Full overview of airlines/hotels COVID19 responses (loyalty+bookings) comparison
Mar 22, 2020 | 1:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mostly EU & (SE)Asia
Programs: Various shiny cards at hotel chains and airlines
Posts: 1,057
Full overview of airlines/hotels COVID19 responses (loyalty+bookings) comparison
Hey there!
As true loyalty is best tested in challenging times, I did a bit of research on how different airlines and hotel programmes have responded:
Feel free to comment that Google Sheets file and if you have some better insights, let me know (I used only what was available on English-speaking websites and some blog posts I could find, showing emails from the programmes).
So far it seems that there are some great performers, QF/NZ/VA/SU were the kindest of airlines for status holders. There were also some that did not have any COVID19 info at all.
Hotel programmes, some have been good, yet many have been giving preferences for goodwill only in Greater China region.
I hope that this helps you to decide, what travel partners to choose for the post-COVID19 travel world.
As true loyalty is best tested in challenging times, I did a bit of research on how different airlines and hotel programmes have responded:
- 74 airline loyalty responses (status, miles expiration extensions) and booking flexibility terms (changes and refunds)
- 18 hotel loyalty responses (status, points expiration extensions) and booking flexibility terms (changes and refunds)
Feel free to comment that Google Sheets file and if you have some better insights, let me know (I used only what was available on English-speaking websites and some blog posts I could find, showing emails from the programmes).
So far it seems that there are some great performers, QF/NZ/VA/SU were the kindest of airlines for status holders. There were also some that did not have any COVID19 info at all.
Hotel programmes, some have been good, yet many have been giving preferences for goodwill only in Greater China region.
I hope that this helps you to decide, what travel partners to choose for the post-COVID19 travel world.
Mar 24, 2020 | 2:59 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mostly EU & (SE)Asia
Programs: Various shiny cards at hotel chains and airlines
Posts: 1,057
More airlines and hotels added now, totalling 102 airlines and 23 hotel chains.
Mar 30, 2020 | 4:57 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mostly EU & (SE)Asia
Programs: Various shiny cards at hotel chains and airlines
Posts: 1,057
Added 4 more airlines: Royal Brunei, Uzbekistan Airways, Porter and Westjet, totalling 106 now.
Mar 30, 2020 | 5:12 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: aegean gold , klm explorer
Posts: 522
Nice work
Mar 30, 2020 | 5:58 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,858
Frontier:Important update about your upcoming flight
Dear Valued Customer,
You may have received an email earlier today asking you to call us. This was due to a change in your reservation. However, we have an automated solution that will be available to you tomorrow. So unless you are travelling in the next 24 hours, you do not need to call us. We sincerely apologize if we have caused you to waste any of your time attempting to reach us today, as you can imagine many people are attempting to contact us during these unprecedented times.
So watch your email box tomorrow. You will be provided options online and you should not have to speak to anyone on the phone.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Dear Valued Customer,
You may have received an email earlier today asking you to call us. This was due to a change in your reservation. However, we have an automated solution that will be available to you tomorrow. So unless you are travelling in the next 24 hours, you do not need to call us. We sincerely apologize if we have caused you to waste any of your time attempting to reach us today, as you can imagine many people are attempting to contact us during these unprecedented times.
So watch your email box tomorrow. You will be provided options online and you should not have to speak to anyone on the phone.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Mar 30, 2020 | 6:48 am
#6
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 2MM
Posts: 7,801
Great idea.
But not sure it's quite fair to have a huge RED bar for airlines for the response to expiring miles, if that particular airline's miles don't expire;
they can't extend miles if they don't expire anyway!
But not sure it's quite fair to have a huge RED bar for airlines for the response to expiring miles, if that particular airline's miles don't expire;
they can't extend miles if they don't expire anyway!
Mar 31, 2020 | 4:04 pm
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 102,617
On the hotel front:
OMNI sent an email that has links to stream a dozen movies for free. They're mostly classics that relate to travel.
Effectively immediately and with no advance notice (just an email sent in the middle of the night), Marriott is reneging on their published benefit of a personal concierge or Ambassador for top-tier AMB (100+ nights and $20,000+ spend), only several weeks into the new program year. Apparently trained Ambassadors at certain call centers all lost their jobs without warning.
In contrast, my WOH "My Hyatt Concierge" just sent me a nice email reassuring me that she's still my concierge.
OMNI sent an email that has links to stream a dozen movies for free. They're mostly classics that relate to travel.
Effectively immediately and with no advance notice (just an email sent in the middle of the night), Marriott is reneging on their published benefit of a personal concierge or Ambassador for top-tier AMB (100+ nights and $20,000+ spend), only several weeks into the new program year. Apparently trained Ambassadors at certain call centers all lost their jobs without warning.
In contrast, my WOH "My Hyatt Concierge" just sent me a nice email reassuring me that she's still my concierge.