to have access to a wide variety of choices in the Internet, consumers could break their loyalty to one brand for another one if they notice that no differentiated loyalty program is offered to them by the company.

I think that hoteliers and travel agencies should take into consideration the results published in this article in order to change the way they deal with their loyalty programs. It seems clear that they should notably rely on the comments and behaviours of  their clients on social media in order to target their expectations and so keep them loyal. Of course, it would be difficult for brandnames to offer personalized loyalty programs to each of their consumers but they could, at least, identify different categories of clients’ profiles and adapt their loyalty rewards to expectations of these various categories. Why not, for example, publishing a survey on their Facebook / twitter pages or on their website to figure out what types of options their clients want to earn as rewards within loyalty programs.

Such an article emphasizes the necessity for hoteliers and travel agents to revise their traditionnal loyalty programs and adapt them to their consumers’ expectation.