The loyalty program industry has now become more competitive than ever. Every brand in every industry is trying to retain maximum customers by offering them rewards and incentives. When it comes to the travel industry, standing out in the competition seems even more challenging. The loyalty program landscape has changed to a great extent in the travel industry. One of the major reasons behind this is the decline in customer retention rates that travel companies experienced during and even after the pandemic.

In order to make a travel loyalty program successful, it is now crucial for companies to understand what customers actually want and how customer expectations can be fulfilled. Let us understand how loyalty program companies in India are reshaping their strategies to make travel rewards more effective:

What is a Travel Loyalty Program?

Travel loyalty programs are loyalty or reward programs run by travel businesses, including airlines, railways, cruise line rewards, etc. By running these reward or incentive programs, the aim of travel companies is to encourage more customers to travel with a specific brand. Travel loyalty program members can often get discounts on their flights or other travel bookings, access VIP lounges, free drinks or snacks, and other exclusive benefits while traveling.

The competition is rising in every industry and the same goes for the travel industry as well. To stand out in this competition, travel companies run loyalty rewards programs to provide their customers with extra travel incentives for traveling with them.

The Recent Shift in Loyalty Programs in the Travel Industry

Although loyalty programs have been in existence since the 1700s, they were not always the same as we know them today. Loyalty reward programs in their beginning stage were entirely different. With the continuous evolution of technologies and increasing digitization, the loyalty program landscape has changed to a great extent. The travel industry is one of the top players when it comes to customer loyalty programs.

The loyalty programs, as we see them today, came into existence in the 1980s and the travel companies have been continuously refining their loyalty programs since then. A lot of travel companies have partnered with credit card issuers to expand their customer base and guess what? This is quite a wise strategy used by these companies.

However, the major change has come after the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the pandemic has ended, the travel industry has still not overcome what it lost during the pandemic. Now, travel companies are again looking for a different loyalty program approach to attract and retain customers.

Emerging Trends in Travel Loyalty Programs

Some of the top trends that are shaping the future of loyalty programs in the travel industry are as follows:

3. Easily Accessible Rewards: Travel companies are now redesigning their loyalty programs to provide customers with higher accessibility and control over the rewards. They are offering tier-based programs, rewards based on achievable spend thresholds, and other flexible rewards that customers can earn more easily. Also, the goal of travel companies now is to genuinely maximize benefits for their customers by offering a wide range of redemption options.
4. Lifestyle Rewards:Instead of just offering travel-related rewards, travel companies are now focusing on adding value to the everyday lives of their customers. The most profitable customers earn the most premium rewards and benefits that are beyond travel advantages.
5. Relevance:Consumers now prioritize brands that offer good experiences and whose offerings align with the values of customers. Therefore, by offering more relevant rewards, personalized experiences, and building emotional relationships with customers, travel companies are trying to drive long-term engagement and loyalty with their reward programs.

Tips To Design a Travel Loyalty Program That Works

We are already into 2024 and as a travel company, it becomes crucial for you to stay updated with the latest trends. If you are planning to redesign your loyalty program or partner with a loyalty program company, you can consider the below-listed tips to create an effective loyalty rewards program:

1. Don’t Completely Abandon Your Loyalty Program; Add More Value to It

Instead of just completely abandoning your current loyalty program, try to find out ways to add more value to your customers’ lives. You can do this by incorporating the latest trends into your program. Continue to offer travel-specific rewards that you offer and include the following things in your program:

• Lifestyle rewards like hotel, restaurant, and movie coupons make your customers feel that you care for them even beyond just travel
• Gamification and loyalty badges to make the program more interesting
• Brand-based community to provide your customers a sense of belonging to your brand

2. Make Rewards Easy to Understand and Access

Your rewards program shouldn’t be too complicated to understand for the users. Try to keep it as simple as you can. The fewer steps there are in your loyalty program’s registration process, the higher participation you will see. Also, make sure that the requirements to earn the rewards are not too hard to fulfill. You can instead run tier-based loyalty programs to offer rewards based on how much a customer spends. But, just make sure that your loyalty rewards are easily accessible to each customer and can be easily redeemed.

3. Pay Special Attention to User Experience

Consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, are more inclined towards brands that offer great experiences. Keep in mind that even a single bad experience can take a customer away from you forever. So, just try to ensure that your customers are well-treated and you fulfill your duties as a business serving them. It’s the digital era and a negative user experience can impact your brand image badly. If a user shares a negative experience with your travel company on social media, you will lose many potential customers.

4. Think of the Long-Term and Offer Tier-Based Benefits

If you are allowing your customers to use miles against 100% of their booking amount, you are probably following the wrong strategy. A customer might just consume all the miles at once and never look back at your brand. To make sure that this doesn’t happen, you can run tier-based loyalty programs, allowing customers of different tiers to use miles against different percentages of the booking amount.

For example, customers of Tier A can redeem miles against 90% of the booking amount, customers of Tier B can use miles against 70% amount, and Tier C customers can use it against 50% of the booking amount. With this, you can ensure that customers keep coming back for more.

Choose RewardPort as Your Loyalty Program Partner

In order to design a loyalty program that aligns with your customer’s interests and is also up-to-date with the latest market trends, you might need professional help. Being a top loyalty program company, RewardPort has the right amount of experience and expertise required to reshape a loyalty rewards program as per the changing needs of a particular industry. With a wide range of reward options, the team of marketing professionals at RewardPort can help you come up with a perfect loyalty program that works for your travel business and retains maximum customers.

For any further details, get in touch with our marketing experts today!