Golden Loyalty Awards Winners
The 2024 Golden Loyalty Awards winners (from left to right) are:
Organizer
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, GLOBAL FLIGHT
Dave Canty, SVP, Head of Loyalty & Partnerships, BILT REWARDS
Rob Maclean, Founder of POINTS
Karen Chung, Assistant Vice President, SHANGRI-LA
Eric Kalali, Program Manager, SAS SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES
Harvey Lowe, Co-Founder & COO, ARCUBE - Start-Up of the Year
Simon Tavernier, CEO, STAMPIX
Master of Ceremony
David Andreadakis, CGO, BLUEWATER
Global Flight has recognised once again the best innovations in loyalty programs during the Loyalty & Awards 2024 conference, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight, also organiser and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, stresses the importance of the Golden Loyalty Awards for the industry: "Each year, we see a few companies, program operators and suppliers alike, trying to push the boundaries. Some of these initiatives are not only successful, but actually really help to change the way the industry as it may turn our a few years later. Our Awards aim at recognizing such innovations - and at encouraging the players in the industry to continue on such path", he said.
Best Marketing Campaign
The award recognising the “Best Marketing Campaign” was received by SAS Scandinavian Airlines. The carrier operated a mystery flight in April, which was only open to members of its EuroBonus program redeeming their points for a 4-day trip. The "Destination Unknown" - Athens - was only revealed during the flight.
Best Use of Technology
Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts was the winner in the “Best Use of Technology” category. The group was rethinking the whole customer journey to introduce new standards for accessibility and guest satisfaction. This helped to increase customer satisfaction, but also to drive conversion and incremental revenue.
Best Loyalty Partnership
The last award for program operators recognised the “Best Loyalty Partnership”. Bilt Rewards, a growing US-based program rewarding members for paying rents, emerged as winner here thanks to its landmark partnership with Alaska Airlines, going clearly beyond industry norms.
Best Supplier Innovation
In the supplier category, Belgian company Stampix topped the competition for the first time, after already having been a finalist in 2023. The company enhances customer engagement and loyalty in travel by offering personalised photo rewards, notably as micro-redemptions for program members.
Best Lifetime Achievement
The Lifetime Achievement Award, aiming at identifying an industry personality with a long-time contribution to the industry, went to Rob MacLean. After a first part of his career at different Canadian companies, Rob founded Points, which he led as CEO until the company was absorbed by Plusgrade in 2022. Under his leadership, the company has grown to one of the most important and respected players in the industry, working almost with all leading travel loyalty programs around the world.
Excellence in Management
TAV Operation Services, a subsidiary of TAV Airports Holding and Group ADP, was the winner in the “Excellence in Management” category. The group initiated a project to optimize its operational procedures by applying a customer-centric focus and data-driven methodology. An AI-based algorithm was used to analyze customer and business process data. to reduce service times and elevate customer satisfaction.
The 2023 Golden Loyalty Awards winners (from left to right) are:
Master of Ceremony
David Andreadakis, CGO, BLUEWATER
Frederick Lehmkuhk, Programme Strategy & Design Manager, ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Kalpak Shah, Chief Technology Officer, LOYALTY JUGGERNAUT
Panagiota Makridou, Loyalty Marketing Senior Executive, AEGEAN AIRLINES
Randy Petersen, Founder, Flyer Talk/BoardingArea/InsideFlyer
Jelena Kezika, Senior Director Strategy, GLOBAL HOTEL ALLIANCE
Sarah Udy, Executive Manager - Member & Program, QANTAS
Christophe Etchegaray, SVP Global Partnerships, ACCOR
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, GLOBAL FLIGHT
Global Flight has recognised once again the best innovations in loyalty programs during the Loyalty & Awards 2023 conference, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight, also organiser and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, said "While the winners get the top recognition they deserve, it is encouraging to see across all nominations how much programs invest in developing the market further, being motivated by this ultimate recognition. Those innovations across the board are a clear indication that interesting times are ahead, both for the program operators themselves as for their members".
Best Marketing Campaign
The award recognising the “Best Marketing Campaign” was received by the Greek flag carrier, Aegean Airlines. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its loyalty program, Miles + Bonus, the company celebrated with a set of campaigns, released within a 4-month period. Aegean’s campaigns obtained outstanding results in terms of activation and reengagement of members.
Best Use of Technology
Etihad Airways was the winner in the “Best Use of Technology” category. The airline was one of the early movers in the NFT area by launching a collection of aircraft models, dubbed EY-ZERO1. The purchase of NFTs was also smartly linked to granting benefits in the Etihad Guest loyalty program.
Excellence in Management
Global Hotel Alliance deserved the Award in the "Excellence in Management" category thanks to a far reaching and well executed program transformation. Leaving its historic recognition-only approach behind and notably introducing a redeemable award currency delivered results beyond expectations.
Best Loyalty Partnership
The last award for program operators recognised the “Best Loyalty Partnership”. Accor and Qantas emerged as winners here. They extended their already close partnership by including more tier members to the benefits granted on the respective partner. The uptick notably in terms of member engagement convinced the jury.
