Loyalty Tech Vendor Points.com Anticipates a Travel Rewards Boom
Photo Credit: A member of the British Airways loyalty program at an airport lounge during the coronavirus pandemic. Points International, a Toronto-based travel technology focused on loyalty services, hopes to surf the wave of a post-pandemic surge in travel. British Airways
Skift Take
Full-priced travel may be the new black, and loyalty programs can be an effective way to encourage people to pay full price. A dynamic like that theoretically could be good news for loyalty tech vendors such as Points International.
As pandemic restrictions eventually loosen, airlines, hotel groups, and other travel suppliers will count on pent-up demand to flourish. But it's not clear how this travel boom might impact how travel brands use their loyalty programs for "customer engagement, retention, and reactivation" — to use the industry jargon.
Many brands want to wean customers off promotions that were common before the crisis. A surge in demand may give many brands pricing power. Yet fewer discounts might not translate into higher margins. Companies might face a spike in critical costs, such as jet fuel or rising wages for labor in tight markets, plus mounting debt service costs from their lost pandemic year.
So travel brands may need to hold the line on full prices. They'll have to enter a "discount detox" program. Executives at travel brands may see loyalty programs as a critical tool to help quash the old discounting habit.
Join Us at the Skift Loyalty and Subscriptio
