Turning loyalty into lifestyle

MANY frequent travellers who subscribe to travel rewards, whether for hotel stays, flight tickets or car rental, have become very comfortable with the great benefits that they can enjoy from trusted loyalty and rewards programmes. These schemes mean they can often afford to enjoy extraordinary experiences, extend their holidays and receive added-value services. “At Avis Car Rental Southern Africa, we know how seriously travellers take their rewards, and hence we have boosted our Avis Preferred benefits to keep our valued customers happy and safe on the road. For members of the Avis Preferred loyalty programme, the benefits do not start when a customer hires one of our vehicles; they start immediately on sign- up,” Anda Peter, GM of Marketing at Avis Southern Africa, tells Travel News. Avis Preferred customers can expect a 10% discount on future car hire, priority service and exclusive partner offers from the minute they sign up. There are also a number of exclusive discounts that Avis is exploring to fulfil the growing need for customers to benefit from cross- industry partnerships and greater value for money. Evolution Avis Preferred has evolved over the years in anticipation of changing customer trends. It aims to stay ahead of the curve as it continues to see loyalty and rewards trends in the travel industry shifting. Today’s customer has grown accustomed to on-demand services, driven by technological innovation that enables applications to deliver hyper-personalisation, where programmes are evolving beyond points into lifestyle ecosystems, with AI, partnerships and sustainability shaping how travellers earn and redeem rewards. Another key focus at Avis is enhancing the overall customer experience through technology. The drive towards digitalisation and the adoption of AI for booking, redemption of points and real-time updates make loyalty programmes more exciting and easier to manage for the customer. Lifestyle An exciting development is loyalty programmes’ evolution into lifestyle memberships, offering access to events, wellness perks and exclusive experiences beyond travel. As Avis looks to grow its partner network, it says customers can look forward to country-specific perks that fit their lifestyles. The best loyalty programmes will be those that evolve to respond to the customer’s need to combine affordability with customised rewards. The opportunity for Avis is to deliver value to loyal customers by building ecosystems that extend beyond lounge access and travel-related benefits alone. “The sweet spot will be in turning loyalty into a lifestyle. This is the perfect time to join the Avis Preferred programme,” says Avis.