Expedia Combines Consumer Rewards Programs Across Travel Businesses

Expedia Group is looking into expanding its customer loyalty program, CNBC writes, which will make it “the most complete travel rewards offering.”

The expansion will consist of things like member discounts, reward earning and redemption on flights, hotels, vacation rentals, car rentals, cruises and various activities.

The new updates will address a corporate-level problem with loyalty programs: the way customers tend to sign up with multiple companies and end up only accumulating a small number of points in each one.

Companies have tried to address this by partnering with compatible programs through other firms, and Expedia Group has been applying the model to its own vast array of competing brands. Jon Gieselman, Expedia Brands president, said it won’t be necessary to have multiple logins and loyalty cards “because I’m going to earn benefits whether I’m renting a car, booking a flight or reserving a hotel room.”

Gieselman gave examples, saying the new program will offer members a way to earn and redeem points across every Expedia Group brand. That will include ones like Vrbo, which didn’t have a loyalty program before.

He said customers will be able to earn points on their Vrbo vacation rentals and then use them on a car rental from Expedia, for example.

“It’s better for travelers, and there’s an added benefit of making our partners’ inventory more visible to new customers for future bookings,” Gieselman said. “It’s going to be simpler and more flexible.”

Expedia senior vice president and general manager Shiv Singh told PYMNTS recently that travel is likely to see some changes as the pandemic eventually recedes – he said travel will become “a more conscious act.” That means it won’t be taken for granted so much and that people will likely want to “pack more” into their trips.

Expedia is responding by streamlining operations and making it easier to track itineraries.

See more: Expedia’s SVP Singh: We Want To Be The Travelers’ ‘Point Of Inspiration’