Members can begin earning two types of points: award points, which can be redeemed for member privileges and experiences, and status points, which accumulate over a year and are used to upgrade through five membership tiers (Onxy, Topaz, Diamond, Sapphire and Ruby).
Members can earn 150 award points for every US$5 ($8.20) spent on qualified stays, charges and partnerships, including hotel rooms, dining and spa services. In Auckland, other privileges could include tours of the Cordis’ extensive art collection, which, with 47 works, is one of New Zealand’s biggest private curated collections.
The hotel’s managing director Franz Mascarenhas said although it was expanding, the Langham Group had no aspiration to become enormous and wasn’t taking the cookie-cutter approach to the new loyalty scheme either. It offered immediate discounts but experiential offers were part of a more personalised stay at LHG properties. As travel surged following the depths of the pandemic, many travellers are wanting a more meaningful experience wherever they stay.
“Aside from just the normal recognition programme we wanted to add a layer that just works.”
Like all loyalty programmes, Brilliant allows Langham to find out more about its guests.
“We have many opportunities for us to be able to understand their needs are and then get an analysis done to see what are some of the added benefits and experiences that we can add to our offer. As a package, it really binds loyalty to the hotels and to the group.”
Discounts were important as the cost of living squeeze was starting to bite, said Mascarenhas.
Other hotel groups are pushing their loyalty schemes hard, with Marriott’s Bonvoy programme ticking over 200 million members this month and now widening its appeal to younger customers by giving them the chance to win Taylor Swift concert packages. Hilton’s Honor’s programme is reported to be closing in on Marriott’s number of members and an IHG boss told the Herald that last since the pandemic its One Rewards scheme had grown by 40 per cent to more than 115 million members.
Angie Forsyth, general manager of Flight Centre company Corporate Traveller NZ, said the relaunched Langham scheme reflected the growth of loyalty programmes in all parts of travel.
“Loyalty schemes are particularly popular for corporate travellers as loyalty points can build up relatively quickly. This is because businesses often have multiple employees regularly on the road or in the sky.”
Most companies allowed staff to use points for personal travel or holidays at another time. This was an important perk.
“Loyalty schemes allow businesses to extend travel budgets to their full potential, and with a certain level of economic uncertainty, cost-cutting has become crucial for many New Zealand businesses.”
She said airline programmes attracted greater loyalty but hotels were catching up.
“I think there’s more and more competition in the hotel space.”
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
