Loyalty & Awards 2023

Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight

• Understanding the role of a loyalty program in your distribution strategy
• A sound program value proposition as basis to success
• Creating emotional ties to reduce unilateral price sensitiveness
• Turning engagement into long term loyalty

Mehdi Hemici, Chief Loyalty & Ecommerce Officer, Accor

• From Smiles to PaGol: The idea behind
• In what is a fintech superior to a traditional bank?
• Coexistence with financially critical partners for Gol/Smiles
• Milestones achieved, challenges ahead

Ravel Lage, CEO, PaGol

• Subscription plans: Creating loyalty and market entrance barriers
• Operating different parallel plans to cater for different customer groups
• Maximising the lifetime value of customers: a task for today or for tomorrow?
• How to explain an all-you-can-fly approach to your CFO

Lorena Varela Nagore, Ancillary Product Development Leader, Volaris

• Subscription programs as entry level to a loyalty strategy
• The early success of subscription models in the Mexican market
• How Doter and subscription plans coexist and have both their strategic place
• Is there enough value gain with a loyalty program justifying the investments?

Pablo Sordo, Chief Strategy Officer, Viva Aerobus

• Evolutions in the payment landscape and what they mean to loyalty programs
• Understanding that cooperation between all players is key to success
• Sharing equally the benefits between all parties engaged, incl. members
• What to do if results fall short of expectations?

Moderator: Julien Rochard, Chief Revenue Officer, Merit Incentives

Panellists:

Martin Holdschmidt, Latam Pass Brasil General Director, LATAM Airlines

Tommy Langhauser, Director, Loyalty & Customer Intelligence, Frontier Airlines

Rafael Littieri, Head of Latin America Co-brand Partnership Development, Visa

• Data mining as mean to survive in a competitive landscape
• From discounts to gamification: Finding the right approach for each client
• Ensuring a high level of delivery at touchpoints
• Justifying the business case for IT investments

Roberto Chade, Co-Founder and CEO, Dotz

• Between hype, reality and the future: What is the truth?
• Adapting technologies to strategies - not vice versa
• Looking at initial case studies: creating loyalty through increased customer experience
• Tipps for successful first steps: from hyper personalization to predictive analysis

Alejandro Gonzalez Saul, Loyalty and Customer Engagement Managing Director, Digital@FEMSA

• Uptrip: The NFT-based loyalty card collection app by Miles & More and Lufthansa Innovation Hub
• Exploring how digital collectibles are reshaping the landscape of airline loyalty programs
• Understanding the integration of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and blockchain technology into the loyalty experience
• Highlighting the unique gamification elements that engage travelers and enhance loyalty

Michael Meraner, Manager Loyalty Strategy & Status Management, Lufthansa

Participate in one of two parallel workshops of key vendors, talking about their latest solutions to common industry issues.

No pre-registration is required.

Workshop 1: Back to the future - loyalty from then to now and beyond

• Essential lessons from loyalty's past and present
• Envision tomorrow’s loyalty landscape
• Collaboration on ideas to shape the future of loyalty

Isabella Rosier, Sr. Innovation Consultant, Loyalty Partner Solutions

Daniel Kahdemann, Pre-Sales Consultant, Loyalty Partner Solutions

Workshop 2: Be your customers’ hero and unlock your loyalty superpowers.

How technology can support travel companies to humanize customer relationships

• Discover how cloud-based loyalty solutions can supercharge your customer relationships as IBS Software and LATAM Pass reveal the challenges and key wins behind LATAM’s loyalty program transformation
• Explore how technology can foster deeper human connections and discover what AI and other innovations to come can do for your loyalty program
• Assess your technology-related challenges and uncover practical solutions through real-world use cases

Olivier Cazeaux, Sr. Director, Product Management, IBS Software

Martin Holdschmidt, General Director LATAM Pass Brasil, LATAM Airlines

• 8-minute pitch for each of three shortlisted suppliers

Moderator: Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight

Judges:

Xavier Lucas, Principal Software Engineer, Alaska Airlineso

Kristi Gole, EVP Strategy, Global Hotel Alliance

Linus Benjamin Bauer, Founder & Managing Director, Bauer Aviation Advisory

• Current status of personalisation efforts in the travel loyalty industry
• Taking fraud prevention to the next level
• Are we ready for the new era in data management with the arrival of AI?
• The enabling role of tech suppliers

Marcus Puffer, Vice President Global Loyalty Strategy, IBS Software

Moderator: Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight

This is your opportunity to meet existing and potential partners/suppliers from all over the world to strengthen and start business relationships in a highly efficient manner.

