Originally Posted by
ntddevsys
You need to be very careful with this - there are many unintended consequences. For example, NZ Gold members are not given any guest passes, yet it is conceivable that perhaps occasionally these members may want to have more than one guest. Previously, these people would have just been waved in - but with your new attempts to gather revenue this is not the case. Remember it can be quite difficult for domestic only travelers to make Gold Elite (especially since the reduction in earning) - getting there is something like 94 flights on flexible fares.
Why are you so keen to keep the cost of Koru membership down - Why not double the membership sub?
Furthermore re regional lounges - you may not have noted that the latest Koru membership guide does state something to the effect that they can bring guests into regional lounges (no passes required).
I agree we need to be careful here - it is a balancing act between ensuring commercial viability, to continue funding the lounges at the specification levels we all enjoy, along with protecting the space for our regular and most loyal customers.
An example of where this went wrong was the way we communicated the off-peak special offer to Silver members. We've received quite a bit of negative feedback about 'devaluing the product' and running out of space, when in fact it was an off-peak promotion and peak times volumes were not affected.
Please keep me posted if any offers we try are not working.
Interesting point on rasing the cost of Koru memberships. Will keep this in the mix of things to consider. I see the Koru option as being quite important to the lifetime value of being a loyal Air NZ customer. We've got a number of people in this group that for whatever reason don't achieve G or GE status - but when they do fly really appreciate the full experience.
I have not seen the Regional Material you reference relating to guests. This seems at odds with the rules that I am aware of - will look into this next week.