What Is a Loyalty Program and Why Do Travelers Need It?

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September 17, 2022

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You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t enjoy getting something for free, especially regarding travel's fun perks and benefits. Fortunately, this is a possibility for anyone when they’re a loyalty or rewards program member, especially for travel-related services such as hotels and airlines.

The best part about hotel and airline loyalty programs is they are typically free to join. They not only reward new customers to build customer loyalty but pamper the existing customers who are already loyal customers too. It’s a great benefit for the company since loyalty programs increase customer retention, overall customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty — something that has become increasingly harder to accomplish with today’s short attention spans. For customers, not only are they free to join, but it can be an easy way to earn extras along the way and enhance a travel experience.

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What is a loyalty program?

In the travel world, companies reward customers for repeat business by implementing a loyalty card or loyalty program. If you scratch their back by booking a room or flight on a continued basis and by joining their customer loyalty program, they’ll scratch yours by giving you access to benefits you might not otherwise have.

Successful loyalty programs often feature a loyalty points system where you earn a point or mile for each dollar spent with the company, which is meant to encourage repeat purchases. For hotels and airlines, these companies are often part of an alliance or network of brands, which means you can earn points or miles by spending with the network partners.

The benefit of a loyalty rewards programs for travelers

Why would a hotel or airline offer you points or miles for free travel? The answer is simple: they want your customer loyalty. To do this, they offer membership programs to entice you, so you’ll make them top of mind when you book your hotel or flight.

In return for your loyalty, you’ll receive Incentives such as early access to new products, special offers or sales, or even free products, typically in the form of free hotel stays or free flights.

Types of customer loyalty programs

There are a few ways to earn rewards points or frequent flyer miles through loyalty programs.

Frequent flyer loyalty programs

If you have an airline you prefer to fly to or the city you live near that offers flights from certain airlines, you should consider joining a frequent flyer program. A frequent flyer program is an incentive program offered by a specific airline to reward repeat customers, attract new ones, and retain everyone for future purchases.

Every time you fly with an airline or book with an airline partner (such as a specific rental car company), you earn miles. Once you accumulate enough miles, you can redeem them for a free flight (or another reward such as an upgraded ticket). You don’t have to save up enough miles for a free ticket, though, you could earn enough to earn a discount or upgrade a ticket you purchase.

Hotel loyalty programs

Like airline loyalty programs, hotels have similar setups. When you join a hotel loyalty program, you earn a point towards a future hotel by booking hotels or spending with the hotel’s network partners. When you’re actually staying at the hotel, you can continue to earn points not only through the hotel stay, but by purchasing items in the gift shop, dining at the on-site restaurant, or through other methods.

Credit card rewards

You’ll also find credit cards offering a rewards-based program where you earn points for every dollar spent. This is important to keep in mind because often, these credit card rewards include travel rewards where you earn points for future hotel stays or miles for future flights. Combining the credit card rewards program with a hotel loyalty program or frequent flyer program is a fantastic way to stretch your earnings.

Examples of travel and airline loyalty programs

Here are a few examples of some of the more popular loyalty programs available:

Marriott Bonvoy. This loyalty program includes a network of over 6,900 hotels under the Marriott umbrella of brands. There are five tiers of status as a member. You can also transfer your hotel miles earned through Marriott and convert them to frequent flyer miles to over 40 airline partners.
Delta Airlines. Joining Delta Airlines’ frequent flyer SkyMiles program gives you access to earning miles for over 2,000 daily flights. Plus, Delta has over 25 airline partners.
JetBlue TrueBlue. JetBlue operates up to 900 daily flights. The JetBlue TrueBlue program allows you to earn miles through booking flights, shopping with Amazon, or through one of the car rental companies it has partnered with.

How do you get started?

So you’re ready to commit and start earning rewards points and frequent flyer miles. First and foremost, you need to select which programs to join by choosing the hotel and airline you’re most likely to frequent. Sure, it’s free to join any of these programs, but you may want to start with the ones you’re most likely to use.

Once you’ve selected the customer rewards program, you can sign up for each individual at a physical location (such as the hotel or airport terminal). You can also go online for instant setup, call the customer service number, or send an application through the mail.

You should receive instant access to the benefits and portal each program offers. Once you’re in, take a few moments to review all the ways to earn points or miles. You may be surprised at other ways to earn points besides booking a stay. For example, some programs provide rewards by linking your credit to dining programs, streaming services, and rideshare programs.

Once you’ve joined a program, you can start earning points or miles right away, so it pays to explore all the ways you can earn and maximize your points or miles potential. It also pays to become familiar with the language the loyalty program uses, such as “miles” or “hotel category.” This will help reduce confusion when it comes time to book your reward.

Considerations when joining a loyalty program

Before you start planning your next vacation based on all the free incentives you think you will earn, there are a few considerations to keep in mind.

Be sure to read the fine print. As you can imagine, points and rewards are full of rules and restrictions. While this is to be expected, make sure you take a moment to read up on any rules surrounding redemption options, program restrictions, and rewards earning methods.
Check the expiration date. Some rewards and points programs have a shelf life. Eventually, the rewards/points will expire, so you need to keep track of what you’ve earned and when the rewards/rewards expire. You can set up reminders and regularly check each program’s portal.
- The good news is, most miles earned with frequent flyer programs do not expire, which means you can transfer rewards points from partner hotels or credit card rewards to a frequent flyer program if you’re worried about an expiration.
Nothing is free. While you may earn a free hotel stay or airline ticket, remember that you will still be responsible for fees and taxes. It’s possible to pay a redemption fee, a charge for a lost or stolen ticket, or other fees.

The bottom line

If you have any plans for future travel, whether next month or next year, you would likely benefit from joining a customer loyalty program. Not only can you earn points or miles towards future travel, but you may be rewarded for purchases you were going to make anyways. Once you join one of these free loyalty programs, the biggest question is deciding where you will go once you earn your free travel incentives.

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Sara Coleman is a former corporate gal turned creative entrepreneur. She began writing professionally several years ago and now contributes to multiple websites, blogs, and magazines. She’s also an avid reader and can’t resist a great historical fiction novel. Sara holds a BA in journalism from the University of Georgia and can be found supporting her Bulldogs every chance she has. She resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her wonderfully supportive husband and three children. When she’s not ushering her kids to sports and dance lessons, she can be found creating content for her own website, TheProperPen.com.

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