Travel Loyalty News

Strawberry is doubling down on the Nordics with a co-owned loyalty currency and two new brands. A record 2025 suggests it's working.

Airbnb's Chesky is nothing if not ambitious. Given that people's preferences can change at any moment, the ability to serve customers with only a hotel or home, depending what they need in that instant, seems a long way off, even with agentic AI.

IHG is changing how guests search on its own channels. The bigger question is whether its content infrastructure will make it show up when they search everywhere else.

The traditional destination growth model, built on attracting first-time visitors might become unsustainable with rising acquisition costs, shifting traveler behavior, and growing competition. Destinations must work on strategies to be chosen again.

Airbnb is pushing whatever buttons it can to jumpstart Experiences and Services, which got off to sluggish starts.

The customer is technically in charge of booking decisions, but social media and AI systems are increasingly making the decisions for them.

Airlines have turned to partnerships in recent years to boost their loyalty programs as they focus more on high-spend travelers. Loyalty programs and high premium demand have fueled much of the industry’s profits since the pandemic.

Hotel loyalty programs are evolving from points systems into commercial engines that influence booking behavior, guest spend, and brand choice. New data shows travelers want simplicity, relevance, and meaningful value, not complexity or novelty.

Loyalty programs are not just there to offer extra benefits to loyal customers, but to attract luxury spenders.

Hyatt isn’t just aiming to grow its brand presence in India, it wants to build a brand rooted in the country’s own identity. Now, will this come from building something from scratch, or buying into something that already exists?