Meetings can be pre-arranged through connecting with other delegates over the event website or the event app in the run-up to the event.

Master of Ceremony: David Andreadakis, Chief Growth Officer, Bluewater Media

Judges:

Manuj Jain, Head of Loyalty, Air India

Beatriz Polo, Head of Loyalty, Iberia

Sven Neweling, Head of CRM Strategy and Loyalty Programs, Deutsche Bahn

Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight

Martha Cohen, VP, Client Services, Travel & Hospitality, Kobie Marketing

• What matters to top management when it comes to loyalty programs?
• Aligning loyalty program, customer experience and revenue strategies
• Making results transparent as mean to secure future investments
• Which challenges lie ahead for loyalty management?

Abhi Shah, President, Azul Airlines

• Loyalty programs can play a key role in sustainability
• Going beyond travel - recognising and rewarding sustainable choices
• Introducing a new "Green Tier", Qantas Loyalty's experience 

Sarah Udy, Executive Manager - Member & Program, Qantas Loyalty

• Insights into case studies of Golden Loyalty Awards 2023 winners
• Benefits for shareholders and members
• Process of generating award-winning initiatives

Moderator: Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director, Global Flight

Golden Loyalty Awards 2023 winners - IBA on site

• Flashback on the FFP spin-offs: What worked, what didn't work
• Decision factors for AeroMexico to change course
• Creating a new dynamic at AeroMexico Rewards
• How has the role of partnerships evolved?
• Conclusion: Lessons learned & recommendations

Rodrigo Sandoval Piemonte, VP Loyalty, Banks, Travel Stores & AM Vacations, AeroMexico

Participate in one of two parallel workshops of key vendors, talking about their latest solutions to common industry issues.

No pre-registration is required.

Workshop 1: Translating Trust: ChatGPT's Impact on Global Loyalty Content

• Hocus pocus: how does AI content creation and translation actually work? Explaining the process.
• Limitations in the logic: where does AI go wrong?
• Man vs. machine: who’s winning?
• Conclusion: tips for opportunities & best practices

Matthijs Kooijman, Commercial Director, Attached Language

Workshop 2: Game On: Leveraging Game Mechanics to Enhance Engagement and Harness Zero-Party Data

• The importance of personalization and customer engagement in travel
• Gamification as opportunity to captivate travellers
• Gaining insights through zero-party data and how to leverage it
• Practical insights and actionable strategies to implement multi-channel gamified experiences

Adeline Heymann, VP, Strategic Consulting, Kobie Marketing

• Creating true win-win partnerships
• Moving away from cash cow dreams to enhancing value for members
• The role of technology
• What kind of new partnerships are on the horizon?

Moderator: Danielle Brown, Chief Marketing Officer, Plusgrade

Panellists:

Christophe Etchegaray, SVP Global Partnerships, Accor

Dave Canty, SVP, Head of Loyalty & Partnerships, Bilt Rewards

Ricky Horwitz, Chief Sales Officer, Global Travel Insurance, Allianz Partners

Kelli Hobbs, VP Business Development, US, Valuedynamx

• airasia, Cebu Pacific and VietJet Air: Exploiting local opportunities with a coalition program approach
• Understanding the ingredients of success of coalition programs
• Gaining credibility towards partners thanks to an independent strategy
• How much do the parent airlines benefit?
• Coming up next: The need to invest in sustainable relationships

Sereen Teoh, Former CEO, GalaxyJoy

• Moving to non-travel partnerships to increase the stickiness of the program
• Working with partners on the technology side to increase the speed to market
• The economic benefits: Easy integration of high numbers of low volume partners
• Case study Etihad Guest: Miles on the Go

Mark Potter, Director Loyalty & Partnerships, Etihad Aviation Group

• The difficulty to gain sufficient loyalty traction as mid-sized company
• Innovating the market with a hotel-airline tie-up: a world's first
• Outlining the strategic loyalty vision
• Balancing the expectations of shareholders, customers and partners

Christian Lundén, VP Strategic Growth, Strawberry

• Building a compelling value proposition for clients
• Sourcing the right partners with different approaches around the world
• Getting partners on board for joint marketing campaigns
• Where is the hotel distribution market heading? What is the future for OTAs?

Sarah Moore, Head Officer, Rocket Travel by Agoda