Travel Loyalty News

Lufthansa's Guide Service has an international flair that other VIP services don't: It is offered in 51 languages at Frankfurt and 33 languages at Munich airports. That translates into very personalized service as the airline values some customers much more highly than others.

TripIt is doing the right thing for its users by coming up with a work-around to track the loyalty programs of airlines that don't want to be tracked by third parties. Delta, United, Southwest and American are still playing hardball.

OK, these baby steps are the easy part in the integration of American Airlines and US Airways. Game on.

This complaining from hotels is like the movie "Groundhog Day." How many times are we going to hear the same refrain? The OTAs are going to be a vital distribution channel for hotels for years to come, although smart hotels will make adjustments and seek to reduce their dependence on Expedia and Booking.com.

Brand loyalty in the travel industry has been an achilles heel with few being able to engender much of it. Miles and points are great, but it will be the experience, as well, that will make people keep coming back for more.

Orbitz Rewards members aren't going to get huge savings initially, but they will be getting something right away. Whether this will be enough to be a meaningful boost to Orbitz's hotel ambitions remains to be seen.

This is another reason to fly JetBlue, and will be very popular with travelers. It's great the way Family Pooling accommodates the varied shapes of families 2.0.

With Google Wallet, and Apple Passbook before that, Alaska Airlines is adding all of the bells and whistles to meet customers' needs when they are using their smartphones at the airport -- and most any place else.