Why Not Having a Formal Travel Loyalty Program Works — For Some
Photo Caption: The lobby of the Four Seasons New York Downtown. Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts uses a comprehensive customer relationship management system in lieu of a formal rewards program to personalize the experience for its most loyal guests. Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts
Skift Take
Not every travel business needs to have a formal loyalty or rewards program to have loyal customers. But if you're going to go that route, you better know what you're getting into. And for some companies, it might be time to reconsider doing without.
Loyalty — and the multitude of rewards programs that airlines and hotels have created in an eternal effort to capture it among consumers — is a big business.
"We know you have a choice of airlines when you fly, and we want to thank you for choosing [insert airline name]," we're told at the end of airline safety videos.
The No. 1 reason why Marriott International spent more than $13 billion to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts? Loyalty, according to CEO Arne Sorenson.
Some points-savvy travelers — ThePointsGuy.com, for example — have even turned their loyalty game know-how into standalone businesses.
And while it may seem like there is a seemingly endless number of travel loyalty or rewards programs, there are, in fact some travel companies that don't have traditional loyalty programs. Whether this is the right strategy, however, depends on the company, its business, and its customers.
The Difference Between Rewards and Loyalty
First things first: Although a compa