Best Supplier Innovation
In the supplier category, IT company Loyalty Juggernaut topped the competition for the third year in a row. It introduced GRAVTY Pulsar, a patent-pending innovation powered by Generative AI that delivers an autonomous approach to loyalty campaign management, enabling a much more personalised approach than traditional means.
Best Lifetime Achievement
Randy Petersen is considered the most powerful voice of frequent flyers and the driving force behind many relevant channels, from his original printed InsideFlyer magazine to FlyerTalk and BoardingArea. He is also the father of the Freddie Awards.
On the picture will all winners, you can see (from left to right):
Juan Oviedo, Country Manager, QANTAS
Kim Hardaker, Vice President Loyalty & Partnerships, ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Derek Whitworth, Managing Director, Marketing & Loyalty Optimization, AIR CANADA
Shyam Shah, CEO, LOYALTY JUGGERNAUT
Christopher Siegloch, Senior Director Loyalty Development & Service, MILES & MORE
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, GLOBAL FLIGHT
Global Flight has recognised the best innovations in loyalty programs during the Loyalty & Awards 2022 conference, which took place in Madrid, Spain.
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight, also organiser and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, said "While the winners get the top recognition they deserve, it is encouraging to see across all nominations how much programs invest in developing the market further, being motivated by this ultimate recognition. Those innovations across the board are a clear indication that interesting times are ahead, both for the program operators themselves as for their members".
Best Marketing Campaign
The award recognising the “Best Marketing Campaign” was won by Etihad Airways for its campaign called "BIG Australia celebration". Shortly after the reopening of the Australian borders for international travel, Etihad operated a special flight from Australia, reserved to 175 local Etihad Guest members, which were selected in a prize draw. The trip allowed them to reconnect with people and places they missed most during the Covid lockdown.
Best use of technology
In the “Best Use of Technology” category, Lufthansa's Miles & More program managed to win a Golden Loyalty Award for the very first time. It nominated with an app-based gamification element ("My Challenge"), which helped to raise significantly the usage of its mobile app.
Excellence in management
After a few years of absence, Australian airline Qantas returned to the winner circle, this time in the "Excellence in Management" category. Qantas took a pioneer role in bringing the sustainability topic to loyalty programs by introducing a new membership tier, called Green Tier. Qantas Frequent Flyer members achieve this tier through a sustainable behaviour, both in relation to travel, but also in their daily lives.
Best loyalty partnership
The last award for program operators recognised the “Best Loyalty Partnership”. Air Canada emerged as winner here, thanks to the introduction of a cutting-edge co-branded credit card in its Aeroplan program for the US market. Issued by Chase, the card offers benefits going well beyond the market standards.
Best supplier innovation
In the supplier category, IT company Loyalty Juggernaut topped the competition for the second year in a row. Its GRAVTY loyalty platform was further enhanced by introducing intelligent autonomous elements, enabling loyalty managers to focus more on strategic aspects rather than losing time with operational aspects related to the loyalty platform.
On the picture will all winners (except for Aegean Airlines), you can see (from left to right):
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight
Mehdi Hemici, SVP Loyalty & Partnerships, Accor
Kim Hardaker, Head of Etihad Guest, Etihad Airways
Shyam Shah, CEO, Loyalty Juggernaut
Derek Whitworth, Managing Director, Marketing & Loyalty Optimization, Air Canada
(A representative from Aegean Airlines was missing.)
Global Flight has recognised the best innovations in loyalty programs during the Loyalty & Awards 2021 conference, which took place place in Dubai, UAE.
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight, also organiser and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, stressed the importance of the Golden Loyalty Awards in the current context. "As we all know, the travel industry was hit harder than anybody else by the Covid crisis. While we clearly see a big light at the end of the tunnel - as our own live event also underlines -, it is encouraging to see how leading companies have continued to invest into loyalty during that annus horribilis", he said.
Best Marketing campaign
The award recognising the “Best Marketing Campaign” was won by Aegean Airlines (Greece) for an innovative mileage donation campaign at the beginning of the Covid crisis. Miles+Bonus members donated miles, which allowed health workers at designated Covid hospitals in Greece to avail a well-deserved break in the shape of free flights within Greece.
Best use of technology
Also the winner in the category of the “Best Use of Technology” managed to innovate itself in the context of Covid: Etihad Airways has enhanced its loyalty program mobile app by a feature allowing the earning and burning of miles in real-time at local retail partners by linking a Visa card to the account. This provided Etihad Guest members with welcome earning alternatives at a time when they were hardly flying.
Excellence in management
Air Canada never figured among the Award winners before, but managed to do so this time in the "Excellence in Management" category. In spite of the difficult context, the airline had managed to push through with a complete overhaul of its Aeroplan program in 2020, after having brought the program in-house again.
Best loyalty partnership
The last award for program operators recognised the “Best Loyalty Partnership.” Accor emerged as tight winner here thanks to the sponsorship engagement of its recently revamped ALL loyalty and lifestyle program wih football club Paris Saint Germain, whereby the ALL logo appears prominently on the shirts of some of the best footballers in the world. This partnership helped dramatically to increase the visibility and awareness of ALL.
