If there’s one constant in the travel loyalty programs space, it’s change. These programs are in a constant state of flux since there are a handful of companies all vying for your dollars. To stay relevant and top of mind, loyalty programs are changing the way they work to get your attention and money. Let’s take a look at some of the top programs in the United States and some of the trends that you can expect to see in 2024.
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Top Travel Loyalty Programs in 2024
While there are literally dozens of metrics to use while calculating the top loyalty programs, we’ve found examples of companies that are thinking outside of the box, finding new ways to reward loyalty and gain your business.
Airlines
Most airlines today focus only on the cost of the ticket when awarding miles, but Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan remains a notable exception as it still bases miles-earning on distance flown. This means that if you’re flying long distances on less expensive tickets, you’ll potentially earn more miles towards your future award flights.
Alaska recently revamped the Mileage Plan program and made it easier to achieve elite status by removing the requirement to fly a set number of flights on their planes. Members can earn Mileage Plan miles on over a dozen oneworld partners and many other non-alliance partners as well. Any ticket you purchase via the Alaska Airlines website will earn a minimum of 100% of the distance flown, making calculating your earnings a breeze.
You can use the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card to accumulate elite qualifying miles as well. Cardholders earn 4,000 EQM for every $10,000 spent, making elite status even easier to achieve.
Hotels
With Hyatt’s 28 hotel brands and expanding footprint, the World of Hyatt program should be on your radar for 2024. While it may still have fewer properties than other brands like Marriott, Hilton or Wyndham, Hyatt’s focus on providing valuable benefits to its most frequent travelers keeps it at the top of the list.
Discoverist status is awarded after you’ve stayed 10 eligible nights at Hyatt hotels and top-tier elite status, known as the Globalist level, is achieved after you’ve stayed 60 nights in a given year. Note that The World of Hyatt Credit Card provides automatic Discoverist status and awards you five nights toward higher status on account opening and each calendar year thereafter. Plus, cardholders earn two more qualifying night credits with every $5,000 spent on the card.
Recent changes to the World of Hyatt loyalty program allow for more flexibility in how you choose your rewards. With its revamped Milestone Rewards, which unlock starting at 20 nights and then every 10 nights thereafter, you can choose from perks like club access awards, FIND experience credits, suite upgrade awards, bonus points and more.
Rental Cars
Free rental days are easy to come by with National’s Emerald Club. Known for its “choose any car and go” policy, getting on your way quickly and efficiently is what National is best known for.
As a base member with the Emerald Club, you’ll get one free rental day for every seven completed rentals. Achieving elite status knocks this down to six rentals for a free day and top-tier elite status means that you’ll be driving away with a free day with only five rentals. Since they’re owned by the same parent company, you can pick up a car with Enterprise and put your National number down on the reservation to earn free day credits and credits toward higher Emerald Club status.
By simply holding The Platinum Card® from American Express (terms apply, rates & fees) you can enroll in Emerald Club Executive status, which gets you a guaranteed free car upgrade on full-size through luxury vehicle reservations. This status level usually requires 12 rentals or 40 rental days in a calendar year to earn. The Amex Platinum also offers a bevy of additional benefits including statement credits for hotel stays, digital entertainment, airline fees, Uber, Clear Plus, Global Entry, Walmart+ and more.
Travel-Adjacent Brands
Whether you’re traveling for work or pleasure, sometimes you need a pick-me-up to get you through the day. Delta and Starbucks have partnered to give you extra Starbucks Stars and Delta SkyMiles with every purchase.
After you’ve linked your accounts, you’ll earn double stars at Starbucks on days you’re traveling with Delta Air Lines. And no matter when you purchase your coffee, you’ll earn one mile per dollar spent at Starbucks.
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What To Expect From Travel Loyalty Programs in 2024
Based on recent trends, here’s what we expect to see more of from loyalty programs in 2024.
Revenue-Based Earning
Many airlines and hotels have recently made changes to better align their loyalty programs with their corporate mandates to turn a profit. In the past, the majority of airlines focused on the number of miles you’d flown in a given year and hotels focused on the number of nights you’ve stayed. But now the more popular metric is the revenue you’re bringing to the company
Airlines like Delta and American base their elite status solely on how much you spend in their ecosystem while United combines both spend and flights flown. Top-tier status with Marriott hotels, called Ambassador Elite, requires $23,000 in spend each calendar year in addition to 100 nights spent in their hotels.
Expect the trend of linking the amount of money spent to the rewards and status earned to continue throughout this year and beyond.
Personalization
As travelers expect more customization from their loyalty partners, a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to cut it moving forward. So to better meet their customers’ desire for flexibility, airlines and hotels are experimenting with different ways to provide them with choice.
