Loyalty Truth

6am Miami International Airport: Oil prices are near record highs and American Airlines grounded a slew of MD80’s last week due to maintenance shortcomings. Regardless, my flight is full and standbys number more than 40. The slug of people around the check-in area makes me feel late, though I am not. Another passenger asks what group is boarding. “Must be open to everyone” is my reply but quickly we hear that only Executive Platinum and Group 1 are invited to board. The crowding of the gate does not make sense, but then again we’re in Miami…

The Middle Seat is one of my favorite columns in the Wall Street Journal (it often addresses frequent flyer programs and loyalty programs) but not my preferred seat while experiencing travel first hand. With nearly 3 hours of flight time and gawking tourists on each shoulder, I am relegated to catch up on my reading. Only a Cirque de Soleil performer would dare boot up the laptop under these circumstances.

10am DFW Airport: The cabbie is unsure of how to find the Westin Stonebriar Hotel. When I refer to the “Westin”, he asks “It’s a hotel, right?” I give him the phone number and he obtains directions.

Since the Westin was booked for the conference I am attending, I guide the cabbie to the nearby Comfort Suites where Corporate Travel has booked me. Arriving at the desk, I observe literature on hand describing Choice Privileges and realize that it might be the only hotel loyalty program that I have yet to join. Before I can complete the application, the friendly desk clerk provides a bit of local knowledge, suggesting that I will save significant bucks by renting a car instead of cabbing it during my stay. Budget is the recommended choice and I am lucky to be offered a ride to the nearby office.

Pulling up in front of Walmart, my driver tells me that we have arrived. My quizzical look prompts her to tell me that the Budget office is inside the store. This is what I call winning “eyeballs” brick and mortar style. Just as web sites were judged by their ability to capture eyeballs during Web 1.0, Walmart is apparently the catalyst to build audience for nearly any business to succeed – at least in the sprawling suburbs of North Dallas.

After signing my rental agreement, I ask the counter person for directions to the Westin. “It’s a hotel, right?” is his response. I am starting to realize that Walmart owns higher brand recognition in these parts than does Westin. Maybe I’ll drop by the Marketing department at the Stonebriar if I have a chance. They need help.

11:30am The Westin: The conference I am attending is the first annual Customer Loyalty Summit, and the agenda is full of presenters from highly credentialized loyalty sponsors including Harrah’s, Wachovia, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, and JetBlue. The unintentional theme for Day 1 is examination of approaches to linking customer satisfaction data to profitability while improving customer experience. It is refreshing to hear about the gritty details of program execution rather than the usual theoretical pabulum.

5pm The Westin: The highlight of the day is the final session given by JetBlue. Bryan Jeppsen delivers a folksy talk detailing how the airline interprets responses to open ended survey questions (known as contextual data) and arrives at actionable strategy to increase customer satisfaction. He closes with a video that he admits “I really like but am not sure what it has to do with loyalty”. The video is clever and draws a surprised response from the attendees. Funny stuff, but Bryan was right, it had nothing to do with anything on the agenda.

11pm Comfort Suites: Offering feedback on the accumulated customer experiences I encountered today would overflow the space allotted to answer survey questions from American Airlines, Budget Rental, Comfort Suites, and Westin ……. if only I had been given the chance.

Didn’t I say it was April Fool’s day in Texas?

Bill Hanifin