On September 20, the Wise Marketer had the pleasure of being part of the first Loyalty Summit, held at the Hyatt Regency Churchill hotel in London. This one-day event gathered together the leading brands in airline and hospitality loyalty across the region and showcased the talent that is driving change in today's market.
Packaged with the Loyalty Summit was the FT Awards Americas and Pacific (FT = frequent traveler in case you wondered). Wise Marketer was an event sponsor and, among a packed agenda, presented a sneak peek of the latest research report covering future trends and evolution of the loyalty industry, packaged as the “Delphi Report”. Following a summary presentation of the Delphi Report from Bill Hanifin, CEO Wise Marketer Group, Aaron Dauphinee, COO Wise Marketer Group, moderated a lively Q&A session with delegates invited to question, challenge, and add to the Delphi findings.
If you missed this UK based event, you have another opportunity to engage with this group as the FT Awards will be held with a different geographic focus as part of the Mega Event, an Airline Information Group conference scheduled for Long Beach, CA on November 1, 2018. Registration for the Mega Event and the Loyalty Summit in Long Beach can be found here.
Here's a quick recap of the day:
Travel industry analyst and founder of Atmosphere Research Group, Henry Harteveldt provided moderation throughout the day and added his insightful comments based on a life's work in this changing industry.
The first panel of the day focused in on the differences between the travel experiences of men and women. This "Women in Loyalty" panel brought together leaders from Le Club Accor, Radisson Hotel Group, Finnair and Collinson. While there was plenty of discussion about how the travel experiences in airlines and hotels were skewed to serve the "typical" male road warrior, the panelists offered up ideas of how the seemingly overlooked female traveler could be better served. The panel concluded that travel brands would be best served to not try "too hard" to serve customers based solely on their gender, but to serve ALL customers based on their relationship value.
Emma Kisby, Commercial Director, Virgin Red was up next, participating in a "fireside chat" ranging across many topics including the future of loyalty coalitions. Emma has deep experience in customer loyalty, having worked with Avios, Tesco, Nectar, and now Virgin Red. Her insights were invaluable for those listening in the room.
After these two sessions, the tone was set for the day and panelists from Lufthansa, KLM-Air France, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Norwegian Airlines talked through the daily challenges facing executives operating FFP's while sharing perspectives on how programs need to change to balance higher levels of satisfaction with frequent travelers with financial sustainability for the airline.
The day raced by as quality information was shared on personalization techniques and customer engagement from leadership at travel brands including Marriott, Aimia, Gallup, McKinsey, Engage People, and Scandic airlines.
Wise Marketer interviewed several of the presenters during the day to gain additional insights into their remarks shared from the stage. We will be publishing these interviews over the next 2 weeks, so check back with us and don't miss out.
As the Loyalty Summit agenda wrapped up, the event migrated to the British RAF Museum where the FT Awards gala was held. To see the complete list of award winners, click here and for photos from the evening, click here.