Best supplier innovation
In the supplier category, IT company Loyalty Juggernaut emerged as winner for the first time. It has further enhanced its GRAVTY loyalty platform by making it one of the most simple and user-friendly for loyalty professionals with an intuitive guidance, reducing the required training - and associated costs - to an absolute minimum.
On the picture will all winners (except for AirAsia), you can see (from left to right):
- Frédéric Kahane, SVP Customer Loyalty, Air France KLM
- Alexandra Christopoulou, Loyalty Manager, Aegean Airlines
- Ian di Tullio, SVP Guest Services, Accor
- Piotr Kozlowski, VP Consulting, Airline/Travel Loyalty, Comarch
- Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight
Global Flight has recognised the best innovations in loyalty programs during the Loyalty & Awards 2020 conference, which is taking place right now in Vancouver, Canada. European companies were the big winners.
Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight, also organiser and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, recognizes through these winners, but more generally through all nominations that the best programs have shifted their focus again on aspects that improve the daily life of their members. "In front of more and more competitive industry, innovations are certainly mandatory for each program, irrespectively of its size, in order to be able to distinguish itself", he stresses.
Best Marketing campaign
The award recognising the “Best Marketing Campaign” was won by Air France KLM for the innovative character of their campaign named "The Localers". Contrary to what could be expected from an airline, but perfectly responding to the current sustainability discussion and environmental responsibility of airlines, its program Flying Blue has invited members in Paris to discover, thanks to their miles, their own city.
Best use of technology
The second award was handed out in the category of the “Best Use of Technology” and went to Greek company Aegean Airlines. It has managed to considerably enhance the quality of its data by using new tools, allowing it to apply a holistic customer view rather than a passenger view, with a positive impact on the measured loyalty impact.
Excellence in management
The Award dedicated to "Excellence in Management" remained the only award not to be won by a European company. AirAsia, the largest low-cost carrier in Asia, was recognised for the strategic transformation of its program BIG, which has become a true lifestyle program, already with more than 300 associated partners.
Best loyalty partnership
The last award for program operators recognised the “Best Loyalty Partnership.” Accor and Air France KLM won this award jointly, thanks to their initiative to link the two programs ALL and Flying Blue in a manner allowing all members to accrue points in both programs when using the services of one of the two partners. This represents a true innovation in the industry.
Best supplier innovation
In the supplier category, Polish IT company Comarch emerged as the winner. It rolled out algorithms based on machine learning, allowing clients of its loyalty program platform to detect automatically fraud attempts by its members. Fraud at the level of loyalty programs costs the industry each year considerable sums.
Gautam Rastogi (Ascenda), Nejib Ben-Kheder (Emirates), Isabelle Birem (AccorHotels),
Evelyn Bennet (Etihad), Manish Dureja (Jet Privilege), Ravindra Bhagwanani (Global Flight)
Global Flight has awarded AccorHotels, as well as Emirates, Etihad and Jet Airways, for their innovations in their loyalty reward schemes as part of the Loyalty & Awards 2019 conference, which has been held in Paris. Ascenda Loyalty won the award for the best innovation in the Supplier category.
With a record number of nominations across the different categories, winners were required to demonstrate a higher level of innovation than ever. Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of conference organiser Global Flight and chairman of the Loyalty & Awards conference, highlighted this in his opening speech: "With around 500 programs operated by airlines, hotels and other companies in the travel sector, you definitely need to go that extra mile in terms of creativity in order to stand out from the crowd", he said.
Best Marketing campaign
The award for the Best Marketing Campaign went to AccorHotels for their innovative Seeker campaign. Following the acquisition of Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel, the campaign successfully helped Accor to overcome the challenge that its loyalty program Le Club Accorhotels was little known in the North American market, which became strategically important with the expansion of the Accor footprint due to the acquisition.
Best use of technology
The second award handed out was in the category "Best Use of Technology", which was awarded to JetPrivilege, the Frequent Flyer Program of Indian carrier Jet Airways. The program has successfully implemented online Voice Search, helping the program to bring greater visibility to its numerous accrual partners and innovating intelligently since more and more online searches are moving away from classical web text searches to voice searches.
Excellence in management
The award for "Excellence in Management" went, for the second year in a row, to Emirates. The airline saw encouraging results from implementing dynamic pricing for the award upgrades offering for Skywards members. After a completed booking, not only was the display of available upgrades enhanced, but members saw also individual discounts, leading to a strong increase in the offer take-up rate.
Best loyalty partnership
The final award for program operators recognised the "Best Loyalty Partnership". This award went to Etihad Airways. In cooperation with its co-branded credit card partners, its Etihad Guest program has successfully implemented target-based mileage incentives based on the cardholder's individual history to increase credit card spend on international travel.
Best supplier innovation
In the Supplier category, Ascenda Loyalty was recognised for the Best Innovation. Ascenda got this honour for its TransferConnect, a platform enabling easy transfers of bank points into airline and hotel loyalty programs.
