Two-thirds of people were inspired to create a bucket list because of the pandemic, and Marriott Bonvoy, the company’s travel program, is making it easier than ever for people to check items off their list through the relaunched Marriott Bonvoy Moments offering.
Moments members use points they’ve accumulated from travel, credit card spending, ridesharing, food delivery and other activities — either through auctions or fixed-price sales — to gain VIP access to concerts, culinary experiences, premier sporting events and more across the U.S and around the world.
Current Moments offerings include the NFL Kickoff Experience, a tennis clinic hosted by Andy Roddick, the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet, lessons from a Weber Culinary Grillmaster, public speaking training from TED’s director of speaker coaching, a made-to-order wedding gown and a New York Fashion Week invitation-only event.
Related: Global Travel’s Path Remains Uncertain, Despite Pent-Up Consumer Demand
The United Nations offered a fairly pessimistic prediction for the fate of global travel last month, forecasting that the global travel market will lose between $1.7 trillion and $2.4 trillion in 2021.
Flywire data shows that travel will return worldwide as the pandemic subsides, but it also indicates that the recovery may look a bit different from pre-pandemic routines, Flywire’s Colin Smyth said. People may make fewer but longer trips throughout the year, and will look for higher security levels in their travel bookings. We are also likely to see a rise in BNPL and other payment options among travel operators as they try to lure back more customers.
“I think that it allows the travel operator to expand their potential client base, because if you couldn’t afford to go on the trip, now you may be able to,” Smyth said. The rise in BNPL payment offerings seems to go hand in hand with the rise of group and family travel, and will be “an area to track” going forward.