Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Each year I review past loyalty predictions and make new predictions for the upcoming 12 months. The report card for my 2021 predictions is 4 out of 5 transpired throughout the 2021 year. The big one which didn’t happen – yet – ‘…
Author: Mark Ross-Smith
Will airlines & hotels ever end the unlimited free elite status extensions?
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Over the past two years – airlines, hotels and travel companies extended complimentary status for elites because, Covid. These elite status extensions were mainly justified under the premise of ‘goodwill’ – the idea that elites…
Leadership Interview – Building Data Science Teams
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jeremy Adamson, who is the author of the recently launched publication, titled Minding the Machines – Building and Leading Data Science and Analytics Teams [Available on Amazon]. Jeremy has a strong ba…
The Magic of Loyalty
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
The magic of loyalty is something we’ve all experienced in our lifetimes, and yet, few of us can articulate that powerful feeling while linking it back in a business context. The magic of loyalty cannot be explained with numbers. Like falling in …
Airlines – Wakeup and Smell the Money
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Some of the brightest people in the travel sector have hung up their boots and are beginning new careers in other industries – and good for them. It can take real courage to shift industries. [side note: A great story on Qantas pilots becoming bu…
5 Predictions for Airline Loyalty in 2021
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Each year I publish in advance my thoughts and insights as to where the travel loyalty industry is heading. While 2020 was a tough one to predict, there were direct target hits, the most notable being #5 prediction for 2020 “Airlines That Neglect…
Leadership Interview: Loyalty Platform Insights
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
When was the last time a loyalty platform vendor said their technology would generate more revenue for your organisation than it costs to buy their product? Don’t laugh. That is the number one question loyalty programs should be asking as part of…
Love is the answer for the travel industry
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Something is absent from airline marketing messages in 2020. Something that airlines have spent the better part of the last century branding customers with. That something is love. Let’s rewind back to 2019. You’re about to jump on a plane …
These Airlines Will Thrive in the Future
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
The airline industry is on its knees and at the mercy of Governments, Shareholders and cashed-up billionaire investors who’ve always wanted to be millionaires. With limited signs of recovery, and an 18-month outlook that looks at best, dire ̵…
Airline Loyalty is a C-Level Role
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
This week, United Airlines announced a US $5B loan secured by MileagePlus, proving once again that the Loyalty Program is more valuable than the Airline. Last month, American Airlines President Robert Isom shared on a Wolfe Research call that the AAdva…
Leadership Interview: Qatar Airways & Mastercard on Monetizing Data
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Data monetization — the new loyalty buzzword?! Earlier this week I spoke with top industry experts on loyalty data monetization, Christian Hylander from Mastercard and Dianne Robillos from Qatar Airways. Airlines and their Loyalty Programs are f…
Loyalty Status Matching – What’s the Future?
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
According to research by Loyalty Data Co, up to 60% of all Status Match submissions have no value to the Loyalty Program. Effectively, that means many of the Status Match processes around today are gifting out the most valuable asset the airline has to…
Leadership Interview: Frontier Airlines Insights
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
“MASSIVELY INSIGHTFUL – Something all airlines can learn from”. That is how Aviation Festival Americas organisers described the recent “What’s the Status of Status” Airline Loyalty Discussion Webinar. If you missed …
The New Normal for the Aviation Industry
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
What is the new normal for the aviation industry? Are we destined for an eternity of wearing masks, social distancing, quarantine periods, Government restrictions? Is the aviation industry doomed? Will flight schedules be back to 1930s levels? How the …
Should Airlines & Hotels Extend Elite Status in Times of Crisis?
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Extend elite status or Not to extend elite status? That’s the million-dollar question circling around the travel loyalty industry lately. The unprecedented grounding of aircraft, significant decline in demand, and empty hotel rooms are forcing ma…
Shadow Loyalty Members – The Revenue Hiding in Plane Sight
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Take a moment to consider the following: Who are the most valuable passengers to the airline? How do the airlines track and measure total passenger loyalty? Today, airline loyalty members represent between 20% and 70% of total pax depending on the airl…
Joy – The New Airline Loyalty Metric
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Airline feedback is broken. Everyone knows it, but nobody will admit it. Customer feedback surveys with static questions that demonstrate the airline has no idea what the customer experience should be. Very few airline employees have ever held elite st…
5 Tips For Pitching Your Product To An Airline Loyalty Program
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Pitching your product to an airline loyalty program? Here are 5 tips from someone who has run a global airline loyalty program into the most profitable and successful years for the airline. These tips are brutally honest. No sugar coating today. Put yo…
Monetizing Data: How Much is Airline Loyalty Data Worth?
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Successful data-driven airlines typically attribute value of the airline loyalty data they collect within the loyalty program based on the commercial application of that data. That is to say – how much top-line revenue that data can generate vers…
5 Predictions for Airline Loyalty in 2020
Written by Mark Ross-Smith @ Travel Data Daily
Looking back over the past 10-years, could we have predicted the airline loyalty industry would be where it’s at today? Could we have predicted that airlines would buy-back loyalty programs they once had sold to third parties? Could we have predi…