Loyalty programs are beyond perks and free upgrades, says a Google+ Advertiser Insights Travel Habits Study.
The study (part of the Google Think Insights initiative) talks about various stages a traveller goes through in the end-to-end trip experience.
Travellers are expecting brands to know them and they expect some kind of benefits to be offered by travel brands, based on the data they share.
Quite a few travel brands are collecting publicly available data to address this. Here are a number of posts on personalisation in travel industry - Post 1(semantic tech and personalisation), Post 2 (what's on the travel brain), Post 3 (Orbitz CEO's thoughts on personalisation).
The study also brings out the point that the face of loyalty is changing. The element of 'feeling' is associated deeper with loyalty. But, is it possible to address that using technology? Yes, there are number of case studies - KLM Surprise, British Airways Know Me Program.
Last week, The Woodlands Resort in Texas satisfied an odd request from a customer - "Need three red M&Ms and a picture of Bacon in my hotel room". And, to our surprise the hotel offered it. This small gesture made the customer share the experience in social media, the content went viral and the hotel offered the customer a free stay.
A month ago in Tnooz, we wrote about what is lacking in current loyalty programs and what is expected out of it.
Here's the Google Think Insights infographic: