Travel Loyalty Programs Coming Out of the Pandemic Stronger

Skift Take

While the travel industry was on its knees, travel loyalty programs continued to grow. But the pandemic has changed the travel industry, and loyalty programs need to follow suit.

Wouter Geerts

As travel demand returns, loyalty programs are on the operating table. Companies are betting big on reinventing their loyalty programs, and it is high time. Many point programs had run stale years before the pandemic, becoming increasingly commoditized and a complicated tale of conversion rates, qualifying dollars, and blackout dates. 

Maybe counterintuitively, loyalty program membership has boomed over the past two years, despite the fact that demand for flights and stays were dramatically down in 2020 and 2021. But loyalty companies cannot rest on their laurels, as the pandemic has changed traveler behavior and demands. Loyalty programs will need to follow suit to match a new travel mix.

In our latest report, Travel Loyalty Programs Deep Dive 2022, we first discuss the financial state of loyalty programs, and then analyze how Covid-19 has changed traveler demands, providing recommendations on how loyalty programs should respond. 

What You’ll Learn From This Report

• The financial state of the six largest airline and five largest hotel travel loyalty programs.
• Comparisons of membership numbers, recognized revenues, loyalty cash flows, member value, and loyalty contributions.
• The impact of Covid-19 on traveler behavior, and how this impacts loyalty programs.
• A discussion on how loyalty programs can respond to changing market forces and competition.

This is the latest in a series of reports and data products that Skift Research puts out to help you analyze the biggest trends in the travel industry. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. More than 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.

By subscribing to Skift Research, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. You will also be able to access our proprietary Skift Travel Health Index, Skift Travel Company Tracker, Hotel Tech Benchmark, and data from our regular traveler surveys.