July 1, 2019 View in browser

European business travelers have a new hotel and airline partnership to take advantage of. Paris-based Accor hotels and the Air France-KLM megacarrier announced a loyalty partnership that rewards travelers for using either product. Air France-KLM Flying Blue members can now earn miles for simply booking and paying for an Accor room, while hotel loyalty members can earn points for flying.

Unique to this relationship is the sheer acreage that it covers. Unlike the recent American-Hyatt partnership, which only targets elites, the deal between Accor and Air France-KLM targets all loyalty members and effectively gives away points to anyone willing to sign up and link accounts.

For travelers in Europe it's an easy sell, as long as they're willing to drive business to only one main air carrier and its partner, a massive hotel chain. And for the cost of a few points, both Air France and and Accor get access to a whole new tranche of potential customers. Relationships like this are what make business travel great.

Skift Design Awards 2019
New Research: How Families and Their Children Make Travel Decisions
Sponsored by Expedia Group Media Solutions

A new study from Expedia Group Media Solutions explores how the world's youngest generation is influencing family travel.

Read More
Skift Stories and More Expert Insight
How Amazon's Customer-Centric Framework Can Boost Hotel Loyalty

Rather than being paralyzed by the threat of Amazon, let's actually learn from its successes. Using tech to achieve a more customer-centric approach to brand loyalty is a great place to start.

Read More

Did Lufthansa Group Overreact to Low-Cost, Long-Haul Threat?

Lufthansa Group killed what may have been its worst strategic blunder of the past decade when it said its Eurowings subsidiary will stop flying long-haul routes. The announcement came a week after the company said the subsidiary will lose more money this year than expected, a result that will reduce group earnings. Good riddance.

Read More

New Accor and Air France-KLM Loyalty Partnership Raises Bar for Targeting Biz Travelers

Starting this month, loyalty members in each respective program will be given free points for booking and traveling with the partner operator.

Read More

Alaska Air Exec Says Technology Makes or Breaks a Merger

When Charu Jain joined Alaska Airlines in 2017 as chief information officer a couple of months after it acquired Virgin America, she knew she was in for a challenge. Each airline had hundreds of technological platforms for everything from crew scheduling to reservations to maintenance, and all would need to come together.

Read More
Looking Ahead to Skift Global Forum 2019

If you couldn't make it to Skift Tech Forum in San Francisco, fear not — we're hosting our Skift Global Forum at home in New York City. We're coming together to think, learn, and address the industry's biggest challenges and we wouldn't​ want you to miss it. Secure your spot today!

Read More
Expedia to Connect Travelers With Hotels When Their Flights Are Delayed

There's so much travel industry rhetoric about the elusive "perfect trip," but Expedia Group is taking steps to connect the flight and hotel experience for its customers in the event of flight delays or cancellations.

Read More

United Airlines Drops Continental From Parent's Name

United Airlines is jettisoning merger partner Continental from its parent company's formal name, saying the change will "show the world we're truly a united United" almost a decade after a rocky tie-up that combined the two carriers.

Read More

Citi Makes Sweeping Changes to Its Credit Card Rewards Programs

The bank is both introducing a new way to redeem credit card points and eliminating some lucrative perks.

Read More

Hyatt Grows Again With the Integration of Alila Hotels

Hyatt gets a bad rap for being too small as a hotel chain. They've been doing quite a bit to remedy that as of late. Now, they've announced the integration of most of the Alila Hotels. In all, 16 hotels will be participating in World of Hyatt in the near future.

Read More

Grant Martin [gm@skift.com] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. He is also a director of product marketing at TripActions. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Linked In Send via Email

For Gmail users: If you are using the tabbed inbox, Skift emails may be pushed to the 'Promotions' tab. To get updates from Skift direct to your primary inbox, drag and drop this email to that tab.

You received this email because you are subscribed to Business of Loyalty Newsletter from Skift.

If you'd like to unsubscribe from this email, click here

If you'd like to receive fewer emails, click here

If someone shared this email with you and you would like to subscribe, visit our newsletters page on Skift