Hotels such as IHG and Hyatt are using Milestone Rewards to reward guests. With IHG One Rewards, starting at 20 nights and then at each additional 10 nights, you can choose an increasing number of rewards that fit your travel lifestyle. These include bonus points, suite upgrades, food and beverage rewards and lounge access. Hyatt also starts at 20 nights and rewards can include club access, suite access and upgrades.
The American Airlines AAdvantage program offers lounge passes, upgrades, discounts and more at varying Loyalty Point levels. And Delta Air Lines allows its top-tier Platinum and Diamond members to choose flight upgrades, lounge memberships or even the ability to give elite status to friends or family members via the Choice Benefits program,
App Integration
Technology plays a crucial role in the loyalty space, and making the process easier for travelers is top of mind for all companies in the industry. With this in mind, travel companies have been focusing on building robust apps that allow travelers to do more from their phones.
If your Delta flight has been canceled, for example, simply open the app and with a few clicks you’ll be presented with a list of options for rebooking, no phone call or human interaction required. Many airline apps also allow you to see how close you are to your next elite level. Delta shows you how many Medallion Qualifying Dollars you’ve accumulated, American tracks your loyalty rewards and shows you where you are in your journey and Alaska even lets you know how close you are to lifetime elite status.
If you’re up in your hotel room and you’ve realized that you need an extra pillow or amenities, you may be able to simply open up the app to send a message to the front desk. The Marriott Bonvoy app allows you to request housekeeping items and within minutes someone from the staff will have it at your door. And several hotel apps such as Marriott’s, Hilton’s and Hyatt’s can now provide a digital key to your room.
Hotel apps are also following the same trend of allowing you to easily see where you are in your elite journey. For example, Hyatt’s app makes it easy to track the qualifying nights you’ve earned toward Discoverist, Explorist or Globalist status.
Gamification
Redeeming your points is fun, but earning them should be just as fun as well. The industry has been introducing game-like elements, such as limited time promotions and bonus points opportunities for years. Expect more of that in 2024 to keep you engaged with the programs.
As mentioned earlier, Hyatt has over two dozen brands and for every five brands that you experience you get a free night certificate valid at any Category 1-4 hotel.
The United Airlines MileagePlus program has a promotion known as Mile Play where you can earn extra bonus miles by completing flights on United and United Express. One recent promotion provided an easy 3,000 bonus miles if you took just one qualifying flight. Promotions like this are around to keep you, the traveler, engaged with the company and encourage you to continue flying or staying with them.
Shareability and Gifting
In a family where there may be only one frequent flier but more family members, being able to share elite benefits and points with your loved ones is a perk that’s becoming more popular in the loyalty space as well.
Airlines like Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines will allow you to gift elite status to someone each year while hotels like Marriott and Hyatt make it easy to move points from one account to another with a simple phone call.
When Hyatt changed its program this year, one of the most innovative functionalities that the company added was online transferring of rewards and awards to other World of Hyatt members. Nearly every award, from Suite Upgrades to Free Nights, can be moved to another account online. If you’ve earned an award and want to be able to share that with someone else, this new functionality makes it easy.
Crossover Partnerships
American Airlines partners with Hyatt Hotels, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines partner with Lyft, and Marriott partners with Uber. Many credit cards offer unique partnerships as well.
For example, The Platinum Card® from American Express provides Gold status with the Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors programs and rental car privileges with Avis, Hertz and National. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers Instacart discounts through July 2024, DoorDash DashPass memberships when you activate by December 31, 2024 and even a Lyft Pink membership for two years when you activate by December 31, 2024 (membership auto renews annually).
We expect more travel and credit card companies to form partnerships like these in 2024. Make sure to check what unique partnerships exist for the loyalty programs you’ve joined and the cards you hold.
How To Maximize Your Loyalty Rewards Points and Miles
Flying isn’t the only way to earn airline miles nor is sleeping in a hotel the only way to earn hotel points. There are several ways to maximize your earnings and more opportunities pop up often.
First and foremost, consider using a travel credit card that earns extra points for your airline, hotel and rental car purchases. Second, when shopping online use a shopping portal to add extra points to your purchases. By looking for shopping portal offers before going directly to the retailer’s website, you may be able to tack on extra rewards to your day-to-day purchases.
Lastly, spend some time on the earnings page of your respective airline or hotel loyalty program’s website. You might find that there are opportunities you didn’t know about, such as dining programs where you can snag extra points for just eating out.
Bottom Line
Expect another interesting and dynamic year in the loyalty space in 2024. Travel companies won’t stop innovating to attract new customers to their brands and discourage the ones they have from moving to a competitor’s program. Be sure to stay up to date with your favorite loyalty programs’ terms and conditions so you can take full advantage of all the benefits that are available to you.